another but Truth is always consistent with it self and needs nothing to help it out it is always near at hand and sits upon our Lips and is ready to drop out before we are aware whereas a Lye is troublesome and sets a Mans invention upon the Rack and one trick needs a great many more to make it good It is like building upon a false Foundation which continually stands in need of props to shoar it up and proves at last more chargable than to have raised a substantial Building at first upon a true and solid Foundation for Sincerity is firm and substantial and there is nothing hollow and unsound in it and because it is plain and open fears no discovery of which the Crafty Man is always in danger and when he thinks he walks in the dark all his pretences are so transparent that he that runs may read them he is the last Man that finds himself to be found out and whilst he takes it for granted that he makes Fools of others he renders himself ridiculous Add to all this that Sincerity is the most compendious Wisdom and an excellent instrument for the speedy dispatch of Business it creates confidence in those we have to deal with saves the labour of many enquiries and brings things to an issue in few words It is like travelling in a plain beaten Road which commonly brings a Man sooner to his Journeys end than By-ways in which Men often lose themselves In a word whatsoever convenience may be thought to be in falshood and dissimulation it is soon over but the inconvenience of it is perpetual because it brings a Man under an everlasting jealousie and suspicion so that he is not believed when he speaks truth nor trusted when perhaps he means honestly When a Man hath once forfeited the reputation of his Integrity he is set fast and nothing will then serve his turn neither Truth nor Falshood And I have often thought that God hath in great Wisdom hid from Men of false and dishonest minds the wonderful advantages of Truth and Integrity to the prosperity even of our worldly Affairs these Men are so blinded by their Covetousness and Ambition that they cannot look beyond a present advantage nor forbear to seize upon it tho by ways never so indirect They cannot see so far as to the remote Consequences of a steady Integrity and the vast benefit and advantages which it will bring a Man at last Were but this sort of Men wise and clear-sighted enough to discern this they would be honest out of very Knavery not out of any love to Honesty and Vertue but with a crafty design to promote and advance more effectually their own Interests and therefore the Justice of the Divine Providence hath hid this truest point of Wisdom from their Eyes that bad men might not be upon equal Terms with the Just and Upright and serve their own wicked Designs by honest and lawful means Indeed if a man were only to deal in the world for a day and should never have occasion to converse more with Mankind never more need their good opinion or good Word it were then no great matter speaking as to the concernments of this world if a man spent his Reputation all at once and ventured it at one throw but if he be to continue in the world and would have the advantage of Conversation whilst he is in it let him make use of Truth and Sincerity in all his Words and Actions for nothing but this will last and hold out to the end all other Arts will fail but Truth and Integrity will carry a man through and bear him out to the last 'T is the Observation of Solomon Prov. 12. 19. The lip of Truth is established for ever but a lying Tongue is but for a moment And the wiser any man is the more clearly will he discern how serviceable Sincerity is to all the great ends and purposes of humane life and that man hath made a good progress and profited much in the School of Wisdom who valueth Truth and Sincerity according to their worth Every man will readily grant them to be great Vertues and Arguments of a generous mind but that there is so much of true Wisdom in them and that they really serve to profit our interest in this World seems a great Paradox to the generality of Men and yet I doubt not but it is undoubtedly true and generally found to be so in the experience of Mankind Lastly Consider that it is not worth our while to dissemble considering the shortness and especially the uncertainty of our Lives To what purpose should we be so cunning when our abode in this world is so short and uncertain Why should any man by dissembling his Judgment or acting contrary to it incur at once the displeasure of God and the discontent of his own mind Especially if we consider that all our Dissimulation shall one day be made manifest and published on the open Theatre of the World before God Angels and Men to our everlasting Shame and Confusion all Disguise and Vizards shall then be pluckt off and every man shall appear in his true Colours For then the Secrets of Men shall be judged and God will bring every Work into Judgment and every secret thing whether it be Good or whether it be Evil. Nothing is now covered which shall not then be revealed nor hid which shall not then be known Let us then be now what we would 〈◊〉 glad to be found in that day when all pretences shall be examined and the closest Hypocrisie of Men shall be laid open and dasht out of Countenance when the Secrets of all Hearts shall be disclosed and all the hidden Works of Darkness shall be revealed and all our Thoughts Words and Actions shall be brought to a strict and severe Tryal and be censured by that impartial and infallible Judgment of God which is according to Truth In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Glory now and for ever Amen A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL MDCLXXXVI Before the Princess ANN. HEB. XI 17 18 19. By Faith Abraham when he was Tryed offered up Isaac And he that had received the Promises offered up his only begotton Son Of whom it was said That in Isaac shall thy Seed be called Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the Dead From whence also he received him in a Figure THE design of this Epistle to the Hebrews is to recommend to them the Christian Religion to which they were but newly Converted and to encourage them to Constancy in the profession of it notwithstanding the Sufferings which attended it He sets before them in this Chapter several examples in the Old Testament of those who tho they were under a much more imperfect dispensation yet by a stedfast belief in God and his promises had performed such wonderful acts of
after the reality of Religion always remembring that a sincere Piety doth not consist in shew but substance not in appearance but in effect that the Spirit of true Religion is still and calm charitable and peaceable making as little shew and stir as is possible that a truly and sincerely good Man does not affect vain Ostentation and an unseasonable discovery of his good Qualities but endeavours rather really to be than to seem Religious and of the two rather seeks to conceal his Piety than to set it out with pomp gives his Alms privately prays to God in secret and makes no appearance of Religion but in such fruits and effects as cannot be hid in the quiet and silent vertues of Humility and Meekness and Patience of Peace and Charity in governing his Passions and taking heed not to offend with his Tongue by slander and calumny by envious detraction or rash censure or by any word or action that may be to the hurt and prejudice of his Neighbour But on the contrary it is a very ill sign if a Man affect to make a great noise and bustle about Religion if he blow a Trumpet before his good Works and by extraordinary shews of Devotion summon the Eyes of Men to behold him and do as it were call aloud to them to take notice of his Piety and to come to see his zeal for the Lord of Hosts It is not impossible but such a Man with all his vanity and ostentation may have some real goodness in him but he is as the Hypocrites are and does as like one as is possible and by the mighty shew that he makes to wise and considerate Men greatly brings in question the sincerity of his Religion And with the sincerity of our Piety towards God let us joyn the simplicity and integrity of Manners in our Conversation with Men let us strictly charge our selves to use truth and plainness in all our words and doings let our Tongue be ever the true Interpreter of our Mind and our Expressions the lively Image of our Thoughts and Affections and our outward actions exactly agreeable to our inward purposes and intentions Amongst too many other Instances of the great corruption and degeneracy of the Age wherein we live the great and general want of sincerity in Conversation is none of the least the World is grown so full of Dissimulation and Complement that Mens words are hardly any signification of their thoughts and if any Man measure his words by his heart and speak as he thinks and do not express more kindness to every man than men usually have for any man he can hardly escape the censure of rudeness and want of breeding The old English plainness and sincerity that generous integrity of Nature and honesty of Disposition which always argues true greatness of mind and is usually accompanied with undaunted courage and resolution is in a great measure lost amongst us there hath been a long endeavour to transform us into foreign Manners and Fashions and to bring us to a servile imitation of none of the best of our Neighbours in some of the worst of their Qualities The Dialect of Conversation is now adays so swell'd with Vanity and Complement and so surfeited as I may say of expressions of kindness and respect that if a man that lived an Age or two ago should return into the World again he would really want a Dictionary to help him to understand his own Language and to know the true intrinsick value of the phrase in fashion and would hardly at first believe at what a low rate the highest strains and expressions of kindness imaginable do commonly pass in currant payment and when he should come to understand it it would be a great while before he could bring himself with a good Countenance and a good Conscience to converse with Men upon equal terms and in their own way And in truth it is hard to say whether it should more provoke our contempt or our pity to hear what solemn expressions of respect and kindness will pass between men almost upon no occasion how great honour and esteem they will declare for one whom perhaps they never heard of or saw before and how entirely they are all on the sudden devoted to his service and interest for no reason how infinitely and eternally obliged to him for no benefit and how extremely they will be concerned for him yea and afflicted too for no cause I know it is said in justification of this hollow kind of Conversation that there is no harm no real deceit in Complement but the matter is well enough so long as we understand one another Et verba valent ut Nummi Words are like Money and when the currant value of them is generally understood no Man is cheated by them this is something if such words were any thing but being brought into the Account they are meer Cyphers However it is still a just matter of complaint that sincerity and plainness are out of fashion and that our Language is running into a Lye that Men have almost quite perverted the use of Speech and made words to signifie nothing that the greatest part of the Conversation of Mankind and of their intercourse with one another is little else but driving a Trade of Dissimulation insomuch that it would make a Man heartily sick and weary of the World to see the little sincerity that is in use and practice among Men and tempt him to break out into that melancholy Complaint and Wish of the Prophet Jer. 9. O that I had in the Wilderness a lodging-place of way-faring men that I might leave my people and go from them for they are all Adulterers and an assembly of treacherous Men and they bend their tongue like their bow for lies but have no courage for the truth upon earth Take ye heed every one of his Neighbour and trust ye not in any Brother for every Brother will utterly supplant and every Neighbour will walk with slanders Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit one speaketh peaceably to his Neighbour but in his heart he lieth in wait Shall not I visit for these things saith the Lord and shall not my Soul be avenged of such a Nation as this Such were the Manners of the people of Israel at that time which were both the forerunner and the cause of those terrible Calamities which befell them afterwards and this Character agrees but too well to the present Age which is so wretchedly void of Truth and Sincerity for which reason there is the greater need to recommend this Virtue to us which seems to be fled from us that truth and righteousness may return and glory may dwell in our land and God may shew his mercy upon us and grant us his Salvation and Righteousness and Peace may kiss each other To this end give me leave to offer these following Considerations First That Sincerity is the highest commendation and the very best Character that
can be given of any man it is the solid foundation of all Virtue the Heart and Soul of all Piety and Goodness it is in Scripture called perfection and frequently joyned with it and throughout the Bible there is the greatest stress and weight laid upon it it is spoken of as the sum and comprehension of all Religion Only fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth says Joshua to the people of Israel Jos. 24. 14. God takes great pleasure in it so David assures us 1 Chron. 29. 17. I know my God that thou tryest the Heart and hast pleasure in uprightness And again Thou lovest truth in the inward parts To this disposition of mind the promises of divine favour and blessing are particularly made Psal. 15. 1 2. Lord who shall dwell in thy Tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy Hill He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth from his Heart Psal. 32. 2. Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputeth no sin and in whose Spirit there is no guil And 't is observable that this Character of our Saviour here given of Nathaniel is the only full and perfect commendation that we read was ever given by him of any particular person He commends some particular acts of Piety and Virtue in others as St. Peter's confession of him the Faith of the Centurion and of the Woman that was healed by touching the Hem of his Garment the Charity of the Woman that cast her two Mites into the Treasury and the Bounty of that other devout Woman who poured upon him a Box of precious Oyntment But here he gives the particular Character of a good Man when he says of Nathaniel that he was an Israelite indeed in whom was no Guil And the Apostle mentions this quality as the chief ingredient into the Character of the best Man that ever was our blessed Saviour who did no Sin neither was Guil found in his mouth Secondly The rarity of this Virtue is a farther commendation of it A sincerely pious and good Man without any guil or disguise is not a sight to be seen every day Our Saviour in the Text speaks of it as a thing very extraordinary and of special remark and observation and breaks out into some kind of wonder upon the occasion as if to see a Man of perfect integrity and simplicity were an occurrence very rare and unusual and such as calls for our more especial attention and regard Behold saith he an Israelite indeed in whom there is no Guil. Thirdly The want of Sincerity will quite spoil the virtue and acceptance of all our Piety and Obedience and certainly deprive us of the reward of it All that we doe in the service of God all our external obedience to his Laws if not animated by Sincerity is like a Sacrifice without a Heart which is an abomination to the Lord. Fourthly Hypocrisy and Insincerity is a very vain and foolish thing it is designed to cheat others but is in truth a deceiving of our selves No Man would flatter or dissemble did he believe he were seen and discover'd an open Knave is a great Fool who destroys at once both his design and his Reputation and this is the case of every Hypocrite all the disagreement which is between his Tongue and his Thoughts his Actions and his Heart is open to that Eye from which nothing can be hid for the ways of Man are before the Eyes of the Lord and he seeth all his goings there is no darkness nor shadow of Death where the workers of Iniquity may hide themselves Fifthly Truth and Reality have all the advantages of appearance and many more if the shew of any thing be good for any thing I am sure Sincerity is better for why does any man dissemble or seem to be that which he is not but because he thinks it good to have such a quality as he pretends to for to counterfeit and dissemble is to put on the appearance of some real excellency Now the best way in the world for a man to seem to be any thing is really to be what he would seem to be Besides that it is many times as troublesome to make good the pretence of a good quality as to have it and if a man have it not it is ten to one but he is discovered to want it and then all his pains and labour to seem to have it is lost There is something unnatural in Painting which a skilful Eye will easily discern from native Beauty and Complexion It is hard to personate and act a part long for where truth is not at the bottom nature will always be endeavourring to return and will peep out and betray herself one time or other therefore if any man think it convenient to seem Good let him be so indeed and then his Goodness will appear to every body's satisfaction for Truth is convincing and carries it 's own light and evidence along with it and will not only commend us to every Man's Conscience but which is much more to God who searcheth and seeth our Hearts so that upon all accounts Sincerity is true Wisdom Particularly as to the affairs of this World Integrity hath many advantages over all the fine and artificial ways of Dissimulation and Deceit it is much the plainer and easier much the safer and more secure way of dealing in the world it hath less of trouble and difficulty of entanglement and perplexity of danger and hazard in it it is the shortest and nearest way to our end carrying us thither in a straight line and will hold out and last longest The Arts of Deceit and Cunning do continually grow weaker and less effectual and serviceable to them that use them whereas Integrity gains strength by use and the more and longer any Man practiseth it the greater service it does him by confirming his Reputation and encouraging those with whom he hath to do to repose the greater Trust and Confidence in him which is an unspeakable advantage in the business and affairs of life But a Dissembler must always be upon his guard and watch himself carefully that he doth not contradict his own pretence for he acts an unnatural part and therefore must put a continual force and restraint upon himself Truth alwayes lies uppermost and if a Man do not carefully attend he will be apt to bolt it out Whereas he that acts sincerely hath the easiest task in the world because he follows Nature and so is put to no trouble and care about his words and actions he needs not invent any pretences before-hand nor make excuses afterwards for any thing he hath said or done But Insincerity is very troublesome to manage a Man hath so many things to attend to so many ends to bring together as make his life a very perplext and intricate thing Oportet mendacem esse memorem A lyar had need have a good memory lest he contradict at one time what he said at
great and conspicuous were we verily persuaded that all the Precepts of our Religion are the express Laws of God and that all the promises and threatnings of the Gospel will one day be verified and made good What manner of persons should we be in all holy conversation and godliness How would the lively thoughts of another world raise us above the vanities of this present life and set us out of the reach of the most powerful temptations that this world can assault us withall and make us to do all things with regard to Eternity and to that solemn and dreadful account which we must one day make to God the Judge of all It is nothing but the want of a firm and steady belief of these things that makes our Devotion so dead and heartless and our resolutions of doing better so weak and inconsistent This it is that makes us so easie a prey to every temptation and the things of this world to look so much bigger than they are the enjoyments of it more tempting and the evils of it more terrible than in truth they are And in all disputes betwixt our Conscience and our Interest to hold the balance so unequally and to put our foot upon the lighter Scale that it may seem to weigh down the other In a word in proportion to the strength or weakness of our Faith our obedience to God will be more or less constant uniform and perfect because Faith is the great source and spring of all the Virtues of a good life 5. We have great reason to submit to the ordinary strokes of God's Providence upon our selves or near relations or any thing that is dear to us Most of these are easily compared with Abraham's case it requires a prodigious strength of Faith to perform so miraculous an act of obedience 6. And lastly We are utterly inexcusable if we disobey the easie Precepts of the Gospel The yoke of Christ is easie and his burden light in comparison of God's former dispensations This was a grievous Commandment which God gave to Abraham to sacrifice his only Son It was a hard saying indeed and which of us could have been able to hear it But if God think fit to call us to the more difficult duties of self-denial and suffering for his truth and righteousness sake we must after the example of faithful Abraham not think much to deny or part with any thing for him no not life it self But even this which is the hardest part of Religion is easier than what God put upon Abraham For it doth not offer near the violence to nature to lay down our life in a good cause as it would do to put a Child to death with our own hands Besides the consideration of the extraordinary comfort and support and the glorious rewards that are expresly promised to our obedience and self denial in such a case encouragement enough to make a very difficult duty easie And whilst I am perswading you and my self to resolution and constancy in our Holy Religion notwithstanding all hazards and hardships that may attend it I have a just sense of the frailty of humane nature and of humane resolution But with all a most firm persuasion of the goodness of God that he will not suffer those who sincerely love him and his Truth to be tempted above what they are able I will add but one consideration more to shew the difference betwixt Abraham's case and ours God commanded him to do the hardest thing in the world to sacrifice his only Son but he hath given us an easie commandment and that he might effectually oblige us to our duty he hath done that for us which he required Abraham to do for him he hath not spared his own Son his only Son but hath given him up to death for us all And hereby we know that he loveth us that he hath given his Son for us What God required of Abraham he did not intend should be executed but one great design of it was to be a Type and Figure of that immense love and kindness which he intended to all mankind in the Sacrifice of his Son as a propitiation for the sins of the whole world And as the most clear and express promise of the Messias was made to Abraham so the most express and lively Type of the Messias that we meet with in all the old Testament was Abraham's offering up his Son And as St. Hierom tells us from an ancient and constant Tradition of the Jews the Mountain in Moriah where Abraham was commanded to Sacrifice Isaac was Mount Calvary where our Lord also was Crucified and offered up that by this one sacrifice of himself once offered he might perfect for ever them that are sanctified and obtain eternal redemption for us Now to him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb that was slain to God even our Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ the first begotten from the dead to the Prince of the Kings of the Earth to him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood to him be Glory and honour thanksgiving and power now and for ever Amen A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL MDCLXXXVII Before the Princess ANN. HEB. XI 24 25. By Faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's daughter chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season THE Text sets before us a great pattern of self-denial for our better understanding whereof I will give a brief account of the History of Moses to which our Apostle in this passage doth refer When Moses was born his Parents for fear of the cruel law which Pharaoh had made That all the male Children of the Hebrews so soon as they were born should be put to death after they had hid him three months did at last expose him in an Ark of Bulrushes upon the River Nile and committed him to the providence of God whom they despair'd to conceal any longer by their own care Pharaoh's Daughter coming by the River side espied him and had compassion on him and guessing him to be one of the Hebrew Children called for an Hebrew Nurse to take care of him who as the Prviodence of God had ordered it proved to be the Child 's own Mother As he grew up Pharaoh's Daughter took care of his Education in all Princely qualities and adopted him for her Son and Pharaoh as Josephus tells us being without Son designed him Heir of his Kingdom Moses refused this great offer But why did he refuse it when it seem'd to be presented to him by the providence of God and was brought about in so strange a manner and when by this means he might probably have had it in his power to have eased the Israelites of their cruel bondage and perhaps have had the oportunity of reducing that great Kingdom from the worship of Idols to the true God
of the true ancient Religion and the only true Church of God upon Earth or by the terrour of Heathen persecution which was so hot against them at that time And to this end the Author of this Epistle doth by great variety of arguments demonstrate the excellency of the Christian Religion above the Jewish dispensation and shews at large that in all those respects upon which the Jews valued themselves and their Religion as namely upon the account of their Lawgiver their High-Priests and their Sacrifices the Christian Religion had every way the advantage of them And having made this clear he concludes with an earnest exhortation to them to continue stedfast in the profession of this excellent Religion which was revealed to them by the Son of God the true propitiatory Sacrifice and the great High-Priest of their profession and into which they had solemnly been initiated and admitted by Baptism vers 19 20 21 22. Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh and having an high-priest over the house of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith that is let us sincerly serve God with a firm persuasion of the Truth and Excellency of this Holy Religion into the Profession whereof we were solemnly admitted by Baptism for that is undoubtedly the meaning of the following words having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washt with pure water the Water with which our Bodies are washt in Baptism signifying our spiritual Regeneration and the purging of our Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God From all which he concludes Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering This refers to that solemn Profession of Faith which was made by all Christians at their Baptism and which is contained in the ancient Creed of the Christian Church called by the ancient Fathers The Rule of Faith Let us hold fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let us firmly retain the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 4. 14. Seeing then we have a great high-priest which is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us take fast hold of our profession So here in the Text the Apostle upon the same Consideration exhorts Christians to retain or hold fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Confession or Profession of their hope that is the Hope of the Resurrection of the Dead and everlasting Life which was the Conclusion of that Faith or Creed whereof in Baptism they made a Solemn Profession Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith or Hope without wavering the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inflexible unmoveable steady and not apt to waver and be shaken by every Wind of contrary Doctrine nor by the Blasts and Storms of Persecution For he is faithful that hath promised If we continue faithful and steady to God he will be faithful to make good all the Promises which he hath made to us In the words thus explained there are Two things which I shall distinctly consider I. The Exhortation Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering And II. The Argument or Encouragement used to enâ—â—â—ce it He is faithful that promised so I begin with the I. The Exhortation to be constant and steady in the Profession of the Christian Religion Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering In the handling of this and that we may the better understand the true meaning of this Exhortation here in the Text I shall do these two things 1. I shall shew Negatively wherein this Constancy and Steadiness in the Profession of the true Religion does not consist And here I shall remove one or two things which are thought by some to be inconsistent with Constancy and Steadfastness in Religion 2. I shall shew Positively what is implied in a Constant and Steady Profession of the true Religion 1. I shall shew Negatively what Constancy and Steadfastness in the Profession of the true Religion does not imply And there are two things which are thought by some to be imply'd in holding fast the profession of our faith without wavering 1. That Men should not take the liberty to examine their Religion and enquire into the Grounds and Reasons of it 2. That men should obstinately refuse to hear any Reasons that can be brought against the true Religion as they think which they have once entertained 1. That Men should not take the liberty to examine their Religion and to enquire into the Grounds and Reasons of it This I think is so far from being forbidden in this Exhortation that on the contrary I doubt not to make it appear that a free and impartial Enquiry into the Grounds and Reasons of our Religion and a thorough Tryal and Examination of them is one of the best Means to confirm and establish us in the Profession of it I mean that all Persons that are capable of it should do it and that they will find great benefit and advantage by it For I do not think that this is a Duty equally and indifferently incumbent upon all nor indeed fit and proper for all Persons because all are not equally capable of doing it There are two sorts of Persons that are in a great measure incapable of doing it 1. Children 2. Such grown Persons as are of a very mean and low capacity and improvement of Understanding Children are not fit to examine but only to learn and believe what is taught them by their Parents and Teachers They are fit to have the fear of God and the Principles of the true Religion instilled into them but they are by no means fit to discern between a true and false Religion and to chuse for themselves and to make a change of their Religion as hath of late been allowed to them in a Nation not far from us and by publick Edict declared that Children at Seven Years Old are fit to chuse and to change their Religion Which is the first Law I ever heard of that allows Children of that Age to do any act for themselves that is of Consequence and Importance to them for the remaining part of their Lives and which they shall stand obliged to perform and make good They are indeed Baptized according to the custome and usage of the Christian Church in their Infancy but they do not enter into this Obligation themselves but their Sureties undertake for them that when they come to Age they shall take this Promise upon themselves and confirm and make it good But surely they can do no Act for themselves and in their own Name at that Age which can be obligatory They can neither make any Contracts that shall be valid nor incur any Debt nor oblige themselves by any Promise nor chuse themselves a Guardian nor do any Act that may bring
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
Profession of our Faith without wavering is not meant that those who are capable of examining the Grounds and Reasons of their Religion should blindly hold it fast against the best Reasons that can be offered because upon these terms every Man must continue in the Religion in which he happens to be fixt by Education or an ill choice be his Religion true or false without Examining and looking into it whether it be right or wrong for till a Man examines every Man thinks his Religion right That which the Apostle here exhorts Christians to hold fast is the Ancient Faith of which all Christians make a solemn profession in their Baptism as plainly appears from the context And this Profession of our Faith we are to hold in the following instances which I shall but briefly mention without enlarging upon them 1. We are to hold fast the Profession of our Faith against the Confidence of Men without Scripture or Reason to support that Confidence 2. And much more against the Confidence of Men contrary to plain Scripture and Reason and to the common Sense of Mankind 3. Against all the Temptations and Terrors of the World against the Temptations of Fashion and Example and of Worldly Interest and Advantage and against all Terrors and Sufferings of Persecution 4. Against all vain promises of being put into a safer condition and groundless hopes of getting to Heaven upon easier terms than the Gospel hath proposed in some other Church and Religion Lastly We are to 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 make Proselytes to their Party and Faction But without entring into these particulars I shall in order to Establishment in the Reformed Religion which we profess in opposition to the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome apply my self at this time to make a short comparison betwixt the Religion which we profess and that of the Church of Rome That we may discern on which side the advantage of Truth lies and in making this comparison I shall insist upon Three things which will bring the matter to an issue and are I think sufficient to determine every sober and considerate Man which of these he ought in Reason and with regard to the safety of his Soul to embrace And they are these I. That we govern our Belief and Practice in matters of Religion by the true ancient Rule of Christianity the Word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures But the Church of Rome for the maintenance of their Errors and Corruptions have been forced to devise a new Rule never owned by the Primitive Church nor by the Ancient Fathers and Councils of it II. That the Doctrines and Practices in difference betwixt us and the Church of Rome are either contrary to this Rule or destitute of the Warrant and Authority of it and are plain Additions to the ancient Christianity and Corruptions of it III. That our Religion hath many clear Advantages of that of the Church of Rome not only very considerable in themselves but very obvious and discernable to an ordinary capacity upon the first proposal of them I shall be as brief in these as I can I. That we govern our belief and Practice in matters of Religion by the true ancient Rule of Christianity the Word of God contain'd in the Holy Scriptures But the Church of Rome for the maintaining of their Errors and Corruptions have been forced to devise a new Rule never owned by the Primitive Church nor by the Ancient Councils and Fathers of it That is they have joined with the Word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures the unwritten Traditions of their Church concerning several points of their Faith and Practice which they acknowledge cannot be proved from Scripture and these they call the unwritten Word of God and the Council of Trent hath decreed them to be of equal Authority with the Holy Scriptures and that they do receive and venerate them with the same pious Affection and Reverence and all this contrary to the express declaration and unanimous consent of all the Ancient Councils and Fathers of the Christian Church as I have already shewn and this never declar'd to be a point of Faith till it was decreed not much above a Hundred Years ago in the Council of Trent and this surely if any thing is a Matter of great consequence to presume to alter the Ancient Rule of Christian Doctrine and Practice and to enlarge it and add to it at their pleasure But the Church of Rome having made so great a change in the Doctrine and Practice of Christianity it became consequently necessary to make a change of the Rule And therefore with great Reason did the Council of Trent take this into consideration in the first place and put it in the front of their Decrees because it was to be the foundation and main proof of the following Definitions of Faith and Decrees of Practice for which without this new Rule there had been no colour II. The Doctrines and Practices in difference betwixt us and the Church of Rome are either contrary to the true Rule or destitute of the Warrant and Authority of it and plain Additions to the Ancient Christianity and Corruptions of it the Truth of this will best appear by instancing in some of the principal Doctrines and Practices in difference betwixt us As for their two great Fundamental Doctrines of the Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome over all the Christians in the world and the Infallibility of their Church there is not one word in Scripture concerning these Priviledges nay it is little less than a demonstration that they have no such Priviledges that St. Paul in a long Epistle to the Church of Rome takes no notice of them That the Church of Rome either then was or was to be soon after the Mother and Mistress of all Churches which is now grown to be an Article of Faith in the Church of Rome and yet it is hardly to be imagined that he could have omitted to take notice of such remarkable Priviledges of their Bishops and Church above any in the world had he known they had belonged to them So that in all probability he was ignorant of those mighty Prerogatives of the Church of Rome otherwise it cannot be but that he would have written with more deference and submission to this Seat of Infallibility and Center of Unity he would certainly have paid a greater Respect to this Mother and Mistress of all Churches where the Head of the Church and Vicar of Christ either was already seated or by the appointment of Christ was designed for ever to fix his Throne and establish his Residence but there is not one word or the least intimation of any such thing throughout this whole Epistle nor in any other part of the New Testament Besides that both these pretended
for the Jews used to call the Age of the Messias Seculum Futurum or the World to come it is impossible for those to be renewed again unto repentance where the least we can understand by impossible is that it is extreamly difficult for so the word impossible is sometimes used as when our Saviour says it is impossible for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And Ch. 10. 26. the Apostle speaking of the same thing says if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remains no more Sacrifice for sins that is they who renounce Christianity since they reject the only way of expiation there remains no more Sacrifice for their Sins St. Peter likewise expresseth himself very severely concerning this sort of Persons 2 Epist. 2. 20 21. For if after they have escaped the Pollutions of the World through the Knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that is after they have been brought from Heathenism to Christianity they are entangled therein again and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning He seems loth to say how sad the Condition of such Persons is but this he tells them that it is much worse than when they were Heathens before and he gives the Reason for it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them And St. John calls this Sin of Apostasie the Sin vnto Death and tho he do not forbid Christians to pray for them that are guilty of it yet he will not say that they should pray for them 1 Epist. 5. 16. If any Man see his Brother sin a Sin which is not unto Death he shall ask and he shall give him Life for them that sin not unto Death there is a sin unto Death I do not say that he shall pray for it Now that by this sin unto Death the Apostle means Apostasie from the Christian Religion to Idolatry is most probable from what follows Verse 18. we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not that is this Sin unto Death but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and the wicked one toucheth him not that is he is preserved from Idolatry unto which the Devil had seduced so great a part of Mankind and we know that we are of God and the whole World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is under the dominion of that wicked one viz. the Devil whom the Scripture elsewhere calls the God of this World and we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true that is hath brought us from the Worship of false Gods to the knowledge and Worship of the true God and then he concludes little Children keep your selves from Idols which caution hath no manner of dependence upon what went before unless we understand the Sin unto Death in this Sense and it is the more probable that it is so to be understood because Apostasie is so often in this Epistle to the Hebrews called the Sin by way of Eminency as it is here by St. John whosoever is born of God sinneth not So that at the very best the Scripture speaks doubtfully of the pardon of this sin however that the punishment of it unrepented of shall be very dreadful It seems to be mildly exprest here in the Text If any man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him But it is the more severe for being exprest so mildly according to the intention of the Figure here used and therefore in the next words this expression of Gods taking no pleasure in such Persons is explained by their utter Ruin and Perdition But we are not of them that draw back unto Perdition And in several parts of this Epistle there are very severe passages to this purpose Ch. 2. 2 3. If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation And Ch. 10. 26 27. If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversary he that dispised Moses law dyed without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy that hath trodden under foot the Son of God! c. For we know him who hath said Vengeance is mine I will recompence saith the Lord And again The Lord shall judge his People it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God What can be more severe and terrible than these expressions I will mention but one Text more and that is Rev. 21. 8. where in the Catalogue of great Sinners those who Apostatize from Religion out of fear do lead the Van He that overcometh shall inherit all things which is elsewhere in this Book exprest by continuing faithful unto the Death He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all lyars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death The fearful and unbelievers and lyars that is they who out of fear relapse into infidelity and abide not in the Truth shall be reckoned in the first rank of Offenders and be punished accordingly And thus I have done with the Four things I propounded to speak to from these words the Nature of Apostasie the several steps and degrees of it the heinous Nature of this Sin the danger of it and the terrible punishment in exposeth Men to And is there any need now to exhort men to hold fast the profession of Faith when the danger of drawing back is so evident and so terrible or is there any reason and occasion for it Certainly there is no great danger amongst us of Mens Apostatizing from Christianity and turning Jews or Turks or Heathens I do not think there is but yet for all that we are not free from the danger of Apostasie there is great danger not of Mens Apostatizing from one Religion to another but from Religion to Infidelity and Atheism and of this worst kind of Apostasie of all other I wish the Age we live in had not afforded us too many instances It is greatly to be lamented that among those who have profest Christianity any should be found that should make it their endeavour to undermine the great Principles of all Religion the Belief of a God and his Providence and of the Immortality of the Souls of Men and a state of Rewards and Punishments after this Life and to bring the most serious matters in the World into contempt and
and lives of men by Jesus Christ according to his Gospel A SERMON ON MATTH XVI 24. Then said Jesus unto his Disciples If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me THEN said Jesus to his Disciples That is upon Occasion of his former Discourse with them wherein he had acquainted them with his approaching Passion that he must shortly go up to Jerusalem and there suffer many things of the Elders and Chief Priests and Scribes and at last be put to Death by them then said Jesus unto his Disciples If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me If any man will come after me or follow me that is If any man will be my Disciple and undertake the Profession of my Religion If any man chuse and resolve to be a Christian he must be so upon these Terms he must deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me He must follow me in Self-denyal and Suffering In the handling of these Words I shall do these Four things I. I shall consider the way and method which our Saviour useth in making Proselytes and gaining Men over to his Religion He offers no manner of Force and Violence to compel them to the Profession of his Religion but fairly offers it to their Consideration and Choice and tells them plainly upon what terms they must be his Disciples and if they be contented and resolved to submit to these Terms well if not it is in vain to follow him any longer for they cannot be his Disciples II. I shall endeavour to explain this Duty of Self-denyal exprest in these Words Let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me III. I shall consider the strict and indispensible Obligation of it whenever we are call'd to it Without this we cannot be Christ's Disciples if any man will come after me or be my Disciple let him deny himself IV. I shall endeavour to vindicate the reasonableness of this Precept of self-denial and suffering for Christ which at first appearance may seem to be so very harsh and difficult and I shall go over these Particulars as briefly as I can I. We will consider the way and method which our Saviour here useth in making Proselytes and gaining men over to his Religion he offers no manner of force and violence to compel men to the profession of his Religion but fairly proposeth it to their Consideration and Choice telling them plainly upon what terms they must be his Disciples if they like them and are content and resolved to submit to them well he is willing to receive them and own them for his Disciples if not it is in vain to follow him any longer For they cannot be his Disciples As on the one hand he offers them no worldly Preferment and Advantage to entice them into his Religion and to tempt them outwardly to profess what they do not inwardly believe so on the other hand he does not hale and drag them by force and awe them by the terrours of torture and death to sign the Christian Faith tho' most undoubtedly true and to confess with their mouths and subscribe with their hands what they do not believe in their hearts He did not obtrude his Sacraments upon them and plunge them into the water to Baptize them whether they would or no and thrust the Sacrament of Bread into their mouths as if men might be Worthy Receivers of that Blessed Sacrament whether they receive it willingly or no. Our Blessed Saviour the Author and Founder of our Religion made use of none of these ways of violence so contrary to the nature of man and of all Religion and especially of Christianity and fitted only to make men Hypocrites but not Converts he only says If any man will be my Disciple he useth no Arguments but such as are Spiritual and proper to work upon the Minds and Consciences of Men For as his Kingdom was not of this world so neither are the Motives and Arguments to induce Men to be his subjects taken from this world but from the endless Rewards and Punishments of another The weapons which he made use of to subdue Men to the obedience of Faith are not carnal and yet they were mighty through God to conquer the obstinacy and infidelity of men This great and infallible Teacher who certainly came from God all that he does is to propose his Religion to Men with such Evidence and such Arguments as are proper to convince Men of the Truth and Goodness of it and to perswade Men to embrace it and he acquaints them likewise with all the worldly Disadvantages of it and the hazards and sufferings that would attend it and now if upon full consideration they will make his Religion their free Choice and become his Disciples he is willing to receive them if they will not he understands the nature of Religion better than to go about to force it upon Men whether they will or no. II. I shall endeavour to explain this Duty or Precept of self-denial exprest in these words Let him deny himself and take up his cross These are difficult Terms for a Man to deny himself and take up his own Cross that is willingly to submit to all those Sufferings which the malice of Men may inflict for the sake of Christ and his Religion For this Expression of taking up one's Cross is a plain Allusion to the Roman Custom which was this That he that was condemned to be Crucified was to take his Cross upon his Shoulders and to carry it to the place of Execution this the Jews made our Saviour to do as we read Joh. 19. 17. till that being ready to faint under it and lest he should die away before he was nailed to the Cross they compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry it for him as is declar'd by the other Evangelists and yet he tells them they that will be his Disciples must follow him bearing their own Cross that is being ready if God call them to it to submit to the like sufferings for Him and his Truth which he was shortly to undergo for the Truth and for their sakes But tho these terms seem very hard yet they are not unreasonable as I shall shew in the conclusion of this Discourse Some indeed have made them so by extending this self-denyal too far attending more to the latitude of the Words than to the meaning and scope of our Saviour's Discourse For there is no doubt but that there are a great many things which may properly enough be called self-denyal which yet our Saviour never intended to oblige Christians to It is no doubt great self-denyal for a Man without any Necessity to deny himself the necessary Supports of Life for a Man to starve and make away himself But no Man certainly ever imagined that our Saviour ever intended by this Precept to enjoyn this kind of self-denyal It is
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
another World yet according to a right Estimate of things and to those who walk by Faith and not by Sight this which we call Self-denyal is in truth and reality but a more commendable sort of Self-love because we do herein most effectually consult and secure and advance our own Happiness 4. And Lastly Since God hath been pleased for so long a time to excuse us from this hardest part of Self-denyal let us not grudge to deny our selves in lesser Matters for the sake of his Truth and Religion to miss a good Place or to quit it upon that account much less let us think much to renounce our Vices and to thwart our evil Inclinations for his sake As Naaman's Servant said to him concerning the means prescribed by the Prophet for his Cure If he had bid thee do some Great thing wouldest thou not have done it How much more when he hath only said Wash and be clean So since God imposeth no harder Terms upon us than Repentance and Reformation of our Lives we should gladly and thankfully submit to them This I know is difficult to some to mortifie their earthly Members to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts of it 't is like cutting off a right Hand and plucking out a right Eye Some are so strongly addicted to their Lusts and Vices that they could with more ease despise Life in many cases than thus Deny themselves But in Truth there is no more of Self-denyal in it than a Man denies himself when he is mortally Sick and Wounded in being content to be Cured and willing to be Well This is not at all to our Temporal Prejudice and Inconvenience and it directly conduceth to our Eternal Happiness for there is no Man that lives a holy and virtuous Life and in Obedience to the Laws of God that can lightly receive any Prejudice by it in this World Since God doth not call us to Suffer we should Do so much the more for him Since he doth not put us to testifie our Love to him by laying down our Lives for him we should shew it by a greater Care to keep his Commandments God was pleased to exercise the first Christians with great Sufferings and to try their Love and Constancy to him and his Truth in a very Extraordinary manner by Severity and Contempt by the spoiling of their Goods and the loss of all things by bonds and imprisonments by cruel mockings and scourgings by the extremity of torments and by resisting even unto blood by being kill'd for his sake all the day long and appointed as Sheep for the slaughter God was pleased to make their way to Heaven very sharp and painful and to hedge it in as it were with thorns on every side so that they could not but through many tribulations enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Thus we ought all to be in a Readiness and Resolution to submit to this Duty if God should think fit at any time of our Lives to call us to it But if he be pleased to excuse us from it and to let this Cup pass from us which may lawfully be our earnest Prayer to God since we have so good a Pattern for it there will be another Duty incumbent upon us which will take up the whole Man and the whole time of our Life and that is to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives A SERMON PREACHED At Whitehall before the Family Nov. 1. 1686. HEB. XI 13. And confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth The whole Verse runs thus These all died in Faith not having received the Promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth THE Apostle having declared at the latter end of the foregoing Chapter that Faith is the great Principle whereby Good Men are acted and whereby they are supported under all the Evils and Sufferings of this Life Verse 38. Now the Just shall live by Faith In this Chapter he makes it his main business to set forth to us at large the Force and Power of Faith and to this Purpose he first tells us what kind of Faith he means viz. a firm Persuasion of things not Present and Visible to Sense but Invisible and Future Ver. 1. Now Faith saith he is the confident expectation of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Faith represents to us the Reality of things which are Invisible to Sense as the Existence of God and his Providence and of things which are at a great distance from us as the Future State of Rewards and Punishments in another World And then he proceeds to shew by particular and famous Instances that the firm Belief and Persuasion of these things was the great Principle of the Piety and Virtue of the Saints and and Good Men in all Ages of the World by this Abel and Enoch and Noah Abraham Isaac and Jacob Joseph and Moses and all the Famous Heroes of the Old Testament obtained a good Report and pleased God and did all those eminent Acts of Obedience and Self-denyal which are recorded of them They believed the Being of God and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him They dreaded his Threatnings and relyed upon his Promises of Future and Invisible Good things They lived and died in a full Persuasion and Confidence of the Truth of them tho they did not live to see them actually fulfilled and accomplisht All these saith he speaking of those Eminent Saints which he had instanced in before All these died in Faith not having received the Promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them This is spoken with a more particular regard to Abraham Isaac and Jacob to whom the Promises of the Conquest and Possession of a Fruitful Land were made and of a Numerous Offspring among whom should be the Messias in whom all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed These Promises they did not live to see accomplisht and made good in their Days but they heartily believed them and rejoiced in the Hope and Expectation of them as if they had embraced them in their Arms and been put into the actual Possession of them And they confessed that they were Pilgrims and Strangers in the Earth This Saying and Acknowledgment more particularly and immediately refers to those Sayings of the Patriarchs Abraham and Jacob which we find recorded Gen. 23. 4. where Abraham says to the Sons of Heth I am a Stranger and a Sojourner with you And Gen. 47. 9. where Jacob says to Pharaoh The days of the years of my Pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years few and evil have the days of the years of my Life been These Good Men were Strangers and Sojourners in a Land which was promised to be theirs afterwards They dwelt in it themselves as Strangers but
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
present in hopes to have more trouble afterwards than the pleasure comes to But especially no Man would be guilty of an act of injustice and oppression in hopes to repent of it afterwards because there can be no repentance for such sins without restitution and 't is perfect madness for a Man to run the hazard of his Soul to get an Estate in hopes of restoring it again for so he must do that truly repents of such a sin But 2. In the other world the final issue and consequence of all the pleasures of sin unrepented of will certainly be misery and sorrow How quietly soever a sinner may pass through this world or out of it misery will certainly overtake him in the next unspeakable and eternal misery arising from an apprehension of the greatest loss and a sense of the sharpest pain and those sadly aggravated by the remembrance of past pleasure and the despair of future ease From a sad apprehension and melancholy reflection upon his inestimable loss In the other world the sinner shall be eternally separated from God who is the fountain of happiness This is the first part of that miserable sentence which shall be past upon the wicked depart from me Sinners are not now sensible of the joyes of Heaven and the happiness of that state and therefore are not capable of estimating the greatness of such a loss But this stupidity and insensibleness of sinners continues only during this present state which affords Men variety of objects and pleasures to divert and entertain them But when they are once enter'd upon the other world they will then have nothing else to take up their thoughts but the sad condition into which by their own wilful negligence and folly they have plunged themselves They shall then lift up their eyes and with the rich Man in the parable at once see the happiness of others and feel their own misery and torment But this is not all Besides the apprehension of so great a loss they shall be sensible of the sorest and sharpest pains and how grievous those shall be we may conjecture by what the Scripture says of them in general That they are the effects of a mighty displeasure of Anger and Omnipotence met together far greater than can be described by any pains and sufferings which we are acquainted withall in this world For who knows the power of Gods anger and the utmost of what Omnipotent Justice can do to sinners It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God One would think this were misery enough and needed no frather aggravation but yet it hath two terrible ones from the remembrance of past pleasures and the despair of any future ease and remedy The remembrance of past pleasure makes present sufferings more sharp and sensible For as nothing commends pleasure more and gives a quicker relish to happiness than precedent pain and suffering for perhaps there is not a greater pleasure in the world than in the suddain ease which a Man finds after a sharp fit of the Stone so nothing enrageth affliction more and sets a keener edg upon misery than to pass into great pain immediately out of a state of ease and pleasure This was the stinging aggravation of the rich Man's torment That in his life time he had received his good things and had faired so deliciously every day But the greatest aggravation of all is the despair of any future ease and remedy The duration of this misery is set forth to us in Scripture by such expressions as do signifie the longest and most interminable duration Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire Matth. 25. and Mark 9. 43. Where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched And in the Revel it is said that the wicked shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever without intermission and without end And this surely is the perfection of misery for a Man to lye under the greatest torments and to be in despair of ever finding the least ease Let us now compare things together on the one hand the sufferings of good Men for a good Conscience and the reward that follows them and on the other hand the enjoyments of sin with the mischief and misery that attends them and will certainly overtake them in this world or the next and then we shall easily discern which of these is to be preferred in a wise Man's choice And indeed the choice is so very plain that a Man must be strangely forsaken of his reason and blinded by sense who does not prefer that course of life which will probably make him happier in this world but most certainly in the next There remains now only the Fourth and last particular to be spoken to viz. Supposing this choice to be reasonable to enquire whence it comes to pass that so many make a quite contrary choice How is it that the greatest part of mankind are so widely mistaken as to prefer the temporary enjoyments of sin before Conscience and Religion especially if it be attended with great afflictions and sufferings And of this I shall give you as brief an account as I can and so conclude this Discourse This wrong choice generally proceeds from one or both of these two causes from want of Faith or from want of consideration or of both 1. One great reason why Men make so imprudent a choice is unbelief either the want of Faith or the weakness of it Either Men do not believe the recompences of another life or they are not so firmly persuaded of the reality of them If Men do not at all believe these things there is no foundation for Religion for he that cometh unto God that is he that thinks of being religious must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him as the Apostle reasons in the beginning of this Chapter But I hope there are but few that are or can be Infidels as to these great and fundamental principles of Religion But it is to be feared that the Faith of a great many is but weak and wavering their Faith is rather negative they do not disbelieve these things but they are not firmly persuaded of them their Faith is rather an opinion than a rooted and well grounded persuasion and therefore no wonder if it be not so strong and vigorous a principle of action and like the Faith of Abraham and Moses and other worthies mentioned in this Chapter For where Faith is in its full strength and vigour it will have proportionable effects upon the resolutions and wills of Men But where it is but weak it is of little or no efficacy And this is the true reason why so many forsake Religion and cleave to this present world and when it comes to the push choose rather to sin than to suffer and will rather quit the truth than endure persecution for it These are they whom our Saviour describes who receive receive the
word with joy and endure for a while but when tribulation and persecution ariseth because of the word presently they are offended not that they did not believe the Word but their Faith had taken no deep root and therefore it withered The weakness and wavering of Mens Faith makes them unstable and inconstant in their course because they are not of one mind but divided betwixt two interests that of this world and the other and the double minded man as St. James tells us is unstable in all his ways It is generally a true rule so much wavering as we see in the actions and lives of Men so much weakness there is in their Faith and therefore he that would know what any Man firmly believes let him attend to his actions more than to his professions If any Man live so as no Man that heartily believes the Christian Religion can live it is not credible that such a Man doth firmly believe the Christian Religion He says he does but there is a greater evidence in the case than words there is Testimonium rei the Man's actions are to the contrary and they do best declare the inward sense of the Man Did Men firmly believe that there is a God that governs the world and that he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge it in righteousnes and that all mankind shall shortly appear before him and give an account of themselves and all their actions to him and that those who have kept the Faith and a good Conscience and have lived soberly and righteously and godly in this present world shall be unspeakably and eternally happy but the fearful and unbelieving those who out of fear or interest have deserted the Faith or lived wicked lives shall have their portion in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone I say were Men firmly persuaded of these things it is hardly credible that any Man should make a wrong choice and forsake the ways of Truth and Righteousness upon any temptation whatsoever Faith even in temporal matters is a mighty principle of action and will make Men to attempt and undergo strange and difficult things The Faith of the Gospel ought to be much more operative and powerful because the Objects of Hope and Fear which it presents to us are far greater and more considerable than any thing that this world can tempt or terrifie us withall Would we but by Faith make present to our minds the invisible things of another world the happiness of Heaven and the terrors of Hell and were we as verily persuaded of them as if they were in our view how should we despise all the pleasures and terrors of this world And with what ease should we resist and repel all those temptations which would seduce us from our duty or draw us into sin A firm and unshaken belief of these things would effectually remove all those mountains of difficulty and discouragement which Men fancy to themselves in the ways of Religion To him that believeth all things are possible and most things would be easie 2. Another reason of this wrong choice is want of consideration for this would strengthen our Faith and make it more vigorous and powerful And indeed a Faith which is well rooted and establishould doth suppose a wise and deep consideration of things and the want of this is a great cause of the fatal miscarriage of Men that they do not sit down and consider with themselves seriously how much Religion is their interest and how much it will cost them to be true to it and to persevere in it to the end We suffer our selves to be governed by sense and to be transported with present things but do not consider our future and lasting interest and the whole duration of an immortal Soul And this is the reason why so many men are hurried away by the present and sensible delights of this world because they will not take time to think of what will be hereafter For it is not to be imagined but that the Man who hath seriously considered what sin is the shortness of its pleasure and the eternity of its punishment should resolve to forsake sin and to live a holy and virtuous life To conclude this whole Discourse If Men did but seriously believe the great principles of Religion the Being and the Providence of God the immortality of their Souls the glorious rewards and the dreadful punishments of another world they could not possibly make so imprudent a choice as we see a great part of mankind to do they could not be induced to forsake God and Religion for any temporal interest and advantage to renounce the favour of Heaven and all their hopes of happiness in another world for any thing that this world can afford nay not for the whole world if it were offered to them For as our Saviour reasons in this very case of forsaking our Religion for any temporal interest or consideration 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 When ever any of us are tempted in this kind let that solemn declaration of our Saviour and our Judge be continually in our minds he that confesseth me before men him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven but whosever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he shall come in the glory of his Father with his holy Angels And we have great cause to thank God to see so many in this day of tryal and hour of temptation to adhere with so much resolution and constancy to their Holy Religion and to prefer the keeping of Faith and a good Conscience to all earthly considerations and advantages And this very thing that so many hold their Religion so fast and are so loth to part with it gives great hopes that they intend to make good use of it and to frame their lives according to the holy rules and precepts of it which alone can give us peace whilst we live and comfort when we come to die and after death secure to us the possession of a happiness large as our wishes and lasting as our Souls To which God of his Infinite Goodness bring us all for his mercy's sake in Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory World without end Amen A SERMON ON HEB. X. 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that hath promised THE main Scope and design of this Epistle to the Hebrews is to persuade the Jews who were newly converted to Christianity to continue stedfast in the profession of that Holy and Excellent Religion which they had embraced and not to be removed from it either by the subtile insinuations of their Brethren the Jews who pretended that they were in possession