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
of the Rule of Faith I know that the Council of Trent declares it for the Rule they intend to proceed upon and make use of for the Confirmation and Proof of their following Determinations and Decrees But did any of the ancient Councils of the Christian Church lay down this Rule and proceed upon it Did not Constantine the Emperour at the opening of the First General Council lay the Bible before them as the only Rule according to which they were to proceed and this with the Approbation of all those Holy Fathers that were assembled in that Council And did not following Councils proceed upon the same Rule Do any of the ancient Fathers ever mention any Rule of Christian Faith and Practice besides the Holy Scriptures and the ancient Creed which because it is an Abridgment of the necessary Articles of Christian Faith contained in the Holy Scriptures is by them frequently called the Rule of Faith Do not the same Fathers frequently and expresly say That the Scriptures are a perfect Rule and that all things are plainly contained in them which concern Faith and Life and that whatever cannot be proved by Testimony of Scripture is to be rejected All this I am sure I can make good by innumerable express Testimonies of the ancient Fathers which are well known to those that are versed in them By what Authority then hath the Council of Trent set up this new Rule unknown to the Christian Church for 1500 Years and who gave them this Authority The plain truth is the necessity of it for the Defence of the Errors and Corruptions which they had embraced and were resolved not to part with forced them to lengthen out the Rule the old Rule of the Holy Scriptures being too short for their purpose Thirdly Whereas they pretend that Holy Scripture as expounded by a private Spirit may not seem so favourable to some of their Doctrines and Practices yet as interpreted by Tradition which can only give the true Sense of Scripture it agrees very well with them I suppose they mean that whereas a private Spirit would be apt to understand some Texts of Scripture as if People were to search and read the Scripture Tradition interprets those Texts in a quite other Sense that People are not to be permitted to read the Holy Scriptures A private Spirit would be apt to understand St. Paul's Discourse in the 14th of the 1st to the Corinthians to be against Celebrating Prayer and the Service of God in an unknown Tongue as being contrary to Edification and indeed to common Sense For he says If one should come and find them speaking and praying in an unknown Tongue will they not say Ye are mad But now Tradition which only knows how to give the true Sense can reconcile this Discourse of St. Paul very easily with the Practice of the Church of Rome in this matter And so likewise the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians with the Worship of Angels and the Epistle to the Hebrews with offering the Propitiatory Sacrifice of Christ in the Mass a Thousand times every Day And to give but one Instance more Whereas a Man by his private Spirit would be very apt to understand the Second Commandment to forbid all Worship of Images Tradition discovers the meaning of this Commandment to be that due Veneration is to be given to them So that at this rate of interpreting Scripture by Tradition it is impossible to fix any Objection from Scripture upon any Doctrine or Practice which they have a mind to maintain Fourthly Whereas they pretend the Tradition of their Church delivered from the Mouth of Christ or dictated by the Holy Spirit and brought down to them and preserved by continnal Succession in the Church to be of equal Authority with the Word of God for so the Council of Trent says That the Holy Synod doth receive and venerate these Traditions with equal pious Affection and Reverence as they do the written Word of God This we must declare against as unreasonable in it self to make Tradition conveyed by Word of Mouth from one to another through so many Ages and liable to so many Mistakes and Miscarriages to be at the distance of 1500 Years of equal Certainty and Authority with the Holy Scriptures carefully preserved and transmitted down to us because this as I said before is to make common Rumor and Report of equal Authority and Certainty with a written Record And not only so but hereby they make the Scriptures an imperfect Rule contrary to the declared Judgment of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Christian Church and so in truth they set up a new Rule of Faith whereby they change the Christian Religion For a new Rule of Faith and Religion makes a new Faith and Religion This we charge the Church of Rome with and do challenge them to shew this new Rule of Faith before the Council of Trent and consequently where their Religion was before that Council to shew a Religion consisting of all those Articles which are defined by the Council of Trent as necessary to Salvation and established upon this new Rule professed by any Christian Church in the World before that time And as they have pitch'd upon a new Rule of Faith so it is easie to see to what End For take Pope Pius IV. his Creed and we may see where the Old and New Religion parts even at the end of the Twelve Articles of the Aplostles Creed which was the ancient Christian Faith to which are added in Pope Pius his Creed Twelve Articles more defined in the Council of Trent and supported only by Tradition So that as the Scripture answers for the Twelve old Articles which are plainly contained there so Tradition is to answer for the Twelve new ones And therefore the matter was calculated very exactly when they make Tradition just of equal Authority with the Scriptures because as many Articles of Their Faith were to be made good by it and rely upon it as those which are proved by the Authority of Scripture But that Tradition is of equal Authority with the Scriptures we have nothing in the whole World for it but the bare Assertion of the Council of Trent I should now have added some other Considerations tending to confirm and establish us in our Religion against the Pretences and Insinuations of Seducing Spirits But I shall proceed no farther at present The Tenth Sermon as number'd follows THere is a mistake in Numbering of these Sermons The Tenth should be called the Ninth and so on to the end For there are but Fifteen Sermons in this Volume and should be no more A SERMON HEB. X. 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that hath promised THESE words contain an Exhortation to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering and an Argument or Encouragement thereto because he is faithful that hath promised By the Exhortation to hold fast the
to him did and suffered more for us than any Man ever did for his best Friend If we should be reduced to Poverty and Want let us consider Him Who being Lord of all had not where to lay his head who being rich for our sakes became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich If it should be our lot to be persecuted for righteousness sake and exercised with Sufferings and Reproaches Let us look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who endured the Cross and despised the shame for our sakes In a Word can we be discontented at any Condition or decline it in a good Cause when we consider how Contented the Son of God was in the meanest and most destitute how Meek and Patient in the most afflicted and suffering Condition how he welcomed all Events and was so perfectly resigned to the Will of his Heavenly Father that whatever pleased God pleased him And surely in no Case is Example more necessary than in this to engage and encourage us in the discharge of so difficult a Duty so contrary to the bent and inclination of Flesh and Blood A bare Precept of Self-denial and a peremptory Command to sacrifice our own Wills our Ease our Pleasure our Reputation yea and Life it self to the Glory of God and the Maintenance of his Truth would have sounded very harsh and severe had not the Practice of all this been mollified and sweetned by a Pattern of so much advantage by One who in all these respects denied himself much more than it is possible for us to do by One who might have insisted upon a greater Right who abased himself and stooped from a greater Hight and Dignity who was not forced into a condition of Meanness and Poverty but chose it for our sakes who submitted to Suffering tho he had never deserved it Here is an Example that hath all the Argument and all the Encouragement that can be to the imitation of it Such an Example is of greater force and authority than any Precept or Law can be So that well might our Lord thus going before us command us to follow him and say If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me For if He thus denied himself well may We who have much less to deny but much more Cause and Reason to do it He did it voluntarily and of choice but it is our Duty He did it for our sakes we do it for our own His own Goodness moved him to deny himself for us but Gratitude obligeth us to deny our selves in any thing for him We did not in the least deserve any thing from him but he hath wholly merited all this and infinitely more from us So that such an Example as this is in all the Circumstances of it cannot but be very powerful and effectual to oblige us to the Imitation of it But the Reasonableness of this Precept will yet farther appear if we consider in the Third place That God hath promised to all Sincere Christians all needful Supplies of his Grace to inable them to the discharge of this difficult Duty of Self-denial and to support and comfort them therein For the Spirit of Christ dwells in all Christians and the same Glorious Power that raised up Jesus from the Dead works mightily in them that believe Eph. 1. 19. That ye may know saith St. Paul speaking in general to all Christians what is the exceeding greatness of his Power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead Of our selves we are very weak and the Temptations and Terrors of the world very powerful but there is a Principle residing in every true Christian able to bear us up against the World and the power of all its Temptations Whatsoever is born of God saith St. John overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith Ye are of God little children and have overcome because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world And this Grace and Strength was afforded to the first Christians in a most Extraordinary manner for their Comfort and Support under Sufferings So that they were strengthned with all Might according to God's glorious Power unto all long-suffering with joyfulness as St. Paul prays for the Colossians Ch. 1. 11. And these Consolations of the Spirit of God this Joy in the Holy Ghost was not peculiarly appropriated to the first times of Christianity but is still afforded to all sincere Christians in such degree as is necessary and convenient for them And whenever God exerciseth Good Men with tryals more than humane and such Sufferings as are beyond the ordinary rate of humane Strength and Patience to bear he hath promised to endue them with more than humane Courage and Resolution So St. Paul tells the Corinthians 1 Cor. 10. 13. He is faithful that hath promised who will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it And why should we be daunted at any Suffering if God be pleased to increase our Strength in proportion to the Sharpness of our Sufferings And Blessed be God many of our persecuted Brethren at this day have remarkably found this comfortable Assistance and Support tho many likewise have fallen through fear and weakness as it also hapen'd in the Primitive times But where ever this Promise is not made good it is as I have formerly said by reason of some Fault and Failing on our part Either Men were not Sincere in the profession of the Truth and then no wonder If when Tribulation and Persecution ariseth because of the Word they are offended and fall off Or else they were too Confident to themselves and did not seek God's Grace and Assistance and relie upon it as they ought and thereupon God hath left them to themselves as he did Peter to convince them of their own Frailty and rash Confidence and yet even in that case when there is Truth and Sincerity at the bottom there is no Reason to doubt but that the Goodness of God is such as by some means or other to give to such persons as he did to Peter the oportunity of recovering themselves by Repentance and a more stedfast Resolution afterwards 4. If we consider in the last place that our Saviour hath assured us of a Glorious and Eternal Reward of all our Self-denial and Sufferings for him a Reward Infinitely beyond the proportion of our Sufferings both in the Degree and Duration of it Now the clear discovery of this is peculiarly owing to the Christian Religion and the appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished Death and brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel And as our Blessed Saviour hath assured us of