but too fatally succesful for Many says he shall follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of Truth shall be evil spoken of And in the next Chapter he goes on to foretel the near approach of those Judgments which our Saviour Christ had so often denounced against the Jews and in which those complying Christians were in like manner to be involved And by both these Considerations he finally in the Close of all stirs them up both to a Care of themselves and to a Constancy in their Profession Ye therefore Beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the Error of the Wicked fall from your own stedfastness But grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to Him be Glory both now and for ever Amen Such was the occasion of these words and the prosecution of them at this time will engage Me to explain the nature and to exhort you to the practice of two Duties than which I know none more proper for our serious Consideration Growth in Grace and Stedfastness in Religion and from both which there are but too many Seducers on every hand to turn us aside I shall pursue both in this following Order I. I will shew you what the true nature of that stedfastness in Religion is to which our Text here exhorts us II. By what Motives especially it was that the Apostle stirr'd up the Christians to whom he wrote and that I would now crave leave to exhort you to such a stedfastness III. How highly both necessary in its self it is but especially how advantageous to this great End that we should all of us endeavour what in us lies to grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And first I. What the true nature of that stedfastness in Religion is to which our Text exhorts us and which I am from thence to recommend to you For 't is not every firmness that deserves the name of a true and rational stedfastness and a man may as well exceed by a perverse unwarrantable resolution not to hearken to any Motives tho' never so reasonable to change his Opinion as by an unfix'd and irresolute temper abandon himself to every wind of Doctrine that shall come to turn him aside from it Constancy in Religion is a Vertue that like all others must be regulated by Prudence It must be firm but it must be well-grounded too And he who would go about at all adventures to recommend a perseverance in that Faith whatever it be in which a man has been born and bred without allowing a just enquiry to be made into the Grounds of it and even a liberty to forsake it too should they prove less solid than they ought to be He may indeed provide for their security who chance to be already in the right way but shall render it utterly impossible for those that are not ever to come to the knowledge of it It is not therefore such a blind stedfastness as this a constancy in our Religion whether it be good or bad that either the Apostle here means or that I would now recommend to you This would be to make a plea for Obstinacy rather than Constancy whil'st by such a Rule it would be the duty of a Jew to remain a Jew a Heathen a Heathen for a Papist or Socinian to continue all their lives Papist or Socinian no less than for One of the Church of England to be firm and stedfast to the Faith and Communion of it That which I understand by a true stedfastness is this When a man is upon rational and good Grounds evidently perswaded of the Truth and Purity of his Religion then to resolve to stick close to it and not suffer any base unworthy Motives to draw him aside from it Our Religion must first be well grounded and then it will be true stedfastness to adhere to it And therefore to give such necessary directions as may suffice for the practice of this Duty I must distinctly consider it in both its respects and as it stands in the Middle between the two Extremes of a blind Obstinacy on the one hand and of a weak Instability on the other and by either of which the true nature of it will become equally destroy'd First then He that will be truly stedfast in his Religion must take heed that he does not mistake Obstinacy for Stedfastness This is an Error so much the rather to be remarked on this occasion in that a daily experience sadly shows us at once both the danger and easiness of such a mistake It is a strange perverseness in some men that they make it no less than a mortal sin to have any doubts though never so reasonable of any the least Doctrine they have once been taught to profess And there is hardly an Immorality so heinous and provoking so contrary to the Honour of God and so destructive of Salvation which their Spiritual Guides will not sooner overpass than such a Scruple Insomuch that by the express Order of the Church which I am now speaking of 't is made a part of mens solemn reception into their Communion the very condition of being admitted into a state of Proselytism with them not only to abjure for the present all those Tenets which they are pleased to call Heretical but also to imprecate upon their heads all the miseries of Eternal Torments if ever they suffer themselves BY ANY OCCASION OR ARGUMENTS WHATSOEVER to be hereafter better instructed This is in good truth to make a Faction of Religion 't is a Combination rather than a Constancy And what wretched effects it has upon the minds of those unfortunate deluded men that have once suffered themselves to be thus engaged appears in this That no rational Motives no Arguments though never so clear are almost able to work upon them The sad Vow they have made recurs continually upon their minds They have sworn to continue where they are gone at all adventures and therefore they now as obstinately resolve never to return to the Truth as they once weakly suffered themselves to be seduced from it To avoid such an unhappy Obstinacy as this and be constant in our Religion upon such rational Grounds as may justifie us before God and Man from the charge of a pertinacious firmness we may please to observe these following directions 1 st Let our Religion be founded in Knowledg i. e. Let us be clearly and evidently convinced of the Truth of that to which we do adhere and then we may be sure we cannot be justly charged with Obstinacy for our adhering to it He who takes up his Religion upon trust that receives all the Articles of his Creed by wholesale believes as his Church believes but it may be knows not either what that is or wherefore he does so 't is evident that such a credulous Disciple as this may be blindly
neither were the Gentile Christians utterly without fault in it but so far stood fast in that liberty wherewith Christ had made them free as not only to despise the weakness and ignorance of the others but to be ready almost even to cut them off from their Communion I need not say how dangerous such a Controversie as this might have proved nor what a stop it might have put to the progress of Christianity in those first beginnings of the Gospel Great were the difficulties which the Apostles underwent on this occasion whilst they endeavoured so to menage themselves between these two Parties as not only not to offend either but if it were possible to bring them Both to such a temper with one another that neither the Gentile Convert might despise the weakness of his Judaizing Brother nor the Jewish Votary judge too severely of the Liberty of the Gentile Christian. And this was the design of St. Paul in the Chapter before my Text. Where addressing himself as indeed he seems to have done this whole Epistle to the Gentile Christians and whom as having the truer Notion of their Christian Liberty as to this matter he therefore calls the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strong in the Faith v. 1 he exhorts them in a most admirable Discourse on this Subject throughout the whole Chapter to bear the Infirmities of the Weak i. e. not to grieve nor despise them for their mistaken Zeal but by complying a little and condescending to their Infirmities to endeavour if it should please God to draw them out of their Error Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to Edification And then concludes all in the words of the Text wherein we have First A hearty Prayer to God Almighty That he would inspire them so effectually with a Spirit of Vnity and Charity that notwithstanding all their differences they might joyn unanimously both Jews and Gentiles not only in the same common Worship of God but with the same hearty affection to one another Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus that ye may with one Mind and one Mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Secondly an Exhortation as the final result of his whole Discourse That they should with all charitable condescension and kindness receive and love and assist one another and not despise and censure and deprive one another either of their Charity or their Communion Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the Glory of God In which words as they thus lye before us in the Occasion and Design of them there are two things that will offer themselves to our consideration First An Exhortation to these Dissenting Christians and in them to all of us Not to break either Charity or Communion with one another upon the account of such things wherein we may securely differ but mutually to bear with one another in our differences Secondly An Enforcement of this Exhortation from two of the greatest Considerations that can possibly engage any Christian to an observance of it viz. First From the Example of Christ towards us Secondly From the greater Glory that will hereby redound to God Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the Glory of God I shall make it my endeavour with all the plainness that I can to pursue both the Exhortation and the Enforcement in the three following Propositions I. That there may be differences in matters of lesser moment between very good and zealous Christians without any just reflection either upon the Men or upon their Religion II. That these differences ought not to hinder such Persons from agreeing together not only in a common Charity but if it be possible in a common Worship of God too III. That to this End it is the Duty of all Christians but especially of those who are the strong in Faith not only to pray for such a Vnion but as they have opportunity heartily to labour Themselves and earnestly to stir up all Others to endeavour after it And First That there may be Differences in matters of lesser moment between very good and zealous Christians without any just Reflection upon the Men or upon their Religion For proof of which I think I need go no farther than the very History of my Text. I have already said how great a division there was between the Jewish and the Gentile Converts about the Ritual Observances of the Law of Moses and with what a Zeal the Dissenting Parties managed the Dispute till they had almost lost their Charity and made a deplorable Schism in the Church of Christ. And yet I am confident no Man will say that this was at all derogatory either to the Truth of their Common Christianity or to the Infallible Authority with which the Apostles had deliver'd it unto them And for the Parties themselves that thus differ'd with one another that they had a true Zeal on both sides for the Glory of God and thought it matter of Conscience the one to observe these Ceremonial Institutions as what God still required of them the other to refuse any such Imposition as not only a needless Burden but even repugnant to the Grace of Christ declared to them in his Gospel S. Paul in the prosecution of this very Argument does clearly bear witness to them Ch. xiv 6 Where he makes use of this very thing as one Reason why they should mutually tolerate one another in their Dissensions viz. That however they differ'd in their Notions as to these particulars yet they were both perfectly agreed in the same common Zeal for the Glory of God and the Discharge of their Duty He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it He that eateth eateth to the Lord for he giveth God thanks and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and giveth God thanks And indeed either we must say that all even the least Points relating to our Religion are so clearly and plainly revealed that no Honest Man can possibly be mistaken if he will but impartially enquire into them which from the Differences of whole Parties concerning these things 't is plain they are not Or else Men's different Capacities and Opportunities and Tempers and Education consider'd 't is in vain to expect that all Good Men should agree in all their Notions of Religion any more than we see they do in any other concerns whatsoever And who am I that I should dare to pronounce a Sentence of Reprobation against any one in whom there appear all the other Characters of an humble upright sincere Christian only because he has not perhaps met with the same Instruction or read the same Books or do's not argue the same way In a Word because he is not
not trust their own Interpretation to tell them that Abraham begat Isaac if the Church should think fit to expound it otherwise For such and so plain are many of those passages that we alledg against them to shew their corruptions in a great part of those things wherein they differ from us If you offer them Reason as clear as the plainest Demonstration why that were well But still Private Reason may Err and the Church cannot Convince them by their Senses which one would think should convince any body Desire them to consult the Verdict of their own Eyes and Mouths and Noses and Feeling 't is no purpose the Senses may deceive them but the Church cannot Thus have they suffer'd themselves to be conjured into a Circle out of which 't is impossible ever to Retreive them Sense Reason Scripture All are of no force against this one Prejudice of their Churches Authority though at the same time they know not either what the Church is to whom Christ Promises are made nor where to find it nor what it has decided nor wherefore they at all Adventures attribute to their own the Title of the only true Church Such Hearers as these are Unteachable and Unprofitable And we ought certainly by their Example to beware of such an indisposition as is able to lead men into so strange a Slavery and make them believe they are never more in the Right than when they have put themselves out of a Capacity of ever being so upon any Certain grounds and otherwise than by meer Chance 4. A Fourth and last thing required to Docility is a freedom from Obstinacy This is a disposition for the most part consequent upon that I the last mentioned and such as wherever it is found renders a man utterly incompetent to receive any benefit by the best instruction It is called by St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reprobate mind Rom. i. 28 a mind void of judgment When men resolve they will not be instructed but affect ignorance and either to keep up a faction or to serve their present Interests or to indulge themselves the more freely in their sins flee both the means and the desire of knowledge And this or somewhat like it is again the Case of those of the other Communion Who not content with the Prejudices I before mention'd in favour of themselves and their own Opinions do moreover engage their proselites by a most Solemn Oath never upon any account or by any Argument whatsoever to be drawn out of those Errors in which they have engaged them Such then is the Nature and these the Vices that are to be avoided by us in order to the second Qualification required in a Christian Auditor viz. Docility 3. The next I mention'd was That he must be Diligent By which I mean not only a carefulness to attend upon all the publick means of instruction which God is pleased to afford us but yet much more to apply those means to a right and due End To be sedulous and diligent in embracing the Opportunities of hearing is indeed very commendable and the duty of every Christian but yet if his diligence stop here he may for all that reap but little benefit by all his Care He that will be truly sedulous as he ought to be Let him 1 st When he comes to these Holy Exercises be very careful that he attend with all his Soul to what is deliver'd But especially if any thing chance to be spoken in which his Conscience tells him that he was either altogether Ignorant before or not sufficiently instructed in it 2 dly When he has done this Let him be careful to take the first opportunity to retire within himself and call to remembrance the things that he has Heard And either by writing or some other way let him provide for the future preservation of it But especially 3 dly Let him employ his utmost diligence in the Practice of what he hears Let him consider that this is the great end to which all his Knowledge in the Mystery of Godliness is to be referr'd And that without this he shall become but the more inexcusable for all the rest For he who knows his Master's will and does it not shall be beaten with many stripes It was for this that God sent his Son to Preach his Gospel to the World And 't is for this that we still are commission'd by him to declare to you your duty and press you with the strongest Arguments the Hopes and Terrors of Eternity to be careful and sedulous in the performance of it The End of Christianity was not to puff us up but to Edifie us To make us Better rather than more Knowing and more Knowing only that we may be Better They are not the Hearers of the Word that shall be justified before God but the doers of it It is but a half Diligence that carries men to Learn their Duty He is the truly Sedulous Christian indeed who both seeks with all earnestness to know what God requires of Him and then as carefully endeavours to put it in practice Now to this end and to conclude all 4 thly He that will Hear as he ought to do must to all these other Qualifications add his fervent Prayers to God for his Assistance It is not an easie matter to become a Perfect Christian So high and excellent are the precepts of the Gospel and in many things so contrary to the Interests and Inclinations of sensual Men that without some extraordinary Assistance of the Grace of God we are not able so much as to comprehend any thing of these kind of instructions as we ought to do But to bring a willing and ready disposition of mind to receive the Word to become such an Auditor as not only speculatively to learn the great Truths of Christianity but to resolve effectually to put them in practice too this must certainly be the work of God upon our Hearts and 't is his Grace alone that can both enlighten our Vnderstandings and incline our Wills And here therefore we may see at once both the necessity of this last disposition our Prayer to God for his Grace and in that the true cause why so many make no better an Advantage by their Hearing They come to the Church as if they were going into a Theatre where they had nothing to do but to attend to what is spoken to render them every way competent Auditors of it But alas The Divine Truths that are here deliver'd are above the discernment of the Carnal mind Spiritual things must be Spiritually understood Such Auditors as these like the Scribes and Pharisees among the Jews may hear our words as they did our Blessed Saviour's but they will not be at all the better for them God must open their hearts as he did that of Lydia and then our addresses will find a suitable admittance and not pass without a due and careful consideration And our Prayers
obstinate but he cannot be wisely stedfast in the Faith A good Christian must be able to give some more reasonable account of his Faith than this if ever he means to be securely firm in the Profession of it His Creed must be founded on some better Authority than a bare Credulity And 't will be a very useless Plea at the last day that a man believed as his Church believed when he might have had the opportunity of a better information should he chance by so doing to live and dye in a damnable Heresie unless he can render some tolerable account either wherefore his Church believed so or at least wherefore it was that he submitted himself so servilely to her Authority But he that believes with knowledg because he is clearly and evidently perswaded that it is the Truth need never fear either the danger or imputation of such an Obstinacy for his firmness in adhering to his Faith If for instance a Member of the Church of England reads in his Bible those express words of the Second Commandment Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above c. Thou shalt not Bow down to it nor Worship it If he looks forward to the History of the New Testament and there in the Institution of the Blessed Eucharist sees those words Drink ye ALL of this in as plain and legible Characters as those others Take and Eat and thereupon resolves never to be prevailed upon either to Bow down himself before an Image or to give up his Right to the Cup as well as to the Bread in that Holy Sacrament whatever glosses may be made or pretences be used to induce him to either 'T is evident that such a Firmness as this cannot be called Obstinacy unless these Scriptures be no longer the Word of God or that no longer a Principle of Scripture that in matters of plain and undoubted Command we are to obey God rather than man And in these and the like instances where the matter is clear even to demonstration there is no doubt to be made but that such Knowledg will certainly secure us against the charge and danger of Obstinacy But because all points in debate are not thus Evident but on the contrary many are not a little obscure therefore for the securing our selves from danger in our adherence to these too we must to our Knowledg add 2 dly A sincere zeal to discover the truth with an affectionate Charity to those that differ from us In such Cases as this thô we must believe and profess according to what appears to us at present to be the Truth yet since the Evidence is not such as to exclude all possibility of our being mistaken our adherence to it must be qualified with this reserve neither rashly to censure those who are otherwise minded nor obstinately to resolve never to change our Opinion if we should perhaps be hereafter convinced that we ought to do so Now in order hereunto it is not necessary that a Man should either fluctuate in his present Faith or not be firmly persuaded that he shall never see any reason to forsake it It is sufficient to take off the imputation of obstinacy that our stedfastness be such as not to exclude either a readiness of being better informed if that be possible or of making upon all occasions a strict and impartial enquiry into the Grounds and Reason of our Faith or even of hearing freely whatever objections can fairly be brought against it And all this with a sincere desire and stedfast resolution to discover and embrace the Truth wheresoever it lies Whether it be that which we now suppose to be so or whether it shall be found to be on the contrary side He who is thus disposed in his mind at all times to receive instruction and never presumes rashly to condemn any one that is thus in like manner disposed however otherwise disagreeing in Opinion from Him need never fear that his firmness is any other than that Wise and Christian stedfastness which our Text requires not such an obstinacy as both that and we most justly detest and condemn But here then we must look to the other extreme and take heed lest for fear of being perversly constant to our Faith we fall into a weak and criminal Instability To prevent this these three things may be consider'd 1 st That we carefully avoid all Vnworthy Motives of changing our Religion 2 dly That we be not too apt to entertain an ill Opinion of it 3 dly That if any Arguments shall at any time be brought against it that may deserve our considering we then be sure to give Them that due and diligent Examination that we ought to do I st He that will be stedfast in the Faith must above all things take heed to arm himself against all unworthy Motives of changing his Religion It is very sad to consider what unchristian means are made use of by some persons to propagate their Religion And a Man need almost no other assurance that it cannot be from God than to see the Professors of it pursue such methods for the promoting of its Interest as most certainly never came down from above Thus if a Man's fortunes be mean or his ambition great If Religion has not taken so deep root in his Soul as to enable him to overcome the flatteries and temptations of a present Interest and Advantage then there shall not be wanting a seducer presently to shew him that he must needs be out of the right way because it is not that which leads to preferment And 't is great odds but a good Place or an Honourable Title will quickly appear a more infallible mark of the true Church than any that Scripture or Antiquity can furnish to the contrary If this will not do and Interest cannot prevail then the other governing passion of our Minds mens fears are tried Instead of these allurements the False Teacher now thunders out Hell and Damnation against us Nothing but Curses and Anathema's to be expected by us if we continue firm in our Faith And it shall be none of the Prophets nor his Churches fault if all the Horrors and Miseries of this present life be not employ'd against us in charity to prevent our falling into the Everlasting Punishments of the next The Truth is I am ashamed to recount what unworthy means some have not been ashamed to make use of to promote their Religion and draw us away from our stedfastness France and Savoy Hungary and Germany The Old World and the New have all and that but very lately been witnesses what ways it is that Popery has and does and if ever it means effectually to prevail must take to propagate its interest Animus meminisse horret luctúque refugit Now he that shall be so unhappy as to suffer himself by any of these motives which a constant Man might and ought to have overcome
This is a Cause which men do not indeed care so openly to profess but yet such a one as their Actions oftentimes do but too plainly point out to us And I wish that even this were all and that there were not some in the world whose very Principles seem to lead them into such an opinion so contrary to the very nature of Christianity and so fatally ruinous to their own Eternal Salvation For 1 st Not to say any thing now to those wise men of the world who laugh at all our discourse of another life after this and of an account to be given of all our Actions before a Divine Tribunal but to leave them to the convictions of their own Consciences which speak loudly to them this great truth and make them with Felix still fear what they pretend not to believe What shall we say to a more refined sort of Disputants who acknowledging a future Judgment and an Eternal Reward for those that do well yet extinguish in great measure all the flames of Hell-fire and allow of little or no danger for those that do ill They suppose that the worst that can happen to them if they should chance to be overtaken in their sins is but to lose their Portion in the Joys of Heaven and be for ever annihilated the only danger that if you will believe them attends the greatest Sinners in the other World But yet still methinks since they confess that there is such a place as Heaven and that there shall be an enjoyment of Honour and Glory there to all Eternity for those who at that day shall be found worthy of it even this should be enough to make them think it worth their while to endeavour to procure themselves a share in so much happiness And however they suppose that the Everlasting Punishment which the Holy Scriptures threaten sinners with shall be only an Eternal Annihilation yet since 't is plain that the same Scriptures speak very dreadful things of it and it cannot be denied but that the greatest part of Christians have and do believe that the wicked shall not cease to be but on the contrary for ever continue in a state of Misery which neither any tongue can express nor any thought conceive and 't is certain there are many passages in the Sacred Writ that seem very much to favour this apprehension indeed that cannot without violence be detorted to any other signification It must certainly be the wisest course not to be too secure in their own sense but whether they believe the Torments of the Damn'd to be Eternal or no yet certainly to live so as if they made not the least doubt of it 2. But secondly Another sort of men there are who by their mistaken Notions of Christianity have very much contributed to lessen their Opinion concerning the necessity of Repentance that I do not say have utterly corrupted the very nature and practice of it I mean the Casuists and Confessors of the Church of Rome It is a Point commonly disputed among these men what the precise time is in which men are bound by the Law of God to Repent There have been some of them indeed so severe as to think that a man ought to repent on all the greater Festivals of the Church Others think that 't is enough if a man do it against Easter But the common Opinion is that this is only to be understood of the external and ritual Repentance of the Church which consists in Confessing and Receiving the Holy Sacrament but that for the true inward Repentance the precise time in which the sinner is bound by the commandment of God to be contrite for his sins is the imminent Article of a Natural or Violent Death Insomuch that some of them doubt not to say That even for a man to resolve to defer his Repentance and refuse to Repent for a certain time is but a Venial Sin nay and others think no sin at all And these men to be sure in express terms take away the necessity of present Repentance But this is not yet all for when they do come to the time that they think it necessary to put it in practice even then they find out so many other Artifices to elude the sincere performance of it that they who do all which they require of them yet do not in effect truly Repent What else can we make of the allow'd practise of that Church upon Confession of Sins and an imperfect Contrition for them to admit them to Absolution and so in effect make the whole of this Duty to amount to no more than a little sorrow for sin and a resolution to forsake it though at the same time they are so far from doing it that it may be they do not themselves believe that ever they shall make good such their Resolution And that too though they have neither any love of God in their hearts nor otherwise hate their sins than they are afraid of being damn'd for them I need not say how many other Devices these Men have found out to free themselves from the trouble of a true Repentance By Pardons and Indulgences by Masses and Prayers for the dead by Consecrated Garments and Priviledg'd Fraternities and the End of all which is what I am now complaing of to make men careless and negligent in the discharge of that Piety that God requires of them and of that Repentance which alone can obtain an effectual forgiveness of their Sins But these are not yet all who by their mistaken Notions of some of the Doctrines of Christianity have been but too much encouraged to neglect the practise of a Christian life Others there are 3 dly And those of a more near concern to us than either of the foregoing whose Principles seem without great care but too naturally to tend to the same neglect Such are The Great Assertors of Salvation by Faith alone without Works of God's Eternal Predestination and in consequence thereof Mens Absolute Election or Reprobation Of the slavery of the Will and its incapacity to do any thing as to the business of our Future state without that special Grace of God which if men have then they must needs do Well and without it cannot but do Ill and which God does not afford indifferently to All those to whom the Gospel is preach'd but to such only as he intends thereby to bring to Faith and Repentance first and then to Salvation Now not to dispute with any one the Truth of all these Points when wisely and soberly stated according to the Authority of the Holy Scripture that which I say is this That all these and the like Principles are apt to mislead Ignorant and Wicked Men who are not very well instructed in the true notion and understanding of them to a neglect of their duty as if the whole work of their Justification were either so secure and setled on the one hand
so wise or it may be is wiser than I am and sees farther than I do and therefore is not exactly of my Opinion in every thing Now if this be so as both the Principles of Reason conclude it very well may be and the common Experience of Mankind not only in the particular concern of Religion but in most other things assures us that it is That Men's Understandings are different and they will argue different waies and entertain different Opinions from one another about the same things and yet may nevertheless deserve on all sides to be esteemed very good and wise Men for all that How vain then must that Argument be which a Late Author of the Church of Rome has with so much Pomp revived against us from our Differences in a few lesser Points of our Religion to conclude us to be Erroneous in the greater and that because we are not exactly of the same Opinion in every thing that therefore we ought to be credited in nothing that is to say That because Protestants when they differ are mistaken on One Side therefore when they agree they are mistaken on Both 1 st It is certain that amidst all our other Divisions we are yet on all sides agreed in whatsoever is Fundamental in the Faith or necessary to be believed and professed by us in order to our Salvation There is no good Protestant but what does firmly believe all the Articles of the Apostles Creed and embraces the Holy Scriptures as the Word of God and Rule of his Faith and readily acknowledges whatsoever is plainly revealed therein and is at all times disposed to submit to any thing that can by any necessary and certain Consequence be proved to him thereby In short Our Differences whatsoever they are I will be bold to say They do no more nor even so much concern the foundations of Christianity as those of the Judaizing Christians here did If their differing therefore with one another was no Prejudice to the Truth of their common Christianity then I would fain know for what Reason our Differences which are lesser shall become so much a greater Argument against our common Christianity now But Secondly If our differing from one another in some Points be an Argument that we are not certain in any How shall we be sure that those of the Church of Rome are not altogether as uncertain as we are seeing we are sure that they do no less differ among themselves and that in Points too much more considerable than we do For to take only one Instance instead of many and that so considerable that Card. Bellarmin once thought the Sum of Christianity he meant the Sum of Popery to consist in it viz. The Prerogatives of the Bishop of Rome both in and over the Church of Christ. * Some there are who hold the Pope to be Head of the Church by Divine Right Others the contrary * Some That he is Infallible Others That he is not * Some That the Pope alone without a Council may determine all Controversies Others That he cannot Now if in these and many other points of no less importance they themselves are as far from agreeing with one another as they can possibly pretend us to be what shall hinder us but that we return their own Inference upon them That seeing they differ among themselves in such things as these they are so far from that absolute Infallibility they set up for that in truth they have not so much as any certainty among them even in those Points wherein they do agree Is it that in their Church tho there be indeed as many differences as in ours yet this makes not against them seeing they have a certain Rule whenever they please for the composing of them viz. The Definition of the Pope and of the Church This indeed I find is commonly said by them But then certainly if they have such a ready means as they say of Agreement among them 't is the more shame for them that they do not agree he being much more inexcusably guilty in the omission of any duty who having a ready means to fulfil it neglects so to do than he who has none or which is the same thing does not know that he has any But indeed they have no means of Ending their differences any more than we have The Holy Scriptures we both of us acknowledg to be the Word of God and an Infallible Rule of Faith but for any other direction they are not yet agreed where to seek it And sure that can be no very good means of Ending all their other Differences which is it self one of their chiefest Controversies Or is it That they agree in matters of Faith and differ only in those things that do not belong to it Because if they differ about any Point they for that very Reason conclude it to be no matter of Faith But besides the Impenitence of this Answer which amounts to no more than this that they do agree in what they do agree and differ only in those things in which they differ This is what we say for our selves concerning our Differences We agree in all those things that are necessary to a Sound and Saving Faith and if we differ in matters of lesser moment 't is no more than what all other Christians have ever done and what those of the Church of Rome it self at this day do So that still it must remain either that those Differences which were among the Christians of old and which are among us now are no Prejudice at all to the common Truth which we profess or if they be the Consequence will fall upon those of the Church of Rome no less that I do not say and more severely than upon us and be of the same Force against Their Religion that it can be against Ours But I must carry this Reflection a great deal farther for Thirdly If once this Principle be allowed That because Men differ in some things they ought not to be credited in any what then will become not only of the Protestant Religion as it now stands in Opposition to Popery but even of Christianity it self For might not a Turk or a Jew if he were minded to give himself so much trouble to so little purpose as this late Author has done draw out a large HISTORY of the VARIATIONS of Christians among themselves from the Controversie of the Text unto this day and then by the very same Principle conclude against us all That we have none of us any certain Grounds for Our Religion because the differences that are among us plainly shew that some of us must be deceived And to go yet one step farther Might not a Sceptick by the same Rule argue against all Religion and even against all Reason too That the disagreement of mankind in these and many other Points of the greatest Importance clearly proves that there is no certainty in any thing and therefore that
were dangerous to profess Christianity they might freely deny it and judaïze rather than suffer Persecution If their Lusts disturb'd them it was natural and therefore lawful to gratifie them and it was a great mistake to think that they ought not to do so The truth is I am ashamed to repeat in this place what Ecclesiastical Writers have delivered down to us concerning them And I shall content my self to refer you only to this short Epistle for the Character both of them and their Religion For I am much mistaken if this alone will not suffice to shew what just cause our Apostle had to fear their prevailing and that such an easie Practice supported by such high Pretences might be but too apt to gain over Proselytes to its Party Let us see therefore in the last place 4 thly By what means it was that St. Jude here exhorted the yet Orthodox Christians to contend for their Faith and secure themselves in those dangerous Times And those are principally these five 1. By a close Adherence to that Doctrine which had been delivered to them 2. By taking heed of those that would seduce them from it 3. By building themselves on their holy Faith i. e. by adding Innocency of Life to the Purity of their Faith 4. By fervent Prayer to God for his Assistance And 5. By a serious consideration of their future state These are the means which St. Jude here exhorts them to make use of to secure their Faith and they are indeed such as if duly observed will not fail to have a prosperous Effect to the end for which they are proposed 1 st The First way to contend earnestly for the Faith is To keep close to that holy Doctrine which we have received This was what the Apostle in our Text advised them to do or rather not barely to keep close to it but as the Phrase here is to contend earnestly for it And that was then a most undoubted Security when the Apostles themselves taught them their Religion and so their Faith came to them without all dispute pure and uncorrupted And however we do not now pretend that Men should give up themselves so intirely to our Conduct as to stop their Ears to whatever can be said against us yet since we profess no other Faith than that which was once delivered unto the Saints since the Rule by which we go cannot be denied to contain that Faith and we desire not to be believed by you any farther than what we teach is found to be agreeable to that Rule I think we may very reasonably thus far at least make the Application even now That you ought not lightly to forsake a Faith which is built upon such a Foundation I am sure not for such a one as is built upon any other And though we are so far from encouraging a blind Obstinacy in any one that on the contrary we had rather all Men would search and see whether what we profess be not indeed that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints yet this deference we think every one ought to pay to that Church which first made him Christian and to those Guides whom God's Providence has set over him to build him up in the Faith as not lightly to forsake either them or their Doctrine but to presume for the Truth of what they already profess till they can be very clearly and evidently convinced of the contrary But 2 dly The next means proposed whereby they were to contend for the Faith was By taking heed of those who would have seduced them from it This is the general design of this whole Epistle and I have before shewn what great need there was of such a Caution Now by taking heed of Seducers I do not mean to imply that Men should be so obstinately wary as not to hearken to any thing that one of a contrary Persuasion is able to say either for his own Opinions or against ours For that were to lead Men by Faction not Reason But I mean these Two things First That we should not have our Ears so open as to hearken to every thing that any one shall think fit to offer to disquiet our Minds and disturb our Consciences without any just occasion for it Nay it may be upon the account of such things wherein we are certainly and evidently convinced that we are in the right Much less that we should seek occasion of Disputes and love to be perpetually raising Difficulties against our Religion lest we should at last provoke God to give us over to Delusion and punish our needless exposing our selves to Temptation by suffering us to be overcome by it Nor Secondly So far comply with such Persons as to give our selves up to their Seduction and become easie and willing to be deceived by them It is certainly a great weakness in any Man to go to his Enemy for the Character of his Religion To enquire concerning the Truth of those who are the profess'd Opposers of it If Men have Doubts or if their Curiosity must be gratified in starting of needless Scruples and one part only be consulted both Charity and Duty and I had almost said even common Civility too might satisfie them that they ought to be their Instructors whom God has set over them to be their Guides in Holy things rather than any others But if this be thought too great a Partiality to hear one side only and not enquire at all of the other yet at least if our Enemies may be admitted our own Guides sure ought not to be excluded but to be allowed at least to be as worthy our regard as their Adversaries Nor can I think any otherwise than that he is minded to be seduced who instead of taking heed of Hereticks seeks only to them instead of avoiding them avoids those from whom if not alone yet I am sure principally he ought to fortifie himself against them 3 dly The next means proposed for their contending for the Faith was By Innocence and Holiness of Life This St. Jude calls a Building up our selves upon our most holy Faith ver 20. And again a keeping of our selves in the love of God ver 21. And an excellent means no doubt it is to preserve the Purity of our Faith and to keep our selves from being seduced from it I shall not need to tell you how powerful a motive the want of Piety has been to most of those Errors that have infested the Church Whilst Men to gratifie their Passions have corrupted their Faith and Pride and Discontent Interest and Ambition Looseness and Indulgence more than want of Knowledge have made Men Hereticks And were we now to enquire what the true cause is that keeps up these Divisions in the Church at this day why Men should be so obstinate in Errors so plainly contrary to the very Nature of Christianity and I had almost said to the common Sense and Reason of Mankind that it even poses our
Charity to think they do not themselves know them to be so I fear the best Account we should be able to give of this matter would be That Interest and Prejudice blind their Eyes and that their Errors are as Useful and Beneficial as they are otherwise Gross and Unreasonable But would Men indeed lay aside all Humane Considerations as in things wherein Eternity is at stake they ought to do Would they with Charity and Humility seek the Truth and be as willing to discover their own as they are but too forward to censure other Mens faults In plain terms would they be Christians indeed seek nothing but the Glory of God the Peace and Unity of his Church and the Salvation of their own Souls I cannot but think that most of our Controversies would presently vanish and we should yet recover that Truth which I fear some Men have too long detain'd in Unrighteousness and been deprived of by their own fault But especially would they to this Honesty and Integrity add 4 thly The Apostle's next Direction Of fervent Prayer to God for his Assistance For certainly the Truth and Purity of Religion is so great a Good and so pleasing and acceptable to God Almighty to be implored of him that a pious and upright Man earnestly praying and heartily seeking after it shall hardly be deny'd the Happiness of being constant to the Faith if he be already in the right way or of being brought to it if he is not He who has promised the true Votary not to refuse him in any thing that is necessary or but expedient for him if he asks as he ought to do will never fail to answer him in a matter of such moment And if he does not neglect himself while he prays to God but uses such Care and Caution as St. Jude here directs us to do for our Security he need not be afraid though he were encompassed with Seducers on every side but be confident that he shall either still go on in the right way or obtain God's Pardon if after all this he should chance to be mistaken in it There is yet one means more whereby St. Jude exhorts the Christians earnestly to contend for their Faith And that is 5 thly By a serious Consideration of their future state Keep your selves says he in the love of God looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life ver 21. And indeed it cannot be doubted but that this great Consideration which so highly influences all the other parts of a Christian Life must here also prove of a singular advantage to keep us firm and stedfast in our Faith This will make us diligent in all the rest will awaken our Care will perfect our Piety and enflame our Devotion By this we shall be secure that no worldly Considerations shall be able to prevail upon us to forsake our Religion We shall neither be moved for any Terrors to renounce it nor be cajolled by any Interests or Persuasions to give it up But we shall resolve as we ought to enquire diligently into the Grounds of our Profession to judge impartially and stedfastly follow what we are persuaded to be the right Faith that so we may be able to give a comfortable Account of our selves to God when we shall appear at his Tribunal No matter how severely we may be censured by Men for our so doing We know that Truth very often meets with and makes Enemies to the best Men. Christianity it self was once every where spoken against and St. Paul arraign'd as a Heretick But whilst with that Apostle we know wherefore we believe we shall be so far from being afraid of their Censures or ashamed of our Profession that should we for the sake of Christ as he was be brought even before the Tribunals of our Enemies we shall be able with assurance to answer for our selves as he did That after the way which they call Heresie so worship we the God of our Fathers believing all things that are written in the Law and the Prophets Such a power will this great Consideration of Eternal Life have over us to secure us in our Religion that it will actuate all the other means that have before been offer'd to establish our Faith and it self become a new defence and such as all the Sophistry and Malice of our Enemies shall not be able ever to overcome And thus have I given you as full an Account as the time would permit of the several things I proposed to consider And however I have not so closely confined my Reflections to the particular concern of those Christians to whom St. Jude wrote as not to have observed somewhat in general the use that all others ought to make of this Caution yet I will now in the close crave leave to offer two or three Reflections more which may serve to shew our own more immediate concern in it And First Let us from hence learn with what Zeal and Constancy we ought to contend for our Religion which I will be bold to say does if any in the whole World the best deserve the Character of the Text of being the Faith that was once delivered to the Saints and that without mixture of any thing corruptive of or contrary thereunto We pretend not to impose any thing either upon your Belief or Practice but what the Rule of this Faith the Holy Scriptures themselves prescribe or at least allow us to do We give no other Interpretation of Scripture than what is either so apparently the meaning of it that no impartial Person can doubt of it or else has been so universally received by the best and purest Antiquity and is otherwise so agreeable with the rest of our Faith that there can be no just cause to suspect it The Articles of our Creed are the same now which the Church has received and profess'd from the beginning and so evidently founded on the Authority of God's Word that they neither can nor do admit of any Dispute among Christians Those who the most pretend us to be defective in our Faith yet dare not say we are erroneous in what we do profess They acknowledge that what we believe is right only they think we do not believe all that we ought because not all that they would have us to do And certainly then such a Faith as this cannot but deserve to be earnestly contended for as being without all Controversie truly that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints And that so much the rather Secondly At this time when so many Seducers for I shall spare the rest of St. Jude's Character ver 4. are crept in among us and make it their great Endeavour by any means to draw us away from it I shall not repeat either the manner how I have shewn we ought to contend for our Faith against them or the Directions which from the Apostle I have before offered for the doing of it Let us only resolve