the sincere practice of all other duties of Christian piety For to do what we know to be the will of God is the surest way to be preserved by him both in truth and in holiness A godly life is the greatest security against all Impostures We shall never doubt of the truth of our belief when we feel it hath effected the design of Faith by bringing forth the fruit of it in all manner of vertue and godliness of living About which there is no doubt nor question no dispute nor controversy for all the parts of an holy life are as plainly set down in the holy Scriptures as that part of it now mentioned We beseech you Brethren know that is love them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them very highly in love for their works sake and be at peace among your selves 1 Thes v. 11 12. All the rest I say are as express and clear and evident as this whether they be our duties toward God or towards man whether superiours equals or inferiours or whether they concern the right Government of our selves in all Temperance Soberness Chastity Self-denial Contentedness and Contempt of this present World Without which I mean contempt of this present World all the advice that can be given will signify little to secure us in the true Religion If this one thing be wanting we are liable to be deceived and none can help us We shall turn like Weather-cocks by every wind of Doctrine if our interest lie that way and it will not be in the power of any man by the clearest and most solid demonstrations to fix and settle us For the love of this present World of riches honours and preferments dazles the eyes of mens minds blinds their judgment bribes their affections corrupts their consciences and carries them into the foulest dotages Religion and the things of the other world cannot be of any great price in his account who admires and over-values the things of this present life Which will easily perswade him as I had occasion to shew you lately when he cannot keep both to let go his Faith that he may preserve these And therefore if we will stick fast to our Religion we must not cleave too close to this present World We must not frame too high an opinion in our minds of any thing here nor set our hearts and affections on it but learn to want as well as to abound to be satisfied with a little and as the Apostle speaks having food and raiment therewith to be content remembring that godliness with contentment is great gain 1 Tim. vi 6 8. Such lessons if we learnt and faithfully practised and there is no man that need be ignorant of them or defective in them unless he will they would preserve and keep our minds from being drawn away by plausible and gainful errors Nay more than that they would put an end to all controversies and disputes better than an Infallible Judge could do For when there was one in the world there were still Sects and Factions as I have already shown you But if we would submit to the power of the Gospel and of God's holy Spirit so far as to become obedient to the plain commands which he lays upon us that is to be made truly meek and lowly in heart humble and peaceable tender-hearted and Charitable holy and heavenly-minded having no designs for this world but all for the other not intending to serve any earthly ends by our Religion but only to secure our Souls everlasting salvation being sincere lovers of truth desirous to know the whole will of God ready to imbrace it though never so cross to our present interests conscientiously resolved to do it whatsoever we deny or lose on that account this temper of mind wouldbe a far better expedient and more available for the healing of all Divisions and for the making Peace and Unity in the Christian World than infallibility of Judgment would be could we tell where to find it This is the way of God wherein if we will not walk there must be Heresies and contention and strife nay there will be as St. James's words are every evil work and no remedy can be found for it Whereas in this way I will be bold to go a little further and say that God hath taken care every particular Christian may be infallible as far as is needful for him Much Discourse and Dispute there hath been and is about Infallibility And some you know argue there must be such a thing because of the care which we all believe Christ hath of his Church in which it would be convenient there should be an Infallible Judge and therefore they conclude there is one But if Convenience were the measure and our Understanding the Measurers we might rather conclude that God hath made every particular Christian infallible because that is far more convenient than for every Christian to go a great way to one Infallible Judge and then not be able to know certainly where to find him because they that speak of such a Judge are not agreed whether he be a single Person or whether this Infallibility do not lye in more than in one nay whether it be not in a many but there is as great difference about this as any thing else whatsoever All that we can truly resolve therefore in this matter is That such is the Grace of God such his Care of his Church that He hath made every truly pious Christian infallible though not in all things yet in the main thing if he go on to the end in a course of piety That is with respect to his Journies end he is infallible though not with respect to every step he takes thither He may erre in many things he may sometimes go wrong yet if it be his constant design and watchful endeavour to govern himself faithfully in all his actions by the Rule of God's Word and to follow all the Directions therein he shall infallibly come to Heaven Let no men make you believe the contrary though you do not believe every thing that they tell you is necessary For God hath promised to guide the meek in judgment and to teach them his way His secret is with them that fear him and his Covenant is to make them know it XXV Psal 9 14. They shall certainly understand all things needful and be preserved from damnably erring in their judgment God is faithful and will keep them from falling into the errour of the wicked because they feared him greatly doing his will sincerely as far as they knew it and being ready and desirous to believe and obey it in all other things if they could have known them to be his Will Therefore let us neither decline this way nor distrust it Let us look upon this as the way of peace and let us think our selves safe in it Let all carnal let all worldly let all diabolical lusts
dangerous errors Provided Thirdly that in the use and application of this Rule we take the direction of our Spiritual Guides and Governors In some things as I said there is difficulty and where there is none the cunning of deceivers may so perplex things and intangle our understandings that we may not know what to think In which case especially we ought to seek for the assistance of those that are better able to judge than our selves Which is the very means of stability and constancy which the Apostle here recommends in my Text. For having shown how God appointed several orders of men in the Church not only Apostles Prophets and Evangelists but also Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints c. he lets them know that by these means God expected that they should not be henceforth children tossed to and fro and carried away with every wind of Doctrine For this purpose were Pastors and Teachers more particularly setled in the Church that they might be Instruments of setling others After the Apostles and Prophets and Evangelists had revealed the mind and will of God to men Pastors and Teachers were left in every Church to help them both to understand what the other great men had revealed and to detect the forgeries of false Apostles who went about to supplant the Christian Doctrine These Gifts as the Apostle here calls them were bestowed last of all being intended to remain after the other ceased And accordingly you are blessed with them in this Age as they were in the beginning and they are placed over you for the same end that they were at first that you may advise with them as persons whose business it is to study the holy Scriptures and to guide God's people by them in the way of truth For this they are better qualified than any other persons and therefore ought to be consulted by the people Who must not be so bold as to lean merely to their own understanding but listen also unto them not indeed as infallible but as men of the best understanding both by their Office and by their Study pains and experience whereby they are enabled to discover the frauds and sophistry of Deceivers and to open better than any else can do the true meaning of the holy Scriptures Their Guidance therefore the Apostle to the Hebrews also commends as a remedy against their instability in Religion xiii 7 8 9. Remember them that have the rule over you who have spoken to you the word of God whose faith follow c. Be not carried about with divers and strange Doctrines for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace not with meats which have not profited them that have been occupied therein Where one mark is given them whereby to know what Guides to follow Such as established their hearts in true grace and goodness not those that troubled them with unprofitable Disputes about meats and drink and such like things which were pressed by Judaical Teachers but made those who observed them not one jot the better if they did not make them worse by taking off their hearts from more substantial Duties And truly there is the same mark of distinction at this day All men follow some Guides or other but they alone ought to be followed who lead men not by their own authority but by the direction of the holy Scriptures whose main study it is to understand the Scriptures themselves and then to make others understand them who do not hide those Books from the people but exhort them to look into them and read them seriously and to learn therein above all things to be godly and vertuous to mortifie all evil affections and passions to purifie themselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God Such Guides you are bound in Conscience to advise withal and not lightly to forsake their Conduct For if they of the contrary perswasion follow their Guides with an implicite Faith and a kind of blind obedience being scarce permitted to use their Reason how can our people answer it to God if they will not take heed to those who bid them open their eyes and see and examine and prove what they offer to them by the Rule of the holy Scriptures in the use of the most impartial and unbiassed Reason which God hath bestowed upon them and wherewith they can assist them It is not easie to apprehend how great a sin they are guilty of who neglect such guidance And I must take the freedom to tell you That to listen to other pretended Guides neglecting those of the Church of England under whom ye have been bred whose conversation you know by whom you have been long instructed and had sufficient proof of their abilities is an inexcusable sin and an unaccountable folly For in all reason you ought to have a greater reverence to the Priests of our Church than to those of any other Communion who cannot be presumed to know better than ours do nor to have more concern and care to guide you aright than ours have And therefore as none of you I hope will be carried away from the Faith of this Church by any wind of Doctrine whatsoever so you will not I trust so much as entertain a doubt of the truth here believed without consulting with the Pastors and Teachers of it who are able to preserve you from falling by Gods grace and blessing upon your and their honest endeavours You ought to make a great conscience of this if you chance to be staggered by any objection repair to those whom God hath appointed to settle your minds and preserve you upright Nay if there were nothing of Conscience in it yet it is but a due respect to them under whose ministry you have many years lived not to forsake them upon any suggestions whatsoever without hearing what they can answer to them nor to think them less able and willing to direct you than any other persons or less honest and careful in the directions they give that neither you nor they may do amiss Besides the weakness and levity nay the folly and wickedness it is a rude contempt of those whom you have the greatest reason to esteem and will be so judged at the dreadful day of our Lord to hearken to the voice of strangers and give a perfect credit to them without so much as consulting the judgment of those with whom you have been long acquainted Be not guilty I beseech you of such unmanly and unmannerly behaviour Do not so much as admit the beginning of a doubt about your Religion without acquainting some of them with it that they may resolve you and as St. Peter speaks 1 v. 12. exhort and testify to you that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand And in which you will always stand if you observe one thing more which in truth is the greatest of all Fourthly Live in
and passions be mortified and we shall not fail to know the truth nay all our differences will be at an end or if any remain they will not be destructive either to Charity or that blessed Unity which all good Christians desire to see in the Church of Christ If all will not take this course yet they who do shall stand as unmoveable as a Rock though there be never such strong Winds and violent Gusts of Doctrine abroad that would blow them about For it is only Chaff and Straws and such like light or loose things which are carried about with the Wind Solid and well-built Houses stand firm and unshaken And so will all they who are deeply grounded in holiness and humility They will be stedfast and unmoveable and never be perswaded to follow any other Doctrines than those they have received in this Church though pressed with never so much earnestness because no Doctrines whatsoever can make them better than they are and by the Grace of God intend to be And this truly is a plain Direction whereby to judge of those Doctrines which trouble the Church Do they tend to make men at all the better if they do believe them Will their hearts be more purged from all bad affections Will they become more holy more humble more meek more modest more dead to this World more kind loving and charitable to all men by entertaining those Doctrines which are superadded to the Christian Faith into which we were baptized Or on the contrary Do they not give mens vices greater liberty Do they not puff them up as all windy knowledge doth Will they not dispose us to be more highly conceited of our selves more arrogant more angry more impatient of contradiction more uncharitable and censorious more loose in our conversation more unpeaceable and ungovernable If we find these to be the Fruits of such Doctrines we are assured thereby that they are not the true Christian Doctrines which have the quite contrary effects and make men of another Spirit To conclude There is one piece of Christian piety wherewith all our works must be begun continued and ended and that is earnest Prayer to God whom we must constantly beseech to pour the Grace of his holy Spirit upon us that we may not fail to follow all these Directions and that they may be effectual for our preservation To him let us address our selves with all humility and fervent affection imploring his gracious presence with us at all times to inlighten our minds to guide us in judgment according to his promise to give us understanding in his holy Word to bestow upon us a spirit of discerning that we may clearly perceive the difference of things and not take evil for good falshood for truth but the way of lying may be removed from us and he may grant us his Law graciously But above all things let us beseech him to give us honest and good hearts unbiassed by any carnal or worldly affections Let us pray with David in the Psalm now mentioned cxix 36. that he would incline our heart unto his testimonies and not unto covetousness turn away our eyes from beholding vanity and quicken us in his way For where the love of the World prevails any gainful errour may easily find entertainment And whensoever we find our selves begin to be unsettled in the belief of that which upon the most serious and deliberate consideration we have judged to be the truth whensoever the resolution we took upon that judgment begins to waver and shake let us remember that we are under a temptation and that every temptation is a deceit and would put a cheat upon us for every man is tempted saith St. James when he is drawn away by his own lust and inticed and thereupon let us apply our selves to God with the greater diligence and earnestness for his Grace to purifie our hearts that we may not be seduced by any bad affections but building up our selves in our most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost we may keep our selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life S. Jude 20 21. Finally the Church it self hath put a Prayer into our mouths in the Collect for this Day in which let us not cease to make our humble and hearty requests to Him saying O Almighty God who hast instructed thy holy Church with the heavenly Doctrine of thy Evangelist St. Mark Give us Grace that being not like Children carried away with every Blast of vain Doctrine we may be established in the truth of thy holy Gospel through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS