R. White Sculp â—ELMUS OUTRAMUS S.T.P. S ti Petri apud Westmonasterienses Canonicus TWENTY SERMONS PREACHED upon Several Occasions BY WILLIAM OWTRAM D.D. Prebendary of Westminster and one of his MAJESTIES Chaplains in Ordinary Printed after the Authors own Copies LONDON Printed by J. M. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St Paul's Church-Yard 1682. TO THE READER Reader IT is well known that the Author of these following Sermons could never he prevailed upon either by the Intreaty of his Friends or the Authority of his Superiours though very much urged by both to publish any of his Sermons in Print and his nearest Relations would have paid that respect to him in this as in all other things to have denyed them to the Publick for the sake of his own Judgment in this matter had not a forward Bookseller only to serve the ends of his own profit thrust out into the World Six Sermons under his name not many Months after his Death To promote the Sale of which he indeavours in an Epistle before them to make the Reader believe that although as he confesses they were taken from the Author by a Short-hand-man many years since yet they were allowed and corrected by himself That they were agreeable to his sense And that there was no other more perfect Copy to be procured If all this had been true What right had the Bookseller and his Short-hand Friend by this to publish them in the name of this Author Did the Author Correct them for the Press Or is it sufficient to justifie the publishing of such Discourses under a Mans name because they are agreeable to his sense Or if no other Copy could be procured was it therefore necessary to publish this But this pretence was so far from being true that whosoever has been abused by this Publisher so much as to buy and look into those Sermons will find that they are so far from being Corrected by the Hand of this Author that they were never Corrected by any That they are so far from being agreeable to his sense that in very many places they are no sense at all And the Publisher knows very well that he never inquired of any of the Authors Relations for any Copies or Papers remaining in their hands If he had he might have been shewed Three Sermons upon the first Text Heb. 10.38 whereas he has published but Two of them and those two put together as one and that so imperfect so incoherent and so ungrammatical that the Reader must be very kind if he would excuse the Author in many places as well as the Printer One might point to mistakes in almost every Page some of which are very absurd and intolerable But in regard some Friends of the Authors have thought fit to collect a Volume of his Sermons upon Theological Subjects amongst which it will be most proper to insert these upon the 10th of the Hebrews concerning the Life of Faith in connection with other Discourses of Faith it is sufficient to acquaint the Reader that these shall be reprinted after the Authors own Copy In like manner the Publisher if he had consulted the Authors Friends might have seen that the Second and Third Sermons of Providence upon St. Matt. 10.29 are but a part of his Discourses upon that Subject which it will be most proper to put together and publish if at all in a Volume of the Attributes of God upon which the Author has several Sermons But besides that these are but apart of his Meditations upon Providence they are also very broken and imperfect in many places though the Short-hand-man has endeavoured according to his skill in Divinity to supply and fill them up Of the three following two of them cannot yet be found amongst the Authors Papers so that it is very doubtful whether they be his or no and therefore the Publisher besides the wrong he has done the Author and the World too in exposing his labours imperfectly has also very probably fathered upon him those that are none of his The just indignation which the Authors Friends have taken to this injurious dealing of the Publisher together with Reports brought frequently to their ears of a design of other persons to publish other of his Sermons inclined them though they are sensible against the Authors own opinion to set forth a Volume at present according to his own Copies And these Twenty being lately preached upon particular occasions and some of them in the most august and solemn Audience and all of them designed to obviate the evils of the Age and to secure Men in the belief and practice of the true Religion are thought not improper to be first offered to the publick view The Author was sensible by what Artifices what degrees and what parties of Men this most excellent constitution of the Church of England is endeavoured to be undermined and denying to no Man the liberty of Disquisition and Discourse he understood the strength both of their Arguments and their Interest And the Reader may discern by these Sermons that he apprehended our danger to arise of late from a confederacy it may be one cannot say but a complication of enemies Papists Libertines and Dissenters but chiefly from the first who imploy the two latter to work under them and to weaken the Church of England one by Prophaneness and the other by Separation that so they may argue against the sufficiency of our constitution to maintain good Life and preserve Unity and dispose those who are of no Religion and no Church to become Proselytes to theirs Amongst the Libertines may be reckoned that sort of Men who though indeed they have natural conviction of a supreme Being pretend to more wit than to be satisfied with the Authority of our Blessed Saviour and so because they have no good opinion of the Truth of his Religion they neglect Religion in general for what Theist was ever known to live according to the Principles of natural Religion to which notwithstanding he owns himself obliged For the Dissenters they have many different Opinions amongst themselves some of which are here taken notice of either ex proposito in some Sermons or by the by in others So that the whole Collection is an Antidote Very seasonable for the malignity of the Age and by the blessing of God may have some profitable effect from the Press as by the testimony of the Hearers they had from the Pulpit and they are offered to the world for that end not as a Character of the great abilities of the Author and his great Accomplishments in almost all kinds of Science but as an instance of his Zeal for the Truth and goodness of the Christian Religion in general and the Church of England in particular especially in this juncture His extraordinary skill in Rabbinical Learning and the use and service of it to the Confirmation and Illustration of the Christian Theology he has made appear to the learned World
was so far from being terrified either by his bonds or death it self that were it not for their sakes to whom his life might be more useful he should rather desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ He further acquaints them with his design to visit them again in order to their support and settlement if God should rescue him from his bonds In the mean time gives this admonition Only let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or else be absent I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one Spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel and in nothing thing terrified by your adversaries That ye stand fact c. In which words you have an account what are the most effectual means for any Church which God hath blessed with the true Faith of Christianity still to abide and continue in it Firmness of mind in every mans private belief of it close union amongst themselves zeal and diligence in joynt endeavours for its defence and propagation and courage against such oppositions as others may possibly make against it 1. Firmness of mind in every mans private belief of it which is suggested in these words Stand fast that is to say as it there follows in the faith of the Gospel 2. Union amongst themselves Stand fast in one spirit with one mind 3. Zeal and diligence in joynt endeavours for its defence and propagation Stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel 4. Courage against such oppositions as other persons make against it And in nothing terrified by your adversaries These are the methods which our Apostle here propounds for a Church to retain the true Faith that is to continue a true Church 1. The first of which is firmness of mind in every mans private belief of truth For feeing that every particular Church is made up of particular persons so far as particular Members fail in the true Faith so far is that Church they are Members of maimed and mutilated in its parts and the whole in tendency to dissolution Now seeing the firmness of belief depends upon clear and evident proof I might here offer a demonstration of the truth and excellency of Christianity But being this is neither so needful nor yet so seasonable to the occasion of our meeting I shall rather chuse to address my self to what the occasion now requires which is to shew the truth and excellence of Christianity as it is professed in our own Church in opposition to that of Rome which I shall do by comparing theirs and ours together in point of Faith and Worship and Manners 1. And first of all for matter of Faith we firmly believe the holy Scriptures and every thing therein contained to be the infallible Word of God We believe the Scriptures do contain all things necessary to Salvation according as St. John assures us Joh. 20.31 These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name Which we could not have if every thing necessary to Salvation was not written was not contained in this very Gospel of St. John Nay further yet we believe and receive all Creeds that were ever received in the Catholick Church These Creeds are taken into our Liturgy they are repeated in our Churches we signifie our assent to them by standing up when they are repeated and are we still to be judged Hereticks and deficient in the Catholick Faith On the other hand the Roman Church deny the Scriptures to be a compleat Rule of Faith they build their faith upon Tradition a thing uncertain They rely upon Councils which may erre nay upon such as have grosly erred They vary as well from the Primitive Church in many cases as from the holy Scripture it self And last of all they pretend a power of making new Articles of Faith that is such as were not made by our Blessed Lord and his Apostles which being so let reason judge whether they or we be likeliest to erre in point of Faith 2. For matter of Worship in the second place their publick Prayers are made and used in a tongue unknown unto the people ours in a tongue which we all understand And here let St. Paul decide the controversie that is between us I Cor. 14 15 16 c. I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with understanding also I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with understanding also Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest For thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified From whence it appears what edification may be expected from their prayers that is to say none at all And therefore the Apostle further adds I thank God I speak with tongues more than you all yet in the Church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue But to proceed as we make our prayers in a known tongue so in them we invoke the true God and him only We use no other Mediator no other Patron but only Christ whom God hath appointed so to be For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 But they that are of the Church of Rome make their addresses to Saints and Angels as well for patronage and protection as for their prayers to God for them and some of those the Virgin Mary do they invoke in as magnificent and high a stile as they invoke God himself We pay no worship to any Images seeing that God hath expresly said Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them But they bow down and prostrate themselves before the Images of Christ and others And though they affirm that the honour they give unto the Image passes through it to the person whom it represents yet still they acknowledge they worship the Image that this at least is a transient object of their Worship And then again we give the Sacrament of the Lords Supper unto the people as well as the Priests in both kinds So it was instituted by Christ himself so it was given all along for many Ages but others in perfect contradiction to the Institution of our Lord deny the Cup unto the Laity We believe that after Consecration the Bread and Wine set apart and consecrated for the Sacrament do still retain the natural substance of bread and wine And so the Apostle himself believed when he stiled that bread of
and manners then was our Church depraved and corrupted as theirs now is but now is our Church by Gods grace reformed and restored to primitive purity which theirs is not Whether theirs or ours be the better Church in point of faith may be easily known by this instance we make the Scripture the rule of faith and this is a most unerring rule they add tradition unto Scripture and this is greatly exposed to errour we have added nothing as absolutely necessary to salvation to the faith contained in the antient Creeds of the Catholick Church they have added much to those Creeds they have added some such things to them as do by consequence overthrow some parts of the very Creeds themselves Whether theirs or ours be the safer Church for a man to hope for Salvation in may easily appear from these particulars We teach such worship such practice as are most clearly and fully lawful lawful beyond all peradventure for sure it is undoubtedly Jawful for a man to worship the true God to use no Image in his worship to use him as Mediator whom he hath appointed so to be It is lawful beyond all peradventure to have our prayers in a known tongue to give the communion unto the Laity in both kinds to reform as well as confess our sins to use no art or commutations for the expiation of our sins but to forsake the sins themselves These things are lawful without all doubt but that the contrary to these are lawful is the doubtfulest thing in all the world or rather to speak more properly it is most certain they are not lawful And therefore I leave it to you to judge whether communion with our Church or the Church of Rome be the safer way unto salvation and if you judge as I know you must stand fast in the faith you have received and the Church wherein you were baptized And so much may serve for the first method for a true Church to preserve it self in the true faith firmness of mind in every mans private belief of it 2. Proceed we now unto the second and that is Union amongst themselves as it is suggested in these words stand fast in one spirit with one mind If a kingdom be divided against it self that kingdom cannot stand If a house be divided against it self that house cannot stand Mark 3.23 24. Neither can a Church which is so divided If the members of the natural body be rent and torn each from other this is the destruction of the whole and death to every single part Disunion doth of its own nature naturally tend to dissolution there needs no Enemy from abroad to destroy and ruine such a Church as is divided against it self the mutual discords that are within the divisions amongst its own members their mutual envyings and animosities that naturally arise out of these divisions effectually tend to separation and separation to dissolution Besides the intestine strifes and divisions which are seen and observed in any Church invite its Enemys to attempt its utter ruine and destruction they open a breach for them to enter they give free and an easie entrance to swarms or seducers to invade it they give a plausible and fair pretence for a very plausible and specious objections you have no union amongst your selves from whence it appears you have not the truth Truth is one and so is the Faith that 's built upon it You are not one amongst your selves and therefore you have not the true faith Now therefore leave and quit that Church which hath no unity in its members and come to that which is united To these assaults and these are dangerous to weaker minds doth every Church expose it self which is not at unity in it self Now therefore let us be most cautious to be at union amongst our selves and in order to so good an end let us take care to make our breaches no wider than indeed they are We do agree exactly agree amongst our selves in point of faith in the belief of all those Doctrines that are absolutely necessary to salvation thus far we agree with the Protestant Churches that are abroad and further yet with the generality of the Diffenters that are at home And as for this Church it self there is as great and greater consent in all the parts and members of it than in the Church of Rome it self They have divisions amongst themselves and greater than any amongst us They charge either other in some points with nothing less than heresie it self We have no such charges amongst us They have their Dominicans and Franciscans they have their Molinists and their Jansenists one Order bandying against another with bitter discords and animosities They are not agreed in the very rule of faith it self some make the Decrees of the Pope only some the Decrees of a General Council others the Decrees of the Pope and Council both together to be the only rule of Faith from whence it most inevitably follows that that must be Faith unto one party which is not so unto another Seeing some things have been decreed by Popes that have not been decreed by Councils some things by Councils and not by Popes From whence it appears that after all the boasts we hear of union in the Church of Rome there is in truth less of union in that Church than in this that we are members of And for the increase and preservation of this so blessed and needful thing let us take care not to advance any private opinions in opposition to publick wisdom Let us not insist upon any Doctrines as absolutely necessary to salvation which the Church hath not proposed as such Let no particular sort of men presume to stile themselves the Church or the only genuine Sons of it in opposition unto others who belive the Doctrines of the Church who have promised due Conformity to it and evidently practise what they promise These in truth are the sure and genuine Sons of the Church who go so far as the Church requires and content themselves to go no further And if any deny them so to be they have private fancys of their own and by obtruding these on others and censuring those that receive them not they weaken the Church disturb its union disquiet its peace and take a course to bring a dangerous Schism into it Now therefore let it be our care to maintain Charity to cherish Peace to study Union amongst our selves And this is the second of these methods which powerfully tend to our preservation and of the Faith which we do profess 3. The third is singular zeal and diligence in joynt endeavours for its defence and propagation For so the Apostle farther adds Stand fast in one Spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel There must be zeal there must be endeavour there must be joynt endeavour used for the promotion of this end 1. Our enemies have a zeal against it and if we our selves have none for it how
darkest Plots he can defeat the greatest craft he can disarm the greatest Powers and scatter them all into confusion And we are not without very good hopes that he will concern himself for us and imploy his Providence for our help We have a Cause that God hath favoured wonderfully favoured in former times How many Plots against this Cause did he discover confound and punish during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth How did he do the like again when her Successor began his Reign How hath he still preserved and blessed it in many confusions many divisions amongst our selves since that time How hath he now at the present time wonderfully discovered the works of darkness brought hidden and secret evils to light Made those discoveries done those things that we could never have done for our selves God will never be wanting to us or to the Religion we profess if we our selves be not wanting to it Let us therefore awaken all our powers to diligence in our own defence and then commit our cause to God making our daily prayers to him that he would defend his own Truth that he would protect his own Inheritance and water the Vine that himself hath planted Yea let us make our appeals to him whether we or cur enemies be in the right And then O God who art a just and righteous God take the matter into thine own hand do thou judge between them and us Pardon our sins forgive those evils which may provoke thine indignation against us but for our cause for that Faith that we do profess against our enemies that we freely leave to thee we do appeal unto thy judgment and are willing to stand or fall by it Let us therefore adorn it in our lives this is the first and principal way of procuring the blessing of God upon it Let us seek and improve all occasions to gain it credit and reputation And seeing that it hath pleased the King to recommend the rebuilding of St Pauls unto our Charity at this time and himself to set us a great Example let us not be wanting to this Work according unto our proportion It is certainly a Work of Christian piety to build up places for Gods Worship No sooner were the Christians freed from the Persecutions of the Heathen but they did zealously apply themselves to this work and raised magnificent and noble Structures for the publick places of Gods Worship This Church which is now to be rebuilt may be stiled the chief of all the Nation It hath formerly been its greatest glory in its kind and we hope it may be so again What pity were it that such a Work should fail or flag at such a time when we are to give especial evidence of a publick Spirit of free and noble and generous minds The time is an extraordinary time the work an extraordinary work Let us open our hands to a more than ordinary bounty towards it And as for us in this place we have singular reason so to do seeing it pleased Almighty God to preserve our Churches and Habitations from those flames that devoured our Neighbours Now therefore let us at this time honour the Religion we do profess by this particular work of piety as well as in all other instances making our prayers to Almighty God that he would defend his own Truth that he would protect his own Inheritance and preserve the Religion himself planted And thou O God c. The Fourth Sermon Matth. 6.23 If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness THE great security of mans life as well from the cheats of his own as from the temptations of the world depends upon true and stable Principles of Faith and Piety And the ground of all these Principles is a true judgment of what is happiness what is the great end of life and what are the ways that lead unto it and a choice suitable thereunto This is the thing which our Lord suggests 19 20 21 verses Lay not up for your selves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal hut lay up for your selves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal for says he when your treasure is there will your heart be also that is to say that which you chuse to be your happiness that will you place your hearts upon and pursue in all your deliberate actions Having thus exhorted us to take care to chuse that for our chief good which is indeed really so to conduct our lives by true Principles he speaks a Parable wherein he shews the great advantage of so doing and the danger of doing otherwise The former of these in those words vers 22. The light of the body is the eye if therefore thine eye be single thy whole body is full of light The application of which words is this The judgment of the mind is the guide of life Wherefore if the judgment be true and good the life hath a true guide to rule it And then the danger of a false judgment is declared in the words that immediately follow But if thine eye be evil thy whole body is full of darkness And so he comes to the words of the Text If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness that is if thy judgment be corrupt if thy mind and conscience be erroneous how great and dangerous are those mistakes which thou art then exposed unto Now that which the words thus explained offer unto our consideration is the mighty danger that they are in to lose their souls who are led and governed by false Principles Which will appear if we consider that such Principles 1. Leave them dangerously exposed to sin 2. And not only so exposed unto it but that they also encourage to it I say 1. They leave them dangerously exposed to evil which will be very clear and manifest if we consider 1. First of all that our present condition and state is such that we are under many temptations thereunto 2. That the nature of man is apt of it self to close and comply with those temptations 3. That we have nothing else save only true and right Principles assisted by the Grace of God to prevent and hinder complying with them 4. From whence it most inevitably follows that where those Principles are not found we are most dangerously exposed to evil 1. I shall begin with the first of these which is that our present condition is such that we are under many temptations unto evil The world is full of deceits and snares where-ever we tread we are in danger to fall into them There is no business no imployment no condition or state of life but lies exposed unto temptation Sometimes we are courted by sensual charms by the hopes of favour or wealth or honour to part with our innocence and integrity sometimes we are in great
very name of Christ and yet this promise of our Lord remain a firm and stable truth That the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church 2. Seeing that this promise belongs to the Church Universal only and not to any particular Church this may suggest a severe Caution to all particular Churches in the World wheresoever they are fixed and planted carefully to study their preservation and duly to mind and use the means that may be effectual to that purpose The promise of God doth not fail in the failing of any particular Church seeing that no particular Church hath the warranty of any promise from him that it shall not cease to be a Church and lose the profession of Christianity If the Professors of Christianity in any particular place or Nation shall become vain in their imaginations exchanging plain and wholesom Truths for fond Speculations and Opinions if they shall turn factious and schismatical neglecting their spiritual Guides and Pastors if they be dissolute in their manners and confute their profession in their lives they do in effect dissolve themselves and break the bonds of their own communion and what is more provoke God to bring confusion and ruine upon them They were these miscarriages that opened the way to the Turks and Saracens to overflow the Eastern Churches and let Mahometism into the World They were the same that brought that deluge of Goths and Vandals and barbarous Nations upon the West and what may happen upon our selves for the same miscarriages that are amongst us the wisest man amongst us cannot tell unless those evils be reformed which plainly threaten destruction to us Sure I am that Christ's Admonition to the Church of Ephesus may duly he applied to us Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of its place except thou repent Rev. 2.5 Christ is so far from promising safety and protection to any particular Church and People where they neglect their own safety where they wilfully violate his Laws that he threatens destruction and ruine to them and therefore it is no particular Church but the Catholick or Universal Church to which our Lord makes this promise that the gates of hell full not prevail against it This being cleared 2. Let us now proceed to the second point which is to consider how far this promise of our Lord made to the universal Church secures it from errour and defection 1. And first of all there is no doubt but that it secures it from such errours as destroy the foundation of Christianity for wheresoever these prevail the gates of Hell prevail in them which is a contradiction to Christs promises made to his Church in this place Errour in matters fundamental destroys the being of a Church and therefore the promise which assures us that there shall always be a Church assures us there shall always be a society of Christians which shall not err in fundamentals that is to say which shall profess all Christian Doctrine absolutely necessary to salvation 2. But then secondly although this promise of our Lord secure the universal Church from errour in fundamental points yet I conceive it doth not secure it from errour in things not fundamental I do not say that the whole Church the Church universal of any age even since the Decease of Christs Apostles hath actually erred even in things of less concernment But this I say that this promise doth not secure it from such errour The reason is because the Church may err in matters that are not fundamâ—ntal and yet continue a true Church for as a particular or single person may be a true and real Christian although he mistake in lesser matters in such as do not appertain to the foundation of Christianity so also may a Society of men be a true Church although they err in the like matters Errour in matters of less concernment doth no more destroy the being of a Church than lesser irregularities in practice and certainly such irregularities do not destroy the being of it There was something of faction and something of prophaneness also in the Church of Corinth one was of Paul another of Apollos another of Cephas 1 Cor. 3.3 4. And when they came to the Lords Supper one was hungry and another was drunk and the rich despised and contemned the poor 1 Cor. 11.21 which certainly were no small miscarriages and yet S. Paul doth still acknowledge that they were a true and real Church And so he stiles them 1 Cor. 1.2 There were not many of the seven Churches whereunto S. John writes by the spirit and in the name of Christ himself as unto true Christian Churches but had some considerable faults in them For thus is our Lord brought in as speaking to the Church of Ephesus Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent c. Revel 2.5 to the Church of Pergamus I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest them that hold the Doctrine of Balaam Revel 2.14 to the Church of Thyatira I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth her self a Prophetess to seduce my servants c. Revel 2.20 to the Church of Sardis I have not found thy works perfect before God Revel 3.2 to the Church of Laodicea I would thou were cold or hot so then because thou art luke-warm and neither cold nor hot I will spue thee out of my mouth unless thou reform in due time Revel 3.16 18. The summ is this as there may be a true Church where there are defects in point of practice so there may be a true Church also where there are defects in point of truth provided they be not in those truths which are fundamental to Christianity And therefore since this promise of Christ that the gates of hell shall not prevail aginst his Church imports no more but that there shall always be a true Church it doth not secure the same Church from errour in matters not fundamental And now to reflect upon this point 1. Hence we learn what it hath been that hath preserved the Church of Christ and the Christian Faith in that Church in all its several dangers and hazards in the several ages of Christianity Namely the faithfulness of our Lord to this his stable and gracious promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church which faithfulness will appear more signal if we shall make a short reflexion upon the several dangers and tryals that have in several and divers ages assaulted the Church and Faith of Christ 1. And first of all when that Church and Faith did first appear they were assaulted by persecution by persecution from Jew and Gentile and that both by the tongue and the sword the Scribes and Pharisees amongst the Jews the Philosophers also amongst the Gentiles bent all their wit to confute the Faith and the
Rabbi here is their haughtiness and ambition their presumption and self conceit reproved And then there censure and scorn of others is also detected and chastised Matt. 7.3 4 5. Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy Brothers eye but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye or how wilt thou say to thy Brother let me pull out the mote out of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eye thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers eye And although the Pharisee in his prayer thanked God that he was not as other men particularly that he was no Extortioner Luc. 18.11 yet one that knew them much better than they themselves knew them our Lord himself gives us another account of them he tells us that they were full of Extortion greatly infected with it within Matt. 23.25 And as for malicious craft and subtilty these are not obscurely charged upon them by him that could not be mistaken Matt. 23.33 Ye serpents ye generation of vipers how can ye escape the damnation of Hell ye says he build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous and say if we had been in the days of our Fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets and yet they were of the same spirit their Fathers were insomuch that they who here profess that they would never have shed the blood of the Holy Prophets shed that of the very Son of God and of his followers and Disciples and this our Saviour well foresaw and therefore adds v. 32. fill ye up the measure of your Fathers from whence I conclude that as hypocrisie is a mock-religion and so an abuse of true Piety so likewise that it leaves the hypocrite under the power of Pride Covetousness and Animosity under the dominion of those lusts that are most flat contradictions to it 4. Having said so much of the nature and quality of this vice in the three particulars last mentioned you will not wonder at what I shall add in the last place which is that hypocrisie mightily tends to the utter destruction of true Religion not in the hypocrite for in him it hath no place at all but in the very world it self that is to say in all other persons and this it doth two several ways 1. By debauching the nature of it 2. By bringing a Scandal upon it 1. For first its the nature of hypocrisie to debauch the nature of true Religion by turning it into meer formality into nice and scrupulous Superstitions in the avoiding or in the practising of things indifferent in themselves and endless disputes about these things which do not only imploy mens minds in things that are not of any moment and take them off from the study and practice of true Religion but wholly destroy Christian Charity fill men with mutual Animosities and by their means eat out the very heart of Piety It is the temper of hypocrisie to accomodate itself to the opinion and judgement of men The generality of mankind look no farther than to the shew and surface of things and therefore hypocrisie concerns itself in nothing further than to obtain the applause of men either in the observing or the avoiding of things indifferent in themselves things that may be done or omitted unless commanded by superiours in the mean time while it is thought sufficient on one hand to recommend a man to God if he abound in rite and ceremony in an infinite number of outward actions such as are used in the Church of Rome and on the other while all Religion is placed in avoiding all that 's decent in appearance every thing that is called a Ceremony and a man must certainly be a Saint that shall defie and rail at this true Religion is almost lost almost forgotten and laid aside in the noise of these disputes and quarrels 2. But lastly ther 's yet another way wherein hypocrisie dangerously tends to the destruction of true Religion which is by the scandal which it brings upon the name of all Religion For although it be very true indeed that men are generally very strangely charm'd by the shews and pretences of Religion yet when it appears as it doth at last where it is not real that all these shews are void of truth that they are but shews and nothing more this makes the very name of Religion despicable odious and abhorr'd it brings profaneness and infidelity and makes the very profession of Piety vile and contemptible in the world a dangerous and a destructive issue as we our selves have plainly found by our own experience in this Nation Hypocrisie being but a counterfeit coin never long retains its Credit and so indeed it happened at last amongst the Pharisees for although they were in great reputation amongst the Jews in our Saviours time yet I find that they lost it afterwards and became so despicable in the Nation that they were branded with scurrilous names some they called Sechemitical Pharisees such as were so for their own profit others they styled the stumbling Pharisees who for an appearance of humility would scarce lift up their feet in the streets others they called the wounded Pharisees who shut their eyes as they went in the streets lest they should perhaps behold a temptation but by so doing often fell and hurt themselves others they styled the boasting Pharisees because they pretended not only to do whatsoever the Law of God required but also a great deal more than so other approbrious names and titles they put upon some other sorts from whence it appears that they did at last lose all their credit amongst people nor need we question that even true Religion it self became contemptible on that account The life is derided for the deformity of the picture the truth is prejudiced by the counterfeit the faults and basenesses of hypocrisie ascribed to true Religion itself and this I take to be one reason of the infidelity and profaneness that reign at present in this Nation God of his mercy remove the Scandals and heal the distempers that are amongst us The Tenth Sermon Luk. 12.1 Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisie IN these words as I have observed there are these two things suggested to us 1. The greatness of the Evil which we are commanded to avoid this I have already finished 2. The diligence that must be used if we will duly observe the precept intimated in the word beware which shews it is no such easie thing to avoid all Pharisaism and hypocrisie as we may perhaps imagine it is And for the clearing of this point I shall desire you to observe that an appearance of Religion or a Religion in outward show void of the true spirit of it is apt to recommend it self and strangely to impose on men as such a Religion which is
members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into Hell Matt. 5.29 30. These men must find out some distinctions whereby they may retain that eye whereby they may reserve that hand secure their dearly beloved lusts and yet escape the flames of Hell It shall be answered to these and all other like expressions either that this is legal Doctrine and that Christ hath so fulfilled the Law as that there is nothing for them to do but to rely on his righteousness or else as it is on another hand that they will make satisfaction to God for those sins which they will not forsake they will confess them to the Priest they will receive his absolution they will most duly perform the penance which is prescribed them by the Priest give so much Alms say so many Prayers pass through a course of so many fasts And when they have found out these shifts then will they believe their sins forgiven although they wilfully still retain them they will believe that this is so in spight of common sense and reason in spight of the very light of nature in spight of the holy Scripture it self and the plain design of Christianity they will have a Creed which shall allow them in their lusts though clearly contrary to that Gospel which our Lord himself hath revealed to us From whence observe that no man can be secure of truth who is no friend to real Piety nor is he likely to understand the will of God who is not willing to obey it 3. Hence we understand that the only safe and certain way to know the will of God aright to know what true Religion is and what is the way to life eternal is such a sincere disposition of mind as renders us willing to obey whatsoever God prescribes unto us For so is the Gospel propounded to us that whosoever is so disposed will readily believe and entertain it upon the evidence which attends it seeing nothing obscures nothing eclipses this evidence but an aversation to the duties which are commanded in the Gospel There is no Doctrine no precept no promise or threat in the whole Gospel that contradicts the hopes or interests of any man that is really good 'T is no interest of good men that there should not be a day of judgment that Christ should not come to judge the World that he should not judge it by these Laws which are prescribed us in the Gospel 'T is no interest of good men that any thing should not be commanded which is commanded in the Gospel that every thing should not be forbidden which the same Gospel doth forbid on the other hand it is most suitable not only to the judgment and reason but to the inclinations of good men that God should command us to love himself with all our hearts to love our neighbours as our selves that he should command all the vertues that are commanded in the Gospels truth justice temperance patience meekness humility and the like that he should forbid what is forbidden pride and covetousness and animosity fornication adultery and excess it is suitable to their reason and hopes that he should distribute rewards and punishments in another world according to mens behaviour here and whosoever is thus prepared to understand and believe the Gospel will neither reject nor misbelieve it nor any thing that is contained in it which is absolutely necessary to Salvation especially seeing that God hath promised to guide and assist them with his Spirit who are resigned unto his will and willing to do what he commands them Observe we then the great security that good men have of being led into all truth which is needful unto their Salvation observe what is the ready way to be guided into all such truth it is to be upright and sincere it is to be willing to do Gods will willing to do whatsoever it be that God shall please to require of us If you find this willingness in your selves suffer not your selves to be overborn with their confidence who vainly boast of infallibility in the midst of most pernicious errours and in plain contradiction to the Scripture Truth is plain to them that love it to them that are willing to entertain it but as for them that are insincere that have no hearty love to it the plainest things are obscure to them showers and snares are in the way of the froward Prov. 22.5 which way soever they turn themselves because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie 2 Thes 10.11 4. Now therefore let the consideration of what I have said upon this point perswade sincerity towards God perswade to willingness to obedience in every instance whatsoever Sincerity is that which doth dispose us to know and believe all needful truth sincerity is that which God will bless with the assistance of his Spirit sincerity is that which he will reward not only with his conduct here but also with eternal happiness and everlasting life in the world to come The Fourteenth Sermon Malach. 1. 6. If then I be a Father where is mine honour And if I be a Master where is my fear The former part of the verse is thus A son honoureth his Father and a servant his Master If then I be a Father where is mine honour And if I be a Master where is my fear THERE are several relative names or titles given to God in the Holy Scriptures amongst which are these of Father and Master He is styled our Father because we receive life from him He is called our Master because he hath a just dominion over us And because he is such a Father to us as hath created us out of nothing therefore are we entirely his and because we are entirely so therefore is he such a Master as hath most absolute and most Sovereign Dominion over us upon which account he may and doth require the highest love and fear and the most sincere obedience from us The neglect whereof in the persons to whom the Prophet here applies himself was the cause of this expostulation If then I be Father where is mine honour and if I be a Master where is my fear I shall not insist on these two duties we owe to God that is to say honour and fear apart and distinctly from one another But rather observe that such an honour is due to God as comprehends a fear in it and such a fear as also contains an honour in it from both which things put together there results a filial awe or reverence which is compounded of love and fear of love to God as he is our Father and then of fear as he is our Master This reverence then is the duty suggested in the words before us which I shall pursue in this method I shall shew 1. The degrees of reverence which God requires 2. The proper effects of it 3. The
is in Heaven He is adorned with an excellent Character in the words immediately following those And I say unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church which priviledge although it was not peculiar unto S. Peter but common to the other Apostles with him yet being first declared of him adds to the Dignity of his Character and yet detracts nothing at all from the power of the rest of Christs Apostles upon whom as upon a sure foundation S. Paul assures us the Church was built Ephe. 2.20 It was built on them together with him whom our Saviour mentions in this place it was most firmly built upon them for so it appears from these words and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it For the better understanding of which words we must 1 consider that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Hell is frequently used in the holy Scriptures as well as prophane Authors to signifie the grave to denote the place and state of the dead so it is used in these words Psal 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption And then further 2 We must consider that the grave or place and State of the dead is sometimes compared unto a house If I wait the grave is mine house Job 17.13 and to a house with gates or dores shut up and locked with bars and locks and hence that saying of Hezekiah Isa 38.10 I said in the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates of the grave Hence mention is made of the bars of the pit Job 17.16 and of the keys of hell and death Revel 1.18 and of the keys of the bottomless pit Revel 9.1 3 Being then that the grave being that the place and state of the dead is compared to a house with gates and doors shut up and fastned with bars and locks from hence likewise it comes to pass that Death or Destruction is described by entering into the gates of the grave for so you find in the words which I have already cited Isaiah 38.10.11 I said in the cutting off of my days when God told me that I should dye I shall go to the gates of the grave am deprived of the residue of my years I said I shall not see the Lord in the land of the living I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world where entering into the gates of the grave plainly signifies death it self or entring into the place of the dead as all the other expressions shew 4. This being so if the Church be taken for Gods people not considered as a Society being together in Communion but as single Members of Christs Body then these words that are before us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church imply no more than that the Members of Christs body shall overcome death and the grave by a Resurrection to Immortality But then if the Church in this place be taken as it usually is and as I judge it ought to be for the general Society of Believers considered as they are a Church living together in Communion in the use of all Christ's Institutions then are the words we have in hand which tell us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church a promise that there shall be a Church professing the true Faith of the Gospel and living in the use of its Institutions in visible Fellowship and Communion till the second Coming of our Lord. Then when it is said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church the meaning will be that the Church shall never enter into those gates which is as much as if it were said that it should never be destroyed Having thus interpreted the words before us I shall proceed in this Method 1. I shall shew what Church this is which is designed in these words 2. And then secondly how far this promise of our Lord made to that Church in these words secures it from errour and defection 1. It is needful to understand what the Church is which is designed in these words where it is promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it And the reason is because the Patrons of the Roman Church have assumed this promise unto themselves with as much confidence and presumption as if it had been expresly said That the Church of Rome should never fail but always continue firm and stable nay absolutely infallible in the Faith in the true Doctrine of Christianity whereas in truth this is as well a great arrogance as a most wide and foul mistake For certain it is that our Saviour here speaks not of any particular Church planted in this or the other place but only of the Universal Church the whole Society of those persons who profess the Doctrine of the Gospel He speaks indefinitely of his Church Vpon the rock will I build my Church and speaking indefinitely of his Church cannot possibly understand any particular part of it the Church of any particular place but the Catholick Universal Church The truth is the Church of any particular place seated in any particular Country may utterly fail and be extinguished How many great and excellent Churches have failed and perished long ago How many others have so decayed that they seem near unto destruction Where are those many famous Churches which once flourished in the Coast of Africks Where are those seven Churches of Asia largely mentioned by St. John in the three first Chapters of the Revelations Where are those many other Churches which formerly flourished in the East How many of them are extinguished utterly ruined and destroyed with the very Cities where they were planted How many others are decayed almost to a total dissolution Be it then concluded that this promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church belongs to the Church Universal only and not to any Society of Christians seated in any particular place not unto any particular Church Which being so I cannot dismiss this point without an Inference and a Caution 1. The Inference is That seeing this promise of our Lord that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church belongs to the Church Universal and not to any particular Church The consequence which the Romanists draw from these words namely that the Church of Rome is indefectible and infallible is most inconsequent and unreasonable This promise belongs to the whole Church of which the present Church of Rome is but a part and a part infected with strange corruptions This promise belongs to the Universal Church of Christ the Church of Rome was never more than only a particular Church that is a member of the universal and is now what it hath long been a most corrupt and unsound member And as that Church hath strangely sunk into heathenish and barbarous Superstitions so may it utterly fail and vanish and disclaim the
keep silence in the Church Now here I cannot but observe the most insufferable contradiction of the practice of the Roman Church to the Apostles determination The Apostles you see would not allow that the prayers of the Church should be uttered in an unknown tongue but there they pray in a tongue unknown unto the people The Apostle would not allow this no not in them who spake by immediate Inspiration they practise contrary to the Apostles express Decree and that where no such Inspiration can be pretended with the least appearance and shew of reason The Apostle supposes no man edified by the prayers which he doth not understand they either judge that a man may be edified by such prayers or that they may be duly used although the Church be not edified by them both which expresly contradict the Apostle If the Church of Rome be in the right then the Apostle is mistaken if the Apostle be not mistaken the Church of Rome doth grosly erre in judging such prayers edifie which St. Paul affirms cannot edifie or in judging them fit to be used in the Church although they do not edifie at all And is it not now a wonderful thing that they who so grosly so expresly contradict the Doctrine of Sr. Paul should boast themselves to be infallible Is it not yet a greater wonder that any who have had the education where the Scriptures are read in a known tongue should suffer themselves to be overborn into a belief that they are infallible who erre in so plain and clear an instance and in a thing of such concernment Certainly if men were not infatuated by most unreasonable lusts and passions they would never apostatize never adhere to such a Church as sound nay infallible in all her Doctrines who uses its publick Prayers and Offices in a tongue unknown unto the people a thing so contrary to common sense and to the practice of primitive times and to what the Apostle himself teaches in as full and clear and express words as any thing possibly can be spoken 2. But to proceed to the second kind of the extraordinary gift of prayer which was when a man received all the conceptions in prayer from an immediate Inspiration but so far used his understanding as to contrive the expression of them into a tongue known to them that heard him and into plain and easie expressions in that tongue Concerning this I must observe that it was a gift of the Holy Ghost peculiar to the Apostles times or at least to those that immediately followed as the rest of those miraculous powers and gifts were which God did then bestow on the Church to confirm the truth of Christianity I do not deny but that God doth still in some cases suggest to the minds of good men that is convenient for their condition and what it is they should pray for I do not deny but that when they fall into such straits as that they know not what it is best to pray for God doth direct and guide their minds by the assistance of his Spirit For as there is need of such assistance in such cases so God denies not what is needful to such persons And this is the meaning of the Apostle Rom. 8.26 Likewise also the Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what to pray for as we ought He speaks in this place of times of great distress and danger when the Christians were often in such perplexities and doubts of mind that they knew not what to pray for at least with faith and resignation entire resignation to Gods will Now here it was that the Spirit of God directed them to pray for such things and in such a manner as might tend effectually to Gods glory though to their sufferings in the world And thus far I doubt not may we expect the like assistance of Gods Spirit in the like cases if we heartily pray for it But now for any man in these days to expect an immediate Inspiration of all the conceptions of a prayer such as the Apostles arid Prophets had in the primitive times of Christianity for any man to pretend to pray by the same immediate Revelation Whereby they prayed in the Christian Churches is a very groundless and great presumption And therefore when you hear men pray with a great torrent and flow of words you are not presently to imagine as divers ignorant persons do that such a man prays by an immediate Inspiration that what he speaks is just then dictated and suggested by the Holy Ghost as things were suggested to the Apostles unless he could also speak with tongues and heal the sick and cure the lame and in a word do such Miracles as they did and give the same proof of his Inspiration which they did evidently give of theirs which is a thing that is not done by any that now pretend unto it and therefore shews the pretence is vain and the Pretender to be deceived if not a cheat and Impostor likewise Is there then no way in these days whereby a man may truly be said to pray by the Spirit in the sense and language of the Scriptures and that in ordinary and common cases Yes that there is For 2. Such is that other way of praying which I have before mentioned to you which is when a man prays in the use of Faith and Hope and all the Graces of Gods Spirit and with such pious and good affections as are the effects of those Graces though not by immediate Inspiration that is to say the immediate dictate of the Spirit Such is the prayer our Saviour supposes in those words Joh. 4.24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth not carelesly and without attention not without the affections of the heart and inward sense of the mind and spirit as the Jews had worshipped him in former Ages but fervently heartily and sincerely Such is the prayer the Apostle mentions Eph. 6.18 where he requires them to pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit that is with spiritual and holy minds with fervent and devout affections Like whereunto was that singing also which he represents in these words Speaking to your selves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your hearts Eph. 5.19 Where you plainly see that the holy offices wherein the heart was moved and affected are said to be spiritual on that account See also Col. 3.16 Now concerning this way of praying by the Spirit wherein men pray in the use of Faith and with real and hearty and devout affections though not by immediate Inspiration I shall observe several things 1. That this way or manner of praying is grateful and acceptable to God This is in truth such a worship of God as our Saviour himself did understand when he said that they that worship God must worship him in spirit and truth This is the worship that God requires and therefore
are honest inclinations to do Gods will in case it be known and understood these open the eye of the understanding these let the light of truth into it and so our Saviour tells the Jews John 7.17 If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self He shall rightly judge of it For such is the nature of Christianity so holy and excellent in it self so clearly delivered and confirm'd that want of will to obey the Doctrine and that where there are most cogent motives to produce that very will in us is the only cause of want of faith and judgment in it So powerful an instrument is the Gospel to produce a clear and stable judgment in all things excellent in themselves and requisite to our eternal happiness 3. Now the method of using such judgment which is the last of those particulars which I propounded to be considered lies in the application of it to every deliberate design and action in every circumstance of our lives and in firm purposes and resolutions never to stray or vary from it As having taken it up at first when our minds were clear and free from prejudice and that upon such grounds and reasons as nothing should shake or alter it in us not all the Sophistry of our lusts not all the seductions of temptation not all the allurements of ill example not all the advantages nor all the calamities of the World And therefore whensoever we do incline to stray and deviate from that judgment which we have before fixt and setled as the best and wisest principle of life whensoever we find those resolutions which that Judgment did produce begin to shake and waver in us we must remember what is most certain that we are then under a temptation that every temptation is a lie a meer seduction and imposture for every man if tempted saith St James when he is drawn aside by his own lust and enticed Jam. 1.14 courted to injure his own Soul for so it follows in the next words Then when lust hath conceiv'd it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death If therefore temptation gild the sin with the lustre of wealth and power and honour with the shew of safety ease and pleasure we must remember that all this gloss that seems to shine on the face of evil is but the cheat of our own fancies the dream of vain imagination we must remember that time will come when all this varnish will melt away and then will things appear again as they are in themselves and their true effects and as we before judged of them And why should we change our minds and judgments when there is no change in the things themselves why should we alter our resolutions while the things resolved are equally good equally necessary as they were at that very time and moment when we first took up those resolutions On the other hand if the temptation that sets a gloss on the face of evil misrepresent our duties to us as hard and difficult to be performed as prejudicial to our contents as dangerous to our Estates or interests in the world we must remember that these suggestions proceed from mean desires and fears that these infatuate and darken Counsel that if we hearken and yield to them we shall lose that which is infinitely better than all the advantages all the pleasures of the world and suffer that which is infinitely worse than all its troubles and calamities lose Gods favour and our own innocence and the rewards thereunto belonging and suffer the insupportable effects of his displeasure in another life But if we stedfastly persevere in the choice and practice of our duties through all the varieties of temptations which assault us in this vain world If we live by rule and not by shift by principle and not by chance and occasion then shall we preserve our own Integrity continue in Gods grace and favour secure the peace of our own spirits grow to an excellent habit of mind in its strength and steadiness and tranquillity and finally after all our trials and all the joys of triumph over them enter into our Matters joy and inherit the Kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the World The Thirteenth Sermon John 7.17 If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it he of God or whether I speak of my self WE live in a very inquisitive age wherein it is very much disputed what is the true Doctrine of Christ and what are the most effectual means to find it out and understand it It is disputed what is the rule of Christian Faith It is disputed what is the way certainly to understand that rule and amongst some it is disputed how we are sure that rule is true whatsoever we understand to be so In the mean time while it is disputed what is truth Piety is very much neglected men do not heartily study truth in order to the practice of it they do not seek it with true design to live in due obedience to it and this indeed is one great cause why the disputes concerning truth prove so endless and successless for did men study the will of God with hearty and sincere designs to practise it when they understand it they would soon attain the knowledge and belief of what is necessary to be known for so we learn from these words If any man will do his will In which words we may observe 1. An Antecedent If any man will do his will 2. A Consequent He shall know of the doctrine whether it he of God or whether I speak of my self Both which parts I shall 1. Explain and 2. Then speak to the sense of the whole in an observation from the Consequence and first of all for the Antecedent If any man will do his will We must consider 1. That the persons that are designed in these words are those only to whom the Gospel is proposed not those to whom it is not propounded I do not undertake to determine how far those of the heathen world may desire to know or do Gods will nor how far God may or may not express any favour or mercy to them but this is all I undertake that the declaration or promise of Christ concerns those persons and those only to whom his Doctrine is propounded for as for others St Paul himself gives us this account of them Rom. 10.14 How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher From whence it appears that there is no general promise made and therefore none in these words of Christ that men should believe Christs Doctrine unless it should be propounded to them 2. To this I add in the second place that as this promise or declaration concerns no persons but only them
to whom the Gospel is proposed so doth it not concern any but those to whom it is proposed truly and upon true accounts that is to say with the proper arguments which our Saviour used to confirm his Doctrine If his Doctrine be not truly proposed it is not really his Doctrine but it is the opinion of the preacher and it is not any mans own opinion but it is the true Doctrine of Christ to which the promise of Christ belongs And then further if the very true Doctrine of Christ be not propounded by true arguments by those arguments and demonstrations which Christ himself and his Apostles have afforded for the proof of the truth of it it may possibly fail of gaining credit for want of true and proper evidence if men shall labour to prove the Gospel by arguments of their own invention and not by miracles and predictions not by the true and proper arguments which were intended for its proof the weakness of them that do propose it may prejudice the truth which is proposed and that with those very men themselves who were disposed to entertain it 2. Now these are they who are ready to do the will of God when it appears to be his will If any man says Christ will do his will that is to say whosoever he be that is so disposed so affected towards God as that he is I willing to do or suffer whatsoever God shall require of him when it appears that God requires it whosoever is upright and sincere not prejudiced by any inordinate lust by Pride or Avarice or Sensuality but willing to obey the commands of God this man will believe the Gospel when truly and sufficiently propounded to him propounded as it is to us 2. So it follows in the Consequent If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self 1. In which Consequent the Doctrine was that which was taught by Christ and that which he taught was his Gospel 2. And then whereas it is further added that if any man will do the will of God he shall know of the Doctrine whether our Lord spake of himself or whether he spake of God this is not so to be understood as if there were any doubt at all whether he spake of God or not but as a peremptorory affirmation that what he spake was the word of God so that the sense of the words is this That whosoever is so disposed and inclined as that he is willing to do Gods will will readily believe the Gospel of Christ when truly and sufficiently propounded to him These things explained the observation the words offer us is this That a hearty and sincere inclination to do whatsoever God commands is a most powerful preparation to understand and believe the Gospel I do not say that none but they who are thus prepared do ever believe or understand it for experience often hews the contrary this it shews in all thole persons who believe it and yet obey it not and of these no doubt there are great numbers but this I say that they who are really thus disposed are under a powerful preparation to believe the Doctrine of the Gospel as will appear from several reasons For 1. First of all whosoever he be that is thus prepared whole heart and will is sincerely bent to do whatsoever God shall command him the same person will not neglect the use of sincere and true endeavours to inform himself especially in the Doctrine of Christ which threatens no less than death eternal to them that refuse and disobey it and promises everlasting happiness to all that believe it and obey it Whosoever is willing to do Gods will when he knows it is willing to know and understand it in order to the doing of it The same probity the same sincerity of heart and will which doth dispose him to the one disposes him also to the other He that will not endeavour to know Gods will will not obey it though he know it he that will obey it when he knows it will labour sincerely to know it also and certainly this is a fair step to gain the belief and knowledge of it we do not find in the whole Gospel that any one man refuted the Gospel who duly considered what it was and the miracles done for the proof of it Nicodemus considering these miracles concludes that Christ was sent of God Rabbi saith he we know that thou art a teacher come from God for no man can do these miracles except God be with him John 3.2 Lydia attending to the Gospel readily believed and entertained it Acts 16.14 The Bereans who applyed themselves to consider the Gospel preached unto them and compared it with the ancitient Prophecies readily believed and entertained it Acts 17 12. nor doth it appear that any person who did impartially apply himself to consider it and the proofs of it did ever refuse or disbelieve it which is no small or obscure evidence that whosoever uses his best indeavours to understand the will of God as every sincere person doth shall not fail to believe the Gospel duly and rightly propounded to him 2. Add hereunto in the second place that a true and hearty inclination to do whatsoever God commands removes those inward dispositions of Pride and Avarice and Sensuality which are the causes of Infidelity Truth hath no enemy but Vice men never disbelieve the Gospel but upon some prejudice they have against it nor are they prejudiced against the Gospel but by their lusts which it forbids and threatens with most severe punishment This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil for every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved Truth is rejected and disbelieved because disgusted and disrelished it is disrelished because it forbids because it reproves and controlls those lusts to which men have enthralled themselves which hold them in bondage and captivity 1. If we consider the matters of practice which are commanded in the Gospel they are so suitable to our reason they are so plainly good for the World they do so evidently design our happiness they are every way so becoming God that it can be nothing but the prejudice of mens unreasonable lusts and passions that can perswade any man in the world that the Laws prescribed us in the Gospel are not the Laws of the living God especially since the first publication of these Laws were confirmed with many and great miracles Could any man living make a doubt whether it was the will of God or not that we should love him with all our hearts and do to men as we would that they should do to us were he not prejudiced by his lusts Is it any thing else but want of willingness to do Gods will that can raise a scruple in any
give a right understanding in all things The Eighteenth Sermon 1 John 3.7 Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous FROM these words I have observed these two things 1. That men may imagine themselves to be righteous in the eyes of God to be in Grace and favour with him although they do not do righteousness but live in habitual disobedience to the Laws and Precepts of the Gospel 2. That this imagination is a very great and dangerous errour The former I have already finished and shall now speak unto the latter that is to say to the greatness and danger of the errour Where I consider That for God to judge unrighteous persons otherwise than in truth they are to accept their persons and pardon their sins while they abide and persist in them is contrary 1. To his own nature and 2. To the Gospel likewise 1. This is contrary to Gods nature that is to say both First To his wisdom and Secondly To his holiness First It is contrary to his wisdom So it is to judge of men otherwise than they are in themselves to esteem them righteous just and holy while they are unrighteous and impure It is the nature of true wisdom to judge all things according to truth this is its nature as it is found even in men much more as it is found in God He cannot erre or be deceived even in the deepest obscurest things nothing is hidden from his eye the night and the day light and darkness are alike unto it he tries the reins and searches the very hearts of men discerns whatsoever is in them and judges according to truth Now he that judges according to truth must judge of things just as they are and therefore seeing the judgment of God is always true hence it appears They who are unjust and wicked impure and unholy in themselves are so in the judgment of God likewise so in his esteem and account Secondly If it be said That although it be very true indeed that God cannot judge otherwise of men than according to what they are in themselves not judge the Sinner to be righteous the wicked to be pure and holy yet that he may love and accept the wicked as much as if he were just and holy the Answer is That this is contrary to God's holiness This doth as much thwart the purity contradict the holiness of his nature as the other contradicts his wisdom as is often declared in the holy Scriptures God is of purer eyes saith Habbakkuk than to behold that is to say to approve evil He cannot look upon iniquity Hab. 1.13 So far is he from approving evil or those that indulge themselves in it that their way is an abomination to him Prov. 15.9 From whence it follows That they who judge themselves or others to be in grace and favour with God to be holy just and righteous persons who are not fully and really so ascribe and impute that to God which is quite contrary to his nature If it be said That God is said to justifie the ungodly Rom. 4.5 The meaning is That he justifies those that have been so not those that continue so to be that he justifies and accepts the ungodly when they forsake and leave their sins not while they still continue in them And so we learn from the same Apostle who having given a large Catalogue of sins and Sinners concludes his Discourse with these words 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God First washed and sanctified by Gods Spirit and then justified and accepted 2. But then secondly as it is contrary to Gods nature to justifie and accept the wicked while they continue in their sins so is it likewise greatly contrary to the Gospel First Expresly to the plainest and and clearest parts of it And Secondly To the whole by evident consequence First It is most expresly contrary to the plainest and clearest parts of it to its most positive Declarations such as those words of St John are which I do now insist upon Little Children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous He that is really and truly so he is so and he only in God's account Like unto these are those of St Paul Ephes 5.6 where having mentioned uncleanness covetousness and prophaneness he presently addes this admonition Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience Whereunto we may add his expostulations 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God Can there be plainer words than these or can there be any thing more contradictory to the Gospel than what contradicts the plainest words and expressions of it or a greater or more dangerous errour than what so contradicts the Gospel The Gospel declares that the unclean shall not inherit the Kingdom of God the Gospel pronounces the Drunkard likewise declares the covetous and extortioner while they continue in these sins to be uncapable of that Kingdom this it declares in as plain words as can be written or expressed and will these persons still presume of an interest in the favour of God and of a title to his Kingdom If they will it is their folly so to do it is a folly of that nature as doth not only expose them to the greatest danger but shut the door to all possibility of escape while they persist and continue in it Such is the presumption of God's favour of being reconciled unto him while a man continues in his sins Secondly And secondly as this is expresly contrary to the clearest passages in the Gospel so to the whole by evident consequence To its commands and exhortations to all the promises and threatnings of it and what is more to the very design of Christ's death the very thing which men abuse into an indulgence to their sins To promise our selves the favour of God and acceptance with him while we continue in our sins it is a presumption expresly contrary First To the Precepts of the Gospel These require and strictly charge us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.12 These require that we put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts that we be renewed in the spirit of our minds that we put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Ephes 4.22 and following Verses In a word the Laws of Christ require us to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbour as our selves Now