them under an Inconvenience when they shall come at Age. And can we think them of discretion sufficient at that time to do a thing of the greatest Moment and Consequence of all other and which will concern them to all Eternity namely to chuse their Religion There is indeed one Part of one Religion which we all know which Children at Seven Years of Age are fit I do not say to judge of but to be as fond of and to practise to as good purpose as those of riper Years and that is to worship Images to tell their Beads to say their Prayers and to be present at the Service of God in an unknown Tongue and this they are more likely to chuse at that Age than those who are of riper and more improv'd Understandings and if they do not chuse it at that time it is ten to one they will not chuse it afterwards I shall say no more of this but that it is a very extraordinary Law and such as perhaps was never thought of before from the beginning of the World Thus much for Children As for grown Persons who are of a very low and mean capacity of Understanding and either by reason of the weakness of their Faculties or other Disadvantages which they lye under are in little or no probability of improving themselves These are always to be considered as in the condition of Children and Learners and therefore must of necessity in things which are not plain and obvious to the meanest Capacities trust and rely upon the Judgment of others And it is really much wiser and safer for them so to do than to depend upon their own Judgments and to lean to their own Understandings and such Persons if they be modest and humble and pray earnestly to God for his Assistance and Direction and are careful to practise what they know and to live up to the best Light and Knowledge which they have shall not miscarry meerly for want of those farther degrees of Knowledge which they had no Capacity nor Opportunity to attain because their Ignorance is unavoidable and God will require no more of them than he hath given them and will not call them to account for the improvement of those Talents which he never committed to them And if they be led into any dangerous Error by the negligence or ill conduct of those under whose Care and Instruction the Providence of God permitted them to be placed God will not impute it to them as a Fault Because in the Circumstances in which they were they took the best and wisest course that they could to come to the knowledge of the Truth by being willing to learn what they could of those whom they took to be wiser than themselves But for such Persons who by the maturity of their Age and by the natural strength and clearness of their Understandings or by the due exercise and improvement of them are capable of enquiring into and understanding the Grounds of their Religion and discerning the difference betwixt Truth and Error I do not mean in unnecessary Points and matters of deepest Learning and Speculation but in matters necessary to Salvation it is certainly very reasonable that such Persons should examine their Religion and understand the Reasons and Grounds of it And this must either be granted to be reasonable or else every man must continue in that Religion in which he happens to be fixt by Education or for any other Reason to pitch upon when he comes to Years and makes his free Choice For if this be a good Principle that no Man is to examine his Religion but take it as it is and to believe it and rest satisfied with it Then every Man is to remain in the Religion which he first lights upon whether by Choice or the Chance of his Education For he ought not to change but upon Reason and Reason he can have none unless he be allowed to examine his Religion and to compare it with others that by the Comparison he may discern which is best and ought in reason to be preferred in his Choice For to him that will not or is not permitted to search into the Grounds of any Religion all Religions are alike as all things are of the same Colour to him that is always kept in the dark or if he happens to come into the Light dares not open his Eyes and make use of them to discern the different Colours of things But this is evidently and at first sight unreasonable because at this rate every Man that hath once entertained an Errour and a false Religion must forever continue in it For if he be not allowed to examine it he can never have Reason to change and to make a change without Reason is certainly unreasonable and mere Vanity and Inconstancy And yet for ought I can see this is the Principle which the Church of Rome doth with great Zeal and Earnestness inculcate upon their People discouraging all Doubts and Inquiries about their Religion as Temptations of the Devil and all Examinations of the Grounds and Reasons of their Religion as an inclination and dangerous step towards Heresie For what else can they mean by taking the Scriptures out of the hands of the People and locking them up from them in an unknown Tongue by requiring them absolutely to submit their Judgments and to resign them up to that which they are pleased to call the Catholick Church and Implicitly to believe as She believes tho they know not what that is This is in Truth to believe as their Priest tells them for that is all the teaching Part of the Church and all the Rule of Faith that the common People are acquainted with And it is not sufficient to say in this matter that when Men are in the Truth and of the right Religion and in the Bosom of the true Church they ought to rest satisfied and to examine and enquire no farther For this is manifestly unreasonable and that upon these Three accounts 1. Because this is a plain and shameful begging of the thing in Question and that which every Church and every Religion doth almost with equal Confidence pretend to That Theirs is the only right Religion and the only true Church And these Pretences are all alike reasonable to him that never examined the Grounds of any of them nor hath compar'd them together And therefore it is the vainest thing in the World for the Church of Rome to pretend that all Religions in the World ought to be examined but Theirs Because Theirs and none else is the true Religion For this which they say so confidently of it That it is the true Religion no Man can know till he have examined it and searched into the Grounds of it and hath considered the Objections which are against it So that it is fond Partiality to say that Their Religion is not to be examined by the people that profess it but that all other Religions ought to be examined or
Church And this is a Glorious Priviledge indeed if they could prove that they had it and that it would be so certain a remedy against Heresie and give a final Decision to all Controversies But there is not one tittle of all this of which they are able to give any tenable Proof For 1. All the pretence for their Infallibility relyes upon the truth of the former Proposition That the Church of Rome is the Catholick Church and That they say is Infallible And I have already shewn that That Proposition is not only destitute of any good Proof but is as evidently false as that a Part of a thing is the Whole 2. But supposing it were true That the Roman Church were the Catholick Church yet it is neither evident in it self nor can be proved by them that the Catholick Church of every Age is Infallible in deciding all Controversies of Religion It is granted by all Christians that our Saviour and his Apostles were Infallible in the delivery of the Christian Doctrine and they proved their Infallibility by Miracles and this was necessary at first for the Security of our Faith but this Doctrine being once Delivered and Transmitted down to us in the Holy Scriptures Written by the Evangelists and Apostles who were Infallibly assisted by the Holy Ghost we have now a certain and Infallible Rule of Faith and Practice which with the assistance and instruction of those Guides and Pastors which Christ hath appointed in his Church is sufficiently plain in all things necessary And as there is no evidence of the Continuance of Infallibility in the Guides and Pastors of the Church in the Ages which followed the Apostles because Miracles are long since ceased so there is no need of the Continuance of it for the Preservation of the True Faith and Religion because God hath sufficiently provided for that by that Infallible Rule of Faith and Manners which he hath left to his Church in the Holy Scriptures which are every way sufficient and able to make both Pastors and People wise unto Salvation 3. As for a certain Remedy against Heresie it is certain God never intended there should be any no more than he hath provided a certain Remedy against Sin and Vice which surely is every whit as contrary to the Christian Religion and therefore as fit to be provided against as Heresie But it is certain in Experience that God hath provided no certain and effectual Remedy against Sin and Vice for which I can give no other reason but that God does that which He thinks best and fittest and not what We are apt to think to be so Besides that Infallibility is not a certain Remedy against Heresie The Apostles were certainly Infallible and yet they could neither prevent nor extinguish Heresie which never more abounded than in the Apostles Times And Saint Paul expresly tells us 1 Cor. 1. 19. That there must be Heresies that they which are approved may be made manifest And St. Peter the 2 Epist. 2. 1. That there should be false Teachers among Christians who should privily bring in damnable Heresies and that many should follow their pernicious ways But now if there must be Heresies either the Church must not be Infallible or Infallibility in the Church is no certain Remedy against them I proceed to the next Step they make viz. 6ly That Christ hath always a Visible Church upon Earth and that They can shew a Church which from the time of Christ and his Apostles hath always made a Visible Profession of the same Doctrines and Practices which are now believed and practised in the Church of Rome but that We can shew no Visible Church that from the time of Christ and his Apostles hath always opposed the Church of Rome in those Doctrines and Practices which we now revile and find fault with in their Church That Christ hath always had and ever shall have to the end of the World a Visible Church Professing and Practising his True Faith and Religion is agreed on both sides But We say that he hath no where promised that This shall be free from all Errors and Corruptions in Faith and Practice This the Churches Planted by the Apostles themselves were not even in Their times and during Their abode amongst them and yet they were true parts of the Christian Catholick Church In the following Ages Errors and Corruptions and Superstitions did by degrees creep in and grow up in several parts of the Church as St. Austin and others of the Fathers complain of their Times Since that several Famous Parts of the Christian Church both in Asia and Africa have not only been greatly corrupted but have Apostatiz'd from the Faith so that in many Places there are hardly any Footsteps of Christianity among them But yet still Christ hath had in all these Ages a Visible Church upon Earth tho' perhaps no Part of it at all times free from some Errors and Corruptions and in several Parts of it great Corruptions both in Faith and Practice and in none I think more and longer than in the Church of Rome for all she boasts her self like Old Babylon Isa. 47. 7 8. That she is a Lady for ever and says in her heart I am and none else besides me And like the Church of Laodicea Revel 3. 17. which said I am rich and increased with Goods and have need of nothing When the Spirit of God saith that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked and knew it not Thus the Church of Rome boasts that She hath in all Ages been the True Visible Church of Christ and none besides her free from all Errors in Doctrine and Corruptions in Practice and that from the Age of Christ and his Apostles she hath always professed the same Doctrines and Practices which she does at this day Can any thing be more shameless than this Did they always believe Transubstantiation Let their Pope Gelasius speak for them who expresly denies that in the Sacrament there is any Substantial change of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Was this always an Article of their Faith and necessary to be believed by all Christians Let Scotus and several other of their Schoolmen and Learned Writers speak for them Was Purgatory always believed in the Roman Church as it is now defined in the Council of Trent Let several of their Learned Men speak In what Father in what Council before that of Trent do they find Christ to have Instituted just Seven Sacraments neither more nor less And for Practices in their Religion they themselves will not say that in the Ancient Christian Church the Scriptures were with-held from the People and lockt up in an Unknown Tongue and that the Publick Service of God the Prayers and Lessons were Read and the Sacraments Celebrated in an Unknown Tongue and that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was given to the People only in one Kind Where do they find in Holy
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
this be a good way then we do and must call in the assistance of reason for the proof of our Religion 4. Let it be considered farther that the highest commendations that are given in Scripture to any ones Faith are given upon account of the reasonableness of it Abraham's Faith is famous and made a pattern to all generations because he reasoned himself into it notwithstanding the objections to the contrary and he did not blindly break through these objections and wink hard at them but he look'd them in the face and gave himself reasonable satisfaction concerning them The Centurian's Faith is commended by our Saviour Math. 8. 11. Because when his Servant was sick he did not desire him to come to his house but to speak the word only and his Servant should be healed For he reasoned thus I am a man under authority having Souldiers under me and I say to this man go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my Servant do this and he doth it Now if he that was himself under authority could thus command those that were under him much more could he that had a divine Power and Commission do what he pleased by his word And our Saviour is so far from reprehending him for reasoning himself into this belief that he admires his Faith so much the more for the reasonableness of it v. 10. When Jesus heard this he marvelled and said to them that followed him verily I say unto you I have not found so great Faith no not in Israel Inlike manner our Saviour commends the Woman of Canaan's Faith because she enforc't it so reasonably Matthew 15. 22. She sued to him to help her Daughter but he answered her not a word and when his Disciples could not prevail with him to mind her yet still the prest him saying Lord help me and when he repulsed her with this severe answer It is not meet to take the Childrens bread and cast it to dogs she made this quick and modest reply truth Lord yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their Masters Table She acknowledgeth her own unworthiness but yet believes his goodness to be such that he will not utterly reject those who humbly seek to him upon which he gives her this testimony O woman great is thy faith The Apostles were divinely inspired and yet the Bereans are commended because they enquired and satisfied themselves in the reasons of their belief before they assented to the doctrine which was delivered to them even by Teachers that certainly were Infallible 5. None are reproved in Scripture for their unbelief but where sufficient reason and evidence was offered to them The Israelites are generally blamed for their Infidelity but then it was after such mighty wonders had been wrought for their Conviction The Jews in our Saviours time are not condemned simply for their unbelief but for not believing when there was such clear evidence offered to them So our Saviour himself says If I had not done amongst them the works which no other man did they had not had sin Thomas indeed is blamed for the perverseness of his unbelief because he would believe nothing but what he himself saw Lastly To shew this yet more plainly let us consider the great inconvenience and absurdity of declining the use of Reason in matters of Religion There can be no greater prejudice to Religion than to decline this tryal To say we have no Reason for our Religion is to say it is unreasonable Indeed it is Reason enough for any Article of our Faith that God hath revealed it because this is one of the strongest and most cogent reasons for the belief of any thing But when we say God hath revealed any thing we must be ready to prove it or else we say nothing If we turn off Reason here we level the best Religion in the World with the wildest and most absurd Enthusiams And it does not alter the case much to give Reason ill names to call it blind and carnal Reason Our best reason is but very short and imperfect But since it is no better we must make use of it as it is and make the best of it Before I pass from this Argument I cannot but observe that both the extremes of those who differ from our Church are generally great Declamers against the use of Reason in matters of Faith If they find their account in it 't is well for our parts we apprehend no manner of inconvenience in having Reason on our side nor need we to desire a better evidence that any Man is in the wrong than to hear him declare against Reason and thereby to acknowledge that reason is against him Men may vilifie Reason as much as they please and tho being reviled she reviles not again yet in a more still and gentle way she commonly hath her full revenge upon all those that rail at her I have often wonder'd that people can with patience endure to hear their Teachers and Guides talk against Reason and not only so but they pay them the greater submission and veneration for it One would think this but an odd way to gain authority over the minds of Men but some skilful and designing men have found by experience that it is a very good way to recommend them to the ignorant as Nurses use to endear themselves to Children by perpetual noise and nonsense III. I observe that God obligeth no Man to believe plain and evident Contradictions as matters of Faith Abraham could not reasonably have believed this second revelation to have been from God if he had not found some way to reconcile it with the first For tho a Man were never so much disposed to submit his Reason to divine Revelation yet it is not possible for any Man to believe God against God himself Some Men seem to think that they oblige God mightily by believing plain contradictions But the matter is quite otherwise He that made Man a reasonable Creature cannot take it kindly from any Man to debase his workmanship by making himself unreasonable And therefore as no service or obedience so no Faith is acceptable unto God but what is reasonable if it be not so it may be confidence or presumption but it is not Faith for he that can believe plain contradictions may believe any thing how absurd soever because nothing can be more absurd than the belief of a plain contradiction and he that can believe any thing believes nothing upon good grounds because to him Truth and Falsehood are all one 4. I observe that the great cause of the defect of Mens obedience is the weakness of their Faith Did we believe the commands of God in the Gospel and his promises and threatnings as firmly as Abraham believed God in this case what should we not be ready to do or suffer in obedience to him If our Faith were but as strong and vigorous as his was the effects of it would be as
rather because they are different from That which they presume to be the only true Religion ought to be condemned at all adventures without any farther enquiry This I say is fond Partiality because every Religion and every Church may for ought that appears to any man that is not permitted to examine things impartially say the same for themselves and with as much Reason and if so then either every Religion ought to permit it self to be examined or else no man ought to examine his own Religion whatever it be and consequently Jews and Turks and Heathens and Hereticks ought all to continue as they are and none of them to change because they cannot reasonably change without examining both that Religion which they leave and that which they embrace instead of it 2. Admitting this Pretence were true that They are the true Church and have the true Religion This is so far from being a Reason why they should not permit it to be examined that on the contrary it is one of the best Reasons in the World why they should allow it to be examined and why they may safely suffer it to be so They should permit it to be tryed that men may upon good Reason be satisfied that it is the true Religion And they may safely suffer it to be done because if They be sure that the Grounds of their Religion be firm and good I am sure they will be never the worse for being examined and look'd into But I appeal to every Man's Reason whether it be not an ill Sign that they are not so sure that the Grounds of their Religion are solid and firm and such as will abide the Tryal that they are so very loth to have them searcht into and examined This cannot but tempt a wise Man to suspect that their Church is not founded upon a Rock and that they themselves know something that is amiss in their Religion which makes them so loth to have it try'd and brought to the Touch. 3. It is certain among all Christians that the Doctrine preached by the Apostles was the true Faith of Christ and yet they never forbad the Christians to examine whether it were so or not Nay on the contrary they frequently exhort them to try and examine their Religion and whether that Doctrine which they had delivered to them was the true Faith of Christ. So St. Paul 2 Corinth 13. 5. Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves And again 1 Thes. 5. 21. Prove all things hold fast that which is good intimating to us that in order to the holding fast the Profession of our Faith it is requisite to prove and try it And so likewise St. John's Ep. 1. 4. 1. Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world And he gives a very notable mark whereby we may know the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error The Spirit of Error carries on a worldly Interest and Design and the Doctrines of it tend to Secular Power and Greatness vers 5. They are of the world therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them Acts 17. 11. St. Luke commends it as an argument of a more noble and generous Spirit in the Beroeans that they examined the Doctrine which the Apostles preacht whether it were agreeable to the Scriptures and this without Disparagement to their Infallibility These saith he were more noble than those of Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so They were ready to receive the Word but not blindly and with an implicit Faith but using due Care to examine the Doctrines which they were taught and to see if they were agreeable to that Divine Revelation of the Holy Scriptures which they had before received It seems they were not willing to admit and swallow Contradictions in their Faith And we desire no more of the Church of Rome than that they would encourage the people to search the Scriptures daily and to examine whether their Doctrines be according to them We would be glad to hear the Pope and a General Council commend to the People the searching of the Scriptures and to try their Definitions of Faith and Decrees of Worship by that Rule to see whether what they have defined and decreed to be believed and practised be agreeable to it their Worship of Images their solemn Invocation of Angels and of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints departed the Sacrament under one kind only the publick Prayers and Service of God in an unknown Tongue the frequent Repetition of the Propitiatory Sacrifice of Christs Body and Blood in the Mass. Had the Beroeans been at the Council of Trent and pleaded their Right to search the Scriptures whether these things were so I doubt they would have been thought very troublesome and impertinent and would not have been praised by the Pope and Council for their pains as they are by St. Luke You see then upon the whole matter that it is a very groundless and suspicious Pretence of the Church of Rome that because They are Infallibly in the right and Theirs is the true Religion therefore their people must not be permitted to examine it The Doctrine of the Apostles was undoubtedly the true Faith of Christ and yet they not only permitted the people to examine it but exhorted and encouraged them so to do and commended them for it And any Man that hath the Spirit of a Man must abhor to submit to this Slavery not to be allowed to examine his Religion and to enquire freely into the Grounds and Reasons of it and would break with any Church in the World upon this single Point and would tell them plainly if your Religion be too good to be Examined I doubt it is too bad to be Believed If it be said that the allowing of this Liberty is the way to make people perpetually doubting and unsettled I do utterly deny this and do on the contrary with good Reason affirm that it is apt to have the contrary effect There being in reason no better way to establish any man in the belief of any thing than to let him see that there are very good Grounds and Reasons for what he believes which no man can ever see that is not permitted to examine whether there be such Reasons or not So that besides the Reasonablness of the thing it is of great benefit and advantage to us And that upon these Accounts 1. To arm us against Seducers He that hath examined his Religion and tryed the Grounds of it is most able to maintain them and make them good against all Assaults that may be made upon us to move us from our Stedfastness Whereas he that hath not examined and consequently does not understand the Reasons of his Religion is liable to be tossed to and fro and to
be carried about with every Wind of Doctrine by the slight of Men and the cunning Craftiness of those that lie in wait to deceive For when he is attempted he will either defend his Religion or not If he undertake the Defence of it before he hath examined the Grounds of it he makes himself an easie Prey to every crafty man that will set upon him he exposeth at once himself to Danger and his Religion to Disgrace If he decline the defence of it he must be forced to take Sanctuary in that Ignorant and Obstinate Principle that because he is of an Infallible Church and sure that he is in the right therefore he never did nor will examine whether he be so or not But how is he or can he be sure that he is in the right if he have no other Reason for it but his Confidence and his being wiser in his own conceit than Seven men that can render a Reason It is a shameful thing in a wise man who is able to give a good Reason of all other Actions and parts of his Life to be able to say nothing for his Religion which concerns him more than all the rest 2. To examine and understand the Grounds of our Religion will be a good means by the assistance of Gods Grace to keep us constant to it even under the fiery Tryal When it comes to this that a man must suffer for his Religion he had need to be well established in the Belief of it which no man can so well be as he that in some good measure understands the Grounds and Reasons of his Belief A man would be well assured of the Truth and Goodness of that for which he would lay down hīs Life otherwise he dies as a Fool dies he knows not for what A man would be loth to set such a Seal to a Blank I mean to that which he hath no sufficient Ground and Reason to believe to be true which whether he hath or not no man that hath not examined the Grounds of his Religion can be well assured of This St. Peter prescribes as the best Preparative for suffering for Righteousness sake the 1st Ep. of Peter 3. 14 15. But if ye suffer for righteousness sake happy are ye And be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled But sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts that is make him the great Object of your Dread and Trust and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you 2. The holding fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering doth not imply that Men should obstinately refuse to hear any Reason against that Religion which they have embraced and think to be the true Religion As Men should examine before they chuse so after they have chosen they should be ready to be better informed if better Reason can be offered No Man ought to think himself so infallible as to be priviledged from hearing Reason and from having his Doctrines and Dictates tryed by that Test. Our Blessed Saviour himself the most Infallible Person that ever was in the World and who declared the Truth which he had heard of God yet He offered himself and his Doctrine to this Tryal John 8. 46. Which of you convinceth me of sin that is of Falsehood and Error And if I speak the truth why do ye not believe me He was sure he spake the Truth and yet for all that if they could convince him of Error and Mistake he was ready to hear any Reason they could bring to that purpose Though a Man be never so sure that he is in the true Religion and never so resolved to continue constant and stedfast in it yet Reason is always to be heard when it is fairly offered And as we ought always to be ready to give an Answer to those who ask a Reason of the Hope and Faith that is in us so ought we likewise to be ready to hear the Reasons which others do fairly offer against our Opinion and Persuasion in Religion and to debate the matter with them that if we be in the right and they in the wrong we may rectifie their Mistakes and instruct them in meekness if God peradventure may give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth We are not only to examine our Religion before we peremptorily fix upon it but after we are as we think upon the best Reason establisht and settled in it Tho we ought not to doubt and waver in our Religion upon every slight and trifling Objection that can be brought against it yet we ought always to have an Ear open to hear Reason and consider any thing of Weight and Moment that can be offered to us about it For it is a great Disparagement to Truth and argues a distrust of the Goodness of our Cause and Religion to be afraid to hear what can be said against it As if Truth were so weak that in every Conflict it were in danger to be baffled and run down and go by the worst and as if the Reasons that could be brought against it were too hard for it and not to be encounter'd by those Forces which Truth has on its side We have that honest Confidence of the Goodness of our Cause and Religion that we do not fear what can be said against it And therefore we do not forbid our people to examine the Objections of our Adversaries and to read the best Books they can write against it But the Church of Rome are so wise in their Generation that they will not permit those of their Communion to hear or read what can be said against them Nay they will not permit the people the use of the Holy Scriptures which they with us acknowledge to be at least an Essential Part of the Rule of Faith They tell their people that after they are once of their Church and Religion they ought not to hear any Reasons against it and though they be never so strong they ought not to entertain any doubt concerning it because all doubting is a Temptation of the Devil and a Mortal Sin But surely that Church is not to be heard which will not hear Reason nor that Religion to be much admired which will not allow those that have once embrac'd it to hear it ever after debated and examined This is a very suspicious Business and argues that either they have not Truth on their side or that Truth is a weak and pitiful and sneaking Thing and not able to make its party good against Error I should now have proceeded in the Second place to shew Positively what is implied in holding fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering and then to have considered the Argument and Encouragement hereto because he is faithful that promised But I shall proceed no farther at this time A SERMON ON HEB. X. 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering for he
a much clearer revelation and much greater assurance than former Ages and Generations had and the firm belief and perswasion of this is the great Motive and Argument to a Holy life The hope which is set before us of obtaining the Happiness and the fear of incurring the Misery of another world This made the Primitive Christians with so much patience to bear the Sufferings and Persecutions with so much constancy to venture upon the dangers and inconveniencies which the love of God and Religion exposed them to Under the former Dispensation of the Law tho good Men received good hopes of the Rewards of another life yet these things were but obscurely revealed to them and the great inducements of Obedience were Temporal Rewards and Punishments the promises of long life and peace and plenty and prosperity in that good Land which God had given them and the threatnings of War and Famine and Pestilence and being delivered into Captivity But now under the Gospel Life and Immortality are brought to light and the great Arguments that bear sway with Christians are the Promises of Everlasting Life and the Threatnings of Eternal Misery and the firm Belief and Persuasion of these is now the great Principle that governs the Lives and Actions of good Men for what will not Men do that are really persuaded that as they do demean themselves in this World it will fare with them in the other That the Wicked shall go into everlasting Punishment and the Righteous into Life Eternal I proceed to the II. Observation namely That Faith is a Degree of Assent inferiour to that of Sense This is intimated in the Opposition betwixt Faith and Sight We walk by Faith and not by Sight that is we believe these things and are confidently persuaded of the truth of them tho we never saw them and consequently cannot possibly have that Degree of Assurance concerning the Joys of Heaven and the Torments of Hell which those have who enjoy the One and endure the Other There are different Degrees of Assurance concerning things arising from the different Degrees of Evidence we have for them The highest Degree of Evidence we have for any thing is our own Sense and Experience and this is so firm and strong that it is not to be shaken by the utmost Pretence of a Rational Demonstration Men will trust their own Senses and Experience against any subtilty of Reason whatsoever But there are inferiour degrees of Assurance concerning things as the Testimony and Authority of Persons every way credible and this Assurance we have in this state concerning the things of another World we believe with great Reason that we have the Testimony of God concerning them which is the highest kind of Evidence in it self and we have all the reasonable assurance we can desire that God hath testified these things and this is the utmost assurance which things future and at a distance are capable of But yet it is an unreasonable obstinacy to deny that this falls very much short of that degree of assurance which those Persons have concerning these things who are now in the other World and have the Sense and Experience of these things and this is not only intimated here in the Text in the Opposition of Faith and Sight but is plainly exprest in other Texts of Scripture 1 Cor. 13. 9 10. We know now but in part but when that which is perfect is come that which is in part shall be done away That degree of knowledge and assurance which we have in this Life is very imperfect in comparison to what we shall have hereafter and Verse 12. We now see as through a Glass darkly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in a Riddle in which there is always a great deal of Obscurity all which Expressions are certainly intended by way of abatement and diminution to the certainty of Faith because it is plain that by that which is in part or imperfect the Apostle means Faith and Hope which he tells us shall cease when that which is perfect meaning Vision and Sight is come We see likewise in Experience that the Faith and Hope of the best Christians in this Life is accompanied with doubting concerning these things and all doubting is a degree of uncertainty but those blessed Souls who are entred upon the Possession of Glory and Happiness and those miserable Wretches who lye groaning under the Wrath of God and the Severity of his Justice cannot possibly if they would have any doubt concerning the Truth and Reality of these things But however contentious Men may dispute against common Sense this is so plain a Truth that I will not labour in the farther Proof of it nor indeed is it reasonable while we are in this state to expect that degree of assurance concerning the Rewards and Punishments of another Life which the sight and sensible experience of them would give us and that upon these Two Accounts 1. Because our present state will not admit it and 2. If it would it is not reasonable we should have it 1. Our present state will not admit it for while we are in this World it is not possible we should have that sensible Experiment and Tryal how things are in the other The things of the other World are remote from us and far out of our Sight and we cannot have any experimental knowledge of them till we our selves enter into that state Those who are already past into it know how things are those happy Souls who live in the reviving presence of God and are possest of those joys which we cannot now conceive understand these things in another manner and have a more perfect assurance concerning them than it is possible for any Man to have in this World and those wretched and miserable Spirits who feel the vengeance of God and are plunged into the Horrors of Eternal Darkness do believe upon irresistable evidence and have other kind of Convictions of the Reality of that state and the insupportable Misery of it than any Man is capable of in this World 2. If our present state would admit of this high degree of assurance it is not fit and reasonable that we should have it such an over-powering evidence would quite take away the virtue of Faith and much lessen that of Obedience Put the case that every Man some considerable time before his departure out of this Life were permitted to visit the other World to assure him how things are there to view the Mansions of the Blessed and to survey the dark and loathsome Prisons of the Damned to hear the lamentable outcrys of Miserable and Despairing Souls and to see the inconceivable Anguish and Torments they are in after this what virtue would it be in any Man to believe these things He that had been there and seen them could not dis-believe them if he would Faith in this case would not be virtue but necessity and therefore it is observable that our Saviour doth not Pronounce
to turn them into jest and raillery this is not only a Renouncing of Christianity the Religion which God hath revealed but even of the Religion which is born with us and the Principles and Notions which God hath planted in every Man's Mind this is an Impiety of the First Magnitude and not to be mentioned without grief and horror and this it is to be feared hath had a great hand in those great Calamities which our eyes have seen and I pray God it do not draw down still more and greater Judgments upon this Nation But I hope there are none here that need to be cautioned against this horrible impiety and highest degree of Apostasie from the living God that which People are much more in danger of is Apostasie from the Purity of the Christian Doctrine and Worship so happily recovered by a regular Reformation and establisht amongst us by all the Authority that Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil can give it and which in Truth is no other than the Ancient and Primitive Christianity I say a defection from this to those gross Errors and Superstitions which the Reformation had paired off and freed us from I do not say that this is a total Apostasie from Christianity but it is a partial Apostasie and Defection and a very dangerous one and that those who after they have received the knowledge of the truth fall off from it into those Errors and Corruptions are highely guilty before God and their condition certainly worse and more dangerous than of those who where brought up in those Errors and Superstitions and never knew better for there are terrible threatnings in Scripture against those who fall away from the Truth which they once embraced and were convinced of If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth c. and if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him God considers every Man's Advantages and Opportunities of Knowledge and their Disadvantages likewise and makes all reasonable Allowances for them and for Men to continue in the Errors they have been always brought up in or which comes much to one in Errors which they were led into by Principles early infused into them before they were in any measure competent Judges of those matters I say for such Persons to continue in these Errors and to oppose and reject the contrary Truths against which by their Education they have received so strong and violent a Prejudice this may be in a great degree excusable and find Pardon with God upon a general Repentance for all Sins both known and unknown and cannot be reasonably charged with the Guilt of this great Sin of Apostasie But not to abide in the Truth after we have entertain'd and profess'd it having sufficient Means and Advantages of knowing it hath no Excuse I would not be rash in condemning Particular Persons of any Society or Communion of Christians provided they be sincerely devout and just and sober to the best of their Knowledge I had much rather leave them to God whose mercies are great than to pass an uncharitable Censure upon them as to their Eternal State and Condition But the Case is far otherwise where the Oportunities of Knowledge are afforded to Men and men love darkness rather than light for they who have the Means and Advantages of knowing their Master's will are answerable to God as if they had known it because if they had not been grosly negligent and wanting to themselves they might have known it And this I fear is the Case of the generality of those who have been bred up to years of Consideration and Choice in the Reformed Religion and forsake it because they do it without sufficient Reason and there are invincible Objections against it They do it without sufficient Reason because every one amongst us knows or may know upon very little Enquiry that we hold all the Articles of the Faith which are contained in the Ancient Creeds of the Christian Church and into which all Christians are baptized that we inculcate upon Men the Necessity of a Good Life and of sincere Repentance and perfect Contrition for our Sins such as is follow'd with real Reformation and Amendment of our Lives and that without this no Man can be saved by any Device whatsoever Now what Reason can any Man have to question whether he may be saved in that Faith which saved the first Christians and by believing the Twelve Articles of the Apostles Creed tho he cannot swallow the Twelve Articles which are added to it in the Creed of Pope Pius IV. every one of which besides many and great Corruptions and Superstitions in Worship are so many and invincible Objections against the Communion of the Roman Church as I could particularly shew if it had not been already done in so many learned Treatises upon this Argument What is there then that should move any reasonable Man to forsake the Communion of our Church and to quit the Reformed Religion There are Three things chiefly with which they endeavour to amuse and affright weaker Minds 1. A great Noise of Infallibility which they tell us is so excellent a means to determine and put an end to all Differences To which I shall at present only object this Prejudice That there are not wider and hotter Differences among us about any thing whatsoever than are amongst them about this admirable means of ending all Differences as where this Infallibility is feated that Men may know how to have recourse to it for the ending of Differences 2. They endeavour to fright Men with the danger of Schism But every Man knows that the Guilt of Schism lies at their Door who impose sinful Articles of Communion and not upon them who for fear of sinning against God cannot submit to those Articles which we have done and are still ready to make good to be the Case betwixt us and the Church of Rome But 3. The terrible Engine of all is their positive and confident damning of all that live and die out of the Communion of their Church This I have fully spoken to upon another Occasion and therefore shall only say at present that every Man ought to have better Thoughts of God than to believe that he who delighteh not in the death of sinners and would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth will confirm the Sentence of such uncharitable Men as take upon them to condemn Men for those things for which our Saviour in his Gospel condemns no Man And of all things in the World one would think that the Uncharitableness of any Church should be an Argument to no Man to run into its Communion I shall conclude with the Apostle's Exhortation ver 23. of this Chapter Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering and provoke one another to charity and good works and so much the more because the Day approacheth in which God will judge the faith
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