in the Old Testament And such is our Condition in this World it is often Troublesom and always Uncertain and Unsettled So that whatever Degree of Worldly Felicity any Man is possest of he hath no Security that it shall continue for one Moment II. Our condition in this World being a State of Pilgrimage it implies a Tendency to a Future Settlement and the Hopes and Expectation of a Happier Condition into which we shall enter so soon as we leave this World For so it follows immediately after the Text They confessed that they were Pilgrims and Strangers on the Earth For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Country They that say such things that is They that acknowledge themselves to have lived in such a Restless and Uncertain Condition in this World Travelling from one Place to another as the Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob did and yet pretend to be persuaded of the Goodness of God and the faithfulness of his Promise in which He so solemnly declares Himself to be their God do hereby plainly shew that they expect some Happier Condition hereafter wherein that Great Promise of God will be made good to them to the full So that He need not be ashamed to have been called their God Having handled at large these Two Particulars I come now to shew what Influence the Consideration of them ought to have upon our Lives and Practices And if this be our Condition in this World and these our Hopes and Expectations as to another Life If we be Pilgrims and Strangers in the Earth and look for a better Country that is an Heavenly this ought to have a great Influence upon us in these following Respects which I did but briefly mention before but shall now Prosecute and Press more largely I. Let us Entangle and Incumber our selves as little as we can in this our Pilgrimage Let us not Engage our Affections too far in the Pleasures and Advantages of this World because we are not to stay in it but to pass through it Upon this Consideration the Apostle St. Peter doth so earnestly exhort Christians to preserve themselves from fleshly Lusts 1 Pet. 2. 11. Dearly Beloved I beseech you as Strangers and Pilgrims to abstain from fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul The gratifying of our inordinate Lusts and our Carnal and Sensual Inclinations is directly opposite both to the Nature of our Immortal Spirits and to their great Design and Business in this World Fleshly Lusts do not only pollute and defile but even quench and extinguish our Diviner part and do work the ruin and destruction of it they sink our Affections into the Mud and Filth of this World and do entangle and detain them there In a word they do wholly indispose and unfit us for that Pure and Spiritual and Divine Life which alone can qualifie us for our Heavenly Country and Inheritance And therefore while our Souls are Sojourning in this World we should abstain from them and preserve our selves Unspotted and Untainted by them as being altogether unuseful and perfectly contrary to the Laws and Manners of our Heavenly Country If we wallow in brutish and filthy Lusts as we pass through this World our Native Country when our Souls think to return to it will reject us and cast us out when we come to Heaven's Gate and knock there expecting to be admitted and shall cry Lord Lord open unto us He will bid us to depart from Him because we have been workers of iniquity Nothing that is unclean can enter into Heaven He who is to receive us into those Blessed Mansions hath declared it to be his Immutable Resolution and Decree that without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. And therefore as ever we hope to see God in that Happy and Blissful State we must Cleanse our selves from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and perfect Holiness in the Fear of God that having render'd our selves as like Him as we can in this World we may be capable of the Blessed Sight and Enjoyment of Him in the other And as for the Advantages of this World let us not pursue them too eagerly We may take the Conveniences which fairly offer themselves to us and be content to want what we cannot Honestly have and without going out of the way of our Duty considering that we are Travellers and that a little will serve for our Passage and Accommodation in our Pilgrimage And beyond that why should we so earnestly covet more and trouble our selves for that which is not necessary to our Journey Why should we at any time deal unjustly to attain any of this World's Goods They will stand us in stead for so little a while that we can have no temptation to injure or oppress any Man to break the Peace of our Consciences and to wound our Souls for the attaining of them If the Providence of God offer them to us and bring them to our hands in the use of Honest Diligence and Lawful Means as we are not to refuse them so neither are we to set our Hearts upon them nor to suffer our Affections to be entangled in them The wisest Use we can make of them will be to do like those who traffick in Foreign Parts to consign our Estates into our own Native Country to send our Treasures before us into the other World that we may have the Benefit of them when we come there And this we may do by Alms and Charity Whatever we spend upon the Flesh we leave behind us and it will turn to no account to us in our own Country but whatever we lay out for the Relief of the Poor is so much Treasure laid out and secured to our selves against another day So our Blessed Saviour assures us Luk. 12. 33. That giving of Alms is providing for our selves Bags that wax not old a Treasure in the Heavens that faileth not II. If We be Pilgrims and Strangers then it concerns us to behave our selves with great Caution and to live blamelesly and inoffensively remembering that the Eyes of People are upon us and that those among whom we Sojourn will be very prying and curious and narrow Observers of our Manners and Carriage They that are in a strange Country are not wont to take that Liberty and Freedom which the Natives of the place may do but to keep a perpetual Guard upon themselves knowing how strictly they are observed and that they live among those who bear no Good Will to them and that every Bad Thing we do reflects upon our Nation and is a Reproach to the Country to which we belong Ye are not of the World says our Lord if ye were of the World the World would love its own but ye are not of the World therefore the World hateth you Upon this account the Apostle chargeth Christians to be Harmless and Blameless and as it becomes the Sons of God to be in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation
malice and cruelty of the world could do unto them And if we would consider all things together and mind the invisible things of another world as well as the things which are seen we should easily discern that he who suffers for God and Religion does not renounce his happiness but put it out to Interest upon terms of greatest advantage and does wisely consider his own best and and most lasting interest This is the First II. This will yet more evidently appear if we consider the temporary injoyments of sin together with the mischiefs and inconveniencies attending and consequent upon them That as to the nature of them they are mixt and imperfect as to the duration of them they are short and but for a season and as to the final issue and consquence of them that they end in misery and sorrow 1. As to the nature of them all the pleasures and enjoyments of sin are mixt and imperfect A wicked Man may make a shew of mirth and pleasure but even in laughter his heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness There can be no true and sincere pleasure in any sinful and vitious course tho it be attended with all the Pomp and Splendor of outward Happiness and Prosperity for where ever sin and vice is there must be guilt and whereever guilt is the mind will be restless and unquiet For there are two very troublesome and tormenting passions which are naturally consequent upon guilt Shame and Fear Shame arising from the apprehension of the danger of being discovered and Fear from the apprehension of the danger of being punisht And these do continually haunt the sinner and fill him with inward horror and confusion in his most secret retirements And if sin were attended with no other trouble but the guilt of it a wise Man would not commit it if it were for no other reason but meerly for the peace and quiet of his own mind 2. The enjoyments of sin as to the duration of them are but short Upon this consideration Moses set no great price and value upon them but preferred affliction and suffering in good company and in a good cause before the temporary enjoyments of sin If the enjoyments of this world were perfect in their nature and had no mixture of trouble and sorrow in them Yet this would be a great abatement of them that they are of so short and uncertain a continuance The pleasure of most sins expires with the act of them and when that is done the delight vanisheth I cannot deny but there are several worldly advantages to be purchased by sin which may perhaps be of a longer continuance as Riches and Honours the common purchase of Covetousness and Ambition and of that long train of inferiour Vices which attend upon them and minister unto them but even these enjoyments are in their own nature of an uncertain continuance and much more uncertain for being purchased by indirect and ill means But if the enjoyment of these things were sure to be of the same date with our lives yet how short a duration is that compared with Eternity make the utmust allowance to these things that can be yet we can but enjoy them whilst we are in this world When we come into the world of spirits it will signifie nothing to us to have been rich or great in this world When we shall stand before that highest Tribunal it will not avail us in the least to have been Princes and great Men and Judges on the Earth the poorest Man that ever lived in this world will then be upon equal terms with the bigest of us all For all mankind shall then stand upon a level and those civil distinctions of rich and poor of base and honourable which seem now so considerable and make such a glaring difference amongst Men in this world shall all then be laid aside and moral differences shall only take place All the distinctions which will then be made will be betwixt the good and the bad the righteous and the wicked and the difference betwixt a good and bad Man will be really much greater than ever it seemed to be betwixt the highest and meanest persons in this world And if this be so why should we value the enjoyments of sin at so high a rate which at the best are only considerable and that only in the imagination of vain Men during our abode in this world but bear no price at all in that Country where we must live for ever Or if they did we cannot carry them along with us The guilt of them indeed will follow us with a vengance the injustice and all the ill arts we have used for the getting or keeping of them especially if at once we have made Shipwreck of Faith and a good Conscience If we have changed our Religion or which is much worse if continuing in the profession of it we have betrayed it and the interest of it for the gaining or securing of any of these things we shall find to our sorrow that tho the enjoyments of sin were but for a season the guilt of it will never leave us nor forsake us but will stick close to us and make us miserable for ever But this belongs to the III. Thing I proposed to speak to namely The final issue and consequence of a sinful course which is misery and sorrow many times in this world but most certainly in the next 1. In this world the very best issue and consequence of a sinful course that we can imagin is Repentance And even this hath a great deal of sensible pain and trouble in it for it is many times especially after great sins and a long continuance in them accompanied with much regret and horror with deep and piercing sorrow with dismal and despairing thoughts of God's mercy and with fearful apprehensions of his wrath and vengeance So that if this were the worst consequence of sin which indeed is the best no Man that considers and calculates things wisely would purchase the pleasure of any sin at the price of so much anguish and sorrow as a true and deep repentance will cost him especially since a true repentance does in many cases oblige Men to the restitution of that which hath been gained by sin if it hath been got by the injury of another And this consideration quite takes away the pleasure and profit of an ill gotten Estate Better never to have had it than to be obliged to refund it A wise Man will forbear the most pleasant meats if he know before-hand that they will make him deadly sick and that he shall never be at ease till he have brought them up again No Man that believes the threatnings of God and the judgment of another world would ever sin but that he hopes to retrieve all again by repentance But it is the greatest folly in the world to commit any sin upon this hope for that is to please ones self for the
Foundation of the Confession of Faith will proceed and what Testimonies and Proofs she chiefly intends to make use of for the Confirmation of Doctrines and Reformation of Manners in the Church And no doubt all Men do see very plainly to what purpose this Foundation is laid of so large a Rule of Faith And this being admitted how easie is it for them to confirm and prove whatever Doctrines and Practices they have a mind to establish But if this be a new and another Foundation than That which the Great Author and Founder of our Religion hath laid and built his Church upon viz. the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles it is no matter what they build upon it And if they go about to prove any thing by the new parts of this Rule by the Apocryphal Books which they have added to the ancient Canon of the Scriptures brought down to us by the general Tradition of the Christian Church and by their pretended unwritten Traditions we do with Reason reject this kind of Proof and desire them first to prove their Rule before they pretend to prove any thing by it For we protest against this Rule as never declared and owned by the Christian Church nor proceeded upon by the ancient Fathers of the Church nor by any Council whatsoever before the Council of Trent In vain then doth the Church of Rome vaunt it self of the Antiquity of their Faith and Religion when the very Foundation and Rule of it is but of Yesterday a new thing never before known or heard of in the Christian World Whereas the Foundation and Rule of Our Religion is the Word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures to which Christians in all Ages have appealed as the only Rule of Faith and Life I proceed now to the 3. Thing I proposed viz. that we are to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering against all the Temptations and Terrours of the World And this seems more especially and principally to be here intended by the Apostle in this Exhortation I shall first speak of the Temptations of the World And they are chiefly these Two the Temptation of Fashion and Example And of worldly Interest and Advantage 1. Of Fashion and Example This in Truth and Reality is no strong Argument and yet in Experience and Effect it is often found to be very powerful It is frequently seen that this hath many times too great an Influence upon weak and foolish Minds Men are apt to be carried down with the Stream and to follow a Multitude in that which is evil But more especially Men are prone to be swayed by great Examples and to bend themselves to such an Obsequiousness to their Superiours and Betters that in compliance with them they are ready not only to change their Affection to Persons and Things as They do but even their Judgment also and that in the greatest and weightest Matters even in Matters of Religion and the great concernments of another World But this surely is an Argument of a poor and mean Spirit and of a weak Understanding which leans upon the Judgment of another and is in truth the lowest degree of Servility that a reasonable Creature can stoop to and even beneath That of a Slave who in the midst of his Chains and Fetters doth still retain the Freedom of his Mind and Judgment But I need not to urge this upon considerate Persons who know better how to value their Duty and Obligation to God than to be tempted to do any thing contrary thereto meerly in compliance with Fashion and Example There are some Things in Religion so very plain that a wise and good Man would stand alone in the Belief and Practice of them and not be moved in the least by the contrary Example of the whole World It was a brave Resolution of Joshua though all Men should forsake the God of Israel and run aside to other Gods yet he would not do it Joshua 24. 15. If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom you will serve But as for me and my House we will serve the Lord. It was well resolv'd of Peter if he had not been too confident of his own Strength when he said to our Saviour Though all Men forsake thee yet will not I. 2. Another sort of Temptation and which is commonly more Powerful than Example is worldly Interest and Advantage This is a mighty Bait to a great Part of Mankind and apt to work very strongly upon the Necessities of some and upon the Covetousness and Ambition of others Some Men are tempted by Necessity which many times makes them do ugly and reproachful Things and like Esau for a Morsel of Meat to sell their Birth-right and Blessing Covetousness tempts others to be of that Religion which gives them the prospect of the greatest Earthly Advantage either for the increasing or securing of their Estates When they find that they cannot serve God and Mammon they will forsake the one and cleave to the other This was one of the great Temptations to many in the Primitive Times and a frequent Cause of Apostacy from the Faith an eager Desire of Riches and too great a Value for them as St. Paul observes 1 Tim. 6. 9 10. But they that will be Rich fall into Temptation and a Snare and into many foolish and hurtful Lusts which drown Men in Destruction and Perdition For the Love of Money is the Root of all Evil which while some have coveted after they have erred or been seduced from the Faith and pierced themselves through with many Sorrows This was the Temptation which drew off Demas from his Religion as St. Paul tells us 2 Tim. 4. 10. Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present World Ambition is likewise a great Temptation to proud and aspiring Minds and makes many Men false to their Religion when they find it a hinderance to their Preferment and they are easily perswaded that That is the best Religion which is attended with the greatest worldly Advantages and will raise them to the highest Dignity The Devil understood very well the Force of this Temptation when he set upon our Saviour and therefore reserv'd it for the last Assault He shewed him all the Kingdoms of the Earth and the Glory of them and said to him All this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me And when he saw this would not prevail he gave him over in despair and left him But though this be a very dazling Temptation yet there are Considerations of that Weight to be set over-against it from the Nature of Religion and the infinite Concernment of it to our immortal Souls as is sufficient to quench this fiery Dart of the Devil and to put all the Temptations of this World out of Countenance and to render all the Riches and Glory of it in comparison of the Eternal Happiness and Misery of the other World but as the very
small Dust upon the Balance What Temptation of this World can stand against that Argument of our Saviour if it be seriously weighed and considered What is a Man profited if he gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul If we would consider Things impartially and weigh them in a just and equal Balance the Things which concern our Bodies and this present Life are of no Consideration in comparison of the great and vast Concernments of our immortal Souls and the happy or miserable Condition of our Bodies and Souls to all Eternity And Religion is a Matter of this vast Concernment and therefore not to be bargained away and parted with by us for the greatest Things this World can offer There is no greater Sign of a sordid Spirit than to put a high Value upon Things of little Worth and no greater Mark of Folly than to make an unequal Bargain to part with Things of greatest Price for a slender and trifling Consideration As if a Man of great Fortune and Estate should sell the Inheritance of it for a Picture which when he hath it will not perhaps yield so much as will maintain him for one Year The Folly is so much the greater in Things of infinitely greater Value as for a Man to quit God and Religion to sell the Truth and his Soul and to part with his Everlasting Inheritance for a convenient Service for a good Customer and some present Advantage in his Trade and Profession or indeed for any Condition which the foolish Language of this World cal's a high Place or a great Preferment The Things which these Men part with upon these cheap Terms God and his Truth and Religion are to those who understand themselves and the just Value of their Immortal Souls Things of inestimable Worth and not to be parted with by a considerate Man for any Price that this World can bid And those who are to be bought out of their Religion upon such low Terms and so easily parted from it 't is much to be feared that they have little or no Religion to hold fast 2. As we are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering against the Temptations and Allurements of this World so likewise against the Terrors of it Fear is a Passion of great force and if Men be not very resolute and constant will be apt to stagger them and to move them from their stedfastness And therefore when the Case of Suffering and Persecution for the Truth happens we had need to hold fast the Profession of our Faith Our Saviour in the Parable of the Sower tells us that there were many that heard the Word and with joy received it but when Persecution and Tribulation arose because of the Word presently they were offended And though blessed be God this be not now our Case yet there was a Time when it was the general Case of Christians in the first beginning of Christianity and for several Ages after though with some Intermission and Intervals of Ease It was then a general Rule and the common Expectation of Christians That through many Tribulations they must enter into the Kingdom of God and that if any Man will live Godly in Christ Jesus he must suffer Persecution And in several Ages since those Primitive Times the sincere Professors of Religion have in divers places been exposed to most grievous Sufferings and Persecutions for the Truth And even at this day in several Places the faithful Servants of God are exercised with the sharpest and sorest Tryals that perhaps were ever heard of in any Age and for the sake of God and the constant Profession of his true Religion are tormented and killed all the day long and are accounted as Sheep for the slaughter It is Their hard Lot to be called to these cruel and bitter Sufferings and Our happy Opportunity to be call'd upon for their Relief Those of them I mean that have escaped that terrible Storm and Tempest and have taken Refuge and Sanctuary here among us and out of His Majesty's great Humanity and Goodness are by his Publick Letters recommended to the Charity of the whole Nation by the Name of Distressed Protestants Let us consider how much easier Our Lot and Our Duty is than Theirs as much as it is easier to compassionate the Sufferings and to relieve the Distresses of Others than to be such Sufferers and in such Distress Our Selves Let us make Their Case our Own and then we our selves will be the best Judges how it is fit for us to demean our selves towards them and to what degree we ought to extend our Charity and Compassion to them Let us put on their Case and Circumstances and suppose that We were the Sufferers and had fled to Them for Refuge the same Pity and Commiseration the same tender Regard and Consideration of our sad Case the same liberal and effectual Relief that we should desire and expect and be glad to have shewn and afforded to our selves let us give to them and then I am sure they will want no fitting Comfort and Support from us We enjoy blessed be the Goodness of God to us great Peace and Plenty and Freedom from Evil and Suffering And surely one of the best Means to have these Blessings continued to us and our Tranquility prolonged is to consider and relieve those who want the Blessings which we enjoy and the readiest way to provoke God to deprive us of these Blessings is to shut up the Bowels of our Compassion from our Distressed Brethren God can easily change the Scene and make our Sufferings if not in the same kind yet in one kind or other equal to theirs and then we shall remember the Afflictions of Joseph and say as his Brethren did when they fell into Trouble We are verily guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his Soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this Distress come upon us God alone knows what Storms the Devil may yet raise in the World before the End of it And therefore it concerns all Christians in all Times and Places who have taken upon them the Profession of Christ's Religion to consider well before-hand and to calculate the Dangers and Sufferings it may expose them to and to arm our selves with Resolution and Patience against the fiercest Assaults of Temptation considering the Shortness of all Temporal Afflictions and Sufferings in comparison of the Eternal and Glorious Reward of them and the Lightness of them too in comparison of the endless and intolerable Torments of another World to which every Man exposeth himself who forsakes God and renounceth his Truth and wounds his Conscience to avoid Temporal Sufferings And though Fear in many Cases especially if it be of Death and extream Suffering be a great Excuse for several Actions because it may Cadere in constantem virum happen to a resolute Man Yet in
of the Priest is necessary to the Validity and Virtue of the Sacraments then there is no Religion in the World that runs the Salvation of Men upon more and greater Hazards and Uncertainties and such as by no Care and Diligence of Man in working out his own Salvation are to be avoided and prevented As for the easier Terms of Salvation which they offer to Men they signifie nothing if they be not able to make them good which no Man can reasonably believe they can do that hath read the Bible and doth in any good measure understand the Nature of God and the Design of Religion For Instance That after the long Course of a most lewd and flagitious Life a Man may be reconciled to God and have his Sins forgiven at the last Gasp upon Confession of them to the Priest with that imperfect degree of Contrition for them which they call Attrition together with the Absolution of the Priest Now Attrition is a Trouble for Sin meerly for fear of the Punishment of it And this together with Confession and the Absolution of the Priest without any Hatred of Sin for the Evil and Contrariety of it to the holy Nature and Law of God and without the least Spark of Love to God will do the Sinner's business and put him into a state of Grace and Salvation without any other Grace or Disposition for Salvation but only the Fear of Hell and Damnation This I confess is easie but the great Difficulty is to believe it to be true And certainly no man that ever seriously considered the Nature of God and Religion can ever be persuaded to build the Hopes of his Salvation upon such a Quick-sand The Absolution of all the Priests in the World will not procure the Forgiveness of God for any Man that is not disposed for his Mercy by such a Repentance as the Gospel requires which I am sure is very different from that which is required by the Council of Trent They that offer Heaven to Men upon so very large and loose Terms give great Cause to suspect that they will never make good their Offer the Terms are so unreasonably cheap and easie that there must be some Fraud and False Dealing And on the other hand nothing ought to recommend our Religion more to a wise and considerate Man than that the Terms of Salvation which we propose to Men viz. Faith and Repentance and a sincere Obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel manifested in the Tenure of a Holy and Virtuous Life are not only perfectly agreeable to the plain and constant Declaration of Holy Scripture but do likewise naturally tend to engage Men most effectually to a good Life and thereby to make them meet to be made partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light And therefore every body ought to be afraid of a Religion which makes such lavish Offers of Salvation and to take heed how he ventures his Soul upon them For if after all the Hopes that are given of Salvation upon such and such Terms the Sinner do really miscarry and miss of Heaven it is but very ill Comfort to him to be put into a Fools Paradise for a Minute or two before he leaves the World and the next Moment after to find himself in the place of Torments I proceed to the 5. And Last Particular I mentioned as implied in the Exhortation here in the Text viz. That we hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering against all the cunning Arts and Insinuations of busie and disputing Men whose Design it is to unhinge Men from their Religion and to gain Proselytes to their Party and Faction To this purpose there are several Cautions given by our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles Matth. 24. 4. Take heed that no man deceive you for many shall come in my Name and shall deceive many Eph. 4. 14. That ye henceforth be no more Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every Wind of Doctrine by the slight of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word signifies the Cunning of Gamesters at Dice by the slight of Men and the cunning Craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive And Chap. 5. 6. Let no man deceive you with vain Words Col. 2. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain Deceit that is by Sophistry and vain Reasoning under a pretence of Philosophy Heb. 13. 9. Be not carried about with divers and strange Doctrines 2 Pet. 3. 17. Beware lest you also being led away with the Error of the Wicked fall from your own stedfastness And this Caution is enforc'd by an express Prediction of a great Apostasie which should happen in the Christian Church by which many should be seduced by pretence of Miracles and by several Arts of Deceit and Falshood This Apostasie St. Paul expresly foretels 2 Thess. 2. 1 2 3. We beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by Spirit that is by pretence to Inspiration nor by Word or Message nor by Letter as from us as that the Day of Christ is at hand Let no man deceive you by any means for that Day shall not come except there come a falling away and that Man of Sin be revealed the Son of Perdition And after a particular Description of him he adds v. 9. Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and lying Wonders and in all deceitfulness of Vnrighteousness in them that perish From all which he concludes v. 15. Therefore Brethren stand fast The particular nature and kind of this Apostasie the same Apostle describes more fully 1 Tim 4. 1 2 3. Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall apostatize from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils speaking Lies in Hypocrisie i. e. under a great Pretence of Sanctity spreading their pernicious Errours forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats This is a very lively and pat Description of that great Apostasie in the Christian Church which began in the Western Part of it and hath spread it self far and wide For there the Spirit of Error and Falshood has prevailed under an Hypocritical Pretence of their being the only True Church and True Christians in the World There Marriage and several sorts of Meat are forbidden to several Ranks and Orders of Men. All the Difficulty is what is here meant by Doctrines of Devils and these certainly can be no other than Doctrines tending to Idolatry which the Scripture every where doth in a particular manner ascribe to the Devil as the Inventer and great Promoter of it And this is very much confirmed by what we find added in some ancient Greek Copies in this Text which runs thus In the latter times some shall apostatize from the Faith for they shall worship the Dead as some also in Israel worshiped And then it follows
giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils So that the particular kind of Idolatry into which some part of the Christian Church should apostatize is here pointed at That they should worship Souls departed or the Spirits of dead Men which was part of the Heathen Idolatry into which the People of Israel did frequently relapse So that the Spirit of God doth here foretel such an Apostasie in some part of the Christian Church as the People of Israel were guilty of in falling into the Heathen Idolatry They shall be Worshipers of the Dead as the Israelites also were And this is the great and dangerous Seduction which the Christians are so much cautioned against in the New Testament and charged to hold fast the profession of the Faith against the cunning Arts and Insinuations of seducing Spirits not but as I said before that we are always to have an Ear open to Reason and to be ready to hearken and to yield to That whenever it is fairly proposed But to be over-reached and rooked out of one's Religion by little Sophistical Arts and Tricks is Childish and silly After we are upon due Trial and Examination of the Grounds of our Religion settled and established in it we ought not to suffer our selves to be removed from it by the groundless Pretences of Confident People to Infallibility and to be practised upon by Cunning Men who lie at catch to make Proselytes to their Party This is to be like Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every Wind of Doctrine And we ought to be the more careful of our selves because there never was any time wherein seducing Spirits were more bold and busie to pervert Men from the Truth Against These we should hold fast our Religion as a Man would do his Money in a Crowd It passeth in the World for a great Mark of Folly when a Man and his Money are soon parted But it is a sign of much greater Folly for a Man easily to quit his Religion especially to be caught by some such gross Methods as the Seducers I am speaking of commonly use and which lie so very open to Suspicion such as ill-designing Men are wont to practise upon a young Heir when they have insinuated themselves into his Company to make a Prey of him They charge him to tell no body in what Company he hath been not to ask the Counsel and Advice of his Friends concerning what they have been persuading him to because they for their own Interest will be sure to disswade him from it Just thus do these Seducers practise upon weak People They charge them not to acquaint their Minister with whom they have been nor what Discourse they have had about Religion nor what Books have been put into their Hands because then all their kind Design and Intention towards them will be defeated But above all they must be sure to read no Books on the other side because they are no competent Judges of Points of Faith and this reading on both sides will rather confound than clear their Understandings They tell them that they have stated the matter truly and would not for all the World deceive them and they may easily perceive by their earnest Application to them that nothing but Charity and a passionate desire of the Salvation of their Souls makes them take all these Pains with them But this is so gross a way of proceeding that any Man of common understanding must needs discern by this kind Treatment that these Men can have no honest Design upon them To come then to a more particular Consideration of the Arts and Methods which they use I mean particularly those of the Church of Rome in making Proselytes to their Religion As 1. In allowing them to be very competent and sufficient Judges for themselves in the Choice of their Church and Religion that is which is the True Church and Religion in which alone Salvation is to be had and yet telling them at the same time that they are utterly incapable of judging of particular Doctrines and Points of Faith and Practice but for these they must rely upon the Judgment of an Infallible Church when they are in it otherwise they will certainly run into damnable Errors and Mistakes about these things And they must of necessity allow them to be sufficient Judges for themselves in the Choice of their Religion as will be evident by considering in what Method they proceed with their intended Proselyte They propose to him to change his Church and his Religion because he is in the wrong and they will shew him a better and such a one as is the only True one and in which alone Salvation is to be had To perswade him hereto they offer him some Reasons and Arguments or give him Books to read containing Arguments to move him to make this Change to satisfie him of the Reasonableness and to convince him of the Necessity of it Now by this way of proceeding and they can take no other they do whether they will or no make the Person whom they are endeavouring to convert a Judge for himself which Church and Religion is best that which they would have him embrace and come over to or that which they would perswade him to forsake For to what end else do they offer him Reasons and Arguments to perswade him to leave our Church and to come over to theirs but that he may consider the Force and Weight of them and having considered them may judge whether they be of force sufficient to over-rule him to make this Change So that as unwilling as they are to make particular Persons judge for themselves about Points of Faith and about the Sense of Scripture confirming those Points because this is to leave every Man to his own private Spirit and Fancy and giddy Brain yet they are compelled by Necessity and against their own Principles to allow a Man in this case of chusing his Religion to be a Judge of the Reasons and Arguments which they offer to induce him thereto So that whether they will or no they must permit him to be a Judge for himself for this once but not to make a Practice of it or to pretend this Priviledge ever after For in acknowledgment of this great Favour of being permitted to judge for himself this once which they do unwillingly grant him and upon meer Necessity he is for ever after to resign up his Judgment to the Church And tho this Liberty be allowed pro hâc vice and properly to serve a turn i. e. in order to the changing of his Religion yet he is to understand that he is no fit and competent Judge of particular Points of Faith these he must all learn from the True Church when he is in it and take them upon her Authority and in so doing he shall do very prudently because She is infallible and cannot be deceived but He may But is there any Sense in all this that
Scripture or in the Doctrine and Practice of the Ancient Christian Church any Command or Example for the Worship of Images for the Invocation of Saints and Angels and the Blessed Virgin which do now make a great part of their Religion Nay is not the Doctrine of the Scriptures and of the Ancient Fathers plainly against all these Practices With what face then can it be said That the Church of Rome hath made a constant Visible Profession of the same Faith and Practice in all Ages from the time of Christ and his Apostles Or would the primitive Church of Rome if it should now visit the Earth again own the present Church of Rome to be the same in all Matters of Faith and practice that it was when they left it And whereas they demand of Us to shew a Visible Church from the time of Christ and his Apostles that hath always opposed the Church of Rome in those points of Doctrine and Practice which we Object to them what can be more impertinent than this Demand When they know that in all these Points we charge them with Innovations in Matters of Faith and Practice and say that those things came in by degrees several Ages after the Apostles time some sooner some later as we are able to make good and have done it And would they have us shew them a Visible Church that opposed these Errors and Corruptions in their Church before ever they appeared This we do not pretend to shew And supposing they had not been at all opposed when they appeared nor a long time after not till the Reformation yet if they be Errors and Corruptions of the Christian Doctrine and contrary to the Holy Scriptures and to the Faith and Practice of the Primitive Church there is no Prescription against Truth 'T is never too late for any Church to reject those Errors and Corruptions and to reform it self from them The bottom of all this Matter is they would have us to shew them a Society of Christians that in all Ages hath preserved it self free from all such Errors and Corruptions as we charge them withall or else we deny the Perpetual Visibility of the Catholick Church No such matter We say the Church of Christ hath always been Visible in every Age since Christ's time and that the several Societies of Christians professing the Christian Doctrine and Laws of Christ have made up the Catholick Church some parts whereof have in several Ages fallen into great Errors and Corruptions and no part of the Catholick into more and greater than the Church of Rome So that it requires the utmost of our Charity to think that they are a true tho a very unsound and corrupt Part of the Catholick Church of Christ. We acknowledge likewise that We were once involved in the like Degeneracy but by the mercy of God and pious care and prudence of those that were in Authority are happily rescued out of it and tho' we were not out of the Catholick Church before yet since our Reformation from the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome we are in it upon better Terms and are a much sounder Part of it and I hope by the Mercy and Goodness of God we shall for ever continue so So that to the Perpetual Visibility of Christ's Church it is not necessary that the whole Christian Church or indeed that any Part of it should be free from all Errors and Corruptions Even the Churches planted by the Apostles in the Primitive Times were not so St. Paul reproves several Doctrines and Practices in the Church of Corinth and of Colosse and of Galatia and the Spirit of God several Things in the Seven Churches of Asia and yet all these were true Parts and Members of the Catholick Church of Christ notwithstanding these Faults and Errors because they all agreed in the Main and Essential Doctrines of Christianity And when more and greater Corruptions grew upon the Church or any part of it the greater reason and need there was of a Reformation And as every particular Person hath a right to reform any thing that he finds amiss in himself so far as concerns himself so much more every National Church hath a Power within it self to reform it self from all Errors and Corruptions and by the Sanction of the Catholick Authority to confirm that Reformation which is our Case here in England And whatever part of the Church how great and eminent soever excludes from her Communion such a National Church for reforming her self from plain Errors and Corruptions clearly condemned by the Word of God and by the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Christian Church is undoubtedly Guilty of Schism And this is the Truth of the Case between us and the Church of Rome And no blind talk about a Perpetual Visible Church can render Us guilty of Schism for making a Real Reformation or acquit Them of it for casting us out of their Communion for that Cause 7. And Lastly to mention no more they pretend that we delude the People by laying too much stress upon Scripture and making it the only Rule of Faith and Manners whereas Scripture and Tradition together make up the entire Rule of Faith and not Scripture Interpreted by every Mans private Fancy but by Tradition carefully preserved in the Church So that it ought to be no wonder if several of their Doctrines and Practices cannot be so clearly made out by Scripture or perhaps seem contrary to it as it may be expounded by a private Spirit but not as Interpreted by the Tradition of the Church which can only give the true Sense of Scripture And therefore they are to understand that several of those Doctrines and Practices which we Object against are most clearly proved by the Tradition of their Church which is of equal Authority with Scripture In this Objection of theirs which they design for the Cover of all their Errors and Corruptions there are several things distinctly to be considered which I shall do as briefly as I can First Whereas it is suggested That We delude the People by laying too much stress upon the Scriptures which certainly we cannot well do if it be the Word of God it ought to be considered whether They do not delude and abuse them infinitely more in keeping the Scriptures from them and not suffering them to see That which they cannot deny to be at least a considerable Part of the Rule of Christian Doctrine and Practice Doth it not by this dealing of theirs appear very suspicious that they are extreamly afraid that the People should examine their Doctrine and Practice by this Rule For what other Reason can they have to conceal it from them Secondly Whereas they affirm that Scripture alone is not the Rule of Christian Faith and Practice but that Scripture and Oral Tradition preserved in the Church and delivered down from hand to hand makes up the entire Rule I would fain know whence they learn'd this new Doctrine
you and would pervert the Gospel of Christ but tho we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel to you than that which we have preached let him be accursed And those who were seduced by these Teachers he chargeth them with having in some sort quitted the Gospel of Christ and embraced another Gospel V. 6. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the Grace of Christ unto another Gospel So that they who thus pervert and corrupt the Christian Doctrine or Worship are plainly guilty of a partial Apostasie from Christianity and they who quit the purity of the Christian Doctrine and Worship and go over to the Communion of those who have thus perverted Christianity are in a most dangerous state and in the Judgment of St. Paul are in some sort removed unto another Gospel I shall now proceed in the III. Place to consider the Heinousness of this Sin And it will appear to be very Heinous if we consider what an affront it is to God and how great a contempt of him when God hath revealed his will to Mankind and sent no less Person than his own Son out of his own Bosom to do it and hath given such Testimonies to him from Heaven by signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost when he hath transmitted down to us so Faithful a Record of this Revelation and of the Miracles wrought to confirm it in the Books of the Holy Scriptures and when we our selves have so often declared our firm belief of this Revelation yet after all this to fall from it and deny it or any part of it or to embrace Doctrines and Practices plainly contrary to it This certainly cannot be done without the greatest affront and contempt of the Testimonies of God himself for it is in effect and by interpretation to declare that either we do not believe what God says or that we do not fear what he can do So St. John tells us 1 Ep. 5. 10. He that believeth not God hath made him a Lyar because he believeth not the record which God hath given of his Son And all along in this Epistle to the Hebrews the Apostle sets himself to aggravate this Sin calling it an Evil Heart of unbelief to depart from the living God Ch. 3 12. And he frequently calls it so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by way of eminency as being of all Sins the greatest and most heinous Ch. 10. 26. If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth That the Apostle here speaks of the Sin of Apostasie is plain from the whole scope of his discourse for having exhorted them before v. 23. to hold fast the Profession of their Faith without wavering not forsaking the assembling of themselves together he immediately adds for if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth that is if we fall off from Christianity after we have embraced it And Ch. 12 1. let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us that is the great Sin of Apostasie from Religion to which they were then so strongly tempted by that fierce Persecution which attended it and therefore he adds let us run with patience the race which is set before us that is let us arm our selves with patience against the Sufferings we are like to meet with in our Christian course To oppose the Truth and resist the clear Evidence of it is a great Sin and Men are justly condemned for it John 3. 19. This is the condemnation that light is come into the World and men loved darkness rather than light But to desert the Truth after we have been convinced of it to fall off from the Profession of it after we have embraced it is a much greater Sin Opposition to the Truth may proceed in a great measure from ignorance and prejudice which is a great extenuation and therefore St. Paul tells us that after all his violent Persecution of Christianity he found Mercy because he did it ignorantly and in unbelief To revolt from the Truth after we have made profession of it after we have known the way of righteousness to turn from the holy commandment this is the great aggravation The Apostle makes wilfulness an usual ingredient into the Sin of Apostasie if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth And as this Sin is one of the greatest affronts to God so it is the highest and most effectual disparagement of Religion for it is not so much considered what the Enemies of Religion speak against it because they speak evil of the things which they know not and of which they have had no Tryal and Experience but he that falls off from Religion after he hath made profession of it declares to the World that he hath tryed it and dislikes it and pretends to leave it because he hath not found that Truth and Goodness in it which he expected and upon long experience of it sees reason to prefer another Religion before it So that nothing can be more despiteful to Religion than this and more likely to bring it into contempt and therefore the Apostle v. 29. of this Chapter calls it a trampling under foot the Son of God and making the Blood of the Covenant a profane thing and offering despite to the Spirit of Grace for we cannot put a greater Scorn upon the Son of God who revealed this Doctrine to the World nor upon his Blood which was shed to confirm and seal the Truth of it and upon the Holy Ghost who came down in miraculous Gifts to give Testimony to it than notwithstanding all this to renounce this Doctrine and to forsake this Religion But we shall yet farther see the heinousness of this Sin in the terrible Punishment it exposeth Men to which was the IV. And Last thing I proposed to consider And this is represented to us in a most terrible manner not only in this Epistle but in other Places of Scripture This Sin is placed in the highest rank of pardonable Sins and next to the Sin against the Holy Ghost which our Saviour declares to be absolutely unpardonable And indeed the Scripture speaks very doubtfully of the pardonableness of this Sin as being near akin to that against the Holy Ghost being said to be an Offering despite to the Spirit of Grace In the 6th Chapter of this Epistle V. 4 5 6. the Apostle speaks in a very severe manner concerning the state of those who had apostatized from Christianity after the solemn Profession of it in Baptism it is impossible for those who were once enlightned that is baptized and have tasted of the Heavenly Gift that is Regeneration and were made Partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come that is have been instructed in the Christan Religion and endowed with the miraculous Powers of the Gospel-Age
us 1. That our Condition in this World is very troublesom and unsettled This I take to be principally intended in the Metaphor of Strangers and Pilgrims Such was the Life of the Patriarchs which is here spoken of in the Text they had no constant Abode and fixt Habitation but were continually wandering from one Kingdom and Country to another in which Travels they were exposed to a great many Hazards and Dangers Afflictions and Miseries Affronts and Injuries as we read at large in the History of their Travels in the Old Testament And such is our Condition in this World it is often troublesom and always uncertain and unsettled 'T is often very troublesom Not to insist upon the weak Condition of Infancy and Childhood the helplesness of that State and insufficiency of it for its own Preservation and the Supply of its natural Wants and Necessities Not to mention the dangerous Vanity and desperate Folly of Youth nor the Infirmities and Contempts the many tedious and wearisom Days and Nights that Old Age is commonly grieved and afflicted withal to that degree as to make Life not only unpleasant but almost an intolerable Burden to us Not to dwell upon these which yet take up and possess a great Share and Portion of our Lives If we look upon Man in his best State we shall find him as David hath long since pronounced on him to be altogether Vanity We need not go a Pilgrimage and travel into remote Countries to make Life more troublesom and uneasie In what part of the World soever we are even that which we improperly call our own Home and Native Country we shall meet with Trouble and Inconvenience enough to convince us that we are but Strangers in it More especially good Men are peculiarly liable to a great many Evils and Sufferings upon account of their Piety and Virtue They are not of the World as our Blessed Saviour tells his Disciples John 15. 19. and because they are not of the world therefore the world hateth them and taketh all opportunities and occasions to vex and persecute them in one kind or other either by doing all manner of Evil to them or by speaking all manner of Evil of them But suppose we escape Trouble upon this account there are abundance of common and natural Inconveniences which render Human Life very uneasie For either we must live alone or in the Company and Society of others One of these two is necessary and unavoidable Suppose we would live alone How few are there that can enjoy themselves tolerably alone for any considerable time For though there be a great deal too much of Self-love in Mankind and Men are generally extreamly fond of themselves yet I know not how it happens tho so it is that very few Men in the World care for their own Company or can endure for any considerable time to converse only with themselves nay for the most part they are sooner glutted with themselves and surfeited of their own Conversation than of the worst Company they can meet with a shrewd Sign as one would think that they know something worse by themselves than of any body else or at least they know it more certainly It is a wise and deep Saying of Aristotle whoever affects to be alone must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either a God or a Wild Beast either he must be sufficient for himself and want nothing or of so wild and savage a Disposition as to destroy every thing that is weaker and to run away from every thing that is stronger than himself Now Man is neither good enough to be contented and satisfied with himself nor bad enough to hate and avoid every body else and therefore he must enter into Society and keep Company with other Men. And if we go abroad into the World and try the Conversation of Men it cannot but grieve us to see a great many things which yet we must see every Day the Censoriousness and Uncharitableness and Insincerity of Men one towards another to see with what Kindness they will treat one another to the Face and how hardly they will use them behind their Backs If there were nothing else this one naughty Quality so common and reigning among Mankind were enough to make an honest and true-hearted Man one that loves Plainness and Sincerity to be heartily sick of the World and glad to steal off the Stage where there is nothing native and sincere but all personated and acted where the Conversation of a great part of Men is all designing and insidious full of Flattery and Flashood of good Words and ill Offices One speaketh peaceably to his Neighbour with his mouth but in his heart he lieth in wait as it is in the Prophet Jer. 9. 8. And when a Man hath done all the good turns he can and endeavoured to oblige every Man and not only to live inoffensively but exemplarily he is fairly dealt withal and comes off upon good Terms if he can but escape the ill Words of Men for doing well and obtain a Pardon for those things which truly deserve Praise But setting aside these and the like melancholy Considerations when we are in the Health and Vigour of our Age when our Blood is warm and our Spirits quick and the Humour of our Body not yet turned and sowred by great Disappointments and grievous Losses of our Estates or nearest Friends and Relations by a long Course of Afflictions by many cross Events and calamitous Accidents yet we are continually liable to all these and the perpetual Fear and Danger of them is no small Trouble and Uneasiness to our Minds and does in a great measure rob us of the Comfort and eat out the Pleasure and Sweetness of all our Enjoyments and by degrees the Evils we fear overtake us and as one Affliction and Trouble goes on another succeeds in the place of it like Job's Messengers whose bad Tidings and Reports of calamitous Accidents came so thick upon him that they overtook one another If we have a plentiful Fortune we are apt to abuse it to Intemperance and Luxury and this naturally breeds Bodily Pains and Diseases which take away all the Comfort and Enjoyment of a great Estate If we have Health it may be we are afflicted with Losses or deprived of Friends or cross'd in our Interests and Designs and one thing or other happens to impede and interrupt the Contentment and Happiness of our Lives Sometimes an unexpected Storm or some other suddain Calamity sweepeth away in an instant all that which with so much Industry and Care we have been gathering many Years Or if an Estate stand firm our Children are taken away to whose Comfort and Advantage all the Pains and Endeavours of our Lives were devoted Or if none of these happen as it is very rare to escape most or some of them yet for a Demonstration to us that God intended this World to be uneasie to convince us that a perfect state of Happiness
among whom we should shame as Lights The same Argument St. Peter useth 1 Pet. 2. 11 12. I beseech you as Pilgrims and Strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts having your Conversation honest among the Gentiles that is Considering that you are among Strangers and Enemies and therefore ought to be very careful to bring no Scandal upon your Holy Profession among those who will be ready to take all advantages against you Particularly we who pretend to the same Heavenly Country must be kind to one another and whilst we live among Strangers have no Quarrels amongst our Selves In a Strange Country it useth to be a Mighty Endearment of Men to one another that they are of the same Country and Fellow Citizens and this alone is commonly sufficient to unite their Affections and to link their Interests together But how little of this is to be seen among Christians how shamefully do they Quarrel among themselves in the midst of Enemies and Strangers as if they had no Relation to one another and never expected to meet at last in the same Country and there to live together for ever III. Let us be as Patient and Chearful as we can under all the Troubles and Afflictions which we meet with in this Life They who are in Strange Countries must expect to encounter many Injuries and Affronts and to be put to great Difficulties and Hardships Those which are lighter and more tolerable we must bear with Chearfulness Upon a Journey Men use to put on all the Pleasantness they can and to make Sport of all the Inconveniences of the Ways and Weather and little cross Accidents that befall them And thus if we had but the Art and Wisdom to do it many of the lesser Inconveniences of Humane Life might well enough be play'd off and made matter rather of Mirth and Diversion than of Melancholy and serious Trouble But there are some Evils and Calamities of Humane Life that are too heavy and serious to be Jested withal and require the greatest Consideration and a very great degree of Patience to Support us under them and enable us to bear them Decently as the Loss of Friends and dearest Relations as the Loss of an Only Son grown up to be well fixt and settled in a Virtuous Course and promising all the Comfort to his Parents that they themselves can wish These certainly are some of the Greatest Evils of this World and hardest to be born For Men may pretend what they will to Philosophy and Contempt of the World and of the Perishing Comforts and Enjoyments of it to the Extirpation of their Passions and an Insensibility of these things which the weaker and undisciplin'd part of Mankind keep such a Wailing and Lamentation about but when all is done Nature hath framed us as we are and hath planted in our Nature strong Inclinations and Affections to our Friends and Relations and these Affections are as naturally moved upon such Occasions and pluck every String of our Hearts as violently as extream Hunger and Thirst do gnaw upon our Stomachs And therefore it is foolish for any Man to pretend to love things mightily and to rejoyce greatly in the Enjoyment of them and yet to be so easily contented to lose them and to be parted from them This is to separate things which Nature hath strongly linked together Whatever we mightily love does thereby in some sort become part of our Selves and it cannot hand loose to us to be separated and divorced from us without Trouble no more than a Limb that is vitally and by strong Ligaments united to the Body can be dropt off when we please or rent from the Body without Pain And whoever pretends to have a mighty Affection for any thing and yet at the same time does pretend that he can contentedly and without any great Sense or Signification of Pain bear the Loss of it does not talk like a Philosopher but like an Hypocrite and under a grave Pretence of being a Wise is in truth an Ill-natured Man For most certainly in proportion to our Love of any thing will be our Trouble and Grief for the Loss of it So that under these great and heavier Strokes we had need both of Faith and Patience And indeed nothing but the firm Belief of a better Country that is an Heavenly another Life after this and a blessed Immortality in another World is sufficient to support a Man in the few and evil Days of his Pilgrimage and to sustain his Spirit under the great Evils and Calamities of this Life But This fully answers all That the Afflictions and Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us Nay that if we bear these Afflictions patiently and with a due Submission to the Will of God especially our Sufferings for his Truth and Cause it will certainly increase our Happiness in the other World and work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory IV. The Consideration of our Present Condition and of our Future Hopes should set us above the Fondness of Life and the slavish Fears of Death For our Minds will never be raised to their true pitch and hight till we have in some good measure conquered these two Passions and made them subject to our Reason As for this present Life and the Enjoyments of it What is it that we see in them that should make us so strangely to dote upon them Quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido This World at the best is but a very Indifferent place and he is the wisest Man that bears himself towards it with the most Indifferent Mind and Affection that is always willing to leave it and yet patient to stay in it as long as God pleaseth And as for Death tho' the Dread of it be natural yet why should the Terrors of it be so very surprising and amazing to us after we have consider'd that to a good and pious Soul it is no other but the Gate of Heaven and an Entrance into Eternal Life We are apt to wonder to see a Man undaunted at the approach of Death and to be not only contented but chearful at the Thoughts of his Departure out of this World this Sink of Sin and Vale of Misery and Sorrow Whereas if all things be duly considered it is a greater Wonder that Men are so patient to Live and that they are not glad of any fair Excuse and Opportunity of getting out of this strange Country and retiring Home and of ridding themselves of the Troubles and Inconveniences of Life For considering the numerous Troubles and Calamities we are liable to in a long Pilgrimage there are really but Three Considerations that I can readily think of that can make this World and our present Condition in it in any good measure tolerable to a wise Man viz. That God governs the World That we are not always to stay in it That there is a Happiness designed
and reserved for us in another place which will abundantly recompense and make amends to us for all the Troubles and Sufferings of this Life And yet it is strange to see how fast most Men cling to Life and that even in Old Age how they catch at every Twig that may but hold them up a little while and how fondly they hanker after a miserable Life when there is nothing more of Pleasure to be enjoy'd nothing more of Satisfaction to be expected and hoped for in it When they are just putting in to the Port and one would think should rejoyce at their very Hearts that they see Land yet how glad would they be then of any cross Wind that would carry them back into the Sea again As if they loved to be tost and were fond of Storms and Tempests Nay the very best of us even after we have made that acknowledgment of David I am a Stranger and a Sojourner with thee as all my Fathers were are apt with him to be still importuning God for a little longer Life O spare me a little that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more And when God hath granted us this Request then we would be spared yet a little longer But let us remember that God did not design us to continue always in this World and that he hath on purpose made it so uneasie to us to make us willing to leave it and that so long as we linger here below we are detained from our Happiness While we are present in the Body we are absent from the Lord. This Consideration made St. Paul so desirous to be dissolved because he knew that when his Earthly House of this Tabernacle was dissolved he should have a much better Habitation a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens This was that which made him so full of Joy and Triumph at the Thoughts of his leaving the World 2 Tim. 4. 6. I am now ready says he to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which God the righteous Judge shall give me in that day Nay the Consideration of this tho but obscurely apprehended by them did raise the Spirits of the wiser and better Heathen and fill them with great Joy and Comfort at the Thoughts of their Dissolution With what Constancy and Evenness of Mind did Socrates receive the Sentence of Death And with what excellent Discourse did he entertain his Friends just before he drank off the Fatal Cup and after he had taken it down whilst Death was gradually seizing upon him One can hardly without a very sensible Transport read Cato's Discourse concerning his Death as it is represented by Tully in his Book of Old Age. I am says he transported with a Desire of seeing my Fore-fathers those Excellent Persons of whom I have Heard and Read and Written and now I am going to them I would not willingly be drawn back into this World again Quod si quis Deus mihi largiatur ut ex hac aetate repuerascam in cunis vagiam valde recusem If some God would offer me at this Age to be a Child again and to cry in the Cradle I would earnestly refuse it and upon no terms accept it And now that my Race is almost run and my Course just finished how loth should I be to be brought back and made to begin again For what Advantage is there in Life Nay rather what Labour and Trouble is there not in it But let the Benefit of it be what it will there is certainly some Measure of Life as well as of other things and Men ought to know when they have enough of it O praeclarum diem cum in illud animorum consilium caetumque proficiscar cum ex hac turbâ colluvione discedam O Blessed and Glorious Day when I shall go to that great Council and Assembly of Spirits and have got out of this Tumult and Sink And if a Heathen who had but some obscure Glimmerings of another Life and of the Blessed State of departed Souls could speak thus chearfully of Death how much more may We who have a clear and undoubted Revelation of these things and to whom Life and Immortality are brought to Light by the Gospel V. We should alway prefer our Duty and the keeping of a good Conscience before all the World because it it is in truth infinitely more valuable if so be our Souls be immortal and do survive in another World and we must there give a strict Account of all the Actions done by us in this Life and receive the Sentence of Eternal Happiness or Misery according to the things done in the Body whether they be Good or whether they be Evil. For as our Saviour argues concerning the case of denying him and his Truth to avoid temporal Suffering and Death What is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul When we are tempted by temporal Interest and Advantage or by the Fear of present Loss and Suffering to deny or dissemble our Religion to do any thing that is sinful in any kind and contrary to our Duty and Conscience let us ask our selves What will be the Profit and Advantage of it What if for fear of Men and what they can do to me I incur the Wrath and Displeasure of Almighty God This is infinitely more to be dreaded and these Frowns are a thousand times more terrible than the bitterest Wrath and cruelest Malice of Men. What if to preserve this frail and mortal Body I shall evidently hazard the Loss of my Immortal Soul and to escape a Temporal Inconvenience I forfeit Everlasting Happiness and plunge my self into Eternal Misery and Ruine Would not this be a wild Bargain and a mad Exchange for any Temporal Gain and Advantage to lose the things that are Eternal And for the pleasing of our selves for a little while to make our selves miserable for ever If we confess our selves to be Pilgrims and Strangers on the Earth and are perswaded of the Promises of God concerning an Heavenly Country where we hope to arrive after the few and evil days of our Pilgrimage are over let us not by complying with the Humours of Strangers and the vitious Customs and Practices of an Evil World bar our selves of our Hopes and banish our selves from that happy Place to which we all profess we are going We pretend to be travelling towards Heaven but if we make shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience we destroy our own Hopes of ever arriving at that happy Port. We do not live up to our Expectation of a future Happiness if the unseen Glories of another World do not raise us above all the Temptations
Obedience and Self-denyal He begins with the Patriarchs before the Flood but insists chiefly upon the examples of two eminent Persons of their own Nation as nearest to them and most likely to prevail upon them the Examples of Abraham and Moses the one the Father of their Nation the other their great Lawgiver and both of them the greatest Patterns of Faith and Obedience and Self-denyal that the History of all former Ages from the beginning of the World had afforded I shall at this time by God's assistance treat of the first of these the Example of Abraham the Constancy of whose Faith and the cheerfulness of whose Obedience even in the difficultest Cases is so remarkable above all the other Examples mentioned in this Chapter For at the Command of God he left his Kindred and his Country not knowing whither he should go By which eminent Act of Obedience he declared himself to be wholly at God's Disposal and ready to follow him But this was no tryal in comparison of that here in my Text when God commanded him to offer up his only Son But such was the immutable stedfastness of his Faith and the perfect submission of his Obedience that it does not appear that he made the least check at it but out of perfect Reverence and Obedience to the Authority of the divine Command he went about it as readily and cheerfully as if God had bid him do some small thing By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac For the explication of which Words it will be requisite to consider two things First The Tryal or Temptation in general Secondly The Excellency of Abraham's Faith and Obedience upon this Tryal First The Tryal or Temptation in general It is said that Abraham when he was tryed the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being Tempted That is God intending to make Tryal of his Faith and Obedience and so it is exprest Gen. 22. 1. Where it is said that God did Tempt Abraham and said unto him take now thy Son thine only Son Now there are two difficulties concerning this matter It seems contrary to Scripture that God should Tempt any Man and contrary to Reason because God who knows what every Man will do needed not to make tryal of any Man's Faith or Obedience First It seems contrary to Scripture which say's God Tempts no Man and 't is most true that God Tempts no Man with a design to draw him into Sin but this doth not hinder but he may try their Faith and Obedience with great difficulties to make them the more illustrious Thus God Tempted Abraham and he permitted Job and even our Blessed Saviour himself to be thus Tempted Secondly It seems contrary to Reason that God who knows what any Man will do in any Circumstances should go to make Tryal of it But God does not try Men for his own information but to give an illustrious Proof and Example to others of Faith and Obedience And tho after this Tryal of Abraham God says to him now I know that thou lovest me because thou hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son from me Yet we are to understand this as spoken after the manner of Men As God elsewhere speaks to Abraham concerning Sodom I will go down now to see whether they have done altogether aecording to the cry which is come up unto me and if not I will know I proceed to the Second thing I proposed The Excellency of Abraham's Faith and Obedience upon this Tryal By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac God accepts of it as if he had done it because he had done it in part and was ready to have performed the rest if God had not countermanded him And this act of Faith and Obedience in Abraham will appear the more illustrious if we consider these three things First The firmness and stedfastness of his Faith notwithstanding the objections against it Secondly The constancy of his resolution notwithstanding the difficulty of the thing Thirdly The reasonableness of his Faith in that he gave satisfaction to himself in so hard and perplext a Case First The firmness and stedfastness of his Faith will appear if we consider what objections there were in the case enough to shake a very strong Faith There were three great objections against this Command and such as might in reason make a wise and good Man doubtful whether this Command were from God The horrid nature of the thing commanded The grievous scandal that might seem almost unavoidably to follow upon it And the horrible consequence of it which seemed to make the former promise of God to Abraham void First the horrid nature of the thing commanded which was for a Father to kill his own Child this must needs appear very barbarous and unnatural and look liker a Sacrifice to an Idol than to the true God It seemed to be against the Law of Nature and directly contrary to that kindness and affection which God himself had planted in the hearts of Parents towards their Children And there is no affection more natutural and strong than this for there are many persons that would redeem the Lives of their Children with the hazard of their own Now that God hath planted such an affection in Nature is an argument that it is good and therefore it could not but seem strange that he should command any thing contrary to it And in this case there were two circumstances that increased the horrour of the fact That his Son was innocent and that he was to Slay him with his own hands First That his Son was Innocent It would grieve the heart of any Father to give up his Son to Death tho he were never so undutiful and disobedient So passionately was David affected with the death of his Son Absolom as to wish he had dyed for him tho he dyed in the very act of Rebellion and tho the saving of his Life had been inconsistent with the Peace of his Government How deep then must it sink into the heart of a Father to give up his innocent Son to death And such a Son was Isaac for any thing appeared to the contrary God himself gave him this testimony that he was the Son whom his Father loved and there is no intimation of any thing to the contrary Now this could not but appear strange to a good Man that God should command an innocent person to be put to death But Secondly That a Father should be commanded not only to give up his Son to death but to slay him with his own Hands not only to be a Spectator but to be the Actor in this Tragedy What Father would not shrink and start back at such a Command What good Man especially in such a case and where Nature was so hard prest would not have been apt to have looked upon such a Revelation as this rather as the suggestion and illusion of an evil Spirit than a Command of God And yet Abraham's Faith was
not staggered so as to call this Revelation of God in question Secondly The grievous scandal that might seem almost unavoidably to follow upon it was another great objection against it the report of such an action would in all appearance blemish the reputation even of so good a Man amongst all sober and considerate persons who could hardly forbear to censure him as a wicked and unnatural Man And this was a hard case for a Man to be put to Sacrifice at once two of the dearest things in the world his Reputation and his Son nor could he have easily defended himself from this imputation by alledging an express Revelation and Command of God for it for who would give credit to it A Revelation to another Man is nothing to me unless I be assured that he had such a Revelation which I cannot be but either by another immediate revelation or by some Miracle to confirm it The act had an appearance of so much horrour that it was not easily credible that God should command it and if every Mans confident pretence to revelation be admitted the worst actions may plead this in their excuse So that this pretence would have been so far from excusing his fault that it must rather have been esteemed a high aggravation of it by adding the boldest Impiety to the most barbarous Inhumanity But Abraham was not stumbled at this nor at the advantage which the Enemies of his Religion would make of such an occasion who would be ready to say Here is your excellent good Man and likely to be a Friend of God who was so cruel an Enemy to his own Son All this 't is probable he might consider but it did not move him being resolved to obey God and to leave it to his Wisdom to provide against all the inconveniencies that might follow upon it Thirdly The strongest Objection of all was the horrible consequence of the thing which seemed to clash with former Revelations and to make void the promise which God had before made to Abraham That in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed which promise was expresly limited to Isaac and his Posterity who had then no Son And of this difficulty the Apostle takes express notice in the Text that he that had received the promises that is was persuaded of the truth and faithfulness of them offered up his only begotten Son of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy Seed be called And this Objection is really so strong that if Abraham could not have given himself satisfaction about it he might justly have questioned the truth of the Revelation for no Man can possibly entertain two contradictory Revelations as from God but he must of necessity question one or both of them but so strong was Abraham's Faith as not to be shaken by the seeming contradiction of these two Revelations II. We will consider the constancy of his Resolution to obey God notwithstanding the harshness and difficulty of the thing Tho Abraham were firmly persuaded that this Command to kill his Son was really from God yet it is no easie matter for a Man to bring himself to obey God in so difficult a case and out of meer reverence to the Divine Authority to divest himself of his Nature and to thwart the strongest inclinations of it a Man would be very apt to confer with flesh and blood in such a case Let but any Man that knows what it is to be a Father lay his hand upon his heart and consider his own Bowels and he will be astonished at Abraham's Obedience as well as his Faith To take his Son his only Son his Son whom he loved and in whom he placed all his hopes of a happy Posterity and with his own hands to destroy him and all his hopes together it must be a strong Faith that will engage a Man to Obedience in so difficult an instance There is one circumstance more especially which renders Abraham's Obedience very remarkable The deliberateness of the action It had not been so much if so soon as he had received this Command from God he had upon a suddain impulse and transport of zeal done this But that his Obedience might be the more glorious and have all the circumstances of advantage given to it God would have it done deliberately and upon full consideration and therefore he bad him go to the Mountain three daies Journey from the place where he was and there to offer up his Son It is in acts of Virtue and Obedience as in acts of Sin and Vice the more deliberate the Sin is and the more calm and sedate temper the Man is in when he commits it the greater is the fault whereas what is done by surprize in the heat of Temptation or transport of Passion hath some excuse from the suddainness and indeliberateness of it So is it in acts of Virtue and Obedience especially if they be attended with considerable difficulty the more deliberately they are done the more virtuous they are and the greater praise is due to them Now that Abraham's Obedience might want nothing to highten it God seems on purpose to have put so long a space betwixt the Command and the performance of it he gives him time to cool upon it to weigh the command and to look on every side of this difficult duty he gives scope for his reason to argue and debate the case and opportunity for natural affection to play its part and for flesh and blood to raise all its batteries against the resolution which he had taken up And now we may easily imagin what conflict this good Man had within himself during those three daies that he was travelling to the Mountain in Moriah and how his heart was ready to be rent in pieces betwixt his duty to God and his affection to his Child so that every step of this unwelcome and wearisome journey he did as it were lay violent hands upon himself He was to offer up his Son but once but he Sacrificed himself and his own Will every moment for three days together and when he came thither and all things were ready the Altar the Wood and the Fire and the Knife it must needs be a stabbing Question and wound him to the Heart which his Innocent Son so innocently askt him Where is the Lamb for a Burnt-Offering It must be a strong Faith indeed and a mighty Resolution that could make him to hold out three days against the violent Assaults of his own Nature and the charming Presence of his Son enough to melt his Heart as often as he cast his Eyes upon him and yet nothing of all this made him to stagger in his Duty but being strong in Faith he gave glory to God by one of the most miraculous acts of Obedience that ever was exacted from any of the Sons of Men. III. In the Third and last place I come to consider the Reasonableness of his Faith in that he was able