Sect in his Childhood and lived till he became a Christian exactly according to them as he tells King Agrippa in the hearing of the Jews at the fifth Verse of this Chapter And therefore what he charges himself with we are not to look upon as his own private perswasion only but rather as an instance of the general sentiment of the Men of his way and indeed as the Natural brood and Issue of Pharisaical Superstition By Superstition I mean a groundless Apprehension of pleasing God by doing things which he never commanded or forbearing those which he hath no where Forbidden And this was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great and leading Error of the Pharisees They added to the written Word of God and made more Duties and sins than ever the Law had made Their Traditions which had nothing to recommend them but the Custom of their Fathers they esteemed equal at least to the Divine Commandments Nay our Saviour expresly tells us They made the Commandments of God of no effect by their Traditions as if they thought to please him better in their own way than in His And Reckon'd they advanc'd themselves above others by what they did over and above their Duty as much in his asthey did in their own Opinion And hence Conformity to their Traditional Rites was their measure of Improvement and Perfection in Religion as appears by St. Pauls Character of himself Gal. 1.14 I profited in the Jews Religion above many of my Equals in my own Nation being more exceedingly Zealous of the Tradition of my Fathers Which words if we observe their connexion with those immediately before them seem to come in as the Reason why beyond measure as he there tells us he Persecuted the Church of God and wasted it i.e. His mighty Zeal for the Unscriptural Doctrines of the Pharisees was the true ground of his Bitter and furious Zeal against the Professors of the True Religion And this is the rather to be noted because it shews us the Spirit and Genius of that Sect that had the chief hand in bringing our Saviour to his Cross and first conspired the ruine of Christianity From the Words thus explained the matter I would crave leave to Propose to your serious considerations is this That the Consciences of Men may be so far mis-guided by Erroneous Principles and an Affectation of things in which Religion does not consist as to encourage them to the fiercest opposition to the express Revelations of God and the truths of Jesus Or more briefly thus That Christianity is liable to the sharpest Opposition from Men under the highest Pretence of Zeal and Conscience towards God and Religion In speaking to this Subject my Design is 1. To confirm the truth of this Observation 2. To shew whence it is that Men are liable to be thus Misguided by Erroneous Principles and transported with this Extravagant and Destructive Zeal 3. To make some Inferences that may be Useful to our felves 1. For the confirmation of this Truth That the Consciences of Men may be thus Misguided and their Spirits Inflamed by Erroneous Principles against the Truth may appear from our Saviours Character of his and his Churches Enemies and from many plain and undeniable Instances Parallel to this of the Confessor in the Text. 1. From our Saviours Character of His and his Churches Enemies Our Blessed Lord fore-seeing what a zealous Opposition his Church and Doctrine would assuredly meet withal after his decease takes occasion a little before his Passion to fore-warn his Disciples of it He had often told them in the general That they must look for Troulbe and Persecution from Men. Now the time of Tryal drawing on to prevent the damp of a Surprisal he Describes the temper and Spirit of their Enemies and shews them what hard measure they and their Followers must expect from them They shall put you out of the Synagogues i.e. excommunicate and curse you for Hereticks yea the time cometh That whosoever Killeth you will think that he doth God service John 16.2 It seems to kill a Disciple for his Religion was in the judgment of these Men like the Worshiping of God by Sacrifice They shall think by it saith our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to perform a grateful Service or Sacrisice to God As if they knew no better way of pleasing him than by takeing a Lamb out of his own Flock and making it an Oblation to him Now this is certainly a very strange way of servig God and such as men would never have thought of if they had not Deify'd something more than him and changed the Glory of the Holy and Merciful God into a direful Image of their own Temper and Complexion whom they Worship instead of him And as I doubt not but the Jews were primarily intended in this Prophecy so to the Infinite Scandal of Christianity there is unanswerable Reason to think that many that shelter themselves under the Sacred Profession of it are very deeply concerned in it sure I am that all the Marks of this Prophecy the same Religious zeal exprest by the same rage rancour and cruelty are very fresh and easie to be seen upon them 2. By many plain and Undeniable Instances Parallel to that we meet with in the Text. The Apostles Confession was indeed a sinular thing But for the Crimes which he taxeth himself with he might as justly have charged his Nation with them the main Body of the Jewish Church especially the governing part of it being strangely Leavened with this Sowre and Destructive zeal They had a zeal for God as St. Paul himself Testifies of them but not according to knowledge for they knew not his Immence Goodness and Benignity to Mankind nor his only begotten Son when he was amongst them They had a zeal for the Law but so they presumed to call what ever they had made Law by their Glosses and Traditions and directed it against those that had a zeal against them And a very fierce and fatal zeal it was A zeal that Crucifyed the Lord of Life That threw the Apostles into Prisons That cleared the Synagogues of them and their Disciples That Crampt and Loaded them with Chains and Fetters and for a good work gave forty Stripes save one A zeal that suborned Witnesses and breathed out Threatnings and slaughter against Men of whom the World was not worthy a zeal that listed Men into Conspiracies and bound them under an Oath to Kill an Innocent Person An outragious zeal it was that made Men exceedingly Mad as one that had too much experience of it tells us v. 11th of this Chapter so mad as to think they ought to d many things contrary to the clearest Revelations of God and the Name of Jesus Nor is this kind of Zeal Peculiar to the temper of the Jewish Nation There are those in the World that would be thought the only Good Christians who roundly Excommunicate all other Churches for not complying with their
Dictates as essentiael to Christianity which the Scripturs and the next Ancient and venerable Writings do assure us are not There are those that call us Hereticks and have often proved us so as clearly as Fire and Faggot can do it because we are so strait-laced as to Believe but just so many Truths and Articles of Faith as were at first delivered to the Saints And are so Nice and Humorous as not to Believe the flattest contradictions to them There is a Church that for several Ages and in several Councils hath Decreed the Extirpation of Hereticks i.e. the most Orthodox Christians by Fire and Sword and fairly Recommended it as an Eminent Test of Catholick Zeal Others at least there have been who with mighty Confidence pretended to secret motions and Immediate Warrants from Heaven to Worry and Destroy all that should withstand them and their Doctrin I might tire you with instances of both kinds and make it appear that the Zeal of Christians against One another hath in point of Fierceness and Cruelty far exceeded the Pattern in the Text. For the Proof of this I might but desire you to take a short Review of the Ruines which Romish Zeal hath made in Protestant Countries from our own to the very borders of the Ottoman Empire To keep nearest home I might appeal to the Holy League of France for the Utter Extirpation of the Reform'd Religion And to the Barbarous Usage of more than many Thousand Christians in the United Provinces Grot. Annal lib. 1. I mean before the Quarrel began with the Civil Government I might refer you to Inquisitions Invasions and Massacres to the Burning Zeal of the Marian days and the Powder Conspiracy here in England that Master-piece of Inhumanity design'd no doubt to make amends for the long Peace and Tranquility we enjoyed under the Pious and gentle Reign of our Immortal Virgin Queen After these it were cold and endless to mention all the Impious and Unnatural Artifices of the Agents of Rome against the Lives of our Princes the felicity of our Government Foulis Hist of Romish Treasons and Vsurp and the Vitals of our Religion One thing in the general you may observe that when ever the Church of Rome hath lost any thing by dint of Argument she hath presently betaken her self to sharper and deadlier Weapons for the Recovery of it And methinks it is the least of Wonders that a ChurchPamper'd with Power and Wealth and Honours that thinks her self fit to give Law to the whole Christian World and that it is her Unquestionable Right and Duty by all possible means to do it should not wave her Principles and content her self to admonish and Weep over Obstinate Hereticks as our Blessed Lord did over Jerusalem when her designs call for Blood and Cruelty and 't is apparent that Men will not be made Obedient without them On the other hand there has been another sort of men that under pretence of Refining the Reformation have shamefully violated the Pure and Undefiled Religion that came from Heaven And for this I might refer you to the Wicked Outrages of the Anabaptists at Munster and the Terrible Battles which have been fought for little Phansies and affected singularities in Religion I might call to your Remembrance the many Insurrections and what I even Tremble to speak of the horrid Murther of the late Arch-Bishop in Scotland I might desire you to reflect upon the fierce and bloody Attempts which in our Memory and Nation have been managed upon the fifth Monarchy Principles In a word I might carry you to the Tombs of Kings Nobles and Prelates of worthy Patriots and Ministers of Justice of Preachers and Ambassadors of Peace who by hands lifted up to Heaven have been offered to use the Apostles Phrase upon the Sacrifice and Service of your Faith which some call Heresie and according to which we now Worship the God of our Fathers Now to apply these Allusions to the purpose of the Text I shall only observe to you that the chief Actors and Parties in them have at one time or other confest that they verily thought they were engaged in a good Cause many Apologies have been made and many volumes have been written for them Yea many have sealed it with their Blood and pronounc't it with their last breath that the things they did and Dyed for as ill as they look'd towards the World were done out of Zeal to God and Religion that is they thonght they ought to have done them as contrary and Dishonourable as they really were to the Name of Jesus I come now in the second place 2. To shew whece it is that Men are liable to be thus Misguided by Erroneous Principles and Transported with this Extravagant and destructive Zeal I confess 't is very natural to men to be warm and zealous for their own Doctrines and Sentimests ill so much that they that have the Truth on their side have not always the Charity and Good-Nature that should attend it But that this Inclination should so mightily raise the Spleen and fire the Spirits of Men That it should grow so violent Quarrelsome and Impetuous as to scorn the Restraint of Laws both Divine and Humane and break down all the Fonces of Government to set up the Kingdom fo Christ which is not of this World That the Disciples of so meek a Master as our Saviour was and the Professors of so Charitable and obliging so Holy and Healing an Institution as Christianity is should think themselves bound to promote every Crude Opinion with the Sword Nay that inspired and as they call themselves Infallible Men should be so much out of the way so exceedingly fierce and angry with all that are not of their Minds as to devote them to Present and Eternal Ruine These things are so extreamly full of Scandal and Contradiction that without a Demonstration of the Truth it were scarce Charity to believe the possibility of them But let us do that Right to Christianity and our selves as to see where the fault lyes and what it is that under the pretence of Conscience has wrought so much Misery and Coufusion in the Christian World To assign all the causes of these Evils would require more Time and Patience than the present occasion will allow I shall therefore confine my self to such as I think have the greatest Interest in them and are best able to answer for them 1. The first is Bad Education which has a strange Influence upon the Spirits and Persuasions of Men and is able to change the sweetest natural Dispositions into the Bitterest and fiercest Tempers The great Spring and Mover of Humane Actions in the Judgment of the Mind and therefore the first Information of the Judgment which is the Business of Education must have a mighty stroke in the Conduct of the Life of Man and the rather because the Impressions we receive of things while our Minds are free from all suspition and Prejudice are
EIGHT SERMONS PREACHED On Several Occasions BY NATHANAEL WHALEY Rector of Broughton in Northamptonshire LONDON Printed for John Everingham at the Star in Ludgate-Street near the West End of St. Paul's Church-Yard 1695. Imprimatur Carolus Alstton R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. a Sacris April 30 1695. THE PREFACE TO THE Reader THE true End of Printing Sermons is to promote the Belief and Practice of Christianity Which must be at a low Ebb while the Witty part of the World is Floating in Scepticism and the Heavier sinking into down-right Atheism and Sensuality And This I think is so good an End in it self that it certainly needs no Excuse For I know not why any Man may not venture upon doing Good without asking leave of the World or Pleading the Importunity of Friends or craving a Protection for it All the Discouragement lies in the Difficulty there is in reaching this excellent End especially in this Singular and Confident Age in which He is no Body almost that has not an Opinion by himself And he is counted a very easie Man that will resign it to a stronger Judgment for being reduced to a Contradiction or two or convinc'd of a few untoward Consequences of it But however this be I think it becomes the Ministers of Religion to perswade Men if it be possible to be Wise and Happy and while the Scriptures are of any Authority with them to Admonish them of the Truths which belong to their Eternal Peace And this I can truly say is the Design of the following Sermons The two first of which are framed to shew the great Difference there is between a stable and well-grounded Faith and meer Confidence and Opinion or between the Faith of Abraham which carried him through the greatest Tryals and Difficulties and the Presumption of a Pharisee which did as strange things in their kind For as Abraham by Faith offered up his Son in Obedience to God So Saul by the impulse of his Opinions Persecuted the Children of Abrahams Faith and verily thought till our Saviour called to him out of Heaven as the Angel did to Abraham that he was doing the Will of God even when he was going to make a Sacrifice of Christianity it self The Design of the Third and Fourth Sermons is to represent the extream Danger of Impenitency under the Powerful means of Grace and of Trusting to a late or Death-Bed Repentance These I fear are very Grating and Unpleasant Subjects But I the rather think they require the plainer dealing and must needs say in reference to the Latter that upon the Review I cannot esteem it any breach of Charity to have wrested a Text perhaps more frequently mis-applyed than any other in the Gospel out of the hands of those that were never Fairly in possession of it and are apt as St. Peter speaks of some others to wrest it to their Own Destruction The Fifth was delivered at a time when great Endeavours were used to turn us out of the streight Way to Heaven Which gave occasion to shew the Grounds of our Protestant Faith and the great Advantages it has above the Romish in point of certainty How much Reason we have to adhere to the Doctrine of our own Church and to adorn it by the Purity of our Lives and Examples And the Way to do this is described and recommended in the following Discourse concerning our Improvement in all Christian Vertues and Graces And were we once perswaded to govern our Lives by the Principles of our Religion we might justly hope to Enjoy them more and perhaps much longer than we do We should think it no Dishonour to suffer those that Affront and Despitefully use us to live out the short term of Life which God and Nature hath set them and make better Use of the shortness and uncertainty of our Own to bring us to which happy Temper is the Design of the two last Sermons As to the Composure of these few Discourses the Reader will find enough to exercise his Candour and Ingenuity All I can hope for is That they may be serviceable in some measure to the Lovers of Truth for whose sakes they are Published that the Venture will be the more Pardonable because my Infirmities at present are such as hinder the Discharge of the Ordinary Duties of my Function God grant his Blessing to all Faithful Endeavours to Preserve the Truth and Promote Peace and Piety The Contents SERMON I. The Power and Efficacy of Faith Heb. 11.17 18. By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac And he that had received the Promises Offered up his Only begotten Son Of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy Seed be called SERMON II. The Danger of a mis-inform'd Conscience or mistaken Principles in Religion Acts 26.9 I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth SERMON III. Of the different Dispensations of Grace and of Impenitency under the best Means of Salvation Matth. 11.21.22 Wo unto thee Chorazin Wo unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty Works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have Repented long agō in Sack-cloth and Ashes But I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the Day of Judgment than for you SERMON IV. The Case of a Late or Death-Bed Repentance Matth. 20.9 And when they came that were Hired about the Eleventh Hour they received every Man a Penny SERMON V. The Streight and Certain Way to Happiness Hebr. 12.13 Make streight Paths for your Feet SERMON VI. Of Growth in Grace 2 Pet. 3.18 But Grow in Grace SERMON VII Of Murther particularly Duelling and Self-Murther Matth. 5.21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of Old time Thou shalt not Kill SERMON VIII Of the shortness and Instability of Humane Life James 4.14 For what is your Life It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Sermon I. Concerning the Power and Efficacy of Faith Hebr. 11.17 18. By Faith Abraham when he was tryed Offered up Isaac and he that had rerceived the Promises Offered up his Only begotten Son Of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy Seed be called THE Author of this Epistle discourseth in this Chapter of two Eminent Points of Knowledge the Nature of Divine Faith and the mighty Power and Efficacy of it In the first Verse he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a grounded Expectation of things hoped for and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conviction of things not seen ver 3.5 c. such as the Creation of this and the Existence of a better World And this shews the Nature of Faith to lye in a firm Perswasion of Truths and Promises grounded upon the Testimony of God and not upon any sensible Evidence of the Reality of them And accordingly the Holy Men whose Faith is so much magnifyed in this Chapter ver 13.
commonly the Deepest most lasting and indelible And hence it is that Men are generally very apt to stick to their first Principles be they true or false and for want of due enquiry how they came by them to take them for Divine Impressions and Eternal Truths And thus an Erroneous Conscience Usurps the Authority of a Guide the ordinary effect of which is a zealous Opposition against all that standin its way or presume to Check and disturb the Dictates of it For what ever ought to be it is plain that Mens present Thoughts and Principles are and will be the Rule of their Actions and that the worse any Principles are and the Earlier they are Instilled into them under the Notion of Divine Truths the more strongly they Impregnate their Minds and excite them to pursue the Tendencies of them And therefore we need not much wonder at those who are bred up in a Religion contrary to the Truth as it is in Jesus and to his Commandments of Love Peace and Unity Who are taught from their Cradles to call us Hereticks and to speak the bitterest things against us to Break their Faith with us and to mark us out for Destruction if in process of time they grow expert in all the Arts of Confusion and with undaunted Courage Undertake the Boldest Crimes which their Party and Principles do Countenance the Practice of 'T is true the Prejudices of Education are not invincible if Men would take a right course to overcome them But this is a rare case and there are but few in Comparison of those that choose to enjoy their Errors that are willing to make a Tryal of it And indeed when our green and tender Minds are once warpt by false and Pernicious Principles it is no easy matter to bring them streight and to put them into a right Posture again It requires a great deal of Consideration and Impartial inquiry into the Reason and bottom of things which some Men want abilities of mind others Leisure Humility Patience and Integrity to carry them through And the want of any of these is enough to answer for their obstinate persisting in their First Errours and unreasonable Opposition to the Truth 2. Affected Ignorance of the Truth naturally hardens Men in their Evil Principles and disposes them to approve of any Rugged and violent Course to keep up the Reputation of them The Jews in our Saviour's time had the greatest Advantages that ever Men enjoyed of being delivered from the Chains and Fetters of an ill Education I Pet. 1.18 or as St. Peter calls it From their vain Conversation received by Tradition from their Fathers They had the Brightest Revelations of the Divine Nature and Will that ever came from Heaven And those delivered to them by their own Messiah whom they had long expected In whom all the Promises concerning that Infinite Blessing to Mankind were exactly fulfilled Who wrought the greatest and most Astonishing Miracles that ever the World beheld Who gave them a Perfect Comment on the Law which had been miserably Corrupted by the Glosses of their Scribes and Doctors and layed open their Hypocrisies to themselves and all the People and yet so Blind and Sottish were they as to reject all his Admonitions with Spight and Scorn to Love Darkness rather than Light to Admire their Deluders and to Crucify their Guide to Eternal Bliss and Happiness Our Saviour himself Testifies of them in the height of their Rage and Malice against him Luke 23.34 that they knew not what they did They had been Taught their Messiah should be a Glorious King and Conquerour and such an One they must have or none They had been long wonted to a Pompous and Ceremonious service And therefore could not bear the thoughts of having the Stately Fabrick of their Religion Erected by God himself and supported by Moses and the Prophets taken down by the Carpenters Son as they stiled our Lord. These were the Fatal Chains that held them fast in that Dungeon of Darkness and Ignorance which Paradise it self could not Tempt them nor the Son of God could not redeem them from And is not the same wilfull and Affected Ignorance still to be found amongst the Adversaries of our Religion Some think there ought to be an Infallible and Universal Head of the Church on Earth and such an one they will have what ever it costs them Others that are strongly perswaded of Christs Personal Reign upon Earth think they ought to Fight for King Jesus against all Opposers And why is Ignorance so much Cherisht and Applauded in the Church of Rome but that it gives the Guides of that Church a mighty advantage to Mis-lead the People and Embolden them to act any illthing they are pleased to Impose upon them And this is the very use they make of it they Teach them to call Evil Good and Good Evil to Invert the Nature of things and to Fix the Crossest Names they can devise upon them and then Prosecute them directly contrary to their intrinsick merit Just as the Heathens Cloth'd the Christians in Beasts Skins and then exposed them to be Worried by Wild Beasts to Death They first teach them to call our Religion on Heresie which naturally creates an Implacable Hatred of it And having gone thus far they easily perswade them they cannot be too Zealous to suppress it the next step to which Persuasion is to think any thing to be lawful that will do it or if that will not do it shall be Meritorious And then to destroy Hereticks follows of course to be a Glorious Work But surely St. Paul did not think so when he confest the contrariety of it to the Name of Jesus Nor did our Saviour think so when he reproved the Rash and Destructive zeal of his Disciples who would have consumed the Samaritans by Fire from Heaven telling them that they knew not what manner of Spirits they were of And after this Luke 9.55 should I presume to say that the Controversies between us and the Church of Rome have been managed with invincible strength and demonstration of the Truth on our side Or should I say that no cause since the sealing of the Scriptures unless that of our common Christianity was ever better Defended than our departure from that Church I should not be ashamed of this confidence of boasting 3. Secular Interests have great Power to distort the Judgments of men and to inflame their Passions against those that differ from them in matters of Religion What ever it is they place their chief satisfaction in whether they are bound for the Port of Gain or Honour or Liberty we commonly find they make all the Sail that ever they can to come speedily to it If the way to attain their ends be to appear stoutly for this or that Party or Persuasion they will readily do it and serve the cause to the Utmost if they happen to thrive by it Men of corrupt Minds and destitute
of Christianity and the unspeakable Trouble and dishonour of the Church To give you one Remarkable Instance of this In the beginning of the Reformation in Germany Sleid. com lib. 10. They who first scrupled only the Doctrine of Infant Baptism by degrees so Intangled themselves in New and greater Errours that in a few Years they grew the highest Enthusiasts vented the Rankest Blasphemies and the most Fulsome Opinions And after the fairest shew of sanctity and self-denial threw off all Humanity Indulging themselves in the most Beastial and Impudent vices in fine They Renounc't all Allegiance to their Lawful Superiours set up a Pupper King of their own Dignified him with the Title of Universal Monarch and to Compleat the Tragedy Baptiz'd one another with their own Blood 3. That the greatest Zeal is no Evidence of the goodness of any Cause or Principles While some contend as earnestly against as others do for the Truth their Zeal can Determine nothing on either side 'T is the goodness of Principles and the Merit of a Cause that can only Justify our Zeal for them If they be wanting Zeal is no better than Rage and Frenzy Therefore saith the Apostle Gal. 4.18 It is Good to be Zealously affected always in a good thing which Implies that when our Zeal is not thus Qualified it is good for nothing Or if it rises above the Goodness of its Object it so far over-shoots it self and Degenerates into Vice and Folly And this is the Fault of those that lay the Weight of Religion upon slender things that can find nothing to spend their Zeal upon but an Innocent Phrase or Ceremony that Dispise Communion with a Church that does not hit their Phancy in every Punctilio and seem almost contented the Protestant Religion should fink rather than the best support of it should stand I mean the Union of Protestants in our Establish't National Religion These are Humours that Charity it self can hardly Excuse in them or look upon as any other than the excesses of a mistaken and Intemperate Zeal In short Zeal is either the best Friend or the keenest Enemy to Religion for which reason we ought to look narrowly to the Grounds and Tendencies of it 4. We see what reason we have to be aware of those Persons who Teach and Promote such Principles as are contrary to the True Spirit and Interest of Christianity I know not what can be said worse of any Religion than that it inspires Men with Rage and Cruelty Quenches the Spirit of Love and Meekmess and Represents God as the Author of Confusion a Humourous and Discontented Being that is never Pleased long with his own Prescriptions and therefore must be sooth'd and flatter'd with something that is New and Fanciful that looks like an Excess or Transport of Devotion that is Owing to the Good-Will or III-Nature of Men such Religion as this can never reconcile it self to the Doctrine of Christianity but will be supplanting it where-ever it comes And the Zeal it infuses into Men will if not effectually restrained Act over all those Dismal Tragedies again of which the Christian Church has been almost the Constant Scene ever since the Foundation of it We should therefore be jealous of it in all shapes Whether it Pleads for Unity as the Church of Rome do's who takes her self to be the Only Church and therefore Reprobates all that will not be United to her Or whether it declares for Free-Grace i.e. a Gospel without a Sanction as the German Antinomians and Ranters did who turn'd the Grace of God into Lasciviousness and liv'd as if it taught them to deny themselves no Ungodliness or Worldly Lusts whether it pretends to Visions and Revelations of the Lord contrary to the Doctrines Received and delivered by his Apostles from him Or whether it sets up for Purity of Worship in mistaken or doubtful Instances against the Peace of the Church and contrary to the Wisdom that is from above which is first Pure then Peaceable Jam. 3.17 Gentle and Easy to be intreated Not Peevish or implacable not apt to Quarrel with Shadows and much less to put three Kingdoms into a Flame for the sake of three harmless Ceremonies 5. Lastly Since Christianity is liable to and has endured so much Opposition from Men we should learn to adore Gods Infinite Widsom and Goodness in Preserving his Truth and Protecting his Church against the Zealous Endeavours of their Enemies to stifle and destroy them And certainly We of this Nation have seen as extraordinary Evidences of this kind as ever any Christian Nation did Our deliverances have had so many visible marks of a Divine and Peculiar Providence upon them that one would think they should at once clear the Nation of all Atheistical Dotage Open the Eyes of its Divided Inhabitants and Discourage its most zealous Adversaries from Daring any longer that All-seeing Eye that hath so often discovered from strugling any more with that Omnipotent hand that hath so seasonably baffled their Closet and most perfidious Designs and Practices And doubtless were we as sensible as we ought to be of God's singular goodness towards us in casting us into the Bosom of a Church where we have all advantages for Eternal Salvation and in lengthening out our Peace and Tranquility in despight of our Enemies we should think it out Interest to leave our selves still in his hands I do not mean by sitting still and neglecting our Guards but by a patient continuance in Well-doing by attempting nothing that is Unworthy of our excellent Religion By a clear and genuine Zeal for the Honour of God our Saviour by our Unfeigned thankfulness to him for his Wonderful Mercies by confiding in his Goodness and Protection by the Fervency of our Prayers and Intercessions with him and by mutual Exchanges of kindness and condescention to one another in any thing that may truly promote our Common Interest In a word by adhering to the Old Principles of Christianity and avoiding the two dangerous Rocks of Superstition and Enthusiasm and what ever else is contrary to the Name of Jesus Grant O Lord we beseech thee that the course of this World may be so Peaceably Ordered by thy Governance that thy Church may Joyfully serve thee in all Godly quietness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sermon III. Of the Different Dispensations of Grace and of Impenitency under the best means of Salvation Matthew 11.21 22. Wo unto thee Chorazin Wo unto thee Bethsaida For if the Mighty Works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have Repented long ago in Sack-cloth and Ashes But I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the Day of Judgment than for you Chorazin and Bethsaida were Cities of Galilee situate on the Sea-Shore not very far from the Coasts of Tyre and Sidon They profest the Jewish Religion and had the Priviledge of hearing our Saviours Doctrine and beholding his Miracles But
accept of a short Repentance in the room of it when the Gospel makes them equally necessary to Salvation and we undertake for them alike in our Baptism Faith indeed and Repentance are sufficient to bring us within the verge of the Covenant but when we are in a Covenant-state and have solemnly engaged to walk in the Commandments of God all our days as we expect the fulfilling of the Promises to us nothing less than the practice of Piety and Virtue can justifie our Pretences to them This is the Tenour of his Covenant with us and we must not think that God will be put off with the renewing of those Vows at our Death which our Lives have been a continual violation of To which may be added 3. That the sincerity of a Death-bed Repentance can never be tried and therefore to us it cannot be known to be that Repentance which the Gospel requires Some Instances we hope there are of men that have made good the Vows which they made in their Sickness But alas how many of those that have out-lived their own fears of Death have out-lived the Promises too which they made under the Terrours of it How often have men recovered into a wickeder Life than ever their Sorrows been but as a Morning Cloud and their Penitent Tears as the Early Dew which soon passeth away And now from what hath been spoken upon this Head it is evident that the Device of a Death-bed Repentance hath no Foundation in the Gospel Nay so far is it from that that it tends to ruin the very design of its appearing unto men to Debauch the Christian World and to make Salvation cheaper after the Direful sufferings of our Blessed Lord than the vilest Lust that is practised in it And if this pass for Gospel I confess I am to learn what Powerful Arguments the Gospel has left to prevail with the generality of its Professors who notwithstanding their Baptismal Vow do hardly seem to be half persuaded to be Christians to close entirely with the Precepts of it The best we can offer to them are that the Religious and Virtuous Man lives a Nobler Life and is in a safer state than he that drills off his Repentance and thinks it time enough to Reform when he is Dying because he may be surprised by Death which is a chance the other is provided against But suddain Death happens so very seldom and the Excellency of the Christian Life is so little understood that considering the Guise of this World the hardness of an Impenitent Heart and the subtilty of the Great Deceiver of Mankind and the violent and outragious Affections by which habitual Sinners are hurried on to their several Delights and Pleasures no man that hath any insight into the Principles of Human Actions can promise any competent success if we have no better Arguments to urge than these And indeed when the necessity of Holiness is gone the thing which is struck at by all the Projectors of easie ways to Heaven Christianity must be a very precarious thing a matter of Good-will or at most of very Ordinary Prudence having lost its great Power and Efficacy to Reform the World For if the Gospel will secure me of Heaven and excuse me for not obeying the Commandments of God all my life-long it plainly leaves me to my liberty to do as I list which is the thing my unhappy Nature desires And while I find my self easie and believe my self safe in this way I must be under an invincible prejudice against any other that can be recommended to me 'T is not Arguing that will reach me now 't is not Dry Reason that will work upon me Oh Blessed Jesus how many ways have men invented to shift off their Obedience to thy Commandments But how can I think that thou cam'st to turn me from my sins if parting sorrowfully with them when I die be enough to bring me into the Joys of thy Heavenly Kingdom It is time now to draw to a Conclusion But I fear you will hardly excuse me if I should not stay to answer a Question or two in behalf of poor Dying Penitents 1. First then May not God in a moment dissolve the hardest and most impenitent Heart and cast it into a new Frame whenever he is pleased to shew the Riches of his Grace towards the Vessels of Wrath fitted for Destruction And whom he Sanctifies will he not Save These I grant are undeniable Truths But then we are not speaking of what God can do or may have done in some extraordinary cases But the Question is What he has Promised And when he has given us a Rule to walk by and declared he will Judge us according to it whether he will think fit to vary from this Rule If he will not 't is sadly evident that a Late Repentance is the most Desperate Adventure in the World and that he will he has no where told us and therefore we can have not Reason to Presume upon it But 2. Did not the Penitent Thief go immediately from the Cross into Paradice True but did not Judas also Repent and restore the Mony he had taken to Betray his Master and after that go to his Own Place Was not Judas a Profest Disciple and the Crucified Thief a Stranger to the Covevant of the Gospel And which of these does most resemble the case of Delaying Penitents They are I grant in no danger of being guilty of Judas his sin but neither are they in condition of making so Glorious a Confession as the Penitent Thief did when he saw the Saviour of the World hanging upon the Cross Both these are extraordinary cases one of which may serve indeed to ballance the other but then we cannot certainly conclude our Good or Bad Condition from either 3. Lastly If the state of Dying Penitents be thus Disconsolate what roome is there to offer any Advice or Comfort to them I answer it does not become us to limit the Grace and Mercy of God which is the Foundation of all our Hopes or to say that he cannot extend it beyond the Terms of his Covenant with us He hath shewed thee O Man what is Good but break not thou into his Secrets He has probably more Mercy in store than he has promised to bestow and it is to be hoped the Penitent Thief has not exhausted the whole Treasure Nor do I know any Reason we have to think that extraordinary Grace is more inconsistent with the End and Honour of the Divine Government and Perfections than it is with the Honour and Good Government of Pious and Merciful Princes when they find reason to over-rule the Sentence of their own Just and Righteous Laws And me-thinks it is some comfort that Good Men are generally disposed to hope well of those whose Repentance at any time is signal and extraordinary And tho all this does not mount to a sure Ground of Hope yet it is such a one as ought to
Establisht Religion of the Nation but because we have throughly tryed and examined the Grounds of it because we have proved it by a Rule which cannot fail us and do find it to be the very Religion which Christ and his Apostles have revealed in the Gospel Now if we have taken up our Religion upon due confidweration and Judgment it very highly concerns us for the sake of it to live according to its excellent Rules and Precepts and to be as steddy in our walk as we pretend to be sure of our way to Heaven If we go wide from the Paths we have made streight and do not Obey the Doctrine we profess to believe upon clear and convincing Evidence we condemn our selves and give just Occasion to the Adversary to triumph over us and to twist us with the great need we had of a Reformation to make us worse than we need to have been without it We put a sharper Weapon into their hands than any they were ever able to forge against it A Witty Men may make a hard shift to say something for Romish Errors but there is not a word to be spoken for an Antichristian Life With what face can we inveigh against Popish Indulgences while we allow our selves as great a liberty in sinning as they do If we are heedless and undevout in our Prayers we may blush to say we cannot dispence with Latin Service because it is an hinderance to Devotion And is it not much at one whether he that in the holy Sacrament eateth or drinketh Judgment to himself does it in both Kinds or but One Or what signisies a change or no change in the substance of the Elements to him that discerns not the Lords Body Or why may not an Implicit Faith serve to make an Empty Profession as well as any Protestant Faith in the World And indeed if that were all we design by being Protestants it were hardly worth the while to be so For as without Faith it is Impossible to Please God So without Holiness as the Apostle tells us in the verse immediately after the Text No man shall see the Lord. We that are Protestants profess a great Veneration of the Scriptures both as a Rule of Faith and Manners And therefore we can never excuse our selves if we do not Govern our Lives as well as our Judgments and Opinions by them And there are those that will not excuse our Religion but raise Objections against it out of those very Actions it expresly Condemns and Warns us of the Infinite Danger of It is I confess very unreasonable that Religion should Answer for the Faults which it Aimes to Rectify Yet it must be Own'd a Real and Mighty Prejudice to it to be Contradicted by its own Professors and Betrayed by those that pretend a Hearty Zeal and Concernment for it And we have the more Reason to be Cautious on this hand because our Religion is so Excellent in it self and so fully Justified by its Learned Advocates that it requires nothing more for its Defence and Vindication from t is than that we should Adorn it by our Holy Conversations and keep the Enemy out of those Breaches which our Divisions have made and our Lusts have Widen'd for them And this is our Proper Post In which we may do Excellent service tho we may not be so fit to engage in the Field of Controversies merely by Exercising our selves unto Godliness by keeping to the Plain Rules and standing to the Principles of our Holy Religion This I say is our Proper Task And by this means we shall utterly Defeat our Adversaries and put them to the same strait that Daniel did the Caldeans Dan. 6.5 by leaving them no Occasion against us Except it be Concerning the Law of our God And for that we give them leave to Try their utmost skill And if by fair Reasoning and Arguments such as are fit to be used in the great Concernment of mens Eternal Salvation they can Win the Victory let them wear it I wish the mean while we could clear our selves as well as we can our Religion I wish we could all shew out of a Pure Conversation that our Lives are measured by the Laws as our Faith is by the Revelations of the Gospel I do not speak this as if I thought our Adversaries had the advantage of us in this respect but because it may be Justly expected that we who have the best Religion should live at the best Rate That we who pretend to understand what we believe and to know whom we Worship and have Renounc't the Errours and Corruptions that spoil the Religion of other men should be extreamly careful that we do not Blemish our own That we do not stain the Purity of our Profession and Furnish Men with Objections against it by our vain and vicious Conversations Let us consider the Necessity of walking by the Rules and obeying the Laws of our Religion in order to our own safety and Happiness Tho a Man knew every Foot of his Way to Heaven and were Acquainted with all the Crooked and Deceitful Paths which others are lost and Bewildred in yet if he will not make use of his knowledge to Direct his Steps and keep on in the way he should go he can never arrive to that Blessed Place We must not think to Fly to Heaven with a Wish or to be saved by being Orthodox or excused from doing our Duty because we know it Tho we had all knowledge and all Faith without Obedience and Holiness of Life I know not of what importance they would be to us but only to Intitle us to the greater Damnation The Sanctions of the Gospel are the same to Men of all Persuasions The worst of which will hardly Deny that a good Life is as Necessary to make a good Christian as a sound and Orthodox Faith So that 't is not Believing as the Church Believes nor Believing the Truth as it is in Jesus nor Relying upon him for salvation that can bring us to Heaven while we bid Defiance to his Laws Heb. 5.9 For he is the Author of Eternal Salvation to them only that Obey him If we are ill Men it matters not what we are besides Any Religion will serve a wicked Man as well as the Best And become him a great deal better than the Pure and Undefiled Religion which the Son of God brought down from Heaven with him And which of all Religions in the World Denounceth the most Terrible Threatnings against its own Professors that Reject the Mild and Reasonable Conditions of it Rom. 2.7.8 To them that by patient Continuance in Well-doing Seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality It promises Eternal Life But unto them that Obey not the Truth how Zealous soever they may be in the Defence and Profession of it It denounceth Indignation and wrath Tribulation and Anguish without Respect of Persons upon every Soul of Man that doth Evil. So that if we live
proper and great ends of Living To assist you herein I shall do these two Things 1. I shall remind you of this certain and important Truth That the Life of Man in this World is very short and transitory And then 2. Shew you what Practical Inferences may be Drawn from the consideration of the shortness and instability of our Lives 1. The Life of Man in this World is very short and Transitory This is matter of sense and one of the most obvious Truths that ever Nature or Experience taught us The Grave every time it opens its mouth gives us a sensible Demonstration of it It shews us of what Mold we are made what we are and what we must shortly be As soon as the vigour and gaiety of Youth are gone before we come to the borders of Old-age we many times grow sensible of the the Decays of this drooping Life and begin to feel our selves Wearing and Dying And still the longer we live and the wiser and fitter we are to pass our Judgment upon things the more Apprehensive we are of the shortness and fallacy of Life Our first years indeed seem to pass slowly on because they are the years of discipline of curbing our Phansies and correcting our Errours we are then commonly very eager in pursuit of Vanity and we often meet with stops and interruptions in it from our Tutors and Governors and this makes us almost think that our time stands still the while and we shall never be our own Men i. e. have the command of our time and the liberty to squander and throw it away as we please But when once we have past the age of discipline have had some experience of Life and lived long enough to reflect upon the first Stage of it we certainly see our mistake and chide time no more for not mending its speed and passing away so heavily from us when we look upon the reverse of our Lives upon the years that are past we have almost nothing left in view but the greater Sins and Follies we committed in them Then they appear but as a few days then we are apt enough to say how soon are Twenty or Thirty years fled and gone How insensibly are they slipt away And were we to live twice as many more the Case would be the very same and as soon as they are gone we should be at our old complaint again that our time in this World is very short and be ready to saywith good Old Jacob when he had lived neare twice as long as the Long-livers of our days generally Few and evil have the days of the life do of my Pilgrimage been Gen. 47 9. When we come to the use of our reason and begin to look abroad into the World to observe the Monuments and peruse the Annals and Histories of ancient times we miss all the Generations of Men that peopled the World in former Ages Our Fathers where are they Zech. 1 5. and the Prophets do they live for ever Where are all the Founders and Inhabitants of ancient Kingdoms all the Great Princes and Philosophers the Shrewd Polititians the Mighty Generals and the Numerous Armies the Wise and the Foolish the Holy and Profane All that ever Lived and Breathed till this present Age Is there none left to Answer the Question Then considering the Age of the World at this day and the many Successions of Men that have been before us there is Nothing more Demonstrable than that the Days of Men are few upon the Earth One Generation passeth away Eccles 1.4 and another Generation cometh We are always upon the Remove making Room for our Successors and for new Scenes of Providence which wait for our Departure out of this World and the Coming of a better or a worse Generation into it We have but a short Part to Act and when that is done we must clear the Stage and give Place to those that are Coming after Us because a short Work will the Lord make upon the Earth Rom. 9.28 God has set us our Bounds which we cannot Pass and he has set them so near us that it is strange we should Overlook them or Dream of an Immortality here while they stand so fairly in our View The days of our Years saith the Psalmist are threescore Years and ten and if by reason of Strength they be fourscore Years yet is their Strength Labour and Sorrow for it is soon out off and we fly away Psal 90.10 This was a mighty Fall from the Age of the Patriarchs before the Flood after which the Life of Man shorten'd apace till it came so low as Seventy or Eighty Years which is now the ordinary Measure and probably was so ever since the Murmuring of the Israelites in the Wilderness at the Relation which the Spies brought them of the Land of Promise But when the Psalmist tells us that our Age is reduced to threescore and ten or fourscore Years we must not presently Reckon that so many Years will come to our shares We cannot promise our selves another day for we know not what shall be on the morrow and therefore can make no certain Reckoning of it All the time we can call our own is that which we hve lived already So much God has given us and so much we must answer for and we cannot be sure that he will give us a day more Nemo tain Divos habuit faventes Crastinum ut sibi possit polliceri Some are gone in a moment from the Cradle to the Grave and very many before they understand the consequence of Life and Death we Die many times when we think of nothing less in the flower and vigour of our Age before we have any Symptoms of Death upon us But because some there are that rub on to threescore and ten or fourscore Years and very few that exceed them seventy or eighty Years at a moderate computation may well pass for the utmost Period ofour Lives This we generally esteem a full Age and yet when we Draw towards it are ready to complain of the scantness and shortness of it And if we think it short when we see it drawn out to its utmost length what are we to Judge of it when it is cut shorter by forty or fifty Years than the ordinary Measure What is the life of Children who Die hanging at their Mothers Breasts How short is the Race of young Men who expire while their Blood boils in their Veins and yet have as deep an interest in Eternity as the longest Livers upon Earth But since the longest Life by our own Confession is short I need not ask how little the shortest is to be accounted of But you will say then what need is there of this Discourse Why must we be taught a Truth which we are ready to Seal with our Tears and every time we contemplate upon do sadly bewail the certainty of I answer Tho it is evident that our Lives are short