The First Sermon.

THAT the Seven Churches of the Proconsular Asia, to which our Lord sent these several Messages by St. John, [Page 2] were then in being, when he saw this Vi­sion, and heard these Words, is a matter, I think, beyond question; and therefore there is little reason to question whether in these Messages the then present state of those Churches were described: And whe­ther the design of our Lord was likewise to describe the state of the Church from the Days of the Apostles to the end of the world, in several intervals thereof, as some men think, I dare not take upon me to deny. Sure I am, that in these Epi­stles to the Seven Churches, there are In­structions no less useful for all Ages of the Church, than if they were as truly Pro­phetical as they are Historical; and that they were designed not only for the Infor­mation of the then present Churches of the Proconsular Asia, but for the Edifica­tion of all Churches in all places, and in all Ages of the World, is evident from that so often repeated Close; He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches. Every Church therefore, because it can hear, ought to hear; and every Man of every Church, because eve­ry Man hath an Ear to hear; and because this Exhortation is also added to the Epistle sent to the Church of Pergamos, part of which I have now read to you, I may also [Page 3] exhort you to hear, or rather I need not, since our Lord Jesus himself hath required you so to do.

St. John, who had been the Founder of the Church of Pergamos, was now in the Isle of Patmos, banished thither for the Testimony of Jesus, as he witnesseth him­self, chap. 1. ver. 9. I John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. But he had committed this Church to the care of a Bishop in his absence, who is here called the Angel of the Church, and to whom this Epistle was directed in behalf of the Church under his care; and it consists of these three ge­neral parts:

• I. Of a Commendation.
• II. Of a Reproof.
• III. A Warning to repent.

I. A Commendation: I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwel­leth. [Page 4] Which Commendation consists of two parts.

1. That the Church of Pergamos re­tained the Profession of the Name of Christ in all points necessary to the Being of a Church; for if she had parted with any Point necessary, she must then have ceased to be a Church: But a Church she was by our Lord's own acknowledgment; and therefore by holding fast his Name, and not denying his Faith, we must needs under­stand, that she had kept entire that form of sound words, the Apostolical Creed, which St. John had left amongst them.

2. That which heightned her Praise, was, That she had done this in such a place where there was so great Temptations to Apostacy: First, Where Satan's seat was, (i. e.) where there were so many Idol Temples, that no place in Asia could shew so many; as if Pergamos had been Satan's principal Court in that part of the World. Secondly, Where by consequence there was likely to be, and where indeed there was a great Persecution of the Gospel, under which Antipas a faithful Martyr of Jesus Christ, whose Zeal and Courage was an Example to the rest, was slain.

This is the Commendation of the Church of Pergamos, that in such a place, and at such a time, she had held fast the Profession of the Fundamental Truths of the Gospel; that she had held fast the Name of Christ, and had not denied his Faith. But there follows,

II. A Reproof: But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Ba­lak to cast a stumbling block before the chil­dren of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolai­tans, which thing I hate. (i. e.) Although she had the Foundation of the Faith, yet within the Communion of that Church the Doctrine of Balaam, and the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans was taught and practi­sed: She had suffered damnable Doctrines and wicked Practices to take place, which were likely enough to endanger the sub­verting of the whole Christian Faith pro­fessed amongst them. But more particu­larly,

1. The Doctrine of Balaam was openly taught amongst them; and that was, the Lawfulness of joining with Idolaters in the [Page 6] Worship of their Idols: For this was the stumbling-block which Balaam laid before the Children of Israel, not only drawing them to carnal Fornication with the Daughters of Moab, but spiritual Forni­cation also with their Idols. Now it seems there was such a grievous Persecution of the Church at Pergamos, that some of that Communion, to ease the Church from it, taught, That it was lawful to Sacrifice to Idols, and to have External Communion with Idolaters in their Worship, to wit, by eating things sacrificed to Idols, pre­tending, as we may gather from the Com­mendation given them in the former Verse, that if they did but still hold fast the Name of Christ, and not deny any ne­cessary point of his Faith, their External Compliance with Idolaters in their Wor­ship, would not deserve any severe Re­proof; but that because they should still retain the Name and Essence of a true Church, they should therefore sufficiently approve their Fidelity to Christ, notwith­standing their burning Incense, and offer­ing Sacrifice, and giving Divine Honours by their outward Acts, to that which is not God.

2. The Doctrine of the Nicolaitans was also held amongst them, that is, a Doctrine [Page 7] that tended to a Licentious Life, and the Corruption of good Manners: And it is called the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans, from Nicolas the Deacon, who being upbraided for doting too much upon his fair Wife, to shew that he was not to be blamed upon that account, made a prostitution of her to all Comers: Which lewd Example had, it seems spread its Contagion into some of the Asian Churches, especially at Perga­mos, where many of them held Commu­nity of Women to be lawful; which was so vile and detestable a Doctrine, that God is here said to hate it: So that the Do­ctrines, for tolerating of which the Church of Pergamos is here reprehended, were such as grated very near upon the Founda­tions of Christianity; the former leading to Idolatry, the latter to an impure and vi­cious Life. A very strange Corruption of the State of that Church in so short a time from the first Plantation of it. Now,

III. We have in this Message of Jesus to the Church of Pergamos, a warning to re­pent, and to make haste to repent too: Re­pent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. And what was she to repent of, but of suf­fering those Corruptions in Doctrine and [Page 8] Practice to prevail in her Communion, for which she was reproved before? And how was she to repent, but by reforming those Abuses, and casting out of her Communi­on those that would not be reformed, and returning to the Primitive Purity of her Faith, and Worship, and Manners? And if she would not do this, Jesus threatned that he would suddenly take the matter into his own hands, and cut them off by the Sword of his Mouth from being a Church at all, who were so soon degene­rated from a pure Church; and it is reaso­nable to believe, that upon this warning she did repent and reform; for she was not speedily cut off, as God had threatned she should be if she did not repent, but conti­nued a Church for many Ages afterwards, till at length falling again into great Cor­ruption of Doctrine and Manners, she, with all the other Six Churches of Asia, written to by our Lord, fell to be no Church at all; and the Temples wherein the Name of Christ was called upon, are now become Turkish Mosques; and so the burden of Pergamos was fulfilled.

And now having given you this Account of the State of the Church of Pergamos, as it was represented by our Lord himself; I am much mistaken, if from this Autho­rity [Page 9] we may not be able to justify the Re­formation of the Church of England, against the most specious and popular Ex­ceptions which they of Rome make against our Reformation. And this I shall endea­vour to do under these three Heads.

First, That in this Church, whilst it was in Communion with, and Sub­jection to the Church of Rome, there were notorious Abuses and Errors both in Doctrine and Worship, added to the Profession of the Common Faith.

Secondly, That upon this Supposition we might and ought to reform our selves, as we have done.

Thirdly, That the main Objections which they of the Roman Church do bring, and whereby they seek to stag­ger those of our Communion, and to fright them into their own, may by this instance of the Message of Christ to the Church of Pergamos, be de­monstrated to be vain and fallacious, and therefore by no means fit to re­move us from our stedfastness.

First, That in this Church, as in all others that were in Communion with the [Page 10] Church of Rome, there were notorious Abuses and Errors introduced into the Faith and Worship of Christians: And First, As in the Church of Pergamos, so in these Churches there were Doctrines and Practices leading to Idolatry; I wish that were all, but it is not all; for Idolatry it self, if it be possible for us to know what it is, was practised, and that Practice not on­ly connived at, but encouraged and com­manded; and of this sort were the Practi­ces of Adoring the Host, Praying to Saints, to dead Men and Women, and Worshipping of Images, contrary to the whole Tenor of the Scripture, providing that we should worship the Lord our God, and that him only we should serve. And it is very observa­ble, that when we urge them with these things, they defend themselves from Ido­latry by the use of such distinctions, as 'tis impossible for the common People to save themselves by, if indeed these distinctions would do the business. As for Doctrines tending to licentiousness of Life and Man­ners, what can be more evidently such, than the easy terms upon which they promised forgiveness of Sins, and security from Hell? Confession to a Priest, with At­trition, being reckoned sufficient to receive a Pretorial Absolution, which shall be valid [Page 11] in Heaven: As also the Invention of Pur­gatory, and the Power of the Church to shorten the Pains of it by Indulgences, by applying the Treasure of the Churches Me­rits, by Masses and Prayers, with a great many Abuses of this nature. And besides all these, what shall we say to their Doctrine of Transubstantiation, their Half-communi­on, their Latin Service, their Sacrifice of the Mass, for which there is no President or Rule in the Scriptures, or in Antiquity; but plain and full consent there is both of the one and of the other against them? But now to all this, they make one general Reply, and tell us, That the Church, meaning the Roman Church, hath not erred in these Points, because she cannot err at all; for she is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches, and the Standard of Catho­lick Unity and Faith; she is that One Catho­lick Church, which cannot fail, to which Christ has promised his perpetual Presence and Assistance, that the gates of hell shall never prevail against her; and of which St. Paul said, that she is the pillar and ground of the truth. In a word, that whatsoever is by her defined, is infallibly true, and therefore that these Doctrines and Practices are neither damnable Errors and Sins, nor Errors and Sins at all. Now if indeed such [Page 12] Promises were made to that Church, we should be brought into a very great strait, and not very well know whether we should believe the Scripture speaking against the Doctrines and Practices impo­sed by that Church, or the Scripture speaking to us to believe and do as that Church requires: But first of all we say, That whatsoever Promises were made to the Catholick Church, they do not belong only to the Church of Rome, which is but a part of it; and that these Promises, That the gates of hell should not prevail against the Church; and that Christ would be with his Church to the end of the world; amount­ed to no more than this, That she should be preserved from so much Error as would utterly destroy the Being of a Church, not from all Error whatsoever; but that no Promise in particular was made to the Church of Rome, so much as to secure her from Fundamental Errors, utterly destru­ctive of the Being of a Church; especial­ly since St. Paul writing to the Church of Rome, plainly supposes that it was possible for them to be quite cut off from the Body of Christ, Rom. 11.21, 22. where speak­ing of the Rejection of the Jews, he hath these words; For if God spared not the na­tural branches, take heed lest he also spare not [Page 13] thee. Behold therefore the goodness and se­verity of God: on them which fell, severity; but towards thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. Which had been vain words, if it had been impossible, by virtue of any Privilege conferred upon the See of Peter, for the Church of Rome not to continue in God's goodness, or it be an infallible Truth that she shall not be cut off. We do what we can to find the Infallibility of the Ro­man Church in the Scriptures; but if we cannot find it, there is much more reason to conclude, that she hath erred, because some of her Doctrines and Practices do seem to us apparently to contradict the Scripture, than to believe she is infallible, because she says so of her self. But to this they say, That we mis-interpret those Scriptures which seem to condemn what they profess and practise; and in short, that we cannot arrive to certainty of the true sense of Scripture, without the Testi­mony of an Infallible Interpreter, which the Church is. Well, for the present I will suppose this; but then this will be the consequence of the Supposition, That 'tis impossible for that Church ever to con­vince me, or any reasonable man of her own Infallibility by the Scriptures: For [Page 14] when she tells me that Christ hath said, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; and that the church is the pillar and ground of truth; and Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world; she supposes that the Promise of Infallibility to her self is so plainly made, that every man who has a mind to under­stand the truth, may be certain of the true sense of the words. But if I may arrive at a certain sense of these Scriptures, with­out the Testimony of an Infallible Inter­preter, then why may I not be as certain of the sense of other Texts as plain as these, without such an Interpreter? It seems to me, that our Saviour said, Drink ye All of this, and therefore that you of the Roman Church may as well take the Bread as the Cup from the Laity. It seems to me, that St. Paul calls the Communion of Christ's Bo­dy, Bread; The BREAD which we break, is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ? and your Church says, 'tis Bread no longer after Consecration. It seems to me, that the same St. Paul speaks for a whole Chapter against Praying in an un­known Tongue, and yet your Church doth it. It seems also to me, that the Author to the Hebrews doth absolutely say, That Christ [Page 15] was offered once for all, and that he sat down thenceforth at the right hand of God; but you pretend to fetch him down from Hea­ven, and offer him a thousand times in a day. It seems to me, that God has for­bidden the making of Images to worship them, as absolutely and universally as words could do it; and yet you Picture God, and make Similitudes of the Blessed Trinity, and Images of the Saints, and worship them when you have done: I de­mand now, why I may not be certain of the true sense of these places, upon as reasona­ble grounds as you suppose I may be of those which in your Judgment conclude for the Infallibility of your Church? If I may, then I am sure the Scripture con­demns what you say and do in these Points; but if I may not be reasonably as­sured that I understand these (in my judg­ment) plain places of Scripture, because I want an Infallible Judge to interpret for me; then I demand again, Why do you urge me with those Scriptures that, as you pretend, prove the Infallibility of your Church? For as yet I am not persuaded of the Infallibility thereof, though I would gladly be persuaded of it. If you say, this is the Interpretation of the Church con­cerning them, which is Infallible, and [Page 16] therefore you are to believe it; I think any body but a Child would reply, That that is the very thing in question; and there­fore that you cannot convince any man of your Infallibility, unless he will take your word for it, because he cannot infallibly know the true Sense of Scripture giving Testimony to it, before he believes it with­out any Testimony from Scripture at all: So that it is to no purpose to go about to per­suade any reasonable man that your Church is Infallible, till he doth already believe it, that is, till it is a needless thing to do it, because he does believe it already. And therefore when all is done, we must be con­tent to understand the plain places of Scri­pture without an Infallible Judge, and to find out the rest as well as we can; and if the Scripture plainly condemns what you say and do, we have more reason from thence to conclude that you have erred, than to conclude that you cannot err, be­cause you say so of your selves.

And indeed, I look upon this Pretence to Infallibility, to be an Error of the most pernicious consequence, because it seals them up under all the rest, and adds incor­rigibleness, which is the highest degree of obstinacy, to all their other Errors; and it is so much the more shameless, because [Page 17] the whole World that was in Communion with them, groaned for a Reformation, before the Council of Trent. One of their own Popes said, We confess many abominable Abuses and Grievances have been for these many years last past in the Holy See; and we look upon our selves con­cerned to endeavour a Reformation the more, because we see the whole World doth most ear­nestly desire it. At the Council of Trent, the Ambassadors of several Princes desired earnestly the Cup for the People, the Mar­riage of the Clergy, Service in a known Tongue, and the Reformation of divers other matters; in which Christendom would have reformed it self, if Italy would have suffered it: Italy, I say, who to hin­der a general Reformation, filled the Coun­cil of Trent with more Bishops than came from all parts of Christendom besides.

Secondly, Upon this Supposition the Church of England might and ought to reform it self, as it hath done; for we find that the Church of Pergamos, which was not over-run with so many false Doctrines and corrupt Practices as those of the Ro­man Church I have mentioned, was requi­red by our Lord Jesus himself to remove those Errors and Corruptions which had crept into her; and if she did not present­ly [Page 18] return to her Primitive Purity, she was threatned to be cut off. Indeed it had been a much more desirable thing, that the whole Western Church, and more desirable still, that the East and the West had both united in a Reformation; it had been a blessed thing, if by a Free and General Council of all the Bishops in the Christian World, an Universal Reformation had been made; but the latter perhaps was im­probable, by reason of the vast distances of some Christian Churches from one ano­ther; and the former was made impossible, by the over-ruling Power of Italy; which therefore was to be done upon particular Churches, by common consent; and per­haps there must never be a farther Refor­mation till the Day of Judgment. It was very reasonable, and very necessary there­fore, that Christian Kingdoms should pro­ceed in Provincial and National Councils, to reform themselves, as this Church hath done under her Kings and Bishops, Parlia­ments and Convocations; that is, by all that Authority which could be desired to make a publick Reformation within the limits of this particular Church. And this proceeding has been authorized by the Examples of the best Ages of the Church, when it was thought fit not always to [Page 19] tarry for General Councils, but very often for particular Churches to proceed out of hand to the rooting out of Error and He­resy, and to the reforming of whatsoever they thought amiss amongst themselves: And for this, we are to appeal to the Coun­cils of Laodicea, Gangra, Carthage, and many others, which are no General Coun­cils.

To conclude: Such Errors as had over­spread the Church before the Reforma­tion, were in their own nature, and in their consequences so pernicious, that eve­ry Christian Man ought to reform himself from them, inasmuch as it is better to obey GOD than man: Much more might a publick Reformation be made by due Au­thority.

But we had no regard to the Bishop of Rome in this matter, who was to be con­sider'd either as Head of the whole Church, or the Patriarch of the West, or as the Converter of the English Nation; and we were not only in Communion with him, but in subjection to him, when the Reformation was made: So that what Cause soever there might be for it, the Reformation was however Schisma­tical.

To all which I answer in short:

1. As to the Universal Supremacy, it is a Point to which Antiquity is wholly a Stranger: Scripture and the Fathers say nothing of it: Ignatius, who so often re­quires, that nothing should be done of mo­ment in the Church, without the Bishop, would have found out some one occasion at least to have said, Let nothing be done without the Bishop of Rome, if he had known of any such Privilege and Power conferred on him by our Lord. But if Pergamos were justifiable in removing those Corruptions which were crept into that Church, without staying for the con­sent of the Bishop of Rome; England, in removing more Corruptions, and of equal danger, was to proceed also without his leave, if it could not be had.

2. As to his Patriarchal Power over this Nation, it did not anciently belong to him; he had it not when the Council of Nice confined him to his own Province, nor when the Council of Ephesus decreed, That no Bishop should presume to invade any other Province, which from the be­ginning had not been under his or his Pre­decessors Jurisdiction; or if any do, and [Page 21] make it his own by Force, that he should restore it. And then the Church of Bri­tain was free, acknowledging no Foreign Jurisdiction; the Power that the Bishop of Rome gained here in After-Ages, was got by Fraud, and held by Force, and was ever and anon disputed and gainsay'd, and over-ruled; and surely no Injury was done him, when that Authority was resumed, which he had usurped.

3. As to the Conversion of the Saxons by Austin, sent hither by Pope Gregory, I say, it follows not, if long since the Inha­bitants of this Island received any Benefit from Rome, therefore they should in all Ages be exposed to the Usurpations of that Place afterwards; nor that because we once received true Religion from Rome, therefore Posterity must receive also false Doctrines from thence, when it should please her to send them hither: But in truth, Christianity had been planted here long before, by St. Paul himself in all pro­bability, and that in the Reign of Tiberius, before Rome her self had received the Christian Faith. And the British Bishops, whom Austin found here, would by no means submit to the Authority of the Ro­man Legate.

And so much for the Right that this particular Church had to reform her self. I come now

Thirdly, To consider some of those specious Pretences and Objections, by which they go about to weaken the sted­fastness of our People in the Communion of our Church, and to draw them to theirs.

1. They say, How was it possible that Errors could creep into the Church, of that nature with those which we charge upon them? There must have been great Opposition made to any the least design of such an Alteration in the state of Religion; and we meet with no such account of things in History: Therefore these are not Innovations, but the ancient Doctrine and Practice of the Church. To omit this, That concerning most of their Innovati­ons, we can very nearly shew the time when they were brought in, but can plain­ly shew that there was a time when they were not: I answer, It is much more easy to conceive, that in a thousand Years time Error should creep into that Church by degrees, and without noise, than that in a Church planted by an Apostle, as [Page 23] Pergamos was, guarded by the Angel or Bishop placed there by an Apostle, as Per­gamos was, should so soon tolerate the Do­ctrines of the Balaamites and Nicolaitans, even while their Apostle was alive, and therefore very soon after he departed from them.

2. They say, That the perpetual Suc­cession of their Bishops from St. Peter, is an Argument of the Succession of true Doctrine amongst them in the Purity thereof; but behold an Apostolical Church, in which a Bishop succeeded an Apostle yet alive, corrupted in her Doctrine and Worship! Can they have greater, can they have as great an assurance of a perpetual uninterrupted Succession after so many Ages, as the Church of Pergamos had be­fore one Age was gone? Or does their In­fallibility grow with their Succession? Or, the farther they are removed from the be­ginning of the Church, are they the surer still that they teach nothing but what was taught at first?

3. They say, We are departed from the whole Church of Christ that was visi­ble every where upon the face of the Earth when the Reformation was begun, seeing there was then no Communion in the World, nor had been long before, that pro­fessed [Page 24] the same Doctrine in all Points, which the Reformation brought in. Now in great liberality to admit for once that the whole visible Church had corrupted its way, as the Church of Rome has done, which yet is not true; but, I say, admit­ting it, what will then come of it? That we departed from the whole Church of Christ? No: But that we departed from the general Errors and Corruptions of it, and by that could not be said to depart from the whole Church, whereof we our selves were a part, unless we departed also from our selves. Nay, but say they, this is to fall into another damnable Error, and that is, That the whole Church of Christ had failed from the Earth, and so that the visible Church had perished for some Ages, till the Reformation brought it to Life again. Not so neither; for we do not say, That the Errors of the Church were of that nature, as to make it cease to be a Church; but that they were in themselves damnable; and that they made the Salva­tion of all that were in it extremely ha­zardous; but yet that we hope well of those, who believing the Fundamental Do­ctrines of Christianity maintained in the Church, and wanting means to discover her Corruptions, served God according to [Page 25] their knowledge: So that we do not say the Church had perished, but that her Purity had been lost; even as Pergamos was a Church, and so acknowledged by our Lord himself, because she held fast the Foundation of the Creed, while yet she was corrupted with notorious Errors. To this, according to their usual way of ar­guing, they would reply, That the Case is not the same between a particular Church, as Pergamos was, and the whole Visible Church, from which Luther and those that followed him, separated them­selves: But then I would answer, That the Case is the same, as to the matter we are upon; for if a particular Church, though under great Errors, may yet be a part of the whole Church; by like rea­sons, if the whole Church were overspread with foul Errors, it would nevertheless still remain the whole Church, and there is as great an obligation to depart from those Errors in the latter case as in the former; and a particular Church, by departing from such Errors, does no more depart from the whole Church, than she did from her self.

4. They pretend Antiquity for their Errors, and are often asking that shrewd Question, as they deem it, Where was [Page 26] your Religion before Luther? I would an­swer this Question with another, That after the Angel of the Church of Perga­mos had purged away the Corruptions of that Church, Where was the Church of Per­gamos before that Reformation? Every one of common sense would answer, It was where it is now, and where it ever was, since it was first a Church; for the Refor­mation took away nothing that belong­ed to the Nature and Essence of a Church, but only the Shame and the Corruption of it. So I say, still admitting what yet can never be proved, That there was none for Five hundred Years together, that decla­red against the Abuses and Errors that were crept into the Church; admitting this, I say that our Church, before our Reformation, or even before Luther, was even amongst our selves, where the Roman Corruptions had prevailed, only it was then a Corrupted, now it is a Reformed Church. That which makes Rome a true Church, is, That she retains the Profession of the Creeds, and the Administration of the Sacraments. That which makes her a corrupt Church, is, That she has added as many more Articles of Faith as there were before, and brought in Idolatrous Practices into her Worship. Such a true [Page 27] Church, and such a corrupted Church, was this of England before the Reforma­tion; but the Truth we have reserved, and the Corruption we have cast away, and so have added Purity to the Truth of our Christian Communion; we have kept that which is ancient, thrown aside that which was lately introduced, and so are a Church built upon the same Foundation that we were built upon before, but have thrown away the Hay and Stubble that was laid upon it. But if the Instance of the Church of Pergamos be not sufficient to answer this Question, I shall add ano­ther to it, and that is, Hezekiah's Refor­mation, who took away the High-places, burnt the Images, and cut down the Groves, which had stood in all probability four or five hundred years; for this was the abate­ment of the commendation of good Kings before him, that nevertheless the high pla­ces were not taken away. And moreover, this Corruption had spread it self from one end of Judah to the other. Here was Universality of Places, and the Prescripti­on of some Ages, to give Authority to it; notwithstanding which, Hezekiah to his immortal Honour, made a Reformation. And now the Question, Where our Church was before Luther? is just such another as [Page 28] this Would have been, Where was the Church of Judah before Hezekiah? And in­deed such a demand was made: But by whom, do you think? Truly, by none of God's Church; but, which is little for the credit of such Questions, by Rabsha­keh, that great Blasphemer of the God of Israel: For thus I find him speaking to the Jews; But if ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord our God; Is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jeru­salem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Je­rusalem? 2 Kings 18.22. By which Que­stion it is most apparent, that the cor­ruption amongst the People in this mat­ter had been so general and ancient, that their Neighbours took this false Worship of theirs for their Religion; and therefore reckoned that Hezekiah had introduced a New Religion, because he had but reform­ed the Old. I need not make any Appli­cation of so plain an Instance.

5. They sometimes say, That since we confess them to be a true Church, and consequently to hold no Fundamental Errors, we ought to have tarried in a Church in which we granted a possibility of Salvation; and we may now without danger return to their Communion. But [Page 29] it is plain, that not only those Errors which do unchurch a People, but even those that make their Salvation hazar­dous, are to be reformed. Pergamos was still a Church, notwithstanding her Errors; but yet was obliged to reform them.

6. And lastly, Since we grant them to be a true Church, and Christ can have but one Church upon earth, and there is but one Church, out of which there are no ordinary means of Salvation, we must conclude our selves to be no true Church, nor part of it, because we are separated from them, and consequently to be cut off from the hope of Salvation. I an­swer, That there is indeed but one Catho­lick Church, as we confess in our Creed, whereof the Church of Rome is one part, and one of the worst in the world, and the Church of England another, and per­haps one of the best. I do grant also, that Salvation is not to be ordinarily had out of the Catholick Church; but then I add, that in that part of it which is best re­formed, it is to be obtained with great safety and assurance; and in that part of it which is very corrupt, and refuses to be reformed, not without great difficulty and danger: And though these parts of [Page 30] the Church are separated in Communion from one another, it does not follow, that either of them must be the Catholick Church, and the other no part of it at all; but that there is but one part which can free her self from the blame of the Sepa­ration; and that it concerns every man, as much as his Soul is worth, to chuse that Communion which does not only af­ford him the Means that are absolutely ne­cessary to Salvation, but those also with­out the mixture of such false Doctrines and unlawful Practices, which nothing but in­vincible Ignorance, or Infirmity that is very pardonable, can reconcile with the hope of any man's Salvation. But if they will not receive this Answer, but still con­tend, that because we charge each other with Heresy and Schism, 'tis impossible both parts can be within the Unity of the Catholick Church; and therefore that we granting them to be a true Church, must confess our selves to be none: I know not what they will get by this; but that if this be true, we must revoke all that charitable hopes of their Salvation, which we would fain nourish. If either they or we must needs be quite out of the Church, and can have no benefit by the Promises of the Gospel, and the Cove­nant [Page 31] of Grace; doth it follow that there­fore we must go over to their Communi­on? No: But it follows on the other side, that we have greater reason than we thought we had; to stay where we are; because it seems, as they say, one part must needs be out of the Church, and want all means of Salvation. For we confess our selves to be much more sure, that our Communion is a safe way to Salvation, than we are that theirs is a way at all: And if they will not let us believe both toge­ther, instead of giving us a reason why we should be Papists, they give us a new one why we should not. This I say, to shew only what Answer they may get, by try­ing to make an unreasonable Advantage to themselves by our Charity and Moderati­on: Not that I believe their Errors have made them cease from being a part of the Church, any more than the Errors of Per­gamos made her cease to be so; nor that it is impossible the Reformed and the Unre­formed part of Christendom, should be within the Pale of that one Church which we profess to believe in the Creed, any more than it was impossible for the Church of Pergamos to have been a part of the Catholick Church, both before and after her Reformation.

And thus I have gone through the Task I set my self, and I hope need to make no Apology for entertaining you with a Controversy of this nature, which indeed ought to be no Controversy amongst us. But if it were needful, I have this to say, Whereas the Church of England does not pretend to be an Infallible Guide or Judge, and yet requires the People to believe as she believes, to profess what she profes­seth, and to do what she enjoineth; it is very fit that her Ministers should some­times make it plain, that she requires this because she has reason so to do, and is not in these Points deceived, though she does not pretend that she cannot err in any. I know not whether I have made the things I have discoursed, plain enough to every Understanding; but whether that be so or not, yet every one may perceive that we appeal to his Reason for the Truth and Honesty of our Cause; and for my own part, if I understood nothing else of the Merits of it, I had rather be of a Church which pretends to guide me with Reason, than of another that would go­vern me without it; and that, because the former is likely to take more care not to mislead me, than the latter needs to [Page 33] do, which when it has gained me to an implicit Faith, and a blind Obedience, may lead me whither she pleases. As for what I have now said, I declare in the Pre­sence of God, that I have offered nothing to you, but what I believe my self; and farther, that I am not conscious to my self of any reason why I am fixed in the Com­munion of this Church, in opposition to the other, but a full Conviction of the Errors of that Church, which if I should profess or practise, I could not entertain the least hopes of Salvation: And we who are thus convinced, are, as I take it, bound in Conscience to take seasonable op­portunities of confirming our Brethren in our Communion, and enabling them as well as we can, to make it appear, that the Arguments and the Answers of the other side are unsatisfactory and vain, as I have in some part endeavoured to shew at this time.

We should indeed not be unwilling to take pains to recover those to the know­ledge of the Truth, that are educated in damnable Errors; but there is much more reason to do all we can to retain those in the profession of the Truth, that have been educated in it; seeing if they re­volt, we cannot have that hope of their [Page 34] Salvation, which we would fain have of theirs who want sufficient means to disco­ver them.

It were a blessed state of the Church in­deed, if all being united in true Faith and Worship, we had nothing to do but to persuade and exhort men, and to take care of them, that they live answerably thereto; but since we have two Works upon our hands, to guard you against Er­ror, as well as to warn you against a wicked Life, I do not see how we can discharge our Duty, but by doing one as well as the other: And that I may not say nothing to the latter, I am to tell you in the Conclusion, That we do not make the Communion of the best Church in the World to be all in all; a man may go to Hell in the Communion of a pure Church; and without true Repentance and Refor­mation, the best and purest Church that ever was since the Gospel began, could have done him no service: And I take it to be as great a Corruption as can be rea­dily thought of, for any Church to pre­tend to save men by a Trick, and send them to Heaven any other way than the plain way of keeping the Commandments of God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Keep therefore the pure Profession of the [Page 35] Christian Faith; but withal, keep a good Conscience void of offence towards God, and towards man: Hold fast the form of sound words: But still remember, that if your Works be not answerable, your Faith is vain: For not the hearers of the Law, but the doers thereof shall be justified: Not he that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the will of our Father which is in heaven.

The Second Sermon.

THE great End of the Gospel is to bring Mankind to Salvation; and in order thereunto, to convert them from Sin, and from all dangerous Error, and to lead them to a right Faith, and a Holy Life: But it is too evident, that this End is not attained Universally. And if any one should be tempted to suspect that the Christian Religion is not therefore a Di­vine Revelation, because it has in so great part failed of the End which it pretended to pursue; he may be easily brought to assurance again, by considering the vast [Page 38] good which Christianity hath done in the World; but especially by observing, that the Gospel hath foretold, that all men would not believe and obey. Our blessed Lord himself testified, that many were called, but few were chosen; and that strait was the Gate, and narrow the way that leadeth to Life, and few there be that find it: Nay, inasmuch as he hath fore­warned us of a Day of Judgment, and hath told us beforehand, That the Word which he hath spoken, the same should judge us at the Last Day: This was a ma­nifest Declaration, that he did not pretend to lead men to Faith and Repentance by such means as could not but be effectual, but only by such as were sufficient, if we would in any measure comply with his gracious Methods; and it was also a plain intimation, that a great many would be ne­ver the better, but the worse for these means that God had provided for their Salvation; and that some for not recei­ving them, others for not improving them, would fall into greater Condem­nation.

But our Saviour did not foretell these things only, but the Causes of them too, and what it was that would obstruct the Progress and Design of his Religion. For [Page 39] this is the importance of those words of his, which I have now chosen for my Sub­ject: Wo be to the world because of of­fences; for it must needs be that offences come.

By Offences or Scandals, we are here, and almost everywhere in the New Te­stament, to understand those Temptati­ons to Sin, and Inducements to Error, which some men lay in the way of others: They are sometimes otherwise express'd, Snares, Stumbling-blocks, and occasions of Fallings; for the thing meant by all these Expressions is the same. Now concern­ing Offences, our Saviour affirms two things in the words I have read: First, That they would come; nay, that it must needs be that they would come; i. e. that men would arise who should hinder the prevailing of Christianity as much as in them lay, or pervert the Design of it, to the great danger of other mens Souls, who were not well established in the Truth. Secondly, That the consequence of these Scandals would be very sad and pernici­ous, that is, that very many would stum­ble at them, and be turned out of the right way. For this must be implied in those words, Wo to the world because of of­fences: For, 1. It is no ordinary Misery [Page 40] or Calamity which is expressed in denoun­cing a Wo; and this Wo must likewise re­fer to those that are turned aside by the Scandals and Temptations that others lay before them; because if Offences were not taken as well as given, it seems not easy to say why they should produce so much Sin and Misery as is implied in de­nouncing Wo upon their account. Be­sides, our Saviour did afterwards express the guilt and misery of those that should give Offence, by it self; But wo be to the man by whom the offence cometh: That is, to every man that by his own Wickedness layeth a Stumbling-block in his Brother's way, and draws him into Sin. So that in the former part of this Verse, that mis­chief is express'd which would come of Offences, because they would be taken. And then, 2. It is also implied, that the mischief would not only be in it self great, but likewise of a very large extent; for it is said, Wo to the World because of Offences; where by the World we cannot understand less than a very great part of Mankind, who should be diverted by Of­fences, either from receiving the Gospel at all, or from entertaining it in the Purity and Power thereof.

There are therefore these Two Heads which I am to speak to.

• I. That Offences would certainly be gi­ven; It must needs be that offences come.
• II. That they would do very great mis­chief in the World: Wo be to the world because of offences.

Which Two Points being illustrated, I intend to apply them, in order to farther Instruction.

I. That Offences would certainly be given; It must needs be that Offences come. By which words I do not understand that it was absolutely impossible but Offences must come; for God has not necessitated any man to Sin; but the meaning is this, that it was in it self probable, and that in the highest degree, thlt Offences would come; and moreover, God certainly fore­saw that they would arise, if he did not interpose his Almighty Power to hinder them, which he determined not to do. And this is a sufficient ground of the Cer­tainty of the Prediction, It must needs be that offences come. Now the true Notion of Offence being this, That it is an occa­sion [Page 42] given whereby men are either discou­raged from the Profession of the Truth, or encouraged in Practices contrary to it; I shall 1. Lay before you some Instances un­der this general Head. And 2. Shew why it was not to be expected, but that Offences would be given.

The principal Instances are such as these:

1. Opposing the Gospel with outward Violence, and making it the interest of men to renounce the Truth, as they love their Fortunes and their Lives: Of which our Saviour spake in the famous Parable of the Sower; where he explained him that received the seed into thorny places, to be one that heareth the word, and with joy re­ceiveth it, yet hath he not root in himself; and not being fortified with deep resoluti­on, he dureth but for a while; for when tri­bulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended, Matth. 30.20, 21. This was that Offence which our Saviour warned his Disciples of, more than of any other. He told them plainly before-hand, That they should be delivered up to councils, and brought before governors, and be hated of all men for his name's sake. But says he, He that endureth to the end shall be saved; and he that taketh not his [Page 43] cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me, Matth. 10. And this is in it self so great an Offence or Stumbling-block, to put men out of the right way, that sometimes the general word is used to sig­nify this particular Instance only: Thus when our Saviour said, Blessed is he, who­ever shall not be offended in me, Mat. 11.6. the meaning is, Blessed is he whom the Example of John the Baptist's Sufferings does not fright from being my Disciple. And thus when Peter said, Though all men should be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended, Matth. 26.33. he ex­plain'd his own meaning afterward, by saying, Though I should dye with thee, yet will I not deny thee, v. 35. But then,

2. Doctrines that give liberty to Lust, and that give ease to guilty Minds without Reformation, are a very dangerous Of­fence, for they are framed at once to draw men off from the Truth, and reconcile them to wicked Practice; and therefore they who are under the strongest inclina­tions to sin, and need the most powerful restraints, are most forward to receive them, i. e. they who will be sure to make the worst use of them. He that offers a Key to let Sinners into Heaven without Repentance, and keeping the Command­ments [Page 44] of God, is sure to meet with suffi­cient Numbers that will not be over-for­ward to examine how he came by it. And this is that which makes all Doctrines of this nature Offences, that they are grate­ful to the corrupt Inclinations of Mankind; not that they carry any appearance of Truth. It had been long enough ere men could have been persuaded, that particular Confession of Sins to a man in secret, with a bare purpose not to do the like again, will at any time suffice for the effect of Ab­solution, if the belief of it were not as much for the ease of the People, as for the advantage of the Priest: Or that bodily Exercise, mere external Works, should ei­ther be Godliness, or supply the want of it. These things bear so hard against what we know of God by Reason and by Scri­pture, that nothing but carnal Interest, and a desire that they should be true, could make way for them, and provide them En­tertainment. And what Wonders that can do, was too evident in the beginning of Christianity, when the Gnosticks seduced no small number of Disciples, by giving liberty to fleshly Lusts, and discharging them from all obligation to confess Christ, when they were to take up his Cross.

[Page 45]3. The mixing of Falshood with Truth, is another great Offence, tending to much Evil; as it meets with persons disposed either to overmuch Credulity, or too much Distrust. By the former, the false Doctrine or unlawful Practice is embraced, because found in the company of Truth; by the latter, Truth It self suspected, and perhaps thrown off, because 'tis disgraced with the company of Follies and Lies. Thus the Pharisees recommended their ab­surd Traditions to the People, because in the same breath they taught them the Law of Moses. Thus some of the Gentiles were ready to reject Christianity, when they were made to believe it necessary for them also to observe the Mosaical Law if they would be Christians. And this is one of the common Scandals of the World, that Truth is so often insincerely represented, and false Doctrines propounded still by the same Authority that holds forth some ne­cessary Truths. And for this reason the Gospel does not allow, but command us to use a Judgment of Discretion; not to reject that which is good, because it comes from the same Authority that requires evil; nor to admit Error, because it is ac­companied with Truth, but to prove all things, and to hold fast that which is good.

[Page 46]4. All Popular Artifices that are used to recommend either wicked Errors or Practices, are also great Offences, and lead many silly Souls astray; of which kind the most obvious are these: An exter­nal shew of Strictness and Piety, without real Virtue and Godliness at the bottom of it. And of this the Pharisees were the first notable Instance, who placing Reli­gion in abundance of nice Observations, seemed to be the most strict and devout People in the World; and therefore our Saviour knowing the wickedness of their Hearts and Lives, compared them to whi­ted sepulchres, that within were full of dead mens bones, and all uncleanness. And this Offence would be so powerful whenever it should happen, that it seemed good to the Spirit to foretell it expresly, viz. That in the latter times some should depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, forbidding to marry, and commanding to ab­stain from meats, 1 Tim. 4.1, 2, 3. Ano­ther Offence of this kind, which was also expresly foretold, is pretending the Testimony of Miracles. For says our Sa­viour himself, There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch, that if it were pos­sible they should deceive the very elect. Be­hold, [Page 47] says he, I have told you before, Matth. 24.24, 25. And thus St. Paul foretold, that when that wicked one should be re­vealed, his coming should be after the work­ing of Satan, with power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness. I shall name but one other popular Device for the supporting of Er­ror, and that is, to denounce Damnation peremptory against all Gainsayers; with which Artifice the Judaizers secured themselves against the Gentile Christians, saying, Except ye be circumcised, and keep the law of Moses, ye cannot be saved. Now although every man that has a Tongue, may, if he please, lay this weight upon his Cause, as to exclude all from Salvation that are not of his way; and therefore the Threatning be not worthy of a wise man's thought, till the Merits of the Cause be examined; yet it has two notable advan­tages, that it is framed to work upon the Passions of men, more than upon their Judgment, and in most men their Passion is stronger than their Reason; and it may be so used, as to bear the World in hand that 'tis not Uncharitableness, but mere Pity and Tenderness to the Souls of men, that compels them to speak so harsh, but so necessary a Truth. And 'tis a wonder­ful [Page 48] thing to observe how easy men are to be managed, when on the one side there is a positive Sentence of Damnation to work upon their fears; and on the other, an ap­pearance of serious Charity to win their Affections; for by this Art men of con­trary Parties have with strange success served contrary Opinions and Practices. I cannot, if I were willing, reckon all the Offences of this kind, that is, popular and plausible ways of deceiving. But that there would be such, our Saviour did not only foretell in the general, when he said, It must needs be that offences come; but in particular also, when he said, Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheeps cloathing, Matth. 7.15.

5. To this I may add what St. Paul ob­serves, 1 Tim. 6.5. Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness. That any thing may be defended as a part of Religion, which makes for worldly Interest. It is no such hard matter to perplex things that are plain, to find colours for denying things that are evident; to hide the weak­ness or the strength of an Argument; to divert from the Cause to the Person so arti­ficially, as if the Cause went on still, to lose the matter in debate; to make Truth [Page 49] look like Error, and Error like Truth, to those that are willing to be deceived; if a man is resolved to bend all his Wit this way, for something may be said for any thing.

6. And lastly, Bad Examples of men professing the true Religion, are another most dangerous Offence; since I doubt most men are so framed, as to take up their Opinions more easily from Authority than from other Arguments; and they under­stand more easily the difference between good and evil Manners, than between strong and weak Reasons. And then they will be apt to judge of the Truth or Fal­shood of a Way of Religion, by the good or bad Fruits of Practice it brings forth in those that profess it: Which doubtless our Saviour intimated in those words; Let your light so shine before men, that others seeing your good works, may glorify your Fa­ther which is in heaven. But to hold the Truth in Unrighteousness, is not only a Scandal to those that are in Error, con­firming them that are in the wrong way, but likewise to those that are in the way of Truth, by encouraging them to Sin in like manner; especially when Evil Exam­ples are set by those that are particularly obliged to set none but good ones; whose [Page 50] Place or Office, Wealth or Quality, makes them more conspicuous, and gives others any kind of dependance upon them. And because of the pernicious Influence of Bad Examples, we find St. Paul often calling upon the Christians with whom he had to do, to fix their observation upon those that were good: Brethren, says he, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample: For many walk, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.

Thus I have very briefly, considering the largeness of the Subject, shewn what Offences were to come, by laying before you the principal and most obvious Offen­ces, which we know by the Predictions of the Scripture, and, alas for the World! by too sad experience. And now I proceed to the second Point, which was to consider, why it must needs be that Offences should come; that is, why it was not to be ex­pected, but that these, or such Scandals as these, would be given to the World.

And this Enquiry is necessary to be pur­sued upon this account, if upon no other, That it may appear that the Certainty of Offences coming, did not arise from any [Page 51] defect or fault of the Blessed Gospel of our Saviour. If we consider the harm­less and Dove-like Temper of Christianity, the Excellency of its Design, the Richness of its Promises, the Divinity of its Rules and Precepts, the Comforts it has in store for all honest Minds, and that instead of running cross to the Interests of Mankind either here or hereafter, it shews an infalli­ble way to single Persons, and to Com­munities, to be happy in this World, and to all men to be for ever blessed in the World to come; we would rather have ex­pected it should have been fortold, That no man in any Age would ever set himself to oppose the design of the Gospel, either in whole or in part. If likewise we ob­serve what clear and undeniable Testimo­nies of Divine Revelation God approved and owned it by, how highly reasonable the Principles thereof are, and how those things which could not be known but by Revelation, yet being once revealed, do satisfy our Reason, and approve themselves to it; How evident the design thereof is, how plain the Precepts, how few the po­sitive Instructions of it are, and how sig­nificant and profitable they are, and how full of Instruction; finally, How manifest those necessary Doctrines are, the belief [Page 52] whereof is necessary to make a man a Christian; and what that Mystery of God­liness is, which in the Apostles days was confessed, and without controversy: If we look upon these things, and no farther, we should rather have expected that the Doctrine of our Saviour should never have been gainsaid, never perverted, never mingled with Error, never have given occasion to wrangling and discord, and never have become the matter of nice and angry Dispute, but only of an unblamable Faith and Practice. The Gospel of Christ is undoubtedly a faithful Saying, or Doctrine clearly revealed, and standing upon evident Testimonies of Di­vine Revelation; it is also worthy of all ac­ceptation: Why then must it needs be that offences come? To which I shall give a plain answer in our Saviour's words to Nicode­mus; That light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil, Joh. 3.18. and there­fore it must needs be that offences should come. For the Religion of Christ is not suitable to the Spirit of this World, and therefore the World hateth it; and therefore no wonder if it hath one way or other always sought to obstruct the Progress and Design of it: In a word, it is not the defect, but the exceeding Excellence and Purity of [Page 53] true Christianity, that has given occasion to the World to oppose it, to pervert it, and to discourage the Profession or Pra­ctice of it. For it is a Religion too wise and too good for them that have no mind to be wise and good themselves; and there­fore considering the great corruption of human Nature, which God would not over-bear by an irresistible Power, but cure by rational means and methods; no wonder that Offences have come; nay, that our Saviour said, It must needs be that offences come. To argue more particularly:

1. The Doctrine of the Gospel is a Do­ctrine of Manners, lays a severe Restraint upon all the unreasonable Lusts of men, and makes a great many Liberties unlaw­ful, which they are for the most part vio­lently inclined to take: And therefore eve­ry carnal man, while he so continues, car­ries within himself a terrible prejudice, a secret Enmity against the Truth as it is in Jesus; and his Heart riseth with as much Anger against that Doctrine of God, that telleth him it is not lawful for him to pur­sue his worldly and fleshly desires as he would, but to subdue and mortify them; as Herod when he took his Brother's Wife, expressed against John the Baptist, for say­ing, [Page 54] It is not lawful for thee to have her. Man's Nature affecteth a lawless Liberty, and cannot endure to be confined; it is dis­eased, and cannot endure to he healed; and it was therefore likely enough that very many would reject the Physician, and be angry with those very Remedies that our Heavenly Father has sent. The true and sincere Doctrine of Christ, my Brethren, if it be believed, cannot but make us very uneasy and unquiet, while we are con­scious of Sin, and are not willing to be reformed; because it reveals to us the Wrath of God against all our unrighteous­ness and ungodliness; it forewarns us of a dreadful Sentence at the last day, and of an everlasting Punishment which we are unwilling at the same time to venture, in which we are unwilling to part with our sins, and to reconcile our selves to God by Repentance. And men that are lovers of Pleasures, and lovers of Gain, cannot easily admit a Doctrine which gives them as much uneasiness and disturbance, as if the point of a Sword were always turned to­ward their very hearts. For this reason the Pharisees could not endure the Do­ctrine of Jesus; and this was one reason why the Heathens opposed it, and perse­cuted it, and is one reason why Christians [Page 55] have corrupted it, by finding out other ways to avoid Damnation, than by a lively Faith, and true Repentance, and effectual Reformation, and keeping the Command­ments of God. It is this that hath made way for satisfactory Commutations, Me­rits of others, and the absolute Power of the Keys; and all those devices which are good for nothing, but to reconcile a wicked Life to the hopes of Heaven, and to en­tangle the plain sense of those Words of Christ; He that heareth these sayings, and doth them not, I will liken him to a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, and the winds blew, and the rain fell, and the floods came and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof; that is, it suffered an irreparable Ruin.

2. If we consider the Doctrine of Christ as it is a Doctrine both of Faith and Man­ners, it is no way framed to serve the ends of ambitious and worldly-minded men, or to help them in pursuing those ends by a pretence of Religion; and therefore it was not to be expected, but in process of time it would be by some or other moulded for that purpose, when opportunity should serve. Our Saviour taught the World no other Principles of Morality, no other Articles of Faith, than what were equally [Page 56] for the Interest of all parts of Mankind to believe and follow; a common good, and an equal benefit was intended in them all. For let them prevail without corruption and alteration, the Honour and Safety of Sovereign Princes is secured, and a quiet and peaceable Life to Subjects; Neighbour-Nations shall give strength and confidence, instead of creating jealousies to one ano­ther; the Master shall be better served, and the Servant better used; the Church by her Doctrine and Spiritual Authority will be a Guard to the State, and receive at the same time Protection from it. Here was no design in Christianity to set up any Nation or Party of men, in opposition and to the disadvantage of all mankind beside; but it plainly aimed at a general good, and under its Penalties requires all its Professors to aim at the same too; and condemns those who are lovers of themselves in op­position to all others, amongst the greatest Offenders. And this Religion, as Machia­vel well observed, was not calculated for the inspiring of men with great designs, such I suppose as his Caesar Borgia aimed at. It was too plain, too Philosophical, too Innocent and Charitable, to raise an am­bitious Heat, or to serve it. And there­fore it was very likely in process of time, [Page 57] that it should be helped out by other Prin­ciples and Doctrines, that would bring in the swelling of worldly Pride into the Church, as the African Fathers, in their Epistle to Celestine, called it, and advance one part of it, to the depressing of all the rest. But because true Christianity serves no such design, therefore was our Saviour opposed by the Rulers of the Jews; his Doctrine did not tend at all that way, viz. to make Hierusalem the Mistress of the World, and that all should depend upon her; it did not minister to their ambitious and worldly Hopes, and therefore was not for their turn.

3. If we look upon Christianity as a Rule of Worship, it will still hold true that Of­fences must needs come, because the Wor­ship it prescribes is a Worship of great sim­plicity, that has but two or three positive Institutions of Divine Authority, viz. the two Sacraments, and the Invocation of God through the Name and Mediation of his Holy Son Jesus. Now this was not likely to be acceptable to the generality of Mankind, who love rather a pompous number of Ceremonies, and nice Observa­tions, than a grave and decent Administra­tion of Worship. For the former does amuse the Senses, and entertain the Ima­gination, [Page 58] the latter does that but very lit­tle in comparison, and rather satisfies our Reason. But most people are more apt to be affected with things that touch their Fancy than their Judgment. And there­fore it was hardly to be expected but in time there would grow very great Excesses in this kind, as there did even in St. Austin's days, who complained of it not a little in his Epistle to Januarius. Neither could it be doubted but such Excesses would be ac­companied with false Notions of Religion, and of the way to please God: For where­as the excellent design of our Saviour in appointing so small a number of external Observations, leaving the necessary Rules of Decency to be determined by the Church, was this, to take men off from all pretence of placing the weight of Religion in outward Ceremonies, and by their very Worship to instruct them in Piety and Vir­tue; and to shew them that God will not be pleased without those things; whereas he did hereby effectually declare, That God who is a Spirit, would be worshipped in Spirit and in truth; that is, with the Af­fections of a pious Heart, and the Obedi­ence that is expressed in a good Life. The corrupt Nature of man is as averse from this, as 'tis fond of the other; and desires [Page 59] to please God by so easy a Religion as that which runs out into a world of Mysteries, and Shews, and Observations; and seems to save them the labour of subduing their Lusts and Passions, and of serving God by a righteous and holy Life. And this was one thing that made the Primitive Christi­ans contemptible and odious to the Hea­thens, That they had so few Rites and Ce­remonies, so plain and simple a Form of Divine Service; but one Altar, but one Mediator, no Tutelar Deities and Patrons, no Throngs of Petty Gods; but one or two Mysteries, and those too plain and instructing, without Pomp and Amuze­ment; for such Causes as these, they reckoned the Christians little better than Atheists, believing that a Religion which made no stately shew, to be as good as none at all. 'Tis true, that God himself ap­pointed a Form of Divine Service to the Israelites, that consisted of a vast number of Ceremonies: But besides this, That they were to be the Types to discover the Mes­sias when he should appear; there was ano­ther End of Divine Providence observable in that Constitution, which was this; That they having a Stately and Mystical Form of Worship of their own, might be less under a Temptation of learning of the [Page 60] Idolatrous Nations round about them; whose numerous and gaudy Ceremonies in their Worship, would have bewitched the Jews ten times more than they did, if they had not been able to vye with them. But God by his Prophet said, That he gave them sta­tutes that were not good; to be sure not the best in themselves, but considering the time, the best for them. For when God sent his Son into the World, who was to teach all mankind to worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth, and to convert the Nations from Idolatry, the Scheme of the Mosaic Worship was taken down, and the Church was furnished with nothing but Prayers and Praises, two Sacraments, and one Mediator. But by all this it appears, that the design of the Gospel in this matter runs counter to the fond and foolish Inclinati­ons of mankind; and therefore that Offen­ces were ready to come upon this account also.

So that considering the Temper and De­sign of the Gospel, it was a Religion too good for a wicked World, too wise for a vain and foolish World: I mean, it was too good and too wise to escape Opposition, and all change; the World would either try to keep it out, or when that was in vain to attempt any longer, to square and form [Page 61] it better to its own purposes and inclinations. It was upon this account, viz. of the de­sign of the Gospel, which was exalted above a worldly Spirit, that a peculiar Temper was required by our Saviour, in order to the embracing of his Doctrine. A Spirit of Honesty and Sincerity, of Hu­mility and Teachableness; love of the Truth, willingness to learn, patience of Reproof, and the like; without which dispositions, the common Prejudices against Christianity would certainly hinder the Efficacy of those Arguments and Motives by which it was recommended. And therefore since God did not intend by an irresistible act upon the minds of men to over-rule them into a compliance with the Gospel, it was not to be expected but that it should be first of all greatly opposed, as it was; and afterwards insincerely handled, as it hath been; and this, although the Doctrine of the Gospel is peculiarly fur­nished with means to infuse a wise and ho­nest disposition into them that want it. For those means are consistent with the li­berty of Human Nature; and after all, men may be the worse, and not the better for them. Nothing could in its own na­ture be more fit to awaken men to Consi­deration, and to lead them to Honesty and [Page 62] Wisdom, and to conquer all worldly and carnal Prejudices, than the promise of Eter­nal Life, and the warning of a day of Judgment to come. It is in this that the great power of the Gospel to mend the Tempers of men consists: But when all is done in this kind that can be done, men may chuse their Portion in this World, because they will not hearken and consi­der. And it well became Divine Provi­dence to permit those to resist the Holy Spirit, and the means of Salvation, who would not be reclaimed by any reasonable means; and that for these three Reasons:

1. That there might be a clear difference made between the good and honest heart on the one side, and the insincere and in­corrigible on the other: Which had been impossible, if God had by his Omnipo­tence equally overborn all men into the Faith and Obedience of Christ. But as the Case stands, the Gospel is a Touchstone that distinguisheth between the humble and sincere, and the unteachable and dis­honest part of mankind. And the Offences which are given by those that do not re­ceive the Truth in the love of it, are a far­ther trial of the sincerity and ingenuity of men, as St. Paul said of one kind of [Page 63] Offences: There must be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest. And therefore notwithstanding Offences, that remains true which our Sa­viour said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out, John 6.37. i. e. All sincere and humble Persons, who are com­mitted to the special care of Christ, to train them up to eternal Life, will be suf­ficiently armed against Temptations; and the Offences that are laid in their way, shall but clear their sincerity and wisdom more to the world, and turn to the increase of their Reward,

2. As the sincerity of the Righteous, so neither had the proper advantages and power of Truth been seen, had God inter­posed his irresistible Power to prevent all Offences and Endeavours against the Truth: And therefore he was pleased to suffer Error and Folly to appear upon the Stage of the World, even after the Hea­venly Wisdom of the Gospel was made known to mankind, that by its own strength it might struggle with all kind of opposition, and prevail, and be justified of her Children.

3. By this way the Wisdom of Divine Providence, and the Truth of God's Word, [Page 64] and his Care over the Church, is seen more illustriously, than if Offences had never been suffered. That Promise, That the Gates of Hell should never prevail against the Church of Christ, nor the Faith lost from the Earth, had lain in the Gospel unobserved; we should have had no oc­casion for recourse to it, no means of trial whether we put our Trust in it: Had the Truth been never opposed, never corrupt­ed, we had wanted one notable reason to praise God, That while the Offences are so rise in this world, this Church gives no Offence in matter of Doctrine, or in matter of Worship. And that God may count us worthy to enjoy so inestimable a Blessing, let us pray that we may give no Offence by our Examples; let us adorn our Profession by our Conversations; and shew the Purity of our Faith by the Purity of our Actions. Thus much for the ne­cessity of Offences that thus would arise. It must needs be that offences come.

The Third Sermon.

I Come now to the Second Point, viz. That Offences would do great mischief in the world: Wo unto the world because of offences. In speaking to which I shall con­sider,

• I. What Mischief is done by Offences.
• II. Whence it comes that they are of so pernicious a consequence.

I. What Mischief is done by them? And in this Question I need not be large, because the Answer to it has in some part [Page 66] been already given under those several Heads of Scandal which I mentioned be­fore; it being impossible to shew where the Scandal of any Practice or Opinion lies, without touching upon the Mischief it is apt to do. But to what has been said, something may be added:

1. The general Mischief of Offences or Scandals, is this, That they are a prevail­ing Temptation upon many in the world, to forsake the way of Truth and Piety. For as good Examples and Encouragements, good Counsels and Instructions are proper means of making others better; so ill Ex­amples, and the Arts of seducing, must needs have a contrary influence. God has put us into a kind of dependance upon one another, and has thereby given us oppor­tunities of the greatest Charity, and the best kinds of doing good, viz. of leading and confirming one another in the way of Truth and Virtue. But there is no help for it, but the Society we have with one another may be abused into a means of do­ing one another mischief. And therefore as where Truth is sincerely represented, where Virtue is encouraged, where Authority protects them, where Wit and Learning are engaged to recommend them, there abundance of good will be done upon those [Page 67] who are framed to learn, and not to teach; to follow, but not to lead the way: So on the other hand, it is not to be expected, but the abuse of all those Advantages will create Prejudices against Truth and Good­ness, and mislead multitudes. And this is too evident from the experience of the world in all Ages. No Opinions, how fool­ish and absurd soever, how pernicious soever to the common Interest of mankind, if they have been set off with plausible Colours, or supported by Authority, or have been accommodated to the Interests of wicked men; but they have had Abettors and Fol­lowers, and have very often taken such deep Root in the Affections of men, that 'tis one of the hardest things in the world to con­vert them into the way of Truth. But more particularly in the Second place:

2. The scandal of advancing Doctrines that give liberty to the Lusts of men, and ease to their Minds, without effectual Re­formation. This Scandal, I say, has this pernicious effect, that for the most part it fears the Consciences of men, and hardens their hearts against all Reproof. Although it be a terrible aggravation of sin, for a man to venture upon the doing of that which his Conscience pulls him back from, and for which he knows he must give a sad Ac­count [Page 68] at the Last Day, if it be not prevent­ed by Sorrow and Reformation; yet such a man is in a better condition than one that is well satisfied with himself, and believes his Condition to be good enough, while he goes on in his Sins without Reformation, because he has another way to escape the Damnation of Hell. For so long as a man believes the Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel as they are, and knows the terms upon which they are made, it may be hoped that he will at length lay these things seri­ously to heart; and that some awakening Reproof from men, or some merciful Pro­vidence of God may make the Truth which he is already provided with the belief of, effectual to his Conversion. But there is little reason to hope this of a man whose very Principles are corrupted, and has no fears within himself for a charitable man to take hold upon. And therefore that Saying of our Saviour may be well applied to such a Person; If the light that is in him be darkness, how great is that darkness? Moreover, as there is little hope to reform that man's evil Practices, whose Persuasions make him secure and easy all the while; so there is no little difficulty to be met with, in trying to undeceive him; for men will hold comfortable Errors as long [Page 69] as they can find the least pretence for it. And which is not the least mischief of this Offence, though such Errors are not laid down without a great trouble, yet they are taken up with much readiness; they are apt to spread far and wide. And to this I believe the experience of the world agrees, viz. That although there are mistakes that lead to Trouble of Mind and over-much Restraint; yet for one that is led away by such Mistakes, an hundred there are that believe comfortable Lies, which either wholly take off the Restraints of Religion, or in such part as to render them ineffectual.

3. Perverse Disputes, and an obstinate maintenance of Error by all the Arts of Sophistry, has this lamentable evil com­monly attending it, That it renders many persons utterly careless to examine on which side the Truth lies. Perhaps they are but few in comparison, that are framed to an inquisitive Spirit; and they who are not so framed by Nature, or by Education, must force their Tempers to Patience, and take pains with themselves; which is an Employment that men soon grow weary of; and commonly they break off, pretend­ing it is to no purpose to search any far­ther; but that when there is so much to be said on both sides, when there is such an [Page 70] appearance of Reason for and against the same thing, it is time for them to give over being Judges for themselves. And indeed in things that are either really disputable, or of less moment, this were not much to be blamed. But in matters of high conse­quence, and questions that touch the very Vitals of Religion, it often happens that men grow weary of searching Truth, and give up themselves wholly to be led by the Authority and Judgment of others, after the Controversy is stifly maintain'd for some time on both sides. And it were well in this case, if it were an even Lay whe­ther they chuse the true Guide or not. But when a Guide is to be chosen and follow­ed with an implicit Faith, the false Guide hath this Advantage always, that he ex­ceeds in Confidence, in lofty Pretences, in swelling Titles, in positive denouncing Damnation to all that are not of his way: And though a modest man, that speaks justly of things, and claims not to be in­fallible, deserves the most credit; yet 'tis great odds that the other has most Follow­ers amongst those that understand not the Merits of the Cause.

4. The same Cause has too often a yet worse Effect, and that is, to run some per­sons into Infidelity, and an utter neglect [Page 71] of Religion; as if no Certainty could be had of the Principles of Religion, seeing there is so much Controversy about it. And some have said, That it will be then time enough for them to believe in God, and to worship him, when they that pre­tend to oblige them to it, are agreed about it. The truth is, were it not for that secret Impression of his own Being which God hath left upon our Nature, it is not impro­bable but the monstrous Errors that have been obtruded upon a great part of man­kind under the name of Faith, and the Force and the Fraud wherewith they have been maintained, had let in Atheism like a Deluge upon the world; especially con­sidering that there are those in the world, who are so full of Zeal for their own way, that they have no tenderness for the com­mon Principles of Faith, but are rather content that all should sink together, than that their own Doctrines should not stand. We have been born in hand, that no assu­rance can be had of the Truth of Christia­nity, but from the Authority of such and such men; and they that believe upon other Grounds, had as good have no Faith at all. That if it were possible for them to propound any thing that is false, we can­not be certain of any one Article that is [Page 72] true. That the same exceptions may be made to the Miracles of Christ and his Apo­stles, that are made against the Stories of latter Miracles. And finally, That by the same reason that any of their Traditions are rejected, the Holy Scriptures may be rejected too; and indeed we have lived to see the utmost that can be done by Wit and Learning, to diminish the Authority of the Bible. Now this, I say, is a most dread­ful Offence, and has done infinite mischief in the world, that men who are violently engaged in a wrong way of Religion, care not for the most part what they venture in the service of their own Cause; for whilst they lay the same stress upon false, or at least disputable Points, that they do upon the most necessary and acknowledged Principles of Religion, and bend all their Wit to shew that no difference ought to be made, they give occasion to men that would fain be Atheists, to deceive them­selves into what they would be. For a very little Consideration will serve to satisfy them, that something is false, which is pro­pounded to them as an Object of their Faith; and they know they have then leave given them to conclude that nothing is true.

[Page 73]5. There is another great mischief of Offences that are given by Errors in Do­ctrine or Practice, and a mischief that oft­en happens in the world, which is that of running into a contrary Extreme. The Church found this by sad experience in the Fourth and Fifth Ages, when men of no small Note disputing against one Heresy, fell into another of an opposite nature, to the no small trouble of Christendom. Truth sometimes, as well as Virtue, lies in the Mean; and they that transgress on any one side, do not only this mischief, to give what authority they can to the wrong side they are of, but they do this mischief too, of giving occasion to others to offend on the other Extreme. Thus the abuse of Church Authority on the one side, has bred in some men contempt of all such Au­thority on the other. The Scandals that have been given by propagating Opinions by Force and Violence, have produced in many a fond persuasion that there ought to be no restraints whatsoever in matters of Religion. Superiors have required unlaw­ful things in Divine Service; and to be re­venged upon that abuse, it has been said, that they are not to be obeyed in matters of Prudence and Expedience. Religion has been made to run out into Shews and Cere­monies, [Page 74] and this has begotten prejudices against all appearance of Beauty and Re­verence in the external Worship of God. And on the other side, the excesses of men in departing from one extreme, are scan­dalous to those whom they left, and do con­firm them in their Errors. Thus because there are some who abuse the Liberty this Church gives to all of using the Holy Scri­ptures, and who reject the assistance of their Guides; they that are concerned the People should know as little of the Bible as is possible, argue from the Folly and Va­nity of the former, how dangerous an In­strument it is in the hands of the Laity. And because 'tis impossible but that a Judg­ment of Discretion in matters of Religion being allowed to all, must be liable to be abused; they that abuse it to the making of Sects and Parties, and the bringing in of Innovations, give a Candle to that Church to glory in her Dissention, which provides that all should believe as she be­lieves, because of her Authority; and that no man judges of the particulars of his Faith for himself. The truth is, the In­stances of this mischief are so many, and so undeniable, that whenever any great Scandal is given by Communities or Churches that consists in one Extreme, a [Page 75] man may, without the Spirit of Prophecy, foretel, that if the great Mercy of God prevent it not, it will in time beget the other Extreme. It is the great unhappiness of Mankind, that opposite Errors, which look as if one would destroy the other, do really strive to support one another. And yet there is hardly any foolish Advice more frequent, than to run from an Extreme as far as is possible, as if that were the way to make an end of it. But by this means woful Mischiefs have happen'd in the world; Divisions have been multiplied, Uncharita­bleness increased, and men more and more hardned in their ways of Error and Sin.

6. The Scandal of mixing absurd and impious Doctrines with the Truth, and un­justifiable Practices with such as are to be commended, has this notorious mischief still attending it, that it hinders the Con­version of Infidels, and is a terrible ob­struction to the propagating of Christia­nity. Averroes did not speak his own sense alone, when he said, Since the Christians eat their God, let my Soul be with the Philo­sophers. The Scandals that are given to Jews and Turks I need not name. But to make an end of this unpleasing Argument:

7. And lastly, The mischief of these and all other Offences, is so much the greater, [Page 76] because when once Offence is given, no man can tell where the mischief will end. For instance; Suppose by my Example I animate another to sin in like manner; or that I do not only corrupt his Manners, but his Principles too, and so do him all the hurt I can; Who can say that this is all the mischief I have done? Is it not likely that he will infect others, as I have infected him? And that they may go on to propa­gate the mischief which had its beginning from me? And that the next Age may be the worse for me? And that my Guilt may be growing Ages after I am dead? Apply this to all the Offences that are given in the world, and consider not only the greatness of the mischief they do, but the spreading nature of it, and we shall find great reason in those sad words of our Lord, Wo to the world because of offences. But 2. Whence comes it that Offences are taken, and so all this mischief done by them?

In general it might be sufficient to an­swer, That for whatever Causes some men are apt to give Offence, for the same others are apt to take it; and therefore it would not be impertinent to call over in this place, the unsuitableness of the Gospel to the Lusts, and to the Vanity of mankind, whe­ther it be considered as a Rule of Faith, or [Page 77] Manners, or Worship. But to this it may be added,

1. That there are a great many in the world, who for want of either good natu­ral Abilities, or good Education, have little ability to judge for themselves; and there­fore the most part take their Impressions from the Authority of other mens Examples or Instructions. And therefore when they fall into ill hands, they fare accordingly; to which our Saviour seemed to have a par­ticular regard in the Verse before the Text; Whosoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. So that because there would be some Persons sincerely disposed, who in many things could not judge for themselves, but must be led by Authority, our Saviour, for their greater security, provided this fright­ful Threatning, to deter all men from taking the advantage of their weakness, to mislead them.

2. Some stumble at Offences laid before them, and take up pernicious Doctrines merely from impatience of considering, and taking time to lay things together. He that judges rashly and hastily, may by chance make a true Judgment, but he shall [Page 78] as often judge falsly; it being no difficult thing, as I observed last time, to lay such colours upon Error, as will require some leisure to see through them. And in such cases, if a man be unwilling to take pains, and desires to come presently and easily to the Conclusion, he gives the Seducer all the advantage he could desire, and is in­deed just the Person he desired to meet with; one easily deceived by a false ap­pearance of Reason.

3. The strange Influence which the car­nal Affections of men, and their worldly Interests have upon their Judgments, is a fatal cause of laying them open to the mis­chief of Scandals. We are too apt to desire Doctrines and Examples in favour of liberty to sin; and therefore when they are offer­ed, we are not so apt as we should be, to guard our selves against them. Thus it was among the Jews, as God said by Jeremy, Jer. 5.31. The prophets prophesie falsly, and my people love to have it so.

To these I might add other Causes, viz. The prejudice of Education, undue admira­tion of mens Persons, prejudice against Truth, arising from prejudice against Per­sons, an Inclination to Opinions suitable to our own Temper and Complexion; love of Novelty on the one side, and on the [Page 79] other hatred to change, though it be for the better; all which Dispositions and Cir­cumstances expose those that are under them to the mischief of Offences. But I should be over-tedious to run into all the Particulars under this Head, which may also be more profitably supplied by Directi­ons in the Close of all.

And so I come to the third intention, which was to reduce what has been said, to matter of Exhortation. And I shall leave with you these two necessary Cautions:

• I. Be careful to give no Offence.
• II. Be careful to take none.

I. Be careful to give no Offence; i. e. to lay no stumbling-block in any man's way to lead him into Sin or Error, or to confirm him in it. Remember the words of our Lord Jesus, Wo be to that man by whom the offence cometh. Now the way to keep our selves free from this guilt, is to love the Truth our selves, sincerely to desire it, di­ligently to pursue it; and likewise in all our actions to live by Rule, and then we shall be sure to avoid giving ill Examples. And we are the more obliged to this, be­cause we are not only to give an account of our selves to God, but of our selves also with reference to the good or ill that others [Page 80] have received by us. Let us consider, my Brethren, how careful we should be of our own actions, and those especially that lye open to others; when if we do ill our selves, we shall not only be to answer for our own transgression of God's Law, but very likely for the sins of others, who are either led into some unlawful Practice, or confirmed in it by our Examples. Which makes such an increase of Guilt, and is so great a sin in it self, that it is sometimes needful for a man to abate of the use of his own liberty in things not unlawful of themselves, lest another that is likely enough to make a wrong construction of it, and to encou­rage himself in manifest sin, should indeed do so. And for this reason St. Paul, handling the question of eating things offered to Idols, acknowledgeth, That meat commend­eth us not unto God; for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse. But, says he, take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stum­bling-block to them that are weak, who are not throughly confirmed in the Worship of one God according to the Gospel. For, as he goes on, if any man see thee which hast knowledge, sit at meat in the idols temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak, be emboldened to eat those things which are [Page 81] offered to idols? i. e. be emboldened to com­mit Idolatry, 1 Cor. 8. So that altho it was not in it self unlawful to be present at those Sacrifices, yet the Example being scanda­lous, St. Paul concludes it to be a sin against the brethren, and against Christ, ver. 12. And this inasmuch as it would grieve their weak Conscience; i. e. not (as we use, I doubt, to understand that word, grieve) that it would trouble and displease them, but really hurt them, by making them bold to partake of the Idolatrous Sacrifice. And now, Brethren, if in things that are perhaps in their own Nature lawful, we ought to use caution, lest by an uncharitable use of our Liberty we encourage others to do things that are in themselves absolutely un­lawful: How much more cautious should we be not to give any Authority to sin, by an Example that is evil in it self? So likewise we ought with the more care to chuse our persuasions in Religion, because in all like­lihood we do not chuse them for our selves only, but for our Children, for our Servants, for some of our Neighbours, for many that some way or other depend upon us, and for whom we must answer at the Day of Judgment. And since we cannot profess, we cannot live, but the world observes us; so how instructing ought to be our Profession, [Page 82] how instructing our Conversation? How apt to promote Innocence, Truth, Virtue, and Piety? And this the more, the more we are in the Eye of others. In short, no words I can use, can make such an impressi­on upon you, as these words of our Saviour ought to make: Wo be to him by whom the offence cometh. But this is not all:

2. We must also be careful not to take Offences, not to be led into Sin and Error by Example or Allurements, by any kind of Temptations whatsoever. To justify which Exhortation, I desire you to observe these Three things.

1. That our blessed Lord hath foretold that Offences would come; nay, that it must needs be that they come: Nay, I have shewn, that the most dangerous Offences are particularly foretold in the New Testa­ment. Now, Brethren, this very warning in general, much more those particular warnings, were designed to take away in some good measure, the danger of those scandals, by arming us with caution against them beforehand. Since that is to be appli­ed to all other particular Scandals, that is expresly added to the Prediction of lying wonders: Behold, I have told you before. Now if the Offences, though very dange­rous of themselves, were lessened by being [Page 83] foretold, our guilt in falling by such Offen­ces, must be so much the greater, because being forewarned, we would yet take no warning. The Offensiveness of these Of­fences is in some part abated by the cauti­ons of the Scripture, inasmuch as we have no cause to be startled and amazed, and to question the care of God's Providence over his Church, because Offences come, since the Author of our Faith has told us before­hand, that they must needs come. And,

2. We are also forewarned of the guilt and misery of falling by Offences, inasmuch as our Saviour hath said, Wo to the world because of offences; i. e. as I told you at first, because of that evil which will hap­pen by taking Offence. But if men were free from guilt in the committing of those sins which they fall into by reason of Scan­dals that are laid in their way; in short, if taking Offence were not it self a sin, and in many cases a very great sin, and such a sin as we shall be sadly accountable for at the day of Judgment, there could be no reason given why our Saviour should de­nounce a Wo upon this account; Wo unto the world because of offences.

3. Let us not forget what was observed last time, That God permits Offences to come, which according to the common [Page 84] course of things were in themselves most likely to come; he permits them, I say, for the Trial of our Ingenuity, our Honesty and Sincerity. There must be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest. It is by no means unavoida­ble to stumble at Scandals, because we are forewarned of them; but if we take warn­ing, it is for the Praise and Reward of our diligence and faithfulness in keeping to God's Word. Our Saviour speaking of the Signs and Wonders done by false Christs, and false Prophets, says, That if it were possible they should deceive the very Elect; that is, they would deceive the very best men, but that they are guarded by Since­rity, and by the Grace of God; and these words plainly intimate, that this would be the Touchstone to distinguish Persons truly and solidly good, from all others, That notwithstanding the fair colours that would be put upon wicked Practices and Errors, they would persevere in the ways of Truth and Godliness.

And now, that we may not be mis-led by Offences, but keep our selves unspotted from this present World, and escape the Corruptions that are in the World through Lust, let us take these few following Rules along with us.

[Page 85]1. Let that which is on all sides acknow­ledged to be the Word of God, be of more power and force with us, than all Human Authorities whatsoever; which Rule, as it is most reasonable, so it is a safe Rule upon this account, that if it be followed, it will secure us from the greatest Offences, as those Opinions and Practices are, which are evidently contrary to God's Word.

2. Let us keep close to the Ancient Creeds, which our Church faithfully deli­vers; for no man has yet been so bold as to offer the least doubt against that; nay, all that we are challenged for, is, that we do not receive those additions to the Creed, which in comparison were but of yesterday. These ancient Forms of confessing the Faith, shew what Articles of mere Belief were thought by the Primitive Church necessary to be known and held by All: And because the Faith was at once deliver­ed to the Saints, no more can be necessary now than was then. Now if we observe, that the Profession of this Faith is sufficient to make a Christian, or a Member of the Church; we shall be the better guarded against all erroneous Doctrines which are propounded to us by any Party, under the notion of necessary Truths. For whilst we are sure we profess all that was thought [Page 86] necessary at first, we shall be at ease, and feel no disturbance in examining what is moreover propounded, and determining to receive it if it has Authority from the Scriptures, and to reject it if it has none; much more if it be contrary thereunto. Which Rule I hope you perceive is to take place in judging what you are to believe, not in judging whatsoever is to be done; for even in the Worship of God there are several things of an indifferent nature, for which there is no particular Precept in the Scripture, and in which we may be, and ought to be concluded by the Custom of our Church, and the Will of our Superi­ors. And he cannot miscarry greatly, but is in great measure secured from the mis­chief of Offences, who in matters of Faith will be determined by nothing less than Divine Authority; and who in matters of external Order, which are no way deter­mined by the Authority of the Scriptures, is still ready to be concluded by the Autho­rity of Man. But then,

3. Let us keep our selves always in the proper disposition and preparation to judge and conclude aright for our selves (i. e.) by Sincerity, which consists chiefly in a vehement desire to understand the Truth, and to do our duty: We must lay our hands [Page 87] upon this, That we will be honest and good, and then we shall use all good Rules well; to be sure we shall not be a whit the more inclined to embrace Doctrines for our Belief or Practice, because they make for our worldly and carnal Interests. And this goes a great way to enable men to distin­guish between Truth and Error, Good and Evil. Offences from without would not stumble us, if we were not weakned and blinded by the Offence of a vicious Dispo­sition within our selves. And therefore our Saviour having given warning against the former in the words of the Text, doth in the very next words proceed to direct us how to secure our selves against them, and that by preventing the latter; Wherefore (says he) if thy right hand or foot offend thee, cut them off: And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. That is, subdue thy dearest Lusts; and if there be any one that is harder to part with than the rest, and is grown a part of thy self, though it cost thee as much pain to divide thy self from it, as it would to cut off thine hand, or pull out thine eye; for that very reason do thou mortify it in the first place: For when the World will be full of Offences, (i. e.) Encouragements to Sin, and of deceitful Errors, if thou also [Page 88] art an Offence to thy self, for want of a sincere and honest Heart, and purifying thy Mind from worldly and carnal Lusts, thou wilt not be able to withstand the Arts and Force of outward Temptations. Now the way to gain this Honest Mind, is to fix our thoughts stedfastly upon the Life to come, which is the means our Saviour di­rects to the use of in this place too: And if thine eye offend thee pluck it out, for it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than to be cast into hell fire.

Lastly, Let all our other care be begun, continued, and ended in earnest Prayer to God, That he would enlighten the eyes of our minds, and purify our intentions, and lead us in the right way, and keep us in it by his Grace: For the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much for another, but much more for himself, and most of all when he asketh the best things, when he asketh those things that please God best; a Mind purified from worldly Lusts, and an Understanding enlightned with the knowledge of the Truth: He that doth these things, shall never fall.

The Fourth Sermon.

IN these words are contained an Exhor­tation to watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; and a Reason upon which the Exhortation is made, The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

In the Exhortation we may observe a Di­rection to the use of Means, Watch and pray; and then the End why we should do so, That we enter not into temptation.

As to the means, watching and praying, the use of them both supposes a great con­cern for the Event: For if I am not only to be careful my self, but to get all the help I can; nay, if I am to go to the God of [Page 90] Heaven and Earth for his help, and to seek it constantly, to be sure as the End I aim at ought not to be in it self trivial, so nei­ther ought I to be trivially affected with it: A great concern for the End is supposed in the use of such Means as Watchfulness and Prayer. But more particularly, as to watching; That signifies such a care of our selves as supposes danger, and that was the case of the Disciples, to whom the Exhor­tation was immediately given: Our Savi­our was now preparing them for his ap­proaching Passion, he would therefore have them consider before-hand what a terrible Temptation it would be, to see their own Master forsaken and contemned, and al­most every body ashamed or afraid to own him; he would have them reflect upon their own Infirmities, and examine their own Hearts; and to consider whether they were likely to hold out against such a Tem­ptation as was coming upon them. He would have them furnish their minds with all the Powers of Faith, with all the Rea­sons of Constancy, which they might in­fer from the Holy Doctrine he had taught them; they were now to consider the va­lue of their Souls, the vanity of the World, the promise of Everlasting Life, and what­ever they had learnt from Jesus, which was [Page 91] proper to confirm them in that good mind they were in at present; he would have them to resolve well, and to fix their Re­solution not upon a sudden heat only, not merely upon the general disposition of an honest Mind, but upon a deliberate Judg­ment what they must lose, and what they should get by doing as became them. Fi­nally, he would have them to maintain a constant sense of these things upon their minds, that they might not be at a loss, and be found unprovided on the sudden. All this is implied in watching, a Work which the Disciples were bidden more strictly to attend, because the Lord had told them, that the hour was at hand, when a terrible Trial would befal them, and therefore upon their neglect to do accordingly, he justly upbraided them afterward, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? And all this was to be drawn into consequence, for the In­struction of all his Disciples to the end of the World, not only upon extraordinary Occasions, but in the ordinary course of their Lives; that is, that we should be pos­sessed with a sense of God and our Duty, of the danger we are in by the Temptati­ons of the World, the Flesh, and the Devil; of the fearful consequence of yielding to these Temptations; and that we should [Page 92] maintain a lively sense of these things up­on our minds, by being conversant in the Word of God, and by making the main Principles of Religion present to our Minds by a frequent consideration of them. This, I say, is incumbent upon us all, since our Saviour thought it needful for all; for, says he, What I say unto you, I say to all, Watch, Mark 13.37.

But to Watchfulness our Lord commands us to add Prayer: Watch and Pray.

And Prayer implies these two things.

1. A just sense of our own insufficiency, That if God be absent from us, our Purpo­ses are uncertain, our Resolutions wavering and inconstant, and our Wills and Affecti­ons alterable by every blast of Temptation, though we may be provided with very good Reasons of Constancy in doing well. God hath not left us merely to depend up­on the strength of Arguments and Mo­tives, though they are necessary; but hath promised moreover, the supernatural help of his Grace; and we are not to depend merely upon the former, but knowing that we need farther assistance, we should daily apply our selves to him by Prayer for it.

2. It implies not only a consciousness of our inability to do the thing that God re­quires, but moreover a steady belief of, and [Page 93] trust in the Grace of God which he hath promised, that it is sufficient for us, and that he will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him; that he who is good to all, will be ready to help them, especially that call upon him in sincerity, and will not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able. Such is the meaning of that part of the Exhortation which concerns the Means, Watch and Pray. Now,

2. The end of Watchfulness and Prayer is, That we may not enter into temptation. The meaning of which Phrase is plainly this, That we may not fall by Temptation; not, as the words at first hearing seem to import, that no Temptation may befal us; for as to that Temptation which required the Vigilance and Devotion of our Lord's Disciples at this time, he plainly told them it would happen; and therefore by entring into Temptation, must be meant falling into that sin to which the Temptation is an in­ducement; and so the Exhortation runs, as if our Saviour had said, You are very confident that you shall do as you ought, as if it were one of the easiest things in the world; but I tell you beforehand, that this Confidence of yours is a dangerous Pre­sumption, and you will find your selves de­ceived when it comes to the Trial, if you [Page 94] take no more care than you are now dispo­sed to take. I advise you therefore to consi­der what will happen, better than you have done, and to call together all those Instru­ctions you have heard from me, and make them present to your minds, and be so af­fected with them, as to betake your selves to Prayer, that being thus armed, not with an hasty, but a prudent Resolution, and with dependance upon God, you may overcome the Temptation when it hap­pens. This seems to be the natural mean­ing of the Exhortation: Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.

I proceed next to explain the Reason which our Saviour adds to enforce the Ex­hortation; The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is week. And now I doubt, when we hear or read these words, we are too apt to interpret them, as if Jesus had meant to excuse the sluggishness of his Disciples, and had indeed spoken to them in this manner: "It were well if you would Watch and Pray, that you may not fall by Temptation; but the truth is, though you are willing so to do, yet you are not very much to be blamed, but in some part to be excused if you do not, and that because of the frailty and weakness of Human Nature. But I beseech you not [Page 95] to be so fond of this way of expounding these words, for it is by no means true, nor in the least worthy of our Saviour's Wis­dom, nor agreeable to the Scope of his Doctrine: Let us not think so meanly of our Lord, as if he gave his Disciples neces­sary directions, and in the same breath ex­cused them, whether they fulfilled his di­rections or not. These words, I say, do not contain an excuse of their neglect to Watch and Pray, but a Reason why they should do both, and such a Reason too as left them without all excuse, if they failed in either: For thus they may be supposed to run: "Watch and Pray, that ye enter not into Temptation; for though the Spirit is wil­ling, yet the Flesh is weak, and so it is absolutely necessary that ye Watch and Pray. Which Interpretation, as it holds forth a worthy and excellent meaning of it self, so it is clearly warranted by the cir­cumstances and scope of the place, and by the condition of those persons at present, to whom these words were used, and by what befel them afterwards. And this will be very evident, if we examine the meaning of the words by these Rules: For then you will see,

1. That by a willing spirit we are not to understand a forwardness to Watch and [Page 96] Pray, but a present Resolution to overcome Temptations, and that a sincere Resolution too; such a Resolution as is accompanied with a strong persuasion that we shall do so; and that was the case of the Disciples: For if we look back in this Chapter, we shall find, that upon their Master's fore­warning them what occasion of Offence they would meet with that very night St. Peter briskly steps forward in the name of all the rest of the Apostles, all agreeing to what he said, v. 23. Though all men (says he) shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Thus the wil­lingness of the Spirit shewed it self; that is, a forwardness to do all that became him in the hardest Circumstances. But our Saviour willing to prove him farther, answered, v. 34. Verily, I say unto thee, that this night before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice; which was so far from ta­king down, that it rather raised his assu­rance, for he replied, v 35. Though I should dye with thee, yet will I not deny thee: Likewise also said all the disciples. There the Spirit shewed it self willing again; and, which is to be observed, they were all at this time heartily disposed to do as they said, all but the Traytor Judas; for which reason about this time Jesus acknowledged [Page 97] that they were all sincere and honest per­sons, excepting Judas only, John 13.10, 11. Ye are clean, but not all; for he knew who should betray him, therefore said he, Ye are not all clean; i. e. Ye are not all honest men, but ye are all so but one; all but one mean as you say, and intend to be as good as your word, and do believe that you shall. So that if we explain these words, The spi­rit indeed is willing, by the condition of the Persons to whom they were spoken, and by their present disposition and per­suasion, as we ought to do, the meaning is plainly this, as if our Saviour had said, "I know ye are men of sincere and honest Dispositions, and do intend very well, and say no more than what you resolve to make good by performance, and I see that you believe you shall be as good as your word. Now therefore,

2. By the weakness of the flesh, we are plainly led to understand those Imperfecti­ons and Passions which honest men are not wholly free from, and which will make Temptations dangerous even to the since­rest persons, especially if they trust to a present good disposition of Mind, and think that they are not in danger, because they are now well resolved. The Apostles when our Lord told them beforehand of [Page 98] the Temptation that would happen, were conscious to themselves of their own since­rity, and were so strongly possessed with an assurance of it, that being men hither­to but of little experience, they did not ap­prehend, or so much as feel their own weakness, because the Temptation which would make them feel it, was not present; but their Master was aware of those Im­perfections and Passions in them, which now indeed gave them no disturbance, but within a little time would do so; that is, when the Temptation should be pre­sent upon them: They did not consider how the Passion of Fear would work, when it was once plain that it would be the most dangerous thing in the world to own their Master; they were not sufficiently sensible of the uncertainty of human Resolutions, under strong inducements to Inconstancy, and how very possible it is even for sincere men to be staggered, nay, and to be over­come by Temptations, which they think themselves sufficiently guarded against by their Integrity. But our Saviour knew all this, and therefore told them of it before­hand, and used the consideration of the weakness of the flesh, as an Argument to persuade them to Watch and to Pray, and not to trust merely to a willing mind, or a [Page 99] sincere disposition; he produces this Argu­ment, I say, to make them abate of their confidence, and use more diligence, that they might be prepared by their own care, and by the Grace of God, to answer the occasion that was at hand.

But to confirm this plain Interpretation: As the willingness of the spirit, or the sin­cerity of these men expressed it self in their forward undertaking and promising to do as they ought, so the weakness of the flesh discovered it self in their failing to perform what they promised; whereby they made good the Prediction of our Saviour, that they would be all offended because of him that night. And what was the reason why the Flesh prevailed against the Spirit? Why did these honest Undertakers fail of performance? Even because they did not follow their Master's Advice, they did not Watch and Pray; for had they used this Means, they had not failed of the End, since Jesus himself directed them to use this Method, and therefore we may be sure it would have been sufficient. Wherefore you may well conclude, that these words, The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak, were not intended here for an excuse of their not watching and praying, but as a reason why they ought to do so, and conse­quently [Page 100] as an aggravation of their fault in not doing it; for since there was so much need of Vigilance and Devotion, they were the more to blame that they neglected it.

And thus I have given you, as I am per­suaded, the natural and genuine sense of this place.

Now there are Two Points of Instructi­on, which I shall from hence commend to your serious thoughts.

1. That we look well to it that we be sincere and honest, and have that willing Spirit which our Saviour acknowledged and commended to his Apostles.

2. That we do not altogether trust to our present sincerity and best purposes, but because of the weakness of the Flesh, that we watch and pray, and thereby guard our selves against all Temptations.

1. That we be very well assured of our own sincerity, and the honesty of our pur­poses, which for the present any man may be easily assured of, if he be sincere; that is, if he be honestly resolved to do his duty under all circumstances of Temptation; for what can a man ever arrive to an assu­rance of, if not of his own present inten­tions? Now the Argument whereby I am to persuade you to look well to this matter, is of very great force, and it is so plainly [Page 101] offered by the circumstances of this Reso­lution, that there is no avoiding it; and it is this, That if we are for the present sincerely and honestly disposed, we have some Title to the special Grace and Favour of God; whereas Hypocrites and Insincere Persons have none at all: For this was that for which our Saviour valued his Disciples, that they had a willing spirit; and as I shall shew more particularly by and by, that was the reason why he watched over them, why he continually instructed them, why he explained things to them, why he took care to rectify their mistakes, and to correct their faults, and to give them all the ways of improvement, because they were honest men, and ever intended to behave themselves like honest men: They were all, but Judas, men of great plainness and simplicity, teachable and willing to be informed of the Truth, open and free in their behaviour, not addicted to any noto­rious Vice, of a Religious Temper and Disposition, and every way fit to be train­ed up to the perfection of Virtue in the School of Christ; and therefore our Savi­our took a particular care of them, and bore with all their Infirmities, Mistakes, and Follies, till he had brought them to per­fection. Whereas Judas, whom he ex­cepted [Page 102] out of this Commendation, Ye are clean, was a man false and close, covetous and treacherous, and for the compassing of his Ends ready for any mischief; he was a Thief, and kept himself a Follower of Je­sus longer in all likelihood than he would have done otherwise, because he bore the Bag: He seemed to have become his Disci­ple at first for no other reason, but because he expected to have been some great man in the world under Jesus, whose Miracles had convinced him that he was the Christ; but when by the constant tenor of Christ's Doctrine, and by his Example, he found he was likely to be deceived in that ex­pectation of Worldly Greatness, he was re­solved to make the best he could of his being one of our Lord's Disciples, and that by making use of the opportunity he had to get both Money and Favour from the Rulers by betraying him. This was the Character of Judas, whom our Lord knew full well before he betrayed him; and he being such a vicious Hypocrite, so great a Villain as he was, Jesus seemed not to re­gard him at all, nor to take any particular care of him, but did e'en let him go from one wickedness to another, till he came to utter Ruin; and for what reason should we think, but because he had nothing at all [Page 103] of a Spirit of Honesty in him, and was therefore incapable of being improved in any degree of Virtue.

This, I say, is the Argument, whereby I would recommend to all men that sim­plicity and honesty of Spirit which was discernable in the rest of the Apostles, whilst though they were but very imperfect in Religion and Virtue, in comparison to what they were afterwards, yet our Saviour did not cast them off for every fault they were guilty of, for every mistake they were under, but rather was very tender of them, and took all opportunities to set them right when they were wrong, and to lead them from one degree of Virtue and Goodness to another, till at length they became Teachers of Truth, and Examples of Piety to all the World. And this I believe verily is the meaning of those words of our Sa­viour that occur in the Sixth Chapter of St. John, and in other places, That Jesus would not cast away those that the Father had given him, (i. e.) men of honest Minds, and sincere Dispositions; these words alluding to what is commonly seen amongst us, of a Father's committing a Child of Probity and a towardly Disposi­tion, to a skilful Master, to be educated and improved by him, and his expecting [Page 104] a good account of him at last: And there­fore said our Saviour, John 17.12. Of those thou hast given me, or committed to my care, I have lost none, but the son of perdition, (i. e.) Judas had utterly fallen off and miscarried, because he was a man of a Reprobate Disposition; but of those that God had committed to him, (i. e.) men of teachable and willing Spirits, he had lost none, although they had a great many failings, and were often in very great danger.

But I am to make out this Point from the circumstances of the Story in this Chapter and elsewhere, which affords a remarkable Instance of it in St. Peter; to wit, How great is the care of God over a sincere man, to save him from utter miscarrying, notwithstanding many blameable defects. And I the rather shall instance in St. Peter, because upon every notable occasion of in­structing the rest of his Disciples, our Sa­viour still addressed himself to St. Peter; not that the rest were unconcerned, but that he was most of all concerned, because he most of all needed his Instructions and Admonitions, as you will plainly see. 'Tis true, he had many notable good Qualities, wherein he excelled the rest; for in quick­ness of Apprehension, in boldness of Spi­rit, [Page 105] in concern for his Master, in Activity and Industry, in forward Undertaking, and in contempt of Danger, he seemed to outdo all his Brethren. But this forward, vigorous, and active man, made more Falls, as far as we can find, than any other of the Apostles did; but being also sincere and honest, he was therefore more watch­ed, and particularly instructed than the rest. And I cannot but observe this by the way, That the reason why our Saviour addressed himself in particular to Peter, so much oftner than to the rest of the Apo­stles, was not that he gave him a more sin­gular Power and Authority than he did the rest, but because being a man of a more forward and active Spirit than all the rest, in doing well, he commonly did bet­ter; in doing ill, he mostly did worse than the rest; which is a sufficient account of that particular application of our Saviour to him, either in commending or repro­ving him. And thus when Peter's forward­ness of Spirit led him to speak well, before any of his Brethren were ready, as when he confessed that Jesus was the Son of the living God, That being what they all as­sented to, Jesus in commending him, com­mended all; in encouraging him, he en­couraged all; and though he alluded to [Page 106] his Name in particular, by saying, Thou art Peter, yet that which followed, and upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, was equally a commendation and encourage­ment of the Faith of the rest, and of their professing that Faith, upon which the Church was to be founded so surely, that it should never be destroyed. So likewise when he rebuked his Master, for foretelling what he must suffer, and had that severe Reprimand from him, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, &c. Neither was this spoken so particularly to him, as not to extend to the rest; it was said also for their Reproof and Instruction, who were as unwilling as Peter, that Jesus should dye an ignomini­ous Death; and as ignorant as he, what wise and good Ends Divine Providence would bring about by it.

Wherefore I mention Peter rather than any one of the rest of the Disciples, as an Instance how a good and honest Heart, a sincere Mind, or (as it is called in the Text) a willing Spirit; how this, I say, puts a man under the special Care and Pro­tection of Divine Grace, because this very Admonition of the Text, though intend­ed to all, was particularly directed to Pe­ter; [Page 107] and it is very remarkable how our Saviour, like a watchful and prudent Guide, took all opportunities to set him right. For,

1. It is plain that Peter was one who presumed more than enough upon the strength of his own Resolutions: He it was, that upon our Lord's foretelling the dangerous Temptation that was near, did with some confidence in himself make this boast, Though all men should be offended be­cause of thee, yet will I never be offended; and though I should dye with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Which was no doubt spoken also with a very honest intent and purpose, as it was by the rest of the Apostles, who followed his Example; he was no Hypo­crite or Villain in what he said, as Judas was, but meant all that he promised, and at that time verily believed that he should be as good as his word, whilst Judas was at that Minute bent to betray him. But this honest man wanted experience of himself, and presumed too fast upon his own Abi­lity; and therefore our Lord took this oc­casion to lay a foundation in him of a bet­ter understanding of himself, for he said unto him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, I say unto thee, the cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice. A seasonable intimation it was, that his [Page 108] Master in the very heighth of his confi­dence should tell him, That he would thrice deny him, before the next day was well begun: And this forewarning, toge­ther with the experience of his own Infir­mity afterward, no doubt served to make him ever after a more considerate and watchful man, and tended to add Modesty and Humility to his other good qualities.

2. If we go a little farther, we find him sleeping with the rest of the Disciples, though our Lord had left them to pray that they might not enter into temptation. And that when Jesus came and found them asleep, he said unto Peter, who had under­taken so much before, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit in­deed is willing, but the flesh is weak. By which words he gave him fully to under­stand, that he was not acquainted with his own Infirmities, and had not that sense of the necessity of watchfulness and prayer, which he ought to have had at that time.

3. It was but a little while after, that Judas conducted the Officers and Soldiers that were sent by the High-Priest to take Jesus; and when they had laid hands on him, Peter's forward Spirit led him into another mistake; He drew his sword, and [Page 109] struck a servant of the high-priest, and smote off his ear; which though well meant in zeal for his Master, was yet an undutiful Resistance of Authority, and betray'd a rash anger. But neither did our Saviour leave him here without that Admonition, which was necessary to make him wiser and better. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up thy sword again into its place, for all they that take the sword, shall perish by the sword: Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then will the Scripture be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

4. That Trial of him that followed im­mediately almost at the High-Priest's Hall, shewed him to be as yet a very imperfect man, and one that wanted that Resolution which he thought himself Master of. In­deed he shewed a little more Courage than the rest of his Brethren, inasmuch as they fled upon their Master's being apprehend­ed, but he followed at a distance to observe the Event; but this served only to intangle him in a more shameful Fault than theirs that ran clear away, even to the denying of his Lord thrice, and the last time with Imprecations. He that had so forwardly confessed in the Name of the rest, That [Page 110] Jesus was the Son of God: He that but a few hours before had so vehemently decla­red, That he would rather dye with his Master than deny him; when now he saw him brought like a Criminal into the High-Priest's Hall, altered from what he was be­fore, and his Faith began to fail. It is not improbable that he had some hope his Ma­ster would deliver himself out of their hands by some Miracle, because he sat among the servants to see the end: But yet the danger was so apparent, that he want­ed Courage to own him till the End was come, and so denied him: And while he spake his last words of denial, the cock crew: And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, Luke 22.61. Not throwing off all farther care of him, notwithstanding so foul a miscarriage: And Peter remembred the words of the Lord, how he had said to him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice: And he went out, and wept bitterly.

That which I have been driving at all this time, is to shew a notable Example of the weakness of the flesh, in a man very apt to be confident of himself; and withal, of the watchful care of our Saviour to correct him, and set him right, and that because he had a willing spirit, an honest and sincere disposition, void of Malice and Falshood, [Page 111] and was ever desirous to know the Truth, and to do his duty. Therefore said our Sa­viour to him, just before his last Conflict, Luke 22.31, 32. Simon, Simon, behold Sa­tan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. For the Tempter understood Peter's composition, how much chaff was mingled with the wheat, and what were the inconveniences of his Temper, and desired nothing more than full liberty to make use of them, for the overturning of all his good qualities. But said Jesus, I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren: (i. e.) when thou art satisfied what a great many things are to be mend­ed in thy self, and that those Infirmities of thine which at present thou art not aware of, had like to have been thy utter Ruin, but withal that thou hast escaped through the Grace of God; when thou art grown wiser, and more established in all kind of goodness, then do thou strengthen thy Brethren, be careful of all sincere Persons that labour under Infirmities, as I have been of thee; take care to improve that which is good in them, and to secure them all thou canst, against all their Infirmities.

Thus much concerning the great Ad­vantage [Page 112] of Sincerity, That it doth entitle a man to the special Favour and Protection of God; and so what we are to learn by all, is to lay this Foundation of well-doing, which our Saviour acknowledged and commended in his Apostles, that is, a willing Mind, and an honest Disposition; for then we are in a condition to be watch­ed over by the Divine Grace.

But having shewn how valuable in the sight of God is a willing Spirit, and an ho­nest Mind; I proceed in the

Second place, To urge our Saviour's Ex­hortation, and that is, notwithstanding this, to watch and to pray, that we enter not into temptation; for though the spi­rit be willing, yet the flesh is weak: For if Sincerity could of it self support a man, without any farther care and help, we had never heard of the Drunkenness of Noah and Lot, the Murder and Adultery of Da­vid, and the Fall of Peter; we had never met with any Instances of the weakness of Human Nature, in men very honestly disposed, whose Examples shew us the ne­cessity of Watchfulness and Prayer, the means we are directed by our Saviour to use; and if we do use these means, if we do set the advantage of Care and Prayer against the inconvenience of Hu­man [Page 113] Frailty, we shall never fall. For it was not only for the Instruction of St. Pe­ter, that our Lord gave the Exhortation of the Text, to watch and pray, but for the In­struction of all the rest of the Apostles; and not for their instruction only, but it was for ours also in all Ages, that he left this direction with them. They were not always to expect that the special Grace of God would attend them, and either keep them from great faults, or set them right again after their miscarryings, while they neglected to acquaint themselves with their own hearts, and to take care of their acti­ons, and to seek the assistance of God's Spirit: And we much less, who have been longer under the guidance of God's Grace, than they had been, even from our Infan­cy, ever since we were baptized, and taken into the Covenant of Grace, who have also had the instruction of their Examples, and the use and Benefit of our Lord's Admoni­tions to them, and have been guilty of more neglects and miscarryings than they were; who moreover have been educated to a more perfect understanding of the Doctrine and Nature of Christianity, than as yet they had attained to; under these circumstances we are not to expect the watchful care of God's Spirit over us, to [Page 114] lead us out of temptation, and to deliver us from evil, if we do not watch our selves, and to Watchfulness add Prayer, that we en­ter not into temptation: We are not to trust to our general good purposes, and honest ways, but to remember the weakness of our flesh, (i. e.) the unsteadiness of our purposes, the mutability of our affections, the deceitfulness of our hearts, and there­fore to supply all our defects with what diligence and circumspection we can, and in doing all this, to be very earnest in all our Prayers, that God would crown all with his Grace: This is the way to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. And we are undoubtedly safe, if we continually keep our selves under the Wings of his Grace; and put our selves under his Protection by Watchfulness and Prayer; For the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. It availeth much for another, much more for him­self; it availeth much for the procuring of Temporal Blessings, much more for Spiri­tual and Eternal. God does not always crown the Industry of a man in his labour­ing for the good things of this World, with desired success; and sometimes he sends them to the lazy, and bestows them upon those that never pray: But the most neces­sary [Page 115] things, a good Mind, the best Wis­dom, the Improvements of the Soul, he ever gives to the diligent, and to those that depend upon him by Prayer, and ne­ver otherwise: And this is a plain convi­ction, that if we are barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of God, if we make no progress in Virtue, nor move at all towards Perfection, it is our own fault, who have so ready a way to gain that help from God, which will not fail to better our Natures, and to strengthen us in every good work, and to deliver us from temptation. I have already told you, how vain a thing it is to plead Frailty and Infirmity for not watch­ing and praying, since for that very rea­son our Saviour directs us to Watchfulness and Prayer, because although the Spirit is willing, yet the Flesh is weak: And it is to as little purpose to make the same Plea for those miscarriages that are the effects of our Infirmity, since there is this to make them the effects of Wilfulness too, that we have neglected to consider our own weak­ness, and to go to God for help: And what should be more easy and natural, than for a frail Creature to have recourse to the Fountain of his Being, and the Author of all good, the God of Power and Mercy, for a supply of his own defects? We are [Page 116] not therefore excusable, if we do it not constantly and earnestly, when so much depends upon it.

I have but one Motive more to lay be­fore you, but that methinks a very pre­vailing one; and that is, That our Blessed Master himself, in whom there was no Sin, nor sinful Infirmity; he, I say, himself, who so little needed any other strength but his own, practised that Advice which he gave to his Disciples, he watched and prayed when the hour of temptation was coming on, whilst his Disciples threw away their time; and we see the different effects of their different behaviour: Our Lord witnessed a good Confession, but his slothful Disciples fled away shamefully; and Peter, the most forward of all a little before, miscarried the most shamefully of all, and denied his Master: A very instructing Ex­ample, to shew us how much depends upon Prayer, and how unreasonable a thing it is to complain of the Infirmities of our Na­tures, and the difficulty of standing against Temptations, when we have so ready, but withal so necessary a means of relief, that Jesus himself made use of it. And surely one main reason why he did so, was that we might be instructed by his Example, how we ought to fortify our selves against [Page 117] the Temptations of the World: He was tempted for us, because we also were to be tempted; and he prayed under his Tem­ptation for our sakes too, that we might learn of him the way to overcome Tempta­tions, and to be always prepared against them. Let us therefore (my Brethren) remember the words of our Lord Jesus, Watch and pray, that ye enter not into tem­ptation: Let us also remember the Exam­ple of our Lord, who himself watched and prayed, though he of all men that ever lived, least needed any assistance against Temptation: Let us enter into the Church, and frequent the Publick Prayers, and let us enter into our Closets, and ne­ver omit our Prayers to God in secret: For by every such omission, we lose an op­portunity for our Souls, we weaken our dependance upon God, we lie more open to danger from within, and from without, and have made one step more backward, and are farther from the Grace of God.

In a word, let us purge our selves from all Insincerity and Hypocrisy, and be sure that we do not suffer the guilt of any wil­ful sin to lye upon us, and ever keep our selves from presumptuous sin; and to this general habit of honesty, let us add a jea­lousy over our selves, doing like those that [Page 118] depend upon the Grace and Providence of God; for if we continue thus doing, we shall not fail, and that because God is our help, who is not wanting to prevent us by his Grace, and will therefore never fail to follow us with it, whilst we walk in his ways, and study to please him in all things, and humbly depend upon him for our Safe­ty in this World, and our Salvation in the World to come.

The Fifth Sermon.

HERE are Two Rules to be obser­ved:

• I. To worship and serve God.
• II. To worship and to serve him only.

And these are Rules of both Testa­ments, and in truth, Laws of Nature, and therefore they that violate them are with­out excuse.

My design is, to lay before you some of the principal Duties prescribed in these Rules, with the sins that are opposed to them.

Now in the first place, To worship God, is to honour him as God; which consists chiefly in Two things, viz. In a right Esteem of him, and in the Expression of it.

1. In the Esteem, (i. e.) in believing God to be the Sovereign Being, Infinite in all Perfections, in Duration, in Wisdom, and in Power, and above all, in Goodness; from hence it is, that Affections suitable to such an Esteem of God, are also Worship, because they are the most real acknowledg­ments of the Divine Attributes: He that trusts in the Wisdom and Power of God, more than in all the World besides, ascribes to him the honour of Infinite Wisdom and Power: He that fears his displeasure, and trembles at his Word, gives him the ho­nour of his Infinite Holiness: He that loves him above all things, doth thereby effectu­ally confess his Infinite Goodness: By such apprehensions of God, and disposition to­wards him, we worship him in our Hearts and Souls.

2. As to the outward Worship of God, it consists in such Actions, as either by God himself, or by the common consent of mankind, or by the nature of the thing, are made expressions of Divine Honour, and of the Worship of the Heart. Sacri­fices [Page 121] have been ever esteemed Marks of Di­vine Honour, given to that Being to whom they were offered; and God appropriated them to himself in the Covenant he made with his own People: He that sacrificeth unto any God, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed, Exod. 22.20. Whether Sin-offerings, or Thank-offerings, they were testimonies and declarations of God's Sovereignty, That he was Lord of all, and the Giver of all, to whom all Praise and Obedience was due. For this reason the Christian Worship, which knows no Sacrifice for Sin, but that which was never to be offered but once, and which has taken away the slaying of Beasts, and the killing of Birds; the Christian Wor­ship it self, I say, is called a Sacrifice: By him, says the Apostle, (i. e.) by Christ, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God con­tinually, Heb. 13.15. For though the gross Sacrifices were left off, yet there was an incommunicable Worship of God that re­mained, viz. the more spiritual Sacrifices of Prayer and Thanksgiving, which were the true meaning of the Sacrifices before Christianity, and therefore a more excel­lent Worship than they: For Sacrifices were but the Rites and Ceremonies of Prayer and Thanksgiving; a Sacrifice for [Page 122] Sin, was but the outward Rite of calling upon God for Mercy; a Sacrifice of Praise was but the outward Rite of offering Praise; and therefore Prayer and Thanks­giving are proper expressions of Divine Honour, inasmuch as they are in effect the same with Sacrifices, and indeed a more excellent Worship than what was anciently called by that name. And there are these Two things which make them to be proper expressions of honouring God as God.

1. The matter of Religious Invocation, which is either to pray to God, or to give him thanks for those things which he only can give, and for every thing which we either need, or have received; and this makes Prayer and Thanksgiving to be an acknowledgment of God's Omnipotence, Sovereignty, and Infinite Goodness.

2. Our calling upon him at all times, and in all places, which is a clear acknow­ledgment of his Omnipresence, and Infi­nite Knowledge. And hence it is, that hear­ing of Prayer is one of those Titles where­with the Psalmist addressed himself to God, Psalm 65.2. And thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. For when we speak to an Invisible Being, we can have no assurance that we are heard, but only this assurance, That the Being is [Page 123] every where present; and therefore though we see him not, yet we know that he is with us, and our Prayer is not lost.

And there are these Two things, each of which distinguishes that which in Reli­gion we call Prayer and Thanksgiving, from asking benefits of one another, and giving thanks for benefits received; that the latter supposes a Limited Power, the former an Absolute Power over all things, and is expressed very often by desiring such things of God, as he only can bestow. And again, when we ask fit things of one ano­ther, it is within the lines of civil commu­nication, by speaking if present, by messa­ges if absent; but when we speak to God, we speak to an invisible Being, whom we therefore acknowledge to be every where present.

And in these two things, that is, in Prayer and Thanksgiving, or to include both in one expression, in Religious Invo­cation, the Substance of Divine Worship consists, and all other Instances of it may be reduced to this:

Thus it is an Act of Divine Worship, to dedicate or set apart Places for Prayer and Thanksgiving; for the erecting of Houses for the Service of an Invisible Being, is an acknowledgment of his Omnipresence, no [Page 124] less than calling upon him there. Thus Bo­dily Adoration, Bowing, Kneeling, or Pro­strating, are Acts of Divine Worship also, when they are paid to an Invisible Being, because they too suppose the presence of it every where, to receive those outward Ho­nours, and to take notice of them.

And all this together, is that which we call the immediate Worship of God; because it is all an address or application to him: This is what we commonly mean by Reli­gious Worship, though in a larger sense all Piety may be so called; and he that obeys God in all things, worships him, because he makes an effectual acknowledgment of all the Divine Attributes.

2. Since we know what it is to worship God, nothing should be more easy than to understand that other Rule, mainly intend­ed in the words of the Text, That God, on­ly is to be worshipped: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him ONLY shalt thou serve: (i. e.) Infinite Perfection is to be attributed to him only; Infinite Knowledge, or Power, or Goodness, or Presence, or Dominion, is to be ascribed to him only; he only is to be loved, and re­verenced, and trusted in above all things, and to be absolutely obeyed; to him alone we are to perform those Acts of Worship [Page 125] which imply any part of that acknowledg­ment; and therefore to none but him are Religious Supplications and Intercessions with Thanksgivings to be offered; besides him no other Invisible Being ought to be addressed unto by us: To him only we are to pay those bodily Adorations of Kneel­ing, Bowing, and Falling down, which are properly Religious; that is, which accom­pany and go along with Prayer or Thanks­giving, or any acknowledgment of a Di­vine Perfection: We are to give to no other Being in the World, that outward Worship which by all the circumstances of it is Religious, or a signification of the least Divine Honour.

Upon these grounds I intend to build; and now I shall proceed to shew what those Sins are, which manifestly oppose and con­tradict these Rules; and they may, I think, be reduced to these Two, Atheism and Idolatry.

First, Atheism, of which there are Two sorts properly so called: Either,

• I. Not believing that there is a God: Or,
• II. Not worshipping him.

1. Not believing a God; that is, an In­visible Spiritual Being, which is the cause of all things; and this is that which is [Page 126] commonly understood by Atheism, to deny the very Being of a God, which as it is the highest stupidity, and the greatest corrup­tion imaginable of a man's Understanding, so it is fundamentally opposite to all pre­tences of Religion and Worship, which sup­poses the Being of God; of God, I say; that is, of a Spiritual and Invisible Being, which knows, and understands, which can do all things, and upon which all other things depend. But

2. There is another sort of Atheism truly so called, which consists with a Belief of the Being of God; or at least doth not stand in a direct denial of his Being; and that is, not worshipping him: He that doth not worship GOD before men, is an Atheist to the World; and he that wor­ships him not at all, is an Atheist before the World, and in the sight of God too; and there is no reason to question, but he that is the one, is the other too. Every wicked man, though he professeth Religion, and worships God, may indeed be called a Practical Atheist, because he lives as if there were no God. But he that is grown to that degree of Impiety, as to make no acknowledgment of him by appearing in his Worship, is much more so, and doth in effect renounce his Maker before the [Page 127] World; and it cannot be more truly said of any one, than of such a man, that he lives without God in the world. And therefore although the Epicurean Sect acknowledged the Being of a God, yet because they de­nied his Providence, and took away all the Foundations of worshipping him, they were by all men of sense called Atheists: This however is also directly opposite to the Rule we are upon, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God. But

3. Idolatry is opposed to it likewise; and this is that Impiety which the Rule was chiefly designed against, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Idolatry is a Term in Religion or Divinity, to which we must give that sense in which the Scripture uses it; and I think all are agreed this to be the sense of it there, That it is the giving of any Divine Worship to a Creature; (i. e.) any part of that Worship which is due to God only; and therefore these words are a Rule against all Idolatry whatsoever, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, &c.

Now, 1. All Honour which is done to any Invisible Being, besides God, by for­mal Invocation of it, or calling upon it, must therefore necessarily be Idolatry, be­cause it ascribes in the very Nature of the [Page 128] Act, Omnipresence to it, which is a Divine Perfection.

2. All the external Honours done to any such Beings, which refer to that Service, are also Idolatrous, because they are signifi­cations of Divine Honour also; and there­fore dedicating Churches and Altars to them, Bowing, Kneeling, Prostrating, burning Incense, and the like Religious Rites performed to them, are Idolatry.

3. Any Service paid to a created Being, that is either visible or invisible, see nor not seen, present or absent, which Service doth imply that thing to be God, or ascribes any Divine Attribute to it; or much more, that Service which in all circumstances is the very same with what is given to God himself; this also must necessarily be an Idolatrous Service.

4. The Worship of an Image, or any visible Representation of any thing what­soever, must be Idolatrous; for if it be worshipped as the Representation of a Creature, it cannot 'scape being so, if there were no more in it, than that Religious Worship is not to be given to the Original: But if it be the pretended Image of the Deity, the Worship of it is Idolatrous Worship; and the reason is plain, because it is set there to receive that external Wor­ship [Page 129] at least, which is due to that Invisible Being, whom it is said to represent. But the Worship of God is to be given to him, and to none but him. I pass by two mate­rial things; one is, That the Image-Wor­ship of the People is known to be attended with expectation of receiving benefit from the Image it self, which makes the Idola­try to be very gross in them; but inasmuch as Images are made the Object of outward Acts of Divine Honour by all that worship them, they give to the Image that Wor­ship which is to be paid to God only. Another is this, That to pretend to make an Image of God, is one of the grossest Dishonours that can be possibly done to him, because that supposes the Godhead to be like unto wood, or to stone, and the work of mens hands, and tends to corrupt the Notion of God in all that are made to be­lieve that they are his Images or Represen­tations; but I do not place Idolatry in that, though it be a great aggravation of it, but in the actual worshipping of it; and that because we are to worship the Lord our God, and serve him only; but to worship Images, is not to worship him; for God is one thing, and a pretended Image of him is another. All this I make bold to lay down peremptorily, being well assured [Page 130] that these kinds of Worship are prohibited in this Rule of serving God only; and that these prohibited Worships are in the Scri­pture called Idolatry; which I shall now more particularly prove, against a certain pretence, That the true and only Notion of Idolatry is this, and that it is neither more nor less than this, viz. The Worship of the Heavenly Bodies, the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, or any other visible and corporeal Deity, as the Supreme God, so as to exclude all sense and apprehension of a spiritual and invisible Godhead. The plain English of which is this, That no man can be an Ido­later; that is, not such a Sot, as to take something which he knows can neither un­derstand any thing, nor chuse one thing before another, to be the Supreme God, and as such to worship it; as for instance, he must take something which hath no more of a spiritual Nature in it, than a Piece of Stone, or a Log of Wood, and exclude all reference that it can have to any thing that hath a spiritual Nature; and he must fall down upon his knees to it, and speak to it, and desire it to bless him, and believe that it will do so, and he must with­al take it for his Supreme Deity, and then he shall be allowed to pass for an Idolater; nay more, for one that is not fit to live [Page 131] upon the Earth, but to be cut off from the people; as those Israelites were once to be served, who enticed their brethren away to serve other gods. Now for my own part I do not think that even these kinds of Worshippers, if there are any such to be found in the world, as I believe there are not, ought to be thus served; for it were barbarous Inhumanity to kill those who ought to be taken care for in an Hospital proper for them: For what greater madness can be imagined, than for a man at the same time to worship a sensless thing as the Supreme God, and to believe that it is a sensless thing, as he must do, if he ex­cludes all apprehension of an invisible and spiritual Godhead? For by the Supreme God, all men understand something that is able to help or to hinder, and that knows when to do the one, and when the other, and is willing to do accordingly: And therefore to worship either Sun, Moon, or Stars, or any visible or corporeal Deity, and at the same time to exclude all sense and apprehension of a spiritual and invisi­ble Godhead, is to worship a thing because I am sure it knows something, while I am as sure at the same time, that it knows nothing at all; for that which has nothing of a spiritual and invisible Nature, has no [Page 132] knowledge of any thing, no more than a Block has; and if to worship such a thing, knowing it to be such, be all the Idolatry that ever was in the world, I do believe you will all grant that there never was an Idolater in the world, who might not have been easily persuaded to fall down upon his knees to a Tree, to believe it to be his Father, and to ask it Blessing; on­ly there is this difference in the case, that such a distempered man might possibly believe that Tree capable of blessing him; but it seems the Idolater must be more mad than so, for he must at the same time believe that what he worships, knows no­thing of him, and is not, and cannot be concern'd about him, because he excludes all sense and apprehension of a spiritual and invisible Godhead in his corporeal Deity. But if the Maker of this Notion did really think, that his Idolater was a man in his Wits, then he has really made the Idolater to be the very same with the Atheist, whereas they are two Persons. This Rule of the Text hath two parts, as I have shewn; one, that we are to worship God, which he that doth not is an Atheist; ano­ther, to worship God only, which he that doth not, is an Idolater. But now he that hath no sense and apprehension of a spiri­tual [Page 133] Godhead, and yet worships for the Supreme God, sensless Matter, does not if he be in his Wits, believe that there is any God at all; and if he pretends to worship the Sun or the Moon, or Leeks and Onions, without any reference to any thing that can see or hear, help or hinder, understand or chuse any thing; it is manifestly in deri­sion of all pretence to Religion and Wor­ship whatsoever: So that the true and only Notion of Idolatry, is only at last a true No­tion of Atheism very odly represented, and so as an ingenious Atheist would have done it much better for himself. We are there­fore to look upon this True and Only Notion of Idolatry to be an over-strain'd Repeti­tion of what has been to much better ad­vantage pretended by those of the Roman Communion; viz. That a man cannot be an Idolater, who doth firmly believe there is One God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, and who doth worship him as the Supreme God and Lord of all. This indeed is something, that is, it is what we under­stand, but then this is very false, as I shall demonstrate by plain Testimony of Scri­pture.

And in the first place, The Text seems to give clear Evidence against it, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only, &c. [Page 134] For they all say, that this speaks of Divine Worship; and at other times they grant, that to give Divine Worship to any thing that is not God, is Idolatry: But now the Text supposes, not only that a man ought to give Divine Worship to God, but it ex­presly says, that he should give it to him only: It is therefore possible to give Divine Worship to God, and to give Divine Wor­ship to something else too, which is not God; and to do that, they themselves con­fess to be Idolatry; and therefore it is possi­ble to acknowledge and to worship One God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, and yet to be guilty of Idolatry; which is a Point that I think fit to insist upon some­thing more particularly, because I perceive there are many that are very loath to have it believed.

And first I shall insist upon that Instance which was the occasion of these words: The Devil promised our Saviour, That he would give him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, if he would fall down and worship him. Now I think there is no question, but that to worship the Devil is Idolatry; but the question is, Whether the Devil was so arrogant as to desire to be worshipped so as to exclude the belief and the worshipping of God, [Page 135] who is the Supreme Lord of all: But in­deed it ought not to be question'd, that he did not desire any such thing, but that him­self acknowledged the Being of God: For in his very first Temptation he said, If thou be the Son of God, &c. which was a plain acknowledgment of the Being of God: And so in his second Temptation he said, If thou be the Son of God, cast thy self down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, &c. So that he did not only acknowledge the Being of God, but he acknowledged also the Truth of the Scripture: Nay, when he promised to Je­sus the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, if he would fall down and worship him; it appears by St. Luke, that he did by no means pretend to be the Supreme Disposer and Governor of the World (i.e.) to be the Supreme God, but acknowledged him that was truly so; for thus it is said, Luke 4.6. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, for it is delivered to me, and to whomsoever I will I give it. Now here the Devil plainly acknowledged that this Power was but delivered to him, and not originally in him; and this was as plain a signification as could possibly be given, that he did not design to draw our Saviour to worship him as the Supreme [Page 136] Deity, since he confessed a Superior. Whereas therefore our Saviour answered him, Get thee behind me, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, &c. it seems very evident, that Di­vine Worship may be given to that which is not God, by one that acknowledges and worships the true God; for otherwise I am sure it had not been Idolatry to worship the Devil in these circumstances, who did by no means require our Saviour to wor­ship him as the Supreme God, or not to worship him who really is so. And here I cannot but observe how instructing our Saviour's Answer was; for when the De­vil tempted him to worship him, Jesus might have refused it justly enough upon another score, That no Honour was to be given to that Enemy of GOD and Man; but when omitting that Consideration, he spoke to the Point in this manner, It is written, Thou shalt worship, &c. he laid down a Rule to serve his Disciples in all like cases, even where they might be called not to worship a Devil, but a Saint; not a bad Angel, but a good one. Thou shalt wor­ship, &c. If it be pretended in the behalf of Saints, that they have great power with God in Heaven; and of Angels, that they are his ministring Spirits, and therefore [Page 137] they are to be honoured with Invocations, and Bodily Worship by us upon Earth; we are to remember, that when the Devil pretended to have the Power of the Earth delivered into his hands, and promised that upon the desire of Jesus, and a little Pro­stration to him, he would give it to him; our Lord did not give him that Answer which was peculiar to the particular case; as, That he was a lying and wicked Spirit, and therefore no such acknowledgment was to be paid to him; but such an Answer as supposed it Idolatry to pay the same re­spect to any other created Being: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, &c.

But because the Notion of Idolatry was of necessity the same under the Gospel, that it was under the Law, since without any new Notions of it, the Apostles, who were Jews, preached against Idolatry, we cannot go a better way to work to confute this pretence, That they who acknowledge one Supreme God, cannot be guilty of Idolatry; than by observing what was counted Ido­latry under the Law.

1. Now we read 1 Kings 11. That Solo­mon in his old Age turned away his heart, and worshipped other gods, viz. Ashtoreth and Milcom, and Chemosh, and Molech: These were the Idols of the Nations round about [Page 138] the Israelites; and all the world knows, that the Service of Idols is Idolatry. But now, did Solomon renounce the God of Hea­ven and Earth, the Supreme Governor of the world, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? So he must have done, according to the modern Notion of Idolatry, or else he could not be guilty of it: But if we may believe plain Scripture, so he did not; for mark what is said, v. 4. His wives turn­ed away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. It seems then that his heart was not quite turned away from the Lord his God, but it was not perfectly with him, and that because he did not worship the Lord his God only, but served other gods besides. Again, v. 5, 6. Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomi­nation of the Ammonites: And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his fa­ther. Now can that be said of one that utterly renounceth the Belief and Worship of the Supreme Lord, that his heart doth not go fully after the Lord? These things are so plain, that they need no Illustration. To be short, in the Old Testament these Worships were esteemed and condemned as Idolatry.

[Page 139]1. To worship other Beings with the True God, which was the case of Solomon now mentioned, and of the Samaritans, 2 King. 17.41. Who feared the Lord, and ser­ved their graven images; their own gods.

2. To worship Idols only, which seem­ed to be the case of Ahab and Manasseth, who had given over the Service of the God of Israel, but yet were not without all sense and apprehension of him; but for all that, they addicted themselves wholly to the Service of false gods.

3. The worshipping of the True God by a material Image or Representation of him; such, for instance, was the Idolatry of the Golden Calf, which the Israelites intended for a Representation of that God which had brought them out of the Land of Egypt; as it evidently appears from the Proclamation, Exod. 32. These are thy gods, or this is thy God, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt: And Aa­ron built an altar before it, and made a pro­clamation, and said, To morrow is a Feast to Jehovah, or to the Lord. In vain it is said, That the Israelites fell to the Egypti­an Idolatry: Thus much I am willing to grant, That the Israelites missing Moses, took that very Representation of the Su­preme God, which they had seen in Egypt; [Page 140] for it is a foolish thing to imagine that the Egyptians themselves were without any sense or apprehension of the Supreme God: But that the Israelites fell to downright Egyptian Superstition, and copied all that they had learnt in Egypt, is undeniably false from this one Argument, That the Israe­lites offered Burnt-offerings, and brought Peace-offerings unto the Image they had set up; and as Jeroboam did afterwards, they offered Bullocks and Rams to the Idol; which Beasts being amongst the Egyptians held Sacred, were never sacrificed to their Idols; and for that very reason God com­manded them to be offered to him; so that the Israelites in their Sacrificing followed their Rule which they had received from God only; but missing Moses, they would have a visible Representation of the True God to go along with them; and for wor­shipping it, they were called Idolaters, and punished as such. The Instance of the Calves of Dan and Bethel, which Jeroboam did set up, the worshipping of which is called Idolatry, is to the same purpose; for all he pretended was, that it was too much for the Israleites to go up to Jerusalem to wor­ship: Behold, says he, thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, 1 Kings 22.28. He did not forsake [Page 141] the God of Israel to follow other gods, but he set up material Images or Representa­tions of the True God, and it was his Ido­latry to worship them: Hence the Prophets whom God raised up in Israel, did not charge the Worshippers of this sort for De­serters of the God of Israel, though they inveighed against their Altars: But when Ahab fell to worship other gods, it was particularly noted of him, that he did therein what Jeroboam did not do; this latter sort of Idolatry was laid to Ahab's charge, 1 Kings 16.13. to wit, That as if it had been a small thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he went and served Baal, and worshipped him.

From all this it is plain, that whereas in the New Testament the Apostles bid us be­ware of Idolatry; My dearly beloved, flee from Idolatry: Little children, keep your selves from Idols; and the like; they being Jews, must necessarily by Idolatry mean the worshipping of the true God by Ima­ges, or giving any Divine Worship what­soever, any Honour due to God only; giving that, I say, to any other Being, how excellent soever, although they that do so, do believe and worship the Supreme God, the Master of Heaven and Earth all the while: For by Idolatry they could under­stand [Page 142] nothing but what went for Idolatry under the Law, seeing the Notion of it was not in the least altered, but it continued just the same that it was before, as these ve­ry words do witness, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

But as I entred upon this Argument by distinguishing between Atheism and Idola­try, so I shall now close it, by comparing them together. Idolatry is indeed a very heinous sin, because it gives away the Glory of God to another; but Atheism is a worse, because that is a renouncing of the Lord of Heaven and Earth, the Crea­tor of the World: They who do not serve the Lord only, are guilty of great Impiety; but they who do not serve and worship him at all, are guilty of a greater Impiety. To worship God, and to worship Angels, to pray to God, and to pray to Saints, to adore Jesus Christ, and to adore the Virgin, is in part to forsake God and our Saviour; but neither to worship or pray to Saints and Angels, no, nor to God himself, this is ut­terly to forsake him, and to live without God in the World: Which I do not say to extenuate the Crime of Idolatry, but to give every thing its due, and to leave this Impression upon our Mind, That by how much more we inveigh against the Idola­try [Page 143] of others, because it is no less than gi­ving some of God's Glory to his Creature, by so much the more we oblige our selves to be constant and devout, and in very good earnest in the Worship of the only true God, lest by degrees we fall into a Spirit of Irreligion and Atheism, and be wholly estranged from God; which is a worse Case than Solomon's was, who falling into the Idolatry of his Neighbours, fell under this Character, That his heart was not perfect with the Lord, and he went not fully after him.

To conclude; since through the Grace of God it is our Happiness to worship the Lord our God, and to serve him only, let us have a care that we go on to worship God only; and to be sure let us remember that we worship him, that we be not slothful in Religion, but earnest and fervent, lest we forsake God by a Spirit of Irreligion, which is every whit as damnable as Idolatry. Let it appear by our whole Conversation, that we do in­deed worship the God that made Heaven and Earth, who only hath power to bless us, to protect and keep us in this Life, and to reward us with the enjoyment of him­self for ever.

The Sixth Sermon.

IN these words we may observe Two Things.

• I. God's Testimony concerning Abra­ham, Now I know that thou fearest God.
• II. The Fact upon which this Testi­mony of God concerning him was grounded, which was his offering his Son Isaac to God, Because thou hast not with-held thy son, thine only son from me.

1. The Testimony of God concerning him, I know that thou fearest God; this, I [Page 146] say, was God's Testimony concerning him: For whereas it is said, That the Angel of the Lord called to him out of Heaven; it seems plain that the Angel of the Lord was no other than the Angel of the Cove­nant, the Son of God himself, who did sometimes appear to the Patriarchs; for the words are, Seeing thou hast not with-held thy son, thine only son from Me, (i. e.) from God; it was God that fpake to him, and who said, Now I know that thou fearest God. The matter God testified of him, was, That he feared God; that is, that he believed in God, that he was fully persua­ded of his Infinite Power, Wisdom, Ju­stice, and Goodness, and all his Infinite Perfections, and that he was affected suit­ably thereunto: This is the meaning of the Fear of God in the Scripture, which is a Phrase used to comprehend all pious Af­fections towards him, and is therefore of the same latitude with Faith, the Praise whereof is ascribed to Abraham by the Author to the Hebrews. The only thing to be added is this: That we must remem­ber, that to fear God, is to fear him as God; that is, before and above all other things, and consequently to love him, and to trust in him, and to rely upon him incomparably and infinitely more than [Page 147] upon all the World besides, inasmuch as the Perfections of all others are finite, God only is infinite in all Perfections: Now this was that which God testified of Abra­ham, in saying of him, that he feared God; and in the understanding of this, there is no difficulty at all. But it may seem strange, that God should give this Testi­mony of him in that manner, wherein we find he did: Now know I that thou fearest God: Now, (i. e.) now thou hast not with-held thy son, thine only son from me: For did not God know the integrity of Abra­ham's Heart before? Is not God the Searcher of hearts? And doth he need our outward Actions, that he may judge of our Tem­pers and Intentions by them? It is true, we have no other way to come to the understanding of one anothers Thoughts, but by our Words and Deeds: But hath God no other way? Yes, without all doubt, he that knoweth our thoughts afar off, even before they are born within us, cannot be ignorant of them when they are: But why then doth he say, Now I know that thou fearest God? I answer, That this is one of those Sayings of God, by which he is pleas'd to condescend to the manner of our speaking and conversing with one another. For we with great [Page 148] propriety use such expressions as these, upon such extraordinary occasions: If from my Friend that hath always pro­fessed great kindness to me, I receive some notable benefit in my distress, not with­out hazard to himself, it is very proper for me to say, Now I know that he loves me: Now I know he is indeed a faithful and sincere Friend, though I had great reason to make no doubt of it before; yet this is so great a confirmation and streng­thening of my belief, that in comparison thereto, I might be said to know little or nothing of it before: In allusion to such expressions it is, that God useth these words, Now I know that thou fearest God: Not in intimation of his having now gained greater assurance of Abraham's Integrity, than he had before. Abraham had been for a long time the Servant of God, and had made an open profession of worshipping and obeying him; and God saw all along that he was an upright man, and this no less before he was bidden to offer his Son Isaac, than after he had stretched forth his hand to slay him up­on the Altar; and therefore the mean­ing of these words is this, and no more: The thing is now plain and undeniable to all, that thou fearest God. But why [Page 149] would God have Abraham's Faith made so plain and unquestionable? Why must such a Trial as this be made, since it could not be to let God into a more tho­rough knowledge of Abraham, than he had before? I answer, it must be either for the sake of Abraham himself, or for the sake of others, or for both.

Let us first see what advantage the suc­cess of this Trial was to Abraham him­self. And,

1. I think we need not doubt, that he was a most excellent Man all along; yet even this Noble Act of Faith, which is the subject of this Chapter, made him yet a greater and a better Man than he was before: For so it is, that as by bad Acti­ons, bad Men grow worse; so by good ones, good Men grow better, and by ex­ceeding and extraordinary Acts of Faith and Virtue they grow much better.

2. Abraham was indeed conscious be­fore of his own Integrity; yet when God put him upon so severe a Trial as this was, the performance of his Duty, though it did not add to God's assured knowledge of Abraham's integrity, yet it added to the assurance which Abraham had of himself: For though there are no degrees of cer­tainty [Page 150] in God, yet there are in Men: And though Abraham was well assured before, that he feared God, yet his quit­ting himself so well upon so extraordina­ry an occasion, could not but add to his assurance: And that is one advantage that all Good men have by those particu­lar Trials of their Faith, which do not happen commonly, that how hard soever they are to Flesh and Blood, yet if they behave themselves as they ought, they gain this satisfaction by it, to be more certainly persuaded of their own sinceri­ty; and doubtless Abraham had no ordi­nary satisfaction of Mind in the Consci­ence of having obeyed God, requiring so hard a thing, especially since God did not leave him to gather the comfort of his sincerity from his Obedience in the way of reasoning, but did also add a par­ticular Revelation to give him the highest assurance that could be had: I know, says he, that thou fearest God: And so he had the assurance of so concerning a point from God himself, not only for the in­crease of his Joy, but that this Example might yield good Instruction to others, who are not to expect such immediate Revelations: And this brings me to the

Second Answer, That although this trial of Abraham's Faith could add no­thing to the knowledge which God had of his sincerity, yet it was very benefi­cial to others, that he should be so tri­ed, and that upon his good and worthy carriage under it, God should so plainly and particularly testify his integrity; we are therefore to mind attentively the instruction that Abraham's exampl [...] and God's approving his sincerity, affords in the World: And the

First Point of Instruction I shall name is this: That that Faith in God, which will gain his approbation and reward, is a lively and working Faith. When we consider, that God himself vouchsafed upon so eminent an act of Faith, as that of Abraham's offering up his Son; when I say himself was pleased to condescend to such an expression as this, Now know I that thou fearest me, as if the matter hitherto had been uncertain to him; what can we make less of it, than that God took this opportunity, nay that God made this opportunity to declare to the World, that he who should not bring forth the proper Fruits of Faith in God, and fear of God, shall be reckoned of by him as one that hath no Faith at all, no fear of [Page 152] God at all; and what is thus true of the fear of God, is true of Trust in God too. I have already noted, that what is here called the fear of God, is by the Author of the Hebrews called Faith; and therefore if our fear of God, our apprehension of his Almightiness, his Justice, and Wisdom, Holi­ness, and Sovereignty, will not be at all re­garded or owned by him, unless it doth produce a conformity of our actions to his will but we shall on the contrary be look­ed upon as if we did not fear him at all; the argument is very strong, that our Faith separated from the performance of that which God requires and expects from us, will not be looked upon as Faith, it will not be the Faith by which a man is justified. For I beseech you, Brethren, Is not the fear of God, a belief of his Justice, and his Power, and his Holiness, and his infinite Perfections, and something more than a bare belief of them, viz. such a belief as is accompanied with some awe, dread, and reverence of God? But if Faith working by inward Fear, and yet failing to produce the per­formance of what God expects from us, will not be owned as the fear of God, when we come to stand or fall by his Sentence, then how much less shall mere Faith or Per­suasion be reckoned as any thing worth, [Page 153] when separated from the fruits of it in Life and Action? Since upon Abraham's offe­ring up his Son according to God's Com­mand, God was pleased to say, Now I know that thou fearest God: We cannot imagine what could have been said on the other side, if he had refused to hearken to God's Voice, but this, Now I know that thou dost not fear God. I will not therefore dispute, nay I need not dispute, whether a Man, who upon the trial of his Obedience, de­parts from his Duty, whether he (I say) may not yet be said to believe in God, and to fear God, and to stand in some awe of his Justice and Power; for whether this may be truly said or not, yet it is all one, as to his acceptance with God: God will not own that to be Faith, or Fear, or Trust, or Love, or Dependance upon God, which doth not produce the doing of his Will, and the fulfilling of his Commands, when he is pleased to try our Obedience in any notable instance; wherefore those words, wherein God condescends to our manner of speaking, Now I know that thou fearest God, are a natural intimation of this great Truth, That nothing will pass with him for the fear of God, but that which produces a conformable Practice and Obedience in all the trials of our submission to his Will: [Page 154] For undoubtedly God knew the Integrity of Abraham's Heart before, and therefore since he would not give his Testimony to him, till he had made it plain by this emi­nent act of Obedience; and since he gave this Testimony, as if he had but now been assured of it; what instruction doth this yield more readily, than that no Man shall be acknowledged by God to be one that fears him, but he that upon trial doth what God requires; and therefore that we should not presume upon the goodness of our Hearts and Intentions towards God, when our Actions contradict our Preten­ces: It is true, God sees the Qualities and Dispositions of our Minds with an Infalli­ble Judgment, but we not so certainly; it is hard for us to tell what degree of Faith or Fear is proper to God's Children, is justifying or saving: But if in the hard­est trials of thy Obedience, thou dost keep God's Commandments, then thou art sure that thou fearest God; and because God would have thee try thy self by this Rule, he was pleased to testify his own know­ledge, that Abraham feared him, upon Abraham's ready Obedience, as if he had not known it before.

2. Another point of Instruction, and of good use in all Ages of the World, is [Page 155] this, That God hath some Servants, and Worshippers, who are not hired to the Profession of serving him, by the world­ly ease, profit, and security, that Religi­on brings, and who, when that expe­ctation fails them, will not turn their backs upon him, to choose another Ma­ster. The Devil insinuated against Job, That he served God, because God had made an hedge about him, and about his house, and all that he had on every side; because he had blessed the work of his hands, and increased his substance in the land: but if God would put forth his hand, and touch all that he had, then he would curse him to his face: (i. e.) That then he would be as pro­fane, as he was before godly in outward appearance: But upon trial it proved o­therwise, and he retained his Integrity, say­ing, Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? Job 2.10. Such another instance of this kind was Abraham, God had blessed him with great Increase and Prosperity upon the leaving of his Country, and there was nothing wanting to compleat his Desires, but an Heir to his Blessings, which God had a long time denied him, and at length gave him. But it might be hitherto ob­jected against the sincerity of Abraham's [Page 156] fear of God, and dependance upon him, That he perceiving how much for the better it was that he left his Country at the Call of God, and finding now that all things went well with him, did therefore make profession of serving the only true God, because he found that it was the way to compass all that his heart could desire in the World: How therefore should it ap­pear that he behaved himself Religiously out of Conscience of his Duty, in an abso­lute and entire dependance upon God's So­vereign Power, Wisdom, and Goodness? And that was a thing very necessary to be made out, for the Credit of Religion in the World, and to demonstrate the ingenuity and sincerity of the Righteous. There could be no other way so effectual, no de­monstration so clear as this, That Abraham without murmuring and disputing, should let go the dearest of all his Possessions in obedience to the Command of God; and this was the trial God made of his sincerity. There was nothing that he held more dear to him than his only Son; for whose sake it was that he did set a value upon all the rest of his possessions; well therefore might it be said upon his ready compliance with this severe Command, Now I know that thou fearest God: This being as much as to say, [Page 157] Now thy sincerity is put beyond all que­stion, and all Men must acknowledge, that thou art in good earnest, what thou hast all along pretended to be, one that truly fearest God, and who therefore dost that which is good, not for worldly and mer­cenary Ends, but because thou art abso­lutely resolved to depend upon God's Wisdom and Goodness in doing every thing that he requires. And we must not think, Brethren, that this Testimo­ny of Abraham's Faith and Sincerity was given him only for his own sake, but for the sake of all Good men, that should in any Age of the World tread in the steps of Abraham's Faith, viz. That all Religious Men are what they are, not for worldly Respects, but for Conscience towards God. And therefore the trial of Abraham's Faith, did not only vindicate him, but all God's faithful Servants to the end of the World, from the charge of Hypocrisy, and pre­tending Religion for worldly Ends: Indeed he was tried in the most extraordinary in­stance that could be well thought of, and there was this reason for it, because he was to be the Father of the Faithful, the great Example of Faith and Religion: And it well became him, who was to have so great an Honour conferr'd upon him in [Page 158] all Ages, to undergo such a trial of his Faith, as might not only be a standing Example of our Duty, but a means to vin­dicate our Sincerity against the Reproach­es of the World, though we be not tried as Abraham was. For if Religion in the general be charged with the Hypocrisy of compassing worldly Advantages, un­der a pretext of Conscience, we desire them to look to the Example of our Fa­ther Abraham, and to consider the proof that he gave of his Sincerity, and God's Te­stimony concerning him, Now I know that thou fearest God. And this is the tem­per and disposition of all Abraham's Chil­dren, That they depend upon God's Provi­dence, not because they have a good E­state, that they are righteous and just; not because it is the way to thrive, that they serve God; not because he makes an hedge about all they have, and observe the Rules of Religion, not merely because they are under no unusual temptations to the contrary, and the like; but because believ­ing in God, and fearing and loving him in good earnest, they are persuaded they ought so to demean themselves in expecta­tion of his Favour, which is better than Life, and of his Rewards in a better World. In short, Abraham the Father of the [Page 159] faithful was therefore tried in this man­ner, that there might be in him an un­deniable instance of the sincerity and ingenuity of true believers to the end of the World, who live in all good Consci­ence, not expecting the profit of this World in recompence of their Piety and Justice, and that Religion will secure their Bodies from Sickness, their Goods from Rapine, their Names from Reproach, their Persons from Affronts, and their course of Life from common or from unusual Trou­bles and Afflictions: Abraham and his Children do not traffick with Heaven by their Prayers and Charity, to secure or in­crease their Possessions on Earth: And though God hath often blessed Good men, as he did Abraham, with strange prosperity in this World, yet this was not their end, nor the reason of their dependance upon God, and doing his Will; but they were such as they were, by Faith: By faith they wrought righteousness, Heb. 11.33. (i. e.) They did that thing which God re­quired, because they expected an heavenly Country, and believed God to be a re­warder of them that diligently seek him, though not always with the prosperity of this Life, yet without fail with those pure and ravishing Joys of a better World, [Page 160] which will shortly begin and never end. To conclude this point; It hath been very often the charge of the World upon all the Professors of Piety, That in their Hearts they are as bad as others, whatever their appearance be; That they are as much in love with the Wealth and Pleasures of this Life, as those that profess to make them their End; and therefore to vindicate the sincerity of his Servants, God does sometimes make them undeniable demon­strations of the falshood of this Charge. These are the principal points of Instructi­on that are contained in the Testimony God gave to Abraham. I pass on to the Second General in the Text, viz.

II. The Fact upon which this Testi­mony of God concerning Abraham was grounded, which was his offering up his Son Isaac to God, according to that Com­mand which he had received, Because thou hast not with-held thy son, thine only son from me. And here I shall briefly consider,

• 1. The Nature of the Fact: And
• 2. The Nature of the Trial, which the Fact supposes.

1. The Nature of the Fact, which was, his stretching forth his hand to slay his son upon the altar: And all I shall say, as to this matter, is, that God in that case [Page 161] did not command Murther which is a thing that he had absolutely forbidden; for the Command of God made it not to be Mur­ther, if it had been effected, as it was fully designed on Abraham's part. God is the absolute Lord of Life and Death, and can without doing any wrong take away Life at his pleasure, and he may do it which way he pleases, by commanding Abraham to kill his Son, as well as by commanding a Fever to do it: If Abraham had not had that Command, his intention had been wicked; such slaying were murtherous, not commanded; but the Command of God, who hath an absolute Right to di­spose of every Man's Life, made it not to be Murther, if it had been effected in­deed. This is enough for the Nature of the Fact considered in it self. But

2. We are to consider it, as it was a trial of Abraham's Faith, and submission to God, and procured that Testimony, Now I know that thou fearest God. And here there are these two things very remarkable:

1. That God singled out his beloved Possession to be offered forthwith for a Sa­crifice to himself; Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt-offering, upon one of the [Page 162] mountains which I will tell thee of. God laid before him all the stings of so hard an Injunction, Take thy son, and that thine only son; I know thou lovest him dearly, but yet he must be a Sacrifice to me, and a Sacrifice offered by thine own hand. This was such a saying, as that of Jesus teaching the heighth of sincere Religion: He that will be my disciple must deny him­self: He that loveth father or mother, or children, on houses, or lands, or his own life, more than me, is not worthy of me: For we cannot think that he who would give up such a Possession to God, to wit, his only Son, would deny him any thing: Had all his Flocks and his Herds, his whole Wealth and Possessions, nay had himself been called for, to become a Sacri­fice to God, he that denied not to God his only Son, would not have denied him these. Here was an example indeed of absolute Resignation to God, of Universal Acqui­escence in his Will: Here was indeed the Spirit of true Religion, that Abraham counted nothing too dear for his Maker; for this Command was in effect, as if God had said, Take now all that thou hast, with­out exception of any thing, be thou as na­ked as when thou camest into the World, strip thy self of every thing, and lay it be­fore [Page 163] me, to be disposed of, as I please: And had this been demanded, had all been required, he that offered his only Son, would with the same readiness have part­ed with all his Possessions. Herein there­fore consisted the trial of Abraham's Faith and Obedience, which the Fact supposes, that when the Question was, Whether he loved God above all things, and feared him above all things, and trusted in him above all things? This one single act was a demonstration that he did: Which ought to put us in mind, that God requires an entire Obedience to, and Dependance upon himself, and the giving up our most desira­ble Possessions to him, when his Word, or his Providence calls for them; and that thus we are to be disposed, if we be the Chil­dren of Abraham who was the Father of the Faithful.

It is farther remarkable under this head, that God required Abraham to do this forthwith, without disputing and delaying; and therefore the Command was not only a trial of what Abraham would do in an extreme hard case, but also how he was constantly provided and prepared to do as became God's Servant in such a case: It had not been so notable a trial of the goodness of the Man, if he had had a [Page 164] Week, or a Month's time allowed him to lay all things together, and to reason out the case, and to bring himself to a wil­lingness by such arguments as the matter would bear; for then it had been suppo­sed, that Abraham had not duly weighed these things before, nor lived in a constant and habitual sense of his Duty, which was to obey universally, but in some extraor­dinary trial of his Obedience, must have time allowed him to prepare himself for it. But this trial coming of a sudden, and the Command being to be executed forthwith, as it was, plainly demonstrated, that A­braham was always ready to offer up his Son, and could never have been taken unprovided to do the Will of God in the most difficult case: And therefore his ex­ample doth not only instruct us, that God is to be entirely submitted to, but that we are to be always ready, and prepared in heart and mind to do well, upon the tri­al of our Faith and Obedience, that when it happens in any notable instance, we may in some measure come up to that perfecti­on in Self-resignation to God, which A­braham, as far as it appears by the History of him, was a Pattern of: For he did set himself to part with his All with­out murmuring, and expostulating, and [Page 165] disputing; for some such thing seems to be intimated in that saying, That he rose early in the morning, and immediately went about the execution of God's Com­mand: Though without doubt a Man of his human and tender affections could not but feel pain in receiving this command of God, and an uneasy strugling between his Faith in God, and his Affection to his Child; yet it doth not appear, that this delayed his resolution, to do what God required, or raised in him any dispute, what to conclude upon: But though it was grievous to do it, yet because it was God's pleasure, he forthwith set himself to obey. This perfection of Obedience is what we should aim at, for the greater Glory of God, and for our own greater security; and I will add for our ease too. For he that submits to God with the least dispu­ting, when the trial is great, doth it with the least pain; but it will be accepted by God if we prevail at last, and to do the thing that God expects, in quitting all, to secure an Interest in him, although not with the same readiness that Abra­ham did, though not without complaint and some disputing; for God will par­don our Infirmities, if there be a pre­vailing sincerity at the bottom, that [Page 166] overcomes the reluctance of Flesh and Blood. But we should labour to come up to the perfection of Abraham's exam­ple, and consider well with our selves, That it is our constant profession and pretence, as well as it was Abraham's, to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and to hold nothing too dear for him; and withal, that there is nothing which God can require us to quit voluntarily, but he has an absolute Right to dispose of it, and has absolute Power to deprive us of it, whether we will or not. When therefore God requires, that we should freely resign that to him, which he can take away if he pleases, it is evident that he requires this, not for his own good, but for ours: If he had needed Isaac, and it had been beneficial to him­self that Isaac should be killed, What need of Abraham to do it? And sure it is a mighty reason without delay to put God's Will and Command in execution, when we know beforehand that all is meant for our good, not that God is the better for that which we quit, but because we are the better for doing it freely and voluntarily.

2. The other remarkable is, That God required of Abraham to offer up [Page 167] that his only Son, in whom his seed should be called, through whom all those great Promises were to be fulfilled which he had made to him before; and here­in consisted the nobleness of Abraham's Faith, that though God seemed to require that, which would destroy all the hope he had by those Promises, which hi­therto he had firmly believed, yet he be­lieved still, and submitted to do that, which in all appearance was utterly in­consistent with the truth of those Promi­ses that had been made to him; so that he against hope believed in hope: And this is that which the Author of the Epi­stle to the Hebrews lays an Emphasis up­on, chap. 11. By Faith Abraham when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises, offered up his on­ly begotten Son; his only Son through whom those Promises were to be fulfil­led. Now, though he could in obedl­ence to God get over the difficulty that Natural Affection laid in his way, yet here was the hard point, how he should get over that temptation to unbelief, which struck at the very Root of his Faith: God had promised before, that in Isaac his seed should be called. If he believed him now, How did it not appear that he was deceived [Page 168] before? If he was not deceived before in trusting to that Promise, How could he be obliged to do that which would take away all reason to believe that Pro­mise any longer? But yet without any of this disputing and contending, he went speedily about the matter, he rose up ear­ly in the morning, and takes his Son a­long with him to that place where he was to offer him up. Now if you ask how it was possible for him to believe in God, notwithstanding this Command; mark what the Apostle says, By faith he that received the promises, offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called; ac­counting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure. That is to say, he so fully believed all God's Promises made to him before, that his Faith was not staggered with the seeming inconsistency of this Command of God with his for­mer Promises; but concluded, if there was no other way, God would raise up Isaac from the dead; for he account­ed, that is, he was fully persuaded, that God was able to raise him from the dead, as in a sort he did, by stopping his hand when he was about to slay him: And [Page 169] now if upon the former consideration A­braham's sincerity deserved so high a te­stimony, much more upon this; for it is the highest praise of Faith, to trust that God will make good all his Promi­ses, even when the way he takes so to do seems to be utterly inconsistent with them: Well therefore might God upon this high act of Obedience renew his Co­venant with Abraham, in saying, By my self have I sworn, That because thou hast done this thing, and hast not with-held thy son, thine only son from me, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be bles­sed. And observe here, I beseech you, how highly God was pleased with this Noble Act of Faith, and how fitly the Promise wherewith God immediately rewarded him, agreed to what Abraham had done: By my self have I sworn, That because thou hast done this thing, in blessing I will bless thee: Words cannot express a great­er delight than these do: One would think that Abraham had done some singu­lar kindness to his God, and if God were to be judged of, as we judge of Man, that God had received an extraordinary favour and benefit from him. But such is the in­finite and pure Charity of God, that [Page 170] when we do what is good for our selves, it is no less pleasing to him, than if it were beneficial to himself: But because Abraham had conquered the greatest Tem­ptation of all to Disobedience, viz. That the thing commanded seemed to destroy all the Promises he had made of a Blessed Po­sterity that should descend from him by Isaac; God now rewarded his Faith with repeated Assurances: By my self have I sworn, That in thy seed shall all the na­tions of the earth be blessed: And so well might the Jews in their Peace-offerings, when they thankfully acknowledged the goodness of God in giving them the pos­session of so good a Land, call to mind the offering of Isaac, as the great Founda­tion of all those Temporal Blessings which they, as the seed of Abraham, enjoyed.

And after such a demonstration as this, well may we trust God in all Conditions, if we resolve to do as Abraham did, if we count none of his Commandments grie­vous, if we do not repine at his Providen­ces, if we go on to serve him, and to de­pend upon him, though when we must hope against hope; for then God will not fail to shew, that we have wisely trusted in him, and cast our selves upon him, he will shew himself as much pleased with our [Page 171] Faith, as he was with Abraham's, and will reward it as effectually.

To sum up all: The Testimony of God to Abraham's Faith, was not given meerly for his own sake, but for the In­struction and Encouragement of all true Believers to the World's end, who when they deny themselves, and do the hard­est Duties, and are never offended with the Will of God, have, I say, a Title to the Testimony God gave to Abraham: Now I know that thou fearest God. Certainly it would be no mean encouragement to us; it would raise up our minds to very great degrees of Joy and Triumph, to have God say that to us that he did to A­braham; but we are to remember, that it was said to him once for all, in behalf of all his Children that should tread in the steps of his faith: This was not an Ho­nour given to Abraham only, though to him principally and in the first place; it was done him also for the Credit of Re­ligion in all Ages of the World, and for the comfort and joy of all Religious and Holy Men and Women to the end of the World.

Wherefore, my Brethren, that we may come in for some share in the Praise and Reward of Abraham's Faith, let there be [Page 172] in none of us an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God: The evil heart of unbelief, is the evil heart that cau­seth unbelief, (i. e.) some corrupt incli­nation, some unmortified Lust, some car­nal interest or other. Do thou therefore in the first place, when thou hast an eye upon the example of Abraham, conceive how much thou art obliged to take thy sin, thy dearly beloved sin, whatever it be, and slay it, that is the first Sacrifice thou canst offer to God, to wit, a broken and contrite heart, an heart clean from worldly and sinful Lusts. Do this, and thou wilt find nothing too dear for God, thy Faith will then make thee to be entire­ly at the disposal of his Will and Pleasure, it will justify and support thee in so doing, and the God of Abraham will be thine ex­ceeding great reward.

The Seventh Sermon.

THough never Man was so unreprove­able in his Doctrine and Example, as our Lord Jesus, yet never was Man more opposed or cavilled at, as the Evangelists do abundantly testify in that History of him which they have written for us, being up­on the matter made up of the Holy Do­ctrines which he delivered, the Good Works in which he was always employed, and the [Page 174] Contradictions which he continually met with: And it was very necessary that some instances of the last should be recorded for our sakes, that they who profess the Truth as it is in Jesus, should not think it strange if they happened to meet with such oppo­sition as their Master did; and likewise, that by his Answers to the Cavils of his Adversa­ries, they might be instructed how they should defend themselves afterwards against the like Objections. One instance whereof we have in the Text I have now chosen to speak to; Then came to Jesus Scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem, &c.

As to which words I shall not need to say much concerning the Persons that our Saviour had to deal withal, because their Character is so well known to all that dili­gently read the Gospels. The Scribes were the Men that professed to Teach the Law, and expected to have all their Interpretati­ons received as Oracles. The Pharisees were the most subtle and prevailing Sect amongst the Scribes; for though as things were in that Age, and for some time before, the Scribes generally agreed in corrupting the Law and deceiving the People; yet they had their Parties and Factions among them­selves; the Pharisees in our Saviour's time being a Sect of the greatest Power in the [Page 175] Council, and of the greatest Reputation with the People; and whereas it is said, that they were the Scribes and Pharisees, or the Scribes of the Pharisaical Party, which were of Jerusalem, that came to Jesus; the meaning is, that they were such as kept their Schools in the City of Jerusalem, and were therefore of the first rank amongst the Pharisees. And now I shall discourse to you of these two things:

• First, Of the Objection which these Men made against Jesus and his Disciples.
• Secondly, Of the Answer which our Sa­viour made to the Charge that was laid against them.

I. Of the Objection which these Men made against Jesus and his Disciples: Why do thy Disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. A Charge laid with as much confidence as anger, and therefore they scorned to put any of his Disciples to answer it, and thought fit to challenge the Master himself about it. Now the first thing that is proper to be considered here, is,

1. The nature of the Charge, which seems to be a general one illustrated by one particular instance: The general Charge [Page 176] was, That the Disciples of Jesus transgressed the tradition of the elders: The particular instance was, That they transgressed such Tradition, in not washing their hands before meat.

As to the general Charge, they had trans­gressed the tradition of the elders. But what was the Tradition of the Elders? The Tra­dition of the Elders, was the Doctrine that had been delivered, and the Rules that had been laid down by Wise and Great men, and universally received in former Ages. One would think therefore, that the Laws of Moses, and the Rules of the Prophets, and whatsoever was commanded in the Scriptures, had been the tradition of the elders; for all these things had been deli­vered down by an uncontroulable Traditi­on from hand to hand for near Two thou­sand Years. But there was no such mean­ing under these words as they used them. By the tradition of the elders, or by the ancient Tradition of Wise and Great men, they meant no Doctrines or Rules for Faith or Practice that were expressed in the Wri­tings of Moses and the Prophets, but such Doctrines as not being written in the Law were delivered down by word of Mouth, and by constant usage from Father to Son, and so from one Age to another. And thus [Page 177] Josephus tells us, Antiq. 13.13. That the first and main Principle of the Pharisees was, that they denied all those things to be written, which concerned Religion. The Fundamental Rule of their Sect was this, that there was a double Law, an Oral Law, and a Written Law: A Law de­livered from Age to Age by word of mouth, as well as a Law delivered in such Books as had Authority from Moses and the Pro­phets. To gain reverence to these Tra­ditions, they persuaded the People, that though they were not written in the Law, yet they were delivered to Moses by God himself, to Joshua by Moses, to the Pro­phets by Joshua, to Esdras by the Pro­phets, and thence to the Masters of the Schools, of whom they were the Succes­sors: And they being the Guardians of these unwritten Traditions which were to be had in equal, or rather superior re­gard to that which the Scriptures were to be held in, claimed also an absolute Obe­dience from the People, insomuch, that it was a saying amongst them; If the Scribes say, that the right hand is the left, or the left hand the right, you are to be­lieve them. Now the Charge of the Pha­risees upon our Saviour's Disciples, was not, that they had transgressed any Tradi­tion [Page 178] that appeared to have a Divine Origi­nal, by the Books of Moses and the Pro­phets, but that they had transgressed the Tradition of the Elders, as they used to call them, such Traditions for which they had no other pretence, than that they were conveyed down by word of mouth from Father to Son, amongst the wise Men, and the Masters, and the Scribes.

The particular instance to explain the general Charge was this, That the Disci­ples did not wash their hands before they eat bread. For one of those many Tra­ditionary Doctrines for which they were so zealous, was this, That if a Stranger or an uncircumcised Person should but touch a Jew, the Jew was forthwith defi­led, or if he had but touched any thing that a Jew afterward touched, he was un­clean; and if the Jew should in that state take any meat to eat, that Meat was ren­dred unclean, and would defile his Mind; for the preventing of which danger, it was a part of Religion, to wash before eat­ing; and thus for an idle fancy they invent­ed an idle relief, and placed so much Reli­gion in it, that says one of them, He that eats bread with unwashen hands, sins as much as if he had lain with a Whore: And says another, It is the highest point of holiness [Page 179] for a man to separate himself from the vul­gar, and that he doth not touch them, nor so much as eat or drink with them; and the next to this, is to wash away the impurity that is contracted thereby: You may see a more particular account of this senseless Superstition of theirs, in Mark 7. The Pha­risees and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the Elders. And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not: And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables: that is, they did not only wash their own hands, lest they should have touched some stran­ger, or one less pure than themselves; but lest some stranger should have touched the Cup in which they drank, or the Dish in which their Meat was, or the Tables upon which the Cups were to stand; these were washed with all care, not for cleanliness, for that would not serve the turn; but for holiness sake, as if their Minds were made pure by washing their Hands and Cups, and all things of this sort. This was one kind of their Traditionary Doctrines, for transgressing of which the Disciples of Je­sus were accused by the Pharisees.

[Page 180]II. We may observe these Two things implied in the Charge:

• 1. The concern which the Scribes had for their Traditions. And,
• 2. The reverence in which the People held them.

1. The concern of the Scribes and Pha­risees to have them observed: It was so great, that a man might with less danger from them break a plain Law of God, than transgress one of their Traditions; and they would sooner call him to an account for this latter, than for the former: If they could have charged our Lord's Disciples with breaking the Fifth Commandment, as Jesus charged them with it presently af­ter, of this they would have said nothing: But they were not able to bear the neglect of the Disciples to wash before eating, for Conscience-sake: And when he had given the Multitude a plain account of this neg­lect, neither could they bear that, but were offended at him, v. 12. Hence in their Talmud, a Book that pretends to have gathered up their Oral Traditions, it is said, That there is more in the words of the Scribes, than in the words of the Law: And we are not to think that the written Law is the Foundation, but the un­written; and the words of the Elders are [Page 181] of more Authority and weight, than the words of the Prophets: So blind was their Zeal for their Traditions, that one of the Rabbies being once cast into Prison, and Water being given him to wash, and to drink, and the greater part of it being spilt, he rather chose to wash his hands than to drink, saying, 'Tis better to die than to transgress the Tradition of the Elders. And no wonder that they were thus con­cerned, when it was by these Doctrines that they kept up an absolute Authority over the People; for if the People would be made to believe that the unwritten Law was of greater consequence than the writ­ten, and that the Scribes were the Guardians and Oracles of the unwritten Law, nothing could be better contrived, to keep them in an absolute dependance upon the Scribes.

2. The Charge doth likewise imply an universal regard of these Traditions in the People: Why do thy disciples transgress the traditions? (i. e.) Why do they only do it? And we heard from St. Mark, that the Pharisees and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not: Whatever became of the Commandments of God, here was very good care taken, that the Traditions of the Church should be kept. Nay, it was so fixed in the minds of our Lord's [Page 182] Disciples themselves that they were to be kept, that it was not easy to set them right in these things presently; for after our Sa­viour had told them, Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth the man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, v. 11. Peter asked him, v. 15. to declare the meaning of the Parable, or as he thought it, hard saying: And Jesus said, v. 16. Are ye also yet with­out understanding? And so he goes on, shew­ing that he spake of cleanness of mind, which was defiled by evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, &c. They had not yet got rid of those Superstitious Fancies that reigned amongst the People, and were so prejudiced by them, that they could hardly understand the plain truth on the other side. Nay, when after this he had occasion to say to them, as you find in the next Chapter, ver. 6. Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the Saduces: How do we think they understood this saying? And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which shew'd they were not yet cured of this Pha­risaical Superstition; inasmuch as they un­derstood our Saviour, as if he had forbid­den them to eat any bread which the Pha­risees had touched, as the Pharisees would eat nothing that had been touched by a [Page 183] Gentile; when all that our Saviour meant, was that they should beware of their Do­ctrine. And no wonder that these Tradi­tionary Inventions had taken such root in the minds of men, when they did not serve more for the Authority of the Guides, than for the ease and liberty of the Peo­ple that followed them: For tho it was something a nice and elaborate business to observe all the Traditions, yet this was much more grateful, not only to fancy, but to flesh and blood, than to observe the Rules of true Piety by keeping the Com­mandments of God: For instance, tho it was something troublesome to be washing at every turn, yet if this would keep a man's mind clean, it was a much easier care, than to keep the heart pure; v. 19. from evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false-witnessings, and evil-speakings, which according to our Saviour's Doctrine were the things that defile the man, v. 20. How was it possible but that People should be fond of believing such a conclusion as this, Whosoever lives in the Land of Israel, and eateth his meat in cleanness, and speaks in the Holy Tongue, and Morning and Eve­ning says over his Phylacteries, let him ne­ver doubt but he shall obtain life in the World to come. This was the Doctrine [Page 184] of the Masters, and certainly they must be very uereasonable people that could not be content to go to Heaven upon such terms as these, if they could be made such Fools as to believe it: And truly men are [...]ry apt to hearken to such Follies, because they save them the labour of being truly good. No wonder therefore that the Scribes were so universally believed and obeyed by the peo­ple, inasmuch as they undertook to carry them all to Heaven infallibly by such slight and cheap performances as were re­quired by their Tradition: And in such a case as this, it would cost more than ordi­nary pains to undeceive them; our Saviour himself being constrained to repeat his In­structions over and over again to his Disci­ples, to get these Fancies out of their heads. And thus much concerning the nature of that Charge which the Pharisees laid against our Lord's Disciples, and concerning that which is implied in it, the zeal of the Priests and the Scribes for their Traditions, and the fondness of the People that were addicted to them. I proceed now to the

Second Point: And that is the Answer which our Saviour made to this Charge, viz. Why do ye also transgress the command­ment of God by your tradition? Which doth of it self appear to be a plain and wise way [Page 185] of answering their bold Question, because it turned the difficulty upon them, and that a thousand times a greater difficulty, to say, if they could, by what Authority they advanced their Traditions against the Law of God; and since they thought it was so heinous a fault in the Disciples not to observe their Traditions, to purge themselves if they were able, of a notorious fault in keeping their Traditions, and teaching them to others; inasmuch as their Traditions could not be kept without transgressing the commandment of God. Which general Charge our Saviour makes good also, by one particular inference so plain, that there was no fencing against it: For God, says he, commanded, saying, Honour thy father and thy mother: and he that curseth father or mother, let him dye the death: But ye say, whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, it is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, and honour not his father and his mother, he shall be free: thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. The Tradition was this, That if a man had vowed never to relieve, or to give any thing to such or such a per­son, tho it were his Father or his Mother, he was held by his Vow; and if afterwards he should change his mind, and be willing [Page 186] to relieve his Parents, and in order there­unto go to the Priests to be dispensed with, and absolved of his Vow, the Priests should challenge all that he now designed to re­lieve his Parents withal, but of his Vow he could not be released, and the Money was put into the Treasury of the Temple; so that if his Father or Mother came after­wards to him, and asked an Alms of him, he might say, It is Corban, or devoted to the Service of the Temple, whatsoever I can have a mind to give thee; and in St. Mark our Saviour concludes, And ye suf­fer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother: For they held him to his Vow, and whatever Money he could be willing to give them afterwards, being under the Reli­gion of a Vow, it became Sacred, and was to go to the Temple: In which most wicked Tradition they had their Ends; for the Wealth of the Treasury being partly em­ployed in the Reparation of the Temple, partly for the Relief of the Poor, partly for the enriching of the Priests and Le­vites, the Pharisees who were no small part of the Priests, had their share in all that was brought into the Treasury. By this Traditionary Doctrine and Practice, they had eluded a Law of God not of lesser moment, but of so great moment, that [Page 187] the transgression of it was capital, and such a Law too, as the light of Nature shews no less than the written word of God; and therefore well might our Saviour conclude, Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition: But if it be now asked, Why our Saviour did not keep to that Instance which the Pharisees pro­duced, and answer to that, but rather chose another instance? The account of this I think very easy, viz. That he saw it was necessary to run them down by one of the most undeniable Instances that could be imagined, of their contradicting the Law of God by their Traditions: For the bold­ness of the Pharisees and Priests was so ex­cessive, and the fondness of the People about these Traditions was so hard to be broken, that it was necessary to make way for their conviction by such an argument as must needs make some impression upon them: And when he had made an end of that, he did not forget to speak directly to the point they had begun withal; for v. 10. we find that he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear and understand; Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth defileth a man; that is, Do not suffer your selves to be deluded by these confident [Page 188] men, who use their Authority to that de­gree, as to carry you under a pretence of keeping their Traditions, to the transgres­sion of the plainest Commandments of God, as I have evidently shewn in the case of the Fifth Commandment; and now be willing to be instructed in that other point of pretended Tradition which they blame my Disciples for not observing; and know, that no Food whatsoever is unclean, or un­lawful in its own nature to be used, nor can any man's touch make it so, nor can any of these things defile a man's Conscience; but a man's Conscience is defiled by that which comes from his heart, by evil Thoughts, by evil Words, and by Actions contrary to the Command of God, such as murders, and adulteries, &c. These are the things that de­file a man; but to eat with unwashen hands, defileth not a man: (i. e.) doth not by any means affect his Soul or his Conscience; for in this respect he is neither better for washing, nor worse for letting it alone; and to think otherwise is a Superstition hurtful to your selves, and dishonourable to God, and of very bad consequence, tho it be not so impudent and notorious an abuse, as the making void of God's Law by the other lewd Tradition that I mentioned before: It is to this purpose that we are to [Page 189] understand the method and design of our Saviour's Discourse in this place, in answer to the Objection of the Pharisees brought against the Disciples.

From which Answer there are some things to be gathered well worth our ob­servation.

1. That it is sufficient to overthrow the Authority of a pretended Tradition, that it is contrary to the Commandment of God.

2. That if there be one Traditionary Doctrine that notoriously contradicts the Law of God, that one instance is sufficient to overturn the credit of that Tradition which pretends to deliver unwritten Do­ctrines of equal Authority with those that are written.

3. That the universal consent of some one Age or more, That such and such Do­ctrines were delivered by word of mouth many Ages before, is no Argument that they were so delivered.

4. That we have great reason to stick to the Word of God delivered to us in the Scriptures; and to examine all Doctrines and Rules which are said to be necessary to Salvation by that Rule, and to reject the Authority of unwritten Traditions.

1. That it is sufficient to overthrow the Authority of a pretended Tradition, That [Page 190] it is contrary to the Commandment of God: For if when Tradition is pretended for any Doctrine or Practice, it be not enough to shew that the same Doctrine or Practice is inconsistent with what is plainly required in the Scriptures, which are ac­knowledged by all to contain the Word of God; I say, if this be not enough, then our Saviour used an insufficient Argument against the pretended Tradition of not suf­fering the Son that was under a Vow of the contrary, to relieve his Father or Mo­ther, that it made void the commandment of God. But doubtless our Saviour was so far from using a bad Argument, that he used the best and most convincing of all: And truly if we did not in this case consider our Saviour's Authority, yet it must be a mon­strous prejudice that keeps any man from discerning the strength of this Argument against the Authority of any unwritten Doctrine, That it is contrary to what is written; for nothing is more certain, than that Contradictions cannot be true, and yet they must be true, if that Doctrine for which unwritten Tradition is pretended, can be of God, tho it contradicts the writ­ten Tradition, which is by all acknowledg­ed to be Divine. But as plain as this Argu­ment is, yet it is very well for us that we [Page 191] find our blessed Saviour giving such Autho­rity to it; because there are Christians in the World, bearing up themselves upon the Tradition of the Church, that are loth to admit this Argument; which we have no cause to be amazed at, because it is an utter Confutation of all their pretences. We charge them with having brought into the Church new Articles of Faith, and new Doctrines of Worship, which are not only very different from what was taught at first by Christ and his Apostles, but some of them contrary thereunto, as we can shew them out of the Scriptures. But this way of proceeding doth by no means con­tent them, and they insist upon it, that the Cause may be tried otherwise. For say they, You acknowledge that our Church was once a pure Church, and taught the Gospel sincerely; but if as you say, she departed from the pure Faith and Worship which the Apostles left, it is impossible but this must have been very notorious, be­cause it could not have been done without opposition and resistance from some that must needs observe it: Tell us therefore, When were these new and false Doctrines introduced? Who were the men that brought them in? Who were the first that made the discovery? What Council con­demned [Page 192] them after they were discovered? For if none of these things can be shewn, it is absurd to think that any such alteration should have been as you say. Which rea­soning amounts to thus much, That it is impossible we can be sure that in the com­pass of a thousand Years, there was a great alteration happened in the state of Religion, unless withal we can tell how it came about, and just when it came about, the precise time, and the punctual manner and circumstances thereof; which is just as if a man almost desperately sick of a Dis­ease that had been for some Years growing upon him, should prove to his Friend that he is as well as ever he was in his Life; for says he, You know I was well once, and if I am now so ill as you say, pray shew me the time when this Disease first happened, the manner how, and what Physicians were called about me; which kind of arguing would certainly prove no more, than that the Disease had taken his head. When the Servants came and told their Lord, that the tares came up with the wheat, it was ex­cusable in them to say, We sowed good seed, whence hath it these tares? But when their Master told them, An enemy hath done this; if they had disputed, and told him, It was impossible there should be any Tares at all; [Page 193] because he could not tell punctually that very Night when they were sown, and who the Persons were that took the ma­licious pains to sow them; then they had been very inexcusable thus to renounce their own certain knowledge for the sake of a vain Speculation. Now we are very sure that the Apostles did at first sow no­thing in the Church but good and true Doctrine: Our Fathers that lived about fourteen hundred Years after, found quite another sort of Doctrine gotten into the Church, and some of them contrary to what the Apostles taught, as the Scriptures manifestly shew; and yet there have been a long time, and still there are certain Di­sputers, that go about to stagger others with such like questions as we have been speaking of, and teach them to defy all reasoning out of the Scriptures, till these questions are satisfied; What Age, What Year of our Lord, were these Errors brought into the Church? Who were they that brought them in, and who first com­plained of them? Now although a very reasonable account both may be, and hath been given of the Persons, the Time, and the manner, and the Degrees, by which such Corruptions got into the Church, yet it is very unreasonable to expect that every [Page 194] Christian should be able to answer these Questions punctually, because it requires more labour and reading than generally they have either leisure or ability to go through with; but withal it is very need­less, because there is a shorter and a surer way to determine this matter, and that by comparing those Doctrines and Practises with the Scriptures: For the Scriptures have a more certain Tradition, than any of those Histories that give an account of the Revolutions of Church-Affairs since the beginning; and now what matter is it, if I am assured that such and such Corrupti­ons were brought into the Church, some time or other after the Apostles, be­cause they are contrary to what the Apo­stles taught and left in their Writings, though I cannot tell just the Year when, or the Person by whom they first crept in­to the Church? I would very fain know of any Man, that when our Saviour set himself to overthrow that wicked Tradi­tion which we were speaking of before, whether he could not, if he had pleased, have given an exact account of the Persons that began it in the Jewish Church, and of the time when it began, and of every cir­cumstance that attended its entrance into the World, and its growth and increase af­terwards. [Page 195] But did he go this way to work? It is certain that the Pharisees pretended the Traditions which they taught the Peo­ple were delivered from God to Moses, and that through several Ages they were con­veyed down to them successively by word of Mouth. And I grant that if our Lord had with many words shewn them, that there were such and such Men who first brought them in, this had been a confuta­tion of their pretence; but for all that he was pleased to use a better and a shorter ar­gument against them, and told them what the Commandment was in the Law which their pretended Tradition made void, and this was instead of a thousand Arguments, that their Doctrine never came from Moses, but was invented some time afterwards: And, I beseech you, let none of us be asha­med to use that kind of argument which our Saviour thought fit to confute those People withal, and which we have reason to think he used, that he might shew us the best way to secure our selves from be­ing imposed upon by unwritten Traditions, and by a pretence of having received such Doctrines from the Apostles as they never delivered. When therefore we are asked, If Transubstantiation be an Error, and not an Article of Faith, when did it come in? [Page 196] If Service in an unknown Tongue be an Inno­vation, when did it come in? If the Sacri­fice of the Mass be a Corruption, when did it come in? Let us account it sufficient to answer, for so our Saviour thought it in the like case, That Transubstantiation makes void those places of Scripture which ex­presly affirm, that by eating of Bread we shew forth the Death of Christ, and are made partakers of his Body: That Service in an unknown tongue makes void the Four­teenth Chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians: And that the Sacrifice of the Mass makes void the Seventh and the Tenth Chapters of the Epistle to the He­brews, which expresly tell us, that Christ can be offered no more, and that there re­mains no more Sacrifice for sins; and there­fore we are very well assured that they did come in some time or other since the Apo­stles; but whether they came in sooner or later, is nothing to the purpose, for certain­ly nothing ought ever to have come in that makes void any part of the Word of God; but if any such thing hath got in, there is all the reason in the World that it should be thrown out again. They may well be ashamed that cannot bear this sort of argu­ing, but most certainly we have no reason to be ashamed to use it, since our Blessed [Page 197] Saviour hath used it before us; for when he set himself to overthrow the credit of these Doctrines, for which they pretended a con­stant Tradition in the Church, he thought it sufficient for his purpose, to shew that they voided the Commandments of God, and made his word of none effect.

2. If there be one Traditionary Do­ctrine that notoriously contradicts the written Word of God, 'tis enough to over­throw the whole Credit of that Tradition which pretends to bring down unwritten Doctrines that are necessary to be received. For thus we find, that our Saviour by the single instance of that Tradition which voided the Fifth Commandment, over­threw the Objection of the Pharisees against his Disciples: Why do thy Disciples transgress the tradition of the Elders? (i. e.) their unwritten Traditions: Which was as much as to say, That they ought all of them to be Religiously observed, because they had all the same Authority: Our Saviour therefore produces an instance of their Traditions that takes away all Autho­rity, inasmuch as it was a plain contradi­ction to the Law of God; if therefore amongst their unwritten Doctrines and Rules, there were any that had some kind of goodness and usefulness, they were to [Page 198] be regarded upon their own account, and not upon the Authority of Tradition. But when he had utterly overthrown all that pretended Authority by an undeniable Ar­gument, he then speaks to the case which themselves had propounded, and lays down the truth concerning it. They had a vast number of Superstitions, for which they pretended Tradition, and they tax our Sa­viour's Disciples for not observing one of them. Now he with admirable Wisdom first breaks the Authority of their Tradi­tion, shewing that one of them was plain­ly against the Law of God, and then he shews how Superstitious and foolish they were in the case which themselves chose to speak to. In this also our Lord hath set us an example, that if we are press'd by a pretence to Tradition in favour of unwrit­ten Doctrines and Articles, we should in the first place shew that one or more of these is contrary to the Word of God; and therefore that there is no reason to pretend Tradition for any of them, since they are all said to have come down together: Which being done in the first place, it will be then seasonable to shew, what is to be thought of the rest if they are judged of by the general Rules of Reason and Scripture.

[Page 199]3. The Universal consent of some one or two Ages that such and such Doctrines were delivered by word of mouth many Ages before, is no Argument that they were so delivered. The Pharisees did pre­tend that their Doctrines and Inter­pretations of the Law had been conveyed down from Moses by Oral Tradition to that Age in which they lived, and there were several of these Traditions universally be­lieved in that Age to have been so convey­ed, and the Practice of the People was universally governed by them: For in­stance, that of Religious Washing before meat, and the washing of Cups and Pots, as a thing in it self good and holy, was uni­versally received and practised, as St. Mark tells us. Now I would fain know whether they might not have reasoned in this fashi­on: We in this Age received this Doctrine and Rule from our Forefathers, who pro­fessed they received it from theirs; and if they had not received it from theirs, then they all agreed together to cheat us, as their Forefathers agreed to cheat them, if they had not received it from theirs; and so this Tradition must have come original­ly from Moses, or else there was one Age that agreed to cheat the next in things con­cerning the Service of God, and the Sal­vation [Page 200] of Mens Souls. But after all the prettiness of this demonstration, I think, we have more reason to believe, that this Superstition never came from Moses, be­cause our Saviour exposed it as a vain and foolish Doctrine, than to believe that it did, because the Jews ever since the Pharisees time, who were a Sect of full three hun­dred years standing, were taught to pretend Tradition for the Innovations of the Pha­risees, and for this amongst the rest. And therefore it is a vain thing to pretend, that because such and such Traditionary Do­ctrines were in such an Age taught without controul, as necessary to Salvation, they must needs have been taught so from the very first.

4. That we have great reason to stick to the word of God delivered to us in the Holy Scriptures, and to examine all Do­ctrines and Pretences by this Rule. For the Holy Scriptures are indeed the Rule whereby we are to try that pretence, that there is another Rule, viz. of unwritten Tradition; and if that other pretended Rule doth in any thing contradict the Scriptures, most certainly it is but a pretended Rule, and to be rejected. To deal plainly, this same plain Oral Tradition was never pretended for any good, either [Page 201] by Jews or Christians; nor made use of but to advance and protect some Doctrines or Practices that stand condemned by the Scriptures: And therefore after so long ex­perience had of the mischief, as well as va­nity of this pretence, it were perhaps not unreasonable for any Christian to reject the Argument of unwritten Tradition without any more ado, and to entertain no Doctrine or Practice necessary to Sal­vation, which cannot be proved out of the Scriptures, nor to entertain any thing at all, that is contrary thereunto, let Men talk of Tradition, or any other Authority, as long as they please.

And now I question not, but this Di­scourse will be acknowledged to be very plain and convincing; but for all that, it is not certain, that the Argument of it self will secure us from being deceived by the Sophistry of others, if we do not take heed to the main thing of all, and that is, to lead such Lives as the Scriptures di­rect us to lead; for there is no such tem­ptation in the World to be fond of Tra­ditionary Doctrines, as to live in that man­ner, that if the Traditionary Doctrines be not true, we can have no hope of Salva­tion. If we will live according to the Scriptures, we shall have no temptation, [Page 202] and I am sure we have no reason to believe otherwise, than according to the Scriptures: Let us often think that here we have no continuing place, we must not always live here, but that in a very little time we are to go into another World, and to appear before our Judge: Let us remember, that this is the great argument by which the Scriptures engage us to live a sober, righ­teous, and godly life; and let us consider that it is the strongest Argument in the World, and be persuaded by it to do ac­cordingly, and this will above all things establish us in the Truth. It is something hard to keep that Man from being deceived who needs the comfort of false Principles: For Men are very apt to be running for comfort, where it is to be had, though they cheat themselves for it.

Brethren, the Holy Scriptures are God's Book, and they are acknowledged to be so by all Christians in the World; therefore I say it again and again, stick to the Scri­ptures, live according to the Scriptures, and believe according to the Scriptures: Make the Scriptures the Rule of your Pra­ctice, and then you will need no more ar­guments to make them the Rule of your Faith: And as many as walk according to this Rule, Peace will be upon them.

The Eighth Sermon.

THE word Heresy did at first indif­ferently signify any Party distin­guished from others by Opinions and Pra­ctises peculiar to it self, whether those O­pinions were true or false, those Practices good or bad; insomuch that Christianity it self was called a Sect or Heresy for some time. But in time it came to be used in the worser sense, and was restrained to those that distinguished themselves by the profession of false Doctrines, or by unjustifi­able Practices: Which use of the word began soon after Christianity, as far as I can find; and there was this reason for it, that [Page 204] Christianity having established one Form of Doctrine which was to be universally re­ceived, there were now to be no Heresies or Sects, that is, no departure from the Unity of that Doctrine; and every new Sect from that time forward must necessa­rily be in the wrong: Thus also the word Schism or Division came in a little time to be restrained to that side or party by whose fault the breach of Christian Communion and Concord was made; and although when a dissention and breach of Unity happens, they that are not in the fault are at the same distance from those that are, that the faulty are from the innocent; yet the faulty were only said to be in Schism or Division: Moreover, it seems that Heresy and Schism were words at first used indif­ferently to signify the same fault of discord and Contention, because breach of Chari­ty and Communion, was for the most part made by departing from Unity of Do­ctrine; though in process of time Heresy was restrained to signify an Error about the Faith, and Schism a breach of Order and Christian Communion. St. Paul doth in this place seem to mean the same thing by both words; for in the foregoing verse says he, I hear that there be divisions or Schisms among you, and I partly believe it; [Page 205] that is, I believe it of some of you. And then he adds, For there must be also Here­sies among you; that is, Sects and Parties distinguished from one another by their pe­culiar Doctrines and Practices.

The matter about which there was a dis­agreement in the Church of Corinth, was no less than that of the administration of the Holy Communion; that having happened so early, which in the latter A­ges of the Church has obtained in a much higher degree, that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which was in great part instituted to unite the Faithful in one Body, was perverted into an occasion of divi­ding them from one another: Upon which observation St. Paul inserted this memora­ble, saying:

There must be also Heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest.

There must be Heresies (i. e.) Parties that will contend for false Doctrines and unlawful Practices; that will either take away from the Faith, or add to the Faith; that will either dispense with the Com­mandments of God, or teach for Doctrines the Commandments of men.

There must be Heresies among you; that is, this must happen in the Church it self: Men should arise from among them­selves speaking perverse things: And thus also St. Peter foretold, There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies, 2 Pet. 2.1. But it was impossible they should do it privily or slily if they were not of the Church, and had not thereby an opportunity, un­der a pretence of Piety, and care of Christian Truth, to slip their Innova­tions into the Church by degrees: Where­as it is added, That they which are appro­ved may be made manifest; the meaning is, that honest Men may more and more appear to be what they are.

So that in the words of the Text, there are these Two things observa­ble.

• I. The unavoidableness of Heresies in the Church, There must be Heresies among you.
• II. The reason why God is pleased to permit Heresies, That they who are ap­proved may be made manifest.

1. The unavoidableness of Heresies in the Church, There must be Heresies among [Page 207] you. By which we are not to understand an absolute necessity, that Heresies should arise: For this is inconsistent with that liberty of Human Nature, which Religi­on, and God's dealing with Mankind in giving us Laws, and making us to expect a Day of Judgment, do necessarily sup­pose: But the meaning is this, That all things considered, it was in it self high­ly probable that Heresies would be brought into the Church, and that God cer­tainly foresaw that they would come in, Men being left to that liberty which is capable of being abused, and under that Grace that may be resisted. All there­fore that is needful to be considered un­der this head, will be this, What are the grounds of that probability of the com­ing in of Heresies, which the Text sup­poses, of Heresies (I say) which God saw would certainly come to pass, if he in­terposed not his irresistible power to pre­vent it.

Now it was not to be expected but that Heresies would be, if we consider on the one side the revelation of Chri­stian Truth; and on the other, the Temper and Circumstances of Man­kind.

[Page 208]1. As to the Revelation of Christian Truth, we are to consider the tendency and design of the Doctrine it self, and the evidence we have that God hath Reveal­ed it.

1. The spirit and design of the Do­ctrine of Christianity, which is plainly to rectify the ill Manners, and the cor­rupt Affections of Mankind, to restrain them from Liberties which most Men desire, how unreasonable and hurtful soe­ver they are, and to tie them up to Rules that are not grateful to flesh and blood. Moreover, the Doctrine of Christianity truly represented, is equally for the inte­rest of all Mankind, and is by no means framed to serve the designs of Ambi­tion, and to advance one part of the Church to the prejudice and slavery of all the rest. Lastly, It teaches a Worship of great simplicity, that has but very few Mysteries, and nothing of that Pomp and Ceremony which is so pleasing to the Senses and the Fancies of Men, and will not suffer them to place the weight of Religion in any outward Shows and Performances, but in loving the Lord our God with all our heart; and our neighbours as our selves: And to such a course of life and temper of mind it obligeth us [Page 209] by all that it teaches concerning God and Christ, and a Life to come, our Creed serving no other turn, but to make it necessary for us to live a so­ber, righteous, and godly life. But then

2. The evidence we have for the truth of this Doctrine, and that God hath revealed it, is not so irresistible, as to over-rule all contradiction and perverse­ness, though it be sufficient to satisfy a wise and honest Man; nor is the man­ner wherein these things are testified and declared to us, so enlightning as to make it absolutely impossible for a Man to mi­stake about them, or for those that wil­fully pervert them, to delude others with putting false colours upon them; although it is so plain that we must be extraor­dinarily to blame if we run into any Error against sound Faith or good Life. One would think the Doctrine of the Re­surrection had been plainly enough deli­vered, first by our Saviour, then by his Apostles; and that the Institution of the Lord's Supper, and the Order which the Apostles observed in the Administration of it, was also plain enough; and yet in this very Church of Corinth, there were divers foully mistaken as to the one, and [Page 210] still wanted instruction as to the other. One would think that those words, This is my body, were sufficiently plain, and that there were not the least need for our Lord to have added presently after that saying, But take notice that I mean, This is my body by deputation or representation, or in a figurative sense, any more than to have so explained himself, when he said, I am the door, I am the vine, &c. But yet because he did not think fit to leave an express caution against the literal sense of these words, we know it has been in­sisted upon against plain evidence of Scripture, Sense, and Reason. Again, let a Man consider the Institution of the Holy Communion, and have no pre­judice upon his mind, and he will never desire that it should have been more plain­ly expressed, that the Cup be administred to all, than it is, especially since it is said of the Cup, Drink ye All of this, and they All drank of it: But yet because these words were not added, or the like, And let no man ever presume to administer the Bread, without administring the Cup to the same Person, the Cup hath been taken away from the People for the great­er reverence of Administration. When St. Paul said, that he that understands not [Page 211] the Language in which Prayer, or gi­ving of Thanks is made, is not edified, it could hardly have been thought neces­sary to have added this, Let therefore all Forms of Publick Prayer and Administra­tion of Sacraments in all Ages of the Church be made in the Tongue that the People un­derstand: And yet for want of some such conclusion, Publick Prayers have been made in a Language that the People un­derstand not, and the Practice maintain­ed as confidently, as if the Fourth Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians were it self in a Language that we could not understand. There is no question but God could have added such explications and cautions in the Scripture, as would have made it a great deal more difficult and troublesome to bring in those Errors, than it hath been, and perhaps utterly impossible to maintain them amongst Christians without destroying the Bible out of the World: But then by the same reason that such cautions had been necessary, a thousand times as many more had been necessary too: For so many Additions by way of caution must have been made, as there are ways of elu­ding and perverting a Rule; which are so many, that to have provided expres­ly [Page 212] against them all, would have made the Bible a more voluminous Book than any is in the World; not to say the most odd and uncouth Book that ever was seen. For whoever wrote or spoke in that manner as to provide against all possible ways of being mistaken, or ha­ving his words perverted? According to this rate a man must not expect to make an end of a sentence in an hour; and when he has done all he can, his expli­cations may be perverted too: And there­fore we are not to wonder, if God has not provided express Cautions against all pos­sible Mistakes and Abuses of this nature, but thought good to leave a Rule of Faith, and Manners, and Worship, which would be sufficient to guide all honest Persons, and lovers of Truth, though not sufficient to exclude all Cavil and A­buse.

For this reason it was that our Saviour did not pretend, that all who saw his Works and heard his Doctrines must ne­cessarily believe in him; but he requi­red constantly a certain temper of mind, consisting of Humility, Sincerity, love of the Truth, and in a word, A good and honest Heart, in order to a Man's being his true Disciple: Common Sense and [Page 213] Reason was not sufficient for this pur­pose, but there must be also a peculiar Probity, or teachable Spirit, a Mind rea­dy to believe all Truth, and to do all Duty: These were the Sheep that would hear his voice, and the Ground that would receive his Seed, and bring forth Fruit: Such were the Men that would hear and understand, and know of the Doctrine whe­ther it were of God. But as for others, they would make a shift to reject it with some colour for so doing, or to pervert it if they once admitted it.

This was the first things to be consider­ed, the temper and design of the Gospel, which delivers Truth, that does by no means gratify the Lusts of Men, or please their Imaginations, or serve the interest of particular persons to the disadvantage of all others; and then that this Truth was delivered in that way, which though it be apt to instruct and convince all honest Men, yet will not infallibly bear down a spirit of Contradiction. Now to this we must add,

2. The consideration of the general temper of Mankind, for whose sake the Gospel was made known, viz. that it is very corrupt, and exceedingly prone to Sin, and therefore to Error, impatient of [Page 214] true Virtue and Piety, and therefore of true Doctrine; Human Nature does affect a lawless Liberty, and cannot well bear to be confined; and it is so diseased, that it doth not take it well to be healed; it is therefore no wonder if the Remedy which God hath provided, hath been so tampe­red withal by Men, as to make it ineffectu­al for that purpose for which he hath sent it to us; and Doctrines have been taught which give that liberty that Truth de­nies: It was not to be expected, but that if the Doctrine of Christianity should not effectually overcome those Lusts that reign in the World, those Lusts would cor­rupt and pervert that Doctrine, and bring in Heresies: Ambition and Covetous­ness would bring in Heresies for the esta­blishing of a worldly Power and Domi­nion in the Name of Christ; Licentious­ness would bring in Heresies for making void the Commandments of God: Pride would bring in Heresies, though for nothing else but a Man's satisfaction and glory in drawing many People into a Party, and becoming the Head of it; and when they were brought in, the natural incon­stancy and wavering of some would car­ry them away from the Truth; the na­tural stiffness and inflexibility of others [Page 215] would detain them in Error; the very desire and love of Novelty would at first help to bring in some, and in process of time the pretence of Antiquity would be every day more and more able to gain others. Finally, the unwillingness of most Men to take pains in the search of Truth, and the greater ease of depend­ing upon the absolute Authority of o­thers would give a farther advantage to Error, which fears nothing more than an Examination, and therefore discourages all Persons from giving themselves so needless a trouble, since they have the word of those for their security who cannot possibly mislead them; considering the diseases of Human Nature, which the Do­ctrine of Christ doth not cure miracu­lously and irresistibly, it could not be ex­pected but there would be Factions and Heresies against the Truth: If therefore it be thought strange that the Apostle should say, there must be Heresies; let us consi­der, that this is no more than if he had said, after all the care that God hath taken to restore Mankind, there will be Pride and Ambition, there will be Covetous­ness and Injustice, and the Love of this World; there will be Luxury and Licenci­ousness, there will be both Inconstancy [Page 216] and Stiffneckedness; there will be Lazi­ness and Slothfulness, and Unaptness for Instruction, and therefore there must be Heresies; for God hath provided no in­fallible Remedies against Sin and Wicked­ness; and as certainly as the Vices of the World would break out in the Church, so certainly would Errors get into it by degrees, and usurp the Name and Autho­rity of Truth. 'Tis true, that God if he pleased could absolutely have hindred it by his over-ruling Power: But in this saying it is implied, that he would not do so; and Experience has shewn, that he has not done so; and we have no rea­son to wonder at it, since he is not plea­sed to make all Men good by an irresisti­ble Grace; and there was less reason to expect that he should make all Men Or­thodox by an irresistible Illumination.

And so I come to the second point: Which concerns the reason assigned why God is pleased to permit Heresies; That they which are approved may be made ma­nifest, (i. e.) that it may most evidently appear who are sincere and honest, and who are not so; for opposition to the Truth, and the ways that are taken to advance Error, do prove what Men are at the bottom, and distinguish between [Page 217] those that would appear all alike, if the same Truth were equally professed by all: The great difference that breaks out, is that between the probity of some Men on the one side, and the falseness and hy­pocrisy of others on the other side, which appears in these instances:

1. In a more diligent search after Truth, which is the effect Heresies have upon ho­nest and godly Men, while they give oc­casion to Hypocrites to consider what is most for their ease, their safety, their ad­vantage in this World; whilst the seve­ral parties of Christians are each of them eagerly contending for their own ways, Men of honesty and sincerity find them­selves obliged to examine their own per­suasions more narrowly, and to compare one thing with another more carefully, so that if they apprehend a mistake in them­selves, they quit it without any more to do, and come to establish themselves in the Truth upon better grounds than they had before, and are better able to lead others into it.

2. By this means also the constancy of sincere persons in the profession of the Truth is manifested: For where there is no opposition, there can be no trial of that Love to the Truth, which will not suffer [Page 218] a Man to forsake it; and this not only because a Man's stedfastness cannot be pro­ved but by opposition and temptation; but likewise because there are but few Good Men in comparison, who would be at the pains of a diligent Examination of their own persuasions; if contrary Doctrines were not advanced, they would rely mostly upon the Consent and Authority of o­thers, instead of believing Truth upon its proper Grounds and Arguments: But if, as I said in the first instance, the spread­ing of Heresies puts them upon a diligent search after the reasons of Truth, their stedfastness in it afterwards is manifested to be the true Virtue of Constancy, which does not consist in an obstinate resolution not to change our Opinion, let what will be produced against it, but in adhering to that which appears to be true, after the most diligent examination of all that can be said against it. And thus Here­sies make Good Men more constant in the Truth, by giving them an opportunity of confirming themselves in it by bet­ter Arguments and clearer Evidence; and they manifest their constancy to the World, inasmuch as the Adversaries of Truth are never wanting to shake the [Page 219] stedfastness of true Believers by all ways of temptation imaginable.

3. Their Charity to others is mani­fested also by means of Heresies and Op­position to the Truth; for here is occa­sion given to shew their care of one ano­ther in satisfying the doubtful, in instruct­ing the ignorant, in giving caution to the confident, and encouragement to the weak, all which are noble instances of Christian Charity: But this is not all, since their care to recover others from the way of Error, to reduce those that are gone aside, together with their en­during contradiction, their instructing in much patience, their meekness towards those that oppose themselves, are likewise manifested upon all such occasions.

4. Their sincerity does likewise appear in another respect, viz. of defending Truth with Truth only, and a good Cause by Innocence and honest means, without ma­king use of Frauds, of Lies, of False Ac­cusations, of false Principles, of uncon­cluding Arguments, of any disingenuous Arts; without making advantage of the weakness and mistakes of others; which one thing makes a vast difference between those that are honest, and those that are not: All which instances do express the [Page 220] truth of that reason, for which God has still suffered Heresies to be in the Church, That they which are approved may be made manifest, (i. e.) that their love of the Truth, and their diligence in enquiring after it; that their constancy in professing it, that their charity to those that are, and to those that are not misled, and their sincerity and ingenuity in asserting Truth, and appearing for it by none but lawful methods, and just arguments, may appear to the World; which as it is for the praise of Good Men, so there are other benefits arising from it; for instance,

1. That the belief of true Doctrine comes hereby to be established upon bet­ter and firmer grounds than in all like­lihood had been discovered if Oppositi­on had not obliged honest Men to dig the deeper for them; and this we have noted already.

2. That by the way many profitable Truths come to be discovered, which had otherwise lain hid: The Scriptures come to be better understood, and the more obscure passages of it to be reason­ably well interpreted, all which is for the advantage of the Church of God. Opposition whets the Industry, and sets an edge upon the Wit of all Men, good [Page 221] and bad; and whilst bad Men are con­cerned to find out all the ways of sup­porting Error, the good and honest are no less employed to arm themselves with all the advantages of Truth, and therefore cannot fail of arriving at greater Skill in the things of God, and a greater com­pass of understanding in Divine mat­ters, than if they had not been constrain­ed to undermine the approaches of Er­ror.

Lastly; The Duty that is incumbent upon all Men of Honesty and Sincerity, to maintain the Profession of the pure Doctrine of the Gospel against all Here­sies whatsoever, shews them also the ne­cessity of recommending true Opinions to the World by more Orthodox lives, by walking more warily and circumspectly, by setting better Examples of all kinds of Virtue and Piety, by shewing the force and efficacy of true Doctrine, to make Men live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present World: And when God suf­fers Heresies to prevail most in the Church, 'tis a loud call to all that are Friends of Truth and Goodness, to justify his Cause by the strongest Arguments, and the best Lives.

And now he is something to blame that will not acknowledge these two things to follow from what has been said.

1. That Heresies and Schisms are no objection against the Providence of God.

2. That they are no objection against the Truth and Goodness of a Church.

1. That they are no objection against the Providence of God, since they have their good use and consequence, for which he is pleased to permit them, and this especially to try the Honesty of Men, and to shew what they are to the World, which will in the end make extreamly for the advantage of Truth; and com­monly the more Heresies there are, the more certainly is this Trial made: In the mean while it is not to be dissembled, that yet diversity of Sects and Parties hath its manifold mischiefs and miseries attending upon it; it breeds scandal to the World, it is the diversion of Atheists and Unbe­lievers, it nourishes Discords and Animo­sities, it removes the Contentious far­ther from the knowledge of the Truth, it makes the Study of good Manners and the Practice of Holiness and Virtue to be in a great measure forgotten, it lessens the Reverence of Authority, it produces Fraud and Force, Unfaithfulness and Cru­elty, [Page 223] and has made Men, and which is worse, Christians, Foxes and Wolves to one another; so that 'tis not to be deni­ed but Heresies are in themselves, and in their consequences very great Evils; but then they are such Evils, as the Provi­dence of God permits for wise and good Ends, such as I have already mentioned: They have their good consequences as well as their bad ones, and the good that is wrought out of them is weighty enough to overbalance the Evil; for the greatest mischief that is discernable in them is but this, that they do effectually draw forth that wickedness which otherwise would have lain more undiscovered in the Hearts of Men; but then also they manifest more clearly that Integrity, that Piety, that Diligence, and Constancy, and Vir­tue and Charity of Good Men, which otherwise had not so much appeared. Bad Men do by means of Heresies grow worse, and the Good grow better by them, according to that saying in Daniel, Chap. 12.10. The wicked shall do wick­edly, and shall not understand; but the wise shall understand. They are hardened, and these are purified; and the difference between Virtue and Sincerity on the one [Page 224] side, and Hypocrisy and Vice on the o­ther, is so clearly seen, that the good Ex­amples will at last prevail against the scandal of those that are Evil; and the in­direct ways of supporting Error will shew the simplicity and Virtue of the Children of Truth to more advantage than it could possibly have had without the Comparison; so that it will be much more easy for People of honest tempers and dis­positions, to discern which is the true Flock of Christ, and to what Communion they are to betake themselves. When our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles planted the Church, things were not so ordered, as to make Proselites of all sorts of Men, however they were qualified, but rather to gather together the Children of God that were scattered abroad; that is, all that were of pious and honest Dispositions; and though the mighty Evidence wherewith the Gospel was preached, drew in some that were none of the best; yet either Persecutions or Schisms soon purged the Church of them again; and Heresies seem to have been permitted ever since to carry on the same design of distin­guishing between the Good and Bad, and making it appear more evidently, who are the faithful Followers of Christ: And [Page 225] it can by no means be unworthy of the Providence of God, to suffer those Evils to happen, which he makes to work for the same good end, which was designed by that manner wherein the Gospel was at first revealed.

2. Neither are Schisms and Heresies a­ny objections against the Truth and Good­ness of a Church, unless it were always a disparagement to be opposed and forsa­ken, which certainly it is not; for other­wise Christianity it self, as it was taught by Christ and his Apostles, must needs have been a false Religion, and the Church which they founded, a false Church; for thence came the Gnosticks and Valentinians, and I know not how many Heresies more; and the Apostle told the Elders at Miletum, Acts 20.30. That from themselves would arise men teaching perverse things, that would draw disciples after them: It is certainly for want of bet­ter Arguments, that the Reformation is to be objected against, upon the account of those Parties into which it is divided; and this Church of England for the sake of those Parties that have broken off from the Communion of it. For as to the latter, it is either no mark of a true Church to hold fast all that were once of [Page 226] it, or else the Church of Christ was not that true Church, since many went off from it, and which perhaps they that make this Objection will be more con­cerned to consider; they from whom so many Nations have broken off, cannot e­scape their own Censure. As for the U­nity of those that keep together in one Profession and Communion, this is no certain mark of Truth; for as men may be united in Truth, so they may be u­nited in Error: And all parties have this mark common to them, that so far as they do not differ, they agree together; and if this be an Argument of Truth, those Parties equally have it that are most con­trary to one another: But 'tis one of the most silly Objections in the World against a common Cause that is maintained by People that cannot agree in many things, that therefore that Cause is naughty and erroneous; this, I say, is intolerably vain and impertinent, since this is to make the reason of Truth and Error to depend up­on the uncertain Passions and the Inte­rests of Men. For by this means 'tis in the power of ill-disposed Persons, that for whatever reason may bring in a new He­resy, to make all that Truth which they professed before, to be Truth no longer: [Page 227] And if it be a good Argument against us, it is as good an Argument against Chri­stianity in the general in the Mouth of a Turk, or a Jew: Christians are so far from being agreed what is true Christiani­ty, that they are fallen into Parties that have no Religious Communion with one another, and therefore Christianity is a false Religion; nay, it is still a stronger Argument in the Mouth of an Atheist a­gainst all Religion whatsoever, since Chri­stianity, Mahometanism, Judaism, and Pa­ganism, are at so great a distance from one another. But there needs no other An­swer to this Objection, than that which the Text affords; by which we see that Heresies and Parties were unavoidable; and so far from being an Argument against the truth of Christianity, that God was pleased to permit them, even for the advantage of the Truth: And therefore those that are so offended at the Divisions of the Church, as to take occasion from thence either to throw off the Profession of Religion till all Parties are agreed about it, or to take up with that which pretends to most Unity, without any farther Examination, are here­by demonstrated to be insincere and vici­ous Persons; for as Heresies are permitted by Providence, that they which are approv'd, [Page 228] so they are permitted, that they which are reprobate, and cannot bear a Trial, may be also made manifest; and it is no loss to the Truth, if she be not found by those that love her not: In the mean time, they that are of God will hear his Word, and Wisdom will be justified of her Children: And that we may be found in that num­ber, we are to make it our first and princi­pal Care to avoid the greatest Heresy of all, and the cause of the rest, and that is the Heresy of a wicked Life, and vicious Affections: Then we shall be more and more built up in our most Holy Faith, and confirmed and established in the Truth, as it is in Jesus. For as evil Deeds make Men hate the Light; so if our Deeds be good, and our Consciences pure, we shall love the Light, and rejoice in it; we shall buy the Truth and not sell it; we shall buy it with being at the pains of impartial Enquiry and Consideration, and we shall not sell it for either comfortable or gainful Errors.

To Conclude, God hath in that man­ner Revealed the Truth which concerns our Salvation, that they may easily be deceived who are willing to be deceived; but that they who seek it sincerely, shall be sure to find it.

The Ninth Sermon.

IN these words St. Peter commendeth Believers for taking heed, or care­fully attending to the Scriptures; and moreover expresseth a weighty reason, why in doing so they did well, because they were the word of prophecy, and a light shining in a dark place, till the day dawned, and the day-star arose in their hearts.

I shall first endeavour to explain this reason for the diligent reading of the Scriptures, and shall try to remove those [Page 230] Prejudices and Objections which some Men have thought fit to produce against it; and lastly, recommend it to your Care and Conscience by earnest Exhor­tation.

First, As to the Reason it self; We may observe, that the Apostle had in the fore­going Verses, mentioned that Testimony which had been given to Jesus by a Voice from Heaven: But, says he, we have also a more sure word of Prophecy, (i. e.) We have yet a more convincing Testimony of God, that Jesus is the Christ, viz. The Word of Prophecy. A­gain, it is said in the following Verses, That no Prophecy of the Scripture is of private Interpretation; or rather of the Prophets own skill and motion; for so the Original will bear, and the following words require: For Prophecy came not of old time by the Will of Man, but Holy Men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. From hence it is plain, that the Apostle speaks of that Testimony, which the Prophecies of the Old Testa­ment give to Jesus, by having foretold those things concerning the Messias which were fulfilled in Jesus, and in him only. So that St. Peter commends the Disciples [Page 231] of Christ for their diligent study of Mo­ses and the Prophets, because their Wri­tings did abound with those Predictions concerning Christ, which had raised an Expectation of him in the World before he came, which would clearly demon­strate him to the World when he should come, and which now were a most con­vincing Testimony that he was come, and that Jesus, in whom all those Predi­ctions were fulfilled, was he: And that this is the sum of the Apostle's Argument, will appear, by considering these Particu­lars of the Text.

• I. That the Old Testament is said to be the word of Prophecy.
• II. A light shining in a dark place, till the day dawned, and the day-star a­rose in their hearts.
• III. A sure Word.
• IV. A more sure word of Prophecy.

1. That the Old Testament is said to be the Word of Prophecy: The Writings of Moses, and the Prophets, do indeed contain other Matters, and particularly [Page 232] Histories of Things past, as well as Pre­dictions of Things that were to come; and yet they are called the Word of Pro­phecy. This implieth, that the main de­sign and business of those Holy Books, was to foretel Christ, by those Characters of his Person, and Circumstances of his Appearance, that should demonstrate him afterwards: And though upon other Ac­counts the Prophets had their several Ar­guments of Writing; yet in this they all conspired, as St. Peter told Cornelius and his Company; To him give all the Pro­phets witness, that whosoever believeth in him, should receive remission of sins, Acts 8.43. And this might in great part be made good by producing the clearest Prophecies of all concerning Christ; those which speak directly of him, and of no­thing else but those Circumstances by which he should be known; of this sort was that Prediction of Jacob, that he should come before the final Subversion of the Jewish State: The Scepter shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come: And that of Daniel's Seventy Weeks, which punctually fixeth the time of his Manife­station and Sufferings, from the Persian King's Decree for the Rebuilding the Walls of Jerusalem. But besides such Pro­phecies [Page 233] as these, there is a great abund­ance of another sort; such namely, as are mixed with some things which the Prophets spake of themselves, or others; of which kind that seems to be one in­stance which St. Peter with good success alledged to the Jews, Acts 2.25. David speaketh concerning him, The Lord is on my right hand, that I should not be moved; therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad: moreover, also my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Now the for­mer Expressions, and indeed the rest of the Psalm might well be applied to David him­self; but the latter were too magnificent to be true of him in any good sense; and therefore St. Peter argued from hence in this manner, Men and Brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the Patriarch Da­vid, that he is both dead and buried, and his Sepulchre is with us unto this day; there­fore being a Prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an Oath unto him, That of the Fruit of his Loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit upon his Throne: He seeing this before, spake of the Resurrection of Christ, that his Soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corru­ption. [Page 234] Now it is no disparagement to these Prophecies, that some passages they are joined with, were meant of other Persons, as well as of Christ, since it seem­eth to me an Argument of the Care of Di­vine Providence, to fill the Holy Books with Predictions concerning Christ, that are not only divers Prophecies which speak entirely of him, and of him only; but upon all fit occasions the Spirit of Pro­phecy broke out into those things which concerned him; and though other matters were begun with, yet if there was any congruity in the subject, it perpetually diverted into this. Hereunto we may add those passages which in their first mean­ing signified some things past or present, and yet were designed to presignify Christ too, such as these, Out of Egypt have I called my Son; and, a Bone of him shall not be broken; the former being first meant of the Children of Israel, the latter of the Paschal Lamb; both afterwards fulfilled in Christ again, the true Son of God, the true Paschal Lamb. Nay, the Omission of Melchisedeck's Descent, Birth, and Death, did at length appear to hint this signification, that Christ, whose Type he was, had neither beginning of days, nor end of life: So truly is the Old Testament [Page 235] the word of Prophecy, that the very o­mission of this thing was Prophetical. To conclude this point: The most Illustrious Persons of the Old Testament, as Moses and Aaron, and Joshua and David, and Solomon, were designed by Divine Provi­dence to represent before-hand by lively resemblances, what the Messias should be, and what he should do afterwards; and the most memorable passages of the Hi­story of the Israelites, together with the presence of God in the Tabernacle, and in the Temple, and the whole Frame of the Levitical Service, were clear and natu­ral Types of the Messias, and of a more perfect state of things under him, fore­telling in Things, as other Prophecies did in Words. The sum of all is this, That there is a vast plenty of Predictions in the Old Testament concerning Christ; and if we will take the pains to examine the Truth of these General Heads by more particular Enquiries, we shall find that the Affairs of the Jewish Nation, and the Writing of the Holy Books, were so over­ruled by the Divine Spirit, that when we come to look into them, we cannot light­ly turn our selves any way, but we shall be encountred with some or other Prophe­tick passages concerning Christ. All which [Page 236] was designed of God for the Confirmation of our Faith, that when he should come, in whom not only the plainest and most un­questionable Prophecies, but all other Types, and the more obscure Prefigura­tions of the Messias would be fulfilled, we might without the least doubt believe and follow him.

2. This word of Prophecy is said to be a light shining in a dark place; the reason of which Expression is plain enough, if we consider that the Prophecies were nothing so easy to be understood by themselves, as they were afterwards made by the events which they foretold; and therefore till the events made all plain, the World was ve­ry much in the dark about the meaning of them as to most particulars; but yet some of them were so express and full, that they had raised an Expectation, not only in the Jews, but amongst the Gentiles also, of that extraordinary Person whom God would send into the World for their relief. And therefore they might very well be compared to a light shining in a dark place; For such a Light, though it doth not make a particular discovery of those things that lie round about it, is yet apt to draw the Eyes of all towards it that [Page 237] are within distance; and the Predictions concerning Christ were so remarkable, that they awakened the Gentiles them­selves to take notice of them, and were therefore a light shining in a dark place, to Jews and Gentiles; not indeed clearly revealing the Truth to them at present, but preparing them to receive it when it should be clearly revealed in the ac­complishment of all that had been fore­told.

And whereas this Light was said to shine till the day dawned, and the day-star arose in their hearts: The plain meaning seems to be, that from the beginning of the World to the appearance of Christ, the Prophecies concerning him grew still more express, clear, and particular, as the time drew on that they were to be ac­complished. The whole Word of Pro­phecy was a light shining in a dark place; but the latter Prophecies, such as in Isaiah, Daniel, and Malachi, were like the dawning of the day before the Sun of Righ­teousness himself appeared. By such de­grees did God prepare Mankind for the belief of the Gospel, every Age contri­buting something before-hand to under­mine the Prejudices of the Natural Man against it. That God should send his Son [Page 238] into the World to be a Sacrifice for Sin, was a Mystery so far above the reach of worldly Wisdom, and natural Reason, that considering our weakness, it would hard­ly have born being revealed all at once; and therefore God chose to let Mankind in­to the knowledge of it by degrees, and by the growing-Light of Types and Pro­phecies, to prepare them for that stronger Light of the plain and clear Truth, which in due time was to be revealed: And by this way God also provided a sure Foun­dation for their Faith, who should after­wards believe; only we must do what St. Peter commends the Christians of his time for doing, we must [...], we must give heed unto, and bend our Minds to consider the Word of Prophecy, and we must attend to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, till the day dawns; that is, we must not content our selves to try any one single Prediction only to com­pare it with the History of Jesus, and then if that doth not give full satisfaction, to try no more; But as God, by every new Prediction added more Light to the Word of Prophecy, so we should consider what Evidence is given to the Gospel by the Prophecies of the Old Testament taken all together from the first to the last. [Page 239] And this was the Method which our Sa­viour took to instruct the two Disciples going to Emmaus: They were not un­acquainted with the Prophecies of the Old Testament, and yet they were mightily staggered at the shameful Death of their Master; We trusted, say they, that this had been he which should have redeemed Israel; but now they know not what to think of it. Then said Jesus unto them, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his Glory? But what course did he take to convince them? did he take some one notable Prediction by it self, and lay all the stress upon that? No, but beginning at Moses, and all the Prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning him­self. It was this that made the day-star arise in their hearts, it was this that clear­ed all their doubts, and enlightened their Understandings so perfectly, that they af­terwards said one to another, Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures? Luke 24.

[Page 240]3. The Word of Prophecy is said to be sure; that is, 'tis a plain Testimony of God, to make us sure that Jesus is the Christ. For,

1. It is absurd to ascribe the Predicti­on of these Events to any Cause less than Divine Omniscience; for as St. Peter saith, Prophecy came not by the will of man; but holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost; and no Prophecy of the Scri­pture is of private interpretation. (i. e.) Not, as some would make us believe, no Prophecy of Scripture is to be meditated upon, and read by private Men; but the Prophets did not utter their Predictions by the private Spirit, but by the Spirit of God; therefore if at vast distances of time from the Event, it was foretold in several Ages, that one in whom all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed, would come into the World, of such a Nation, of such a Family, at such a Time and Place, with several publick and notorious Characters by which he should be known; Then certainly he in whom all these Predicti­ons have been fulfilled, is by the Testi­mony of God's Omniscience declared to be that great Prophet who was to come in­to the World. Or, shall we say, that [Page 241] these things were the effects of Policy, or Combination or Chance? Could the most politick Statesman foresee the rise of Empires not yet begun? how much less could they fix their periods, as the Pro­phets did in their Predictions concerning Christ and his Kingdom? And can we think that they could at the distance of many Ages with their utmost Skill foresee so many particular Events, as were fore­told by the Prophets, and accomplished in Christ Jesus? Or shall we say, that there was a confederacy between Moses and Je­sus, between the Prophets and Jesus, so many hundreds of years after they were dead, and before he was born? Or, are these Predictions and their Events to be imputed to Chance? It is possible, in­deed, that some one thing may be fore­told, and happen accordingly; but that so vast a number of particulars should be fore­told, concerning one Person at all adven­tures, and by strange luck come to pass af­terwards, is fit for them only to be­lieve, that can believe that the World was made by a casual hit of Atoms. To name these things is enough to confute them.

2. All that can be farther desired, is to be well assured, that these Prophecies [Page 242] were not forged by the followers of Jesus, but that they were indeed contained in the ancient Writings, that had been deli­vered down to the Jews of our Saviour's time, by their Ancestors; and the con­stant testimony of the Jews themselves, who were most bitter enemies to Jesus and to his Doctrine, were enough to satisfie us in this point.

4ly. And Lastly, Whereas these Predi­ctions are said to be a more sure word of Prophecy, the meaning is this, that they are a more convincing Testimony to Je­sus than any other taken by its self; they are indeed a more permanent Testimony, and withal less liable to Cavil and Objecti­on. I cannot stand to shew this by making particular comparisons, but shall only ob­serve, That Prophecy includes all other Testimonies, and adds strength to every one of them: It comprehends the Mira­cles of Jesus and of his Apostles, his Resur­rection and Ascension, the Descent of the Holy Ghost, and the excellency of his Do­ctrine, because these were all foretold: It includes all other proofs, as well as the thing proved; and those proofs are the more convincing, because they also had been foretold by the Prophets.

From all this it follows, That allowing the Scripture that Tradition, which other good Histories have, and which they have more of than any other ancient Writings in the World, then the Prophecies of the Old Testament, and the Accomplishment of them in the New, do prove the Divine Authority of the Scriptures, and this with­out the help of the Churches Authority; and well is it for the Christian Religion, that the Scriptures may be proved without the Authority of the Church, for otherwise Christianity must never look an Infidel in the face, since the Church hath no Authori­ty at all, till we are assured of the truth of the Scriptures themselves. And I will make bold to add, That when all those ob­jections against the Authority of the Old Testament, from the time wherein it was put into this form of Books, from the light oversights of Transcribers, from various readings, and all the cavils upon any part of it, are put together the word of Prophe­cy which runs through it all, will bear all this reckoning, and still remain an invin­cible argument, that the first Authors were inspired; that the Prophecy came not in Old time by the will of man, but that holy men of God spake, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Well therefore might St. Peter commend the Jewish Converts for taking heed to the word of Prophecy, since this was the way to come to a well-grounded Faith indeed, and to grow every day to greater assurance and stedfastness therein; and for the same reason, let us, I beseech you, be exhorted to like diligence in conversing with the Holy Scriptures, that our Minds may be more enlightened with the knowledge of divine Truth, and that every doubt, if any there be, that shakes our Faith, may be re­moved.

And this Exhortation is so needful, that I shall shew, that there is no good reason in their Objection against it, who have taken a great deal of pains to exclude all but the Clergy, and those that have spe­cial License from reading the Scriptures; the sum of what they say is this, That the promiscuous Liberty of reading the Scrip­tures leads the People into Pride and Self-conceit, makes them insolent and ungover­nable, and ready to throw off all Respect to their lawful Guides. That almost all Heresies have proceeded from misinterpre­tation of Scripture; and that there are so many obscure and difficult places in the Old and New Testament, that to translate the Bible into vulgar Tongues, and to en­courage [Page 245] the People to read it, is to be­tray them into the danger of infinite Er­rors, which they are likely enough to fall into, by mistaking the sense of the holy Text, which therefore is to be kept out of the hands of the Laity, as we would keep Children from medling with edged Tools, and lay Swords out of mad-mens way.

Now if this Charge be true, the Bible is a very dangerous Book; if it be not true, there is some other reason doubtless, why they that pretend this, have no kind­ness for the Bible. I shall omit several ad­vantages that may be taken against this Flourish, because I think it may be shown very briefly, that it pretends things that do by no means hang well together; that it takes things for granted that are not true; and that it concludes as strong­ly against the Scriptures being read by the Clergy as by the Laity.

It pretends some things that do not hang well together. On the one side they tell us, that the liberty of reading the Bi­ble is apt to make the People throw off all dependance upon the Priest, as to instru­ction; on the one side, that there are obscure and difficult passages in it; by mistaking the true sense of which they will be led into Heresie, and consequent­ly [Page 246] into the way of Damnation. Now in­deed the Scriptures say this of themselves, that there are divers things hard to be un­derstood in them, which ignorant and unsta­ble men have wrested to their own destructi­en. But if this be true, the best way to keep the People in modest dependance up­on the instruction of their Spiritual Guides, is to lay the Bible before them, and not to keep it from them; since there cannot be a more convincing Argument of the necessity of attending to their Pastors; in order to farther Instruction, than the seve­ral difficulties that occur in the Scriptures, and the warnings that the Scriptures them­selves have given of the danger that un­learned and unstable Men are in, of wrest­ing them to their own destruction. If it be said, that experience shews the con­trary; and that neither this nor any other Argument can make people modest, if they are generally permitted to have the Scrip­tures; I add,

2. That this arguing takes things for granted, which are not true in point of fact; all the Faithful anciently had the Scriptures, but we find little complaint by the Bishops and Clergy then of the Wantonness and Insolence of the People; so little in comparison of the frequent and [Page 247] earnest exhortations, that all would deli­gently Read the Scriptures, that it may be said to be none at all. Christian Peo­ple that had been trained up in the first Rudiments of the Faith were not only al­lowed them, but required to Read the Bi­ble; and yet they modestly attended up­on their Spiritual Guides, for farther In­struction out of the Bible. And therefore if some Men in later Ages have grosly Misinterpreted the Scriptures, and would not be set right by those, that had more skill to interpret them; this doth not prove, that the reading of the Scriptures makes the People ungovernable, for then it must always have been so, which is no­toriously false; and whereas it is said, that almost all Heresies have come of Mis-in­terpreting Scripture, this doth not prove that Christian People must not Read the Scriptures; for it cannot be denied, that those Heresies which have given any consi­derable disturbance to the Church of God, were begun, not by Laicks or illeterate Per­sons, but by such Men as the objectors do allow to have a right of reading and stu­dying the Scriptures, (i. e.) by Bishops or Priests. Wherefore,

In the last place, The Arguing of these Men against the common use of the Bible, [Page 248] concludes against the Priest, as strongly as against the People. For if to prevent Heresie the Scriptures are to be kept from Lay-men, who may bring Heresie into the Church by misinterpreting the Scriptures, then for the same reason Men in Orders should not be suffered to read them, since they have actually been the Founders of Heresie; nay, the reason is something stron­ger, since the wresting of the holy Text by Men of Office or Learning, will be of greater Authority and do more mischief, than the mistakes of private and unlearned Persons. But if the danger of perverting difficult places, be a good reason to deprive Men of all use of the Bible; this reason hath a particular force upon some Men, that they should never look upon a Bible more. For the best way to judge how the Scriptures are likely to be used by any sort of Men, is to consider how they have con­stantly used them heretofore; and let any indifferent Man judge of them by these fol­lowing instances; because God said, Let us make man after our own Image, therefore it is lawful to fall down before an Image of Wood, or Stone. Because Christ said to Peter, Feed my Sheep, Therefore his pre­tended Successors have power to depose Heretical Princes. Because Peter said to [Page 249] Christ, Lord here are two Swords, therefore they have a Temporal as well as a Spiritual Jurisdiction. Because Jacob in Blessing E­phraim and Manasses prayed that his Name might be named on them, therefore it is lawful to pray to Saints. Because it is said, the Disciples met together to break Bread, therefore the Laity may be depriv'd of the Cup. Because St. Paul saith of him that prayeth in a Tongue not understood by o­thers, Thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified, therefore it is in it self good to appoint publick Prayers in a Lan­guage unknown to the people; that is, because he that understands what himself says, doth well for himself because he understands, therefore he doth well for others that under­stands, not a word, and are therefore not edified. Because the Apostle saith, we must glorifie God with one mouth, therefore in all publick Offices of Liturgy, there is to be but one, and that the Latin Tongue, in all places of Christendom. Because that many Languages at Babel caused confusion, there­fore for God to be served in the many vulgar Tongues of Christian Nations, would breed Schisms in the Church. Be­cause the Beast that touched the mountain was to die; and because Christ said, Give not that which is Holy to Dogs, there­fore [Page 250] ordinary People are not to have the Bible. These Expositions are not invent­ed, but there are good Authorities for them, and for a great many more of the like sort.

I know not what can farther be object­ed but this, That if Priests and Learned Men have been so foully mistaken in the Interpretation of Scripture, how much more are the Unlearned in danger of fal­ling into Mistakes, which tho' perhaps will never come to be Heresies in the Church, may yet prove damnable to themselves, as St. Peter plainly saith?

To which I answer, That St. Peter's unlearned Men were such as had not yet attained to the knowledge of the necessa­ry Doctrine of Faith and good Life, as appears by his calling them unstable, not yet fixt in the Perswasion of the plain Truths, and great Ends of the Gospel; and such as those, whether they were Men of good Parts or not, were likely e­nough to interpret the hard places of St. Paul's Epistles, to a sense contrary to the plain and open Truths of the Gospel. But if a Man be instructed in the necessary and plain Doctrine of Christianity, and more­over furnished with Modesty and a sin­cere Love of the Truth, and willingness [Page 251] to learn, Qualities that ought to be com­mon to all, he shall be as far from wrest­ing the difficult Scriptures to his own de­struction, as one that hath vastly greater Abilities. Nay, I will add one thing, which if it be true, there is no force at all in the Objection; and that is this: That the service of a Cause, and espousing the Interest of a By-party, doth more fatally lead to Misinterpretation of the Scripture, than bear weakness of Understanding; and there is this plain reason for it, be­cause Modesty and love of the Truth will secure a Man of no great Abilities, from rash concluding upon the difficult Places of Scripture; but Partiality, and the Ser­vice of a By-cause, shall engage a Man of Parts and Learning, to trouble the clearest, and to pervert the plainest Texts, as the forementioned Instances evidently shew: so that either the danger of Misinterpret­ing Scripture is no sufficient reason to prohibit the Laity from reading it; or else it were better that no Order of Men were trusted with it at all; and if that be true, I think it will follow, that it had better never have been written at all, which no Man will say, whatever he thinks.

But to speak to the thing; the Scrip­tures were written for an universal good, and in order thereunto, for common use: Here are all Divine Truths and Reasons of Christian Faith and Practice, that are necessary to be known of every Man, plainly exprest for the use of the meanest Capacities. Here are also Difficulties and Mysteries of several sizes, fit to employ the Industry of the Learned according to the several degrees of their Abilities, and to exercise the Modesty, the Humility, and the Reverence of all. But still we confess, that they may be perverted and abused; and if this be a sufficient Reason to interdict the general use of them, then farewel at once to all the Comforts of this Life, and to all the Means of Grace in order to a better, with every one of which Men in their folly and wickedness may, and very often have, hurt themselves and others. St. Peter was aware of this, that some Men wrested those hard things in S. Paul's Epistles, and in other Scriptures, to their own destruction; but did he there­fore disswade the Faithful from reading them? No, but in the very same Epistle, he commends them all for taking heed to the words of Prophecy of the Old Testa­ment, in which there were some things [Page 253] as hard, to be sure, as any are in St, Paul's Writings: and I hope St. Peter was as wise a Man in this point, as any that have come after him.

And now, I beseech you, let us not say, That we are Believers already, and therefore we need not trouble our selves with constant reading of the Bible: Were not they so to whom St. Peter wrote? Nay, the Apostles were then alive to in­struct them by Word, as well as by Wri­ting, and moreover daily Miracles were wrought for confirmation of the Faith, yet they did well in taking diligent heed to the Scriptures; and shall not we do so too, who can find Apostles and Miracles no where but there? We believe already, but have we all of us that stedfast Faith, which the Gospel requires, which is not grounded meerly upon Education, and the Custom of our Country, but upon the demonstration of the Spirit and of Pow­er? Have we that Faith, which will bear examination, and encounter opposition? If we have, a very little Exhortation will serve the turn, to make us persevere in reading God's Book, whereby we shall be yet more strongly built up in our most holy Faith. But if not, our want of Faith will not be admitted at the last Day, for an [Page 254] excuse of the badness of our Lives, when we had the Scriptures laid before us, the Holy Scriptures; I say, which if they had been diligently and honestly read by us, would have furnished us with such an im­movable ground of our Christian Belief, as would have supported us in the Day of Temptation. Nay, if our Faith was grown never so strong, yet the reading of the Scriptures would be necessary for us, to make the Precepts and Rules of the Chri­stian Life, and the Motives and Reasons of practising them, daily present in our Minds. For the Temptations to sin are always present; the Snares of Hell are still round about us; we are ever in some danger, and therefore we ought always to be strong in the Lord; by having a con­stant sense of those Divine Truths upon our Minds, which are our great de­fence and security. And I see not how this can be, if we neglect to have recourse unto that ever necessary Treasure of Di­vine Truth, the Holy Word of God. St. Chrysistom therefore doubted not to say, and I wish we may all well consider, that earnest saying of so wise and holy a Man as he was: It cannot be, says he, It cannot possibly be, that a Man should at­tain Salvation, unless he be diligently con­versant [Page 255] in Spiritual Reading. Himself was so excellent and constant a Preacher, that if any one Man, not extraordinarily in­spired, could have made it needless for his Hearers to read the Scriptures at home; he, I should reckon, was the Man; and yet I observe, he often complains to them, that the reason why most of them gained little profit by what he said, either as to improvement of Knowledge, or good Pra­ctice, was because they did not read the Scriptures he explained to them, either before or after his Sermons: And, says he, it is the neglect of this Reading, that causeth all Heresie, and corrupt Life.

Now, I beseech you, how much time do we spend in other things of little concern to us, either as to our Health or Wealth, or our wordly Callings? And what a shame and a sin is it for us to find so little time as generally we do, to furnish our selves with the knowledge of God's Truth, and with pious Affections towards the doing of his Will, out of God's Holy Book? What a great matter were it, if we bor­rowed some time for this purpose from our Recreations, or even from our ordi­nary Business? For what is this Life to Life Everlasting? What is the Wealth and Pleasure of this World, to our Salva­tion [Page 256] in the World to come? And there­fore the forementioned excellent Person argued with his Hearers in this manner: Perhaps some may say, That they are o­therwise employed in their worldly Cal­lings; and others, that they have not Mo­ney to spare to buy the Scriptures; but, says he, what a ridiculous thing would it be for a Man of a Secular Employment, to neglect it upon pretence that he has not time for it, or that he has not wherewithal to purchase the necessary Tools of his Calling? These things are seldom or never pleaded but by idle Persons. And do you not all know, that you are professed Chri­stians, and called to the hope of Eternal Life, and that diligent reading and hear­ing the Holy Scriptures is as necessary to your Christian Calling, as any thing can be, to the successful management of your Secular Professions?

I shall add this one thing, That besides that improvement in Knowledge and Vertue, which is naturally consequent upon much conversing with God's Book; they that do so, have a peculiar Title to GOD's supernatural Blessing, who is wont to reward a Pious and Reverend Use of Holy Things, with greater Mea­sures of his Grace, In one word, by other [Page 257] studies we may grow wise for this World; but if we add this to the rest, we shall yet grow wiser for this World, by taking heed to those incomparable Instructions, that the Holy Bible abounds with; and which is something more, we shall grow wise unto Salvation.

The Eleventh Sermon.

ABraham was now in the Land of Ca­naan, and this was the third time God had appeared to him, and promised him, That his Seed should possess that Land. In which repetition of the Promise, there is this remarkable Circumstance, That God told him how long it would be, before they should possess it; and likewise mentioned one reason why they should possess it no sooner; it should be Four hundred years before his Seed should come hither, and not sooner, because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. This was the case: That the Seed of Abraham could not possess the Land of Canaan, otherwise [Page 286] than by dispossessing the Canaanites: So that the Bounty of God to the Israelites was likely to prove a terrible Judgment upon the Canaanites: But these were not grown to that height of Ungodliness and Vice, which God usually punishes by De­struction in this World; but God foresee­ing that in four hundred Years more, their Sins would be ripe for Vengeance, deter­mined to reprieve them so long; and in the mean time, to dispose of the Seed of Abraham otherwise.

That which I intend to discourse upon, is the long sufferance of God in bearing with Mankind, till their Wickedness grows intolerable; of which this is a most remar­kable instance, That altho' he might just­ly have destroyed the Amorites four hun­dred Years before they were destroyed, yet he gave them so long time, and bore with them all the while. Before I proceed to this, I shall premise two Enquiries.

1. What the Iniquity of the Amorites was?

2. Whether the only Reason why God would not yet put them out of possession was, That their iniquity was not yet full?

[Page 287]1. What was the Iniquity of the Amo­rites? I answer; That they were guilty of Idolatry, of Violence, and abomina­ble Uncleanness; for they were for these Sins cut off by the Children of Israel, when they were grown to that height, to which they came in four hundred Years time. And it is not improbable, that the Amorites were at that time, when God appeared to Abraham, the worst of all the Canaanites, in all these respects; and therefore that God mentioned them, ra­ther than any of the rest, as they were afterwards one of the first Nations that were destroyed, as we read in Numb. 21. and that with this particular Remark, That their Spirits were hardned, and their Heart obstinate; as you may find, Deut. 2.30.

2. We must not say, that the only Reason why God deferred the Punishment of the Amorites four hundred Years, was, because their iniquity was not yet full; and that be­cause there were other Ends of Providence to be brought about in the time, some of which are mentioned in this place, viz. That the Seed of Abraham might in the mean while be proved and tried by many Hardships they were to undergo; and [Page 288] thereby instructed in their Duty, and prepared for the Land of Promise: For thus we find God said to Abraham, v. 13. Know of a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a Land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years; i.e. before the Four hundred Years are expired; and also that nation whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterwards they shall come out with great substance; and in the fourth generation they shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. Where you see, there are more ends than one, for which God would not put the Seed of Abraham into a present possession of the promised Land, nor do it in haste neither; partly, because God would still bear with the Canaanites; partly, because the Israe­lites yet to be born, were to be instructed by the variety of Conditions through which they were to go, and be prepared by the Discipline of Divine Providence, for the obtaining of that Promise which was made to Abraham and his Seed: And this is the admirable way of God's Provi­dence in governing and disposing all things, that by the same means he brings about several ends, fitting and accommodating things to one another in that manner, [Page 289] that every event seemed to be his particu­lar and only care, while all the rest were as particularly aimed at, and the means directed to it as certainly as to any one of them. These things seemed needful to be premised, for the better understanding of this place. And now I proceed to the main points of Instruction, which are sug­gested in the Text, and they are these two.

1. The Patience of God, in bearing so long as he doth with the Provocations of his Justice from wicked Men. And,

2. His untaxable Justice in bringing up­on them that Punishment, at last, which their incurable obstinacy deserves.

For both these Observations are clearly suggested by the Text: The Seed of A­braham should not come four hundred Years, because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full; but then they should come; the former being, as I said, a great Demonstration.

1. Of the Patience of God; for the Amorites were already faln into the Sins for which they were at last cut off; only they were not come to that intollerable heighth of wickedness, to which they were grown in process of time; now all the while they were Examples of God's Patience, because he might justly have [Page 290] appeared against them to destroy them, even at that very time, when he deter­mined to give them yet Four hundred Years to repent and escape: No sooner is Sin committed, but Punishment is present­ly due; and therefore it is Goodness to forbear the inflicting of it the very next moment; but to forbear so long a time, is properly Patience and Long-sufferance; and it is such Patience, as is proper only to him, who is God, and not Man: For the Illustration of which, I have two things to commend to your Consideration, which will, I doubt not, be useful to assist us in framing worthy and honourable Appre­hensions of God, with respect to this mat­ter. The first is.

1. That God never wants Power and Means and Opportunities to be avenged of wicked Men.

2. That he hath always the same dis­pleasure against, and hatred of sin; for these things put together, do clearly shew, That the Patience of God is indeed a Di­vine Perfection, and infinitely to be prai­sed above all that we can imagine of the like quality amongst Men. For,

1. God never wants Power and Means to punish his Enemies; and therefore it is in him always Goodness to reprieve; [Page 291] and his deferring the Punishment, is pro­perly the Patience, which is worthy of Praise. When Men forbear revenging the Affronts and Injuries that they have re­ceived, it is very often, because they wait for an opportunity, which yet they want; they are forced to be content for a while, because they have not power to revenge; and for the most part they would not tar­ry, if they had present means to ease their Minds; for this Reason we magnifie the Patience of Men most of all, when they forgive, whilst it seems that it is in their Power, without hurting themselves, to punish the Person that hath done them wrong; and we do in some measure com­mend those that frame themselves to Pati­ence, when they have no other help. But this is the peculiar Character of the Pati­ence of God, That it is as easie for him to punish at first as at last; and it is never otherwise. We can never say he forbears sudden Vengeance, because it would be dan­gerous, or he wants Power to take it; and we must therefore resolve his Pati­ence into other Causes, which are for the Honour of his Goodness. It is happy for Men in their Concerns with one another, when they, who have most Goodness have greatest Power; and the great Security [Page 292] of Mankind is this, That he only has Al­mighty Power, who is infinitely good: and this is that which Sinners should ac­knowledge to the Praise of God, That there is no other Being in Heaven or Earth, that can absolutely and irresistably overwhelm them, but he only, to whose Justice they are most liable, and of whose Goodness alone it is, that they are not con­sumed: If God with his Omnipotence were as Man, and subject to the Passions of Men; or if Man with his Passions were in this respect, as God is, and could follow his anger with effect, the Race of Man­kind had long since been extinguished; and why it is not so, the reason is this, be­cause God only hath infinite Power, he who is infinitely good, and delighteth not in Punishment, and doth not willingly grieve and afflict the children of men. This is the first way of apprehending the perfect Good­ness of the divine Patience, that he doth not respite and delay the punishment of Sinners at any time for want of Power to take Vengeance of them; for with God all things are possible; and therefore his for­bearance to punish, is always because it is his Will to forbear.

[Page 293]2. God hath always the same displea­sure against Sin, and hates it at one time as much as at another; and this is also a re­markable illustration of his Patience, and shews, that his forbearance to punish, is purely from his Goodness. If we are grieved and offended the sense of the Inju­ry we have recieved, is commonly very smart at first, but it lessens by degrees; and if the wrong-doer escapes our anger, while it is hot within us, he is not in so much danger of us afterwards; we are led by passion to retaliate evil; and as that cools we are less forward to do it; and in such cases our forbearance is not properly Pati­ence, because feeling no grief our selves, we are not so desirous, that he who once pro­voked us should feel it now. But it is not so with God; he is not disturbed with our uneven passions, he abhors sin, not as if he was a revengeful, but because he is a most holy Being; and because he is the same ho­ly God to day that ever he was; time doth not lessen his Sense, nor abate his Hatred of the evil Actions of Men: and therefore in him it is all the goodness of Patience to forbear the deserved inflicting of those pu­nishments, which he could inflict every moment, for he bears with that baseness, which he always hates.

Now since it is neither want of Power, nor want of Holiness, or hatred of Sin, that with-holds the Vengeance of Divine Justice from falling upon Men, till their Provocations are grown insufferable; it must be the wise Goodness of God, that causeth his Patience and Long-sufferance. And there are several good Effects to which it tendeth indeed; many Reasons that seem to require it.

1. If sentence were speedily executed a­gainst an evil work, and if it seldom hap­pened that a notorious wickedness was not forthwith made remarkable by a following vengeance, there would be a little space left for Repentance: But God would have all men to repent, and to come to the know­ledge of the truth. And he is long-suffe­ring to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God's forbearance is necessary, that there might be room for other proper means to bring us to amendment; he doth not cut us off, even when we provoke him daily, because he would prevent that last sentence by other remedies, by gentle Admonitions, and sometimes by sharp Corrections, or by making others, that are grown incurable, the Examples of his Justice, and by va­riety of instructing Providences, if by a­ny [Page 295] means we can be perswaded to our Du­ty. Should God proceed to destroy, upon every grievous Sin that is committed, as in Justice he might, then, alas! our eternal Salvation, which depends upon what we do in this short Life, would by one single act become almost desperate, and we should have but one tryal in this Life, in order to our everlasting State: But how many have we had! and here is the Goodness of God, that altho' by wretched Men he is provoked day after day, yet he bears with them day after day, not being willing that they should perish; for he is the Lord, the Lord God gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great compassion,

2. If God were always sudden in his justice, and should crush every wickedness with his hand, as soon as ever it appeared in the World, this proceeding would bear something hard upon the Liberty of Hu­man nature, and be too great a force upon us; and it would not be easily seen, whether we choose to do what God commands free­ly and heartily, or meerly upon the con­straint of a servile Fear. God made us to serve him upon ingenuous and manly Prin­ciples, and hath therefore given us a sense of his Presence, and of his Providence, with the Knowledge of his Will, and the Ex­pectation [Page 296] of being rewarded or punished hereafter: But if upon every notorious offence the Malefactor was made an exam­ple of notable vengeance, the perpetual ob­servation of this would be like a flaming Sword hanging over every Man's head, and keeping him in a perpetual apprehen­sion of present Destruction, if he should step aside; which would indeed be a way to keep Men from being very bad, but not to make them truly good; their avoiding Vice, would be like the honesty of a Man, that doth not Steal, because his hands are always manacled.

3. If God doth not suffer Men to dege­nerate exceedingly in their Principles and Practices, and to grow from bad to worse, but still crushed all Impostures, and dis­countenanced all Villany and Hypocrisie at its first setting out in the World, where would be the Patience and Faith of the Saints, of those that believe in God, and take his Word for their Rule and their Comfort, and live in the Expectation of his Promises? But when Iniquity grows and thrives, and can plead Prescription, and Au­thority; when it hath stood long enough to have some colour for Antiquity, and hath obtained interest enough to pretend to a kind of Ʋniversality, then it will be [Page 297] seen, who they are that love God, and Truth, and Goodness, that are not willing to be deceived, that will take pains not to be de­ceived, that will take pains to be rightly in­formed; that prefer Truth before glorious Names, and a good Conscience before Ap­plause and Flattery, and eternal Life before the Ease and Pleasures of this World. God bears long with all the Provocations of Mankind, for the same reason that he per­mits Heresies, which is, that they, who are approved, may be made manifest.

For these, and such like reasons as these, God in his Wisdom and Goodness bears with infinite Patience those Provocations for a long time together, which he could be avenged of in a moment, and which he utterly abominates; which was the first Observation upon the Text.

2. The second was, That God is so much the more just in the final destructi­on of incurable and obstinate Sinners, when their Iniquity is full and ripe for Vengeance: For as there was the Pati­ence of God seen for four hundred Years together, while the Iniquity of the Amo­rites was growing from bad to worse; so at the end of that Period, the Justice of God was seen, when their iniquity was full. To grow worse for the forbearance of God, [Page 298] is the most criminal Presumption in the World; and when Men are come to that pass, as quite to forget that there is a God, or believing him to be; to perswade them­selves, That he either approves, or at least connives at their Impieties; then the same Wisdom and Goodness, which hitherto had kept off their Punishments, will bring them on swiftly and suddenly; for as on the one side, if the degeneracy, and the impudence of Sinners should not be suf­fered to flourish long, there will be no Tryal of the Faith of honest Men; so if it should be suffer'd to last always, the Tem­ptation would at length grow too hard for them, God exercises his own Patience, that good Men might exercise theirs; at length he shews his Justice to reward their Pati­ence: The Patience of God is a forbearance guided by Wisdom and Goodness; and the Justice of God is a Severity, that is also guided by Wisdom and Goodness: And neither the one, nor the other, hath any mixture of that Selfishness, and Passion, which is for the most part the reason, why we sometimes are, and sometimes are not, severe with those that have offended us. This is the true Justice of Punishment to respect the evil that is committed, and to punish for that reason; and this appears in [Page 299] no instances more, than when God pu­nishes after long sparing; for if he had been a selfish, or a passionate Being, he had never suffered Men to go on so long toge­ther in the most provoking ways of wick­edness, because he had it in his Power to Punish them long before, as he punishes them at last; and therefore that he punishes them at last, is an effect of his Wisdom and Goodness, and a Demonstration, that the common good required it: And as there are several good ends, to which God's Pati­ence tends, in bearing with general Impie­ties, so long as he often doth; so there are as many to which his Justice tends in ta­king Vengeance of them at last: For,

1. This is a Demonstration that his Pro­vidence was not asleep before.

2. It is a clear Instruction, that Men ought not to presume upon God's Favour, merely because they prosper in their ways; but that they should measure his Love, or his Anger, by what they do, and not by what happens to them; since they who do the same wicked things, may go unpunish­ed from one Generation to another; and in this World, but one Generation may suffer for them.

[Page 300]3. That we should not forget to call our past Sins to remembrance, and to humble our selves before God for them, since if God punishes the sins of the Fa­thers upon the Children in this Life, the like cause have we to fear, that he will punish the Sins of our Youth, and our ri­per Years, at the latter end of our Life.

4. That we should make use of the Patience and long suffering of God to our selves, to prevent his Anger from flaming out against us, because otherwise we trea­sure up Wrath against the day of Wrath, and revelation of the righteous Judgment of God.

The truth is, these are the uses we ought to make of both those Considerations that I laid before you from the Text, which I shall therefore inculcate again. And,

1. We have no reason to question either the watchfulness of God's Providence, or to be cast into perplexities and doubts, whether the way of Truth, and the way of Error, the way of Vertue and Piety, and the way of Hypocrisie and Wickedness are so different from one another, as is pretended in Religion; we have, I say, no reason to perplex our selves about these things, because for many Generations God hath suffer'd deceit and violence to prevail, to spread and to flourish in the world; for [Page 301] God is not as a Man, his ways are above our ways, and his thoughts above our thoughts: when we look abroad into the World, and look back upon so many past Ages, wherein Religion hath been made a formal pretence for the establishing of a worldly great­ness and Dominion upon gross and pal­pable Errors, supported by Fraud and Force, it is foolishly done of us to dis­quiet our selves with doubts, whether we are in the way of the Truth or not, since it pleased God for so long a time to suf­fer the contrary to prevail mightily in the World, and for some Ages to baffle all opposition. For this is to suppose God to be such a one as our selves, impatient of high Indignities and great Provocati­ons, ready to kindle upon any notable affront, or however unable to bear repea­ted, and long-continued injuries. No doubt if our opinion had been asked, the Luxu­ry of the old World should have been mortified by some amazing Judgments, and the Flood should have been spared, the Idolatry of the new Race of Man­kind had been prevented, or at least by some irresistable Evidence of God's Dis­pleasure banished, long before the com­ing of Christ; and Mahomet should ei­ther have never appeared, or he should [Page 302] have glared only like a Comet, and so gone out, instead of founding so vast and so long an Empire, as it seems he has done. But let us leave God to rule the World, and be content that he should rule us; we are too angry, and too passionate to say, how things should have been, and never more foolish, than when we would from God's Providences make conclusions con­trary to his Word. It is not for us to say, what the God of Wisdom, the God of Pa­tience, the God of Justice, and of Good­ness, and of infinite Power, should do. It is the least Honour we can give him, to al­low every thing to be best, which he doth in the World; every thing to be born with Patience that he permits; every thing to be done with Faith and confidence in him, that he commandeth; and that, as we can­not mend his Word, so neither can we mend his Works, but be content, as we have just reason, to do the one, and sub­mit to the ether.

2. No Sinner hath reason to presume upon the Patience of God, or to conclude, That the wrath of God doth not abide up­on him, because he hath prospered long in an Evil way, and no great Evil hath hap­pened to him. He ought to remember, that God is not subject to the Passions of [Page 303] Men, and doth not serve us, as we are too apt to serve one another; and as we do, when upon every great Provocation we express a sharp Resentment: God's Punishments are not less certain, because they are more slow than ours. They are not the less certain, because they are not inflicted in Passion, but the more certain: He that punishes, when Wisdom and Good­ness requires severity, punishes more cer­tainly, than he that punishes but only as he is led by sudden and passionate Anger. If therefore thou art conscious to thy self of Deeds highly worthy of Punishment, think of God's Patience, and let the Thought of his Patience work a more reasonable effect in thee, than what is the common effect of it; let not his Patience make thee secure, but let it make thee fear, and go away, and humble thy self before him, if peradventure the Re­pentance may keep off that Punishment for the future, which his Patience hath kept off hitherto: For,

3. That which we have been speaking of being considered, there is very great reason for us to humble our selves before God for our Sins, that have been long since committed; and that the more, if God hath not yet thought fit to chastise [Page 304] us for them; for there is the more cause to apprehend that he will do so. I have already observed, that God's thoughts are not as our thoughts are; and there is this notable instance of it, wherein we are nearly concerned: When we commit any wickedness, the thought of it is trouble­som and grievous to us for the present, unless we have cast off all sense of God, and care of our own Souls; but by de­grees it wears off; and that which a few days since lay heavy upon our Minds, is now grown so light that we do not feel it; and so the next Sin that wounds our Con­science is felt, perhaps, as the former was, and forgotten at last, as it was too; and thus we are naturally disposed, not to have the same sense of Sins long ago com­mitted, as of guilt we have lately con­tracted: But this is an Infirmity that is to be corrected by Reason, and a right knowledge of God: For it is not so with God, the Evil which thou didst twenty Years ago, is as fresh in his Remembrance, and lies before him as much to thy disad­vantage, as that which was done but Ye­sterday. God's displeasure doth not wear off, as our trouble doth, though because we are not affected with the vile Actions that were done a great while since, we are [Page 305] apt to flatter our selves, that neither is he so angry with us as he was: We behave our selves too often as if we were accoun­table for none but the last Sins we com­mitted; we do evil things, and cry God Mercy; and then we do them again, and go on in this way, as if nothing were upon the score against us, but what troubles us for the present. But we should argue quite contrary. God hath all our wicked Acti­ons in order before him, and therefore we should set them before our own Eyes, and remember, that if we have had our Profits without Losses, and our Pleasures without Pains, our Sins without Punishments, there is the more behind; and that we are as much in danger of the Sins of our Youth, and all the Ills we have done since, as of the latest of all; for which reason we should say, Spare us good Lord; and from the bottom of our Hearts should confess and be sorry for our former Offences, and fear and tremble to add new ones to them. And that is the conclusion we are to make of the whole matter; to wit,

4. To use the Patience and Long-suf­fering of God for the preventing of his Anger from flaming out against us, ei­ther in this World, or in the World to come; and that by bringing forth fruits [Page 306] meet for repentance, and doing remarkably well in all those kinds, wherein we have formerly done Evil; remembring those Words of the Apostle, Rom. 2.4. De­spisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not know­ing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. Where the Apostle seems to intimate, that this is a matter which Men are ignorant of, or at least, that they mind it not, viz. That the goodness of God leadeth them to repentance, (i. e.) the goodness of his Forbearance and Long-suffering. We are all of us sensible, that his threatnings do naturally lead Men to thoughts of amendment; but we are not so well aware, that his for­bearance was designed for the same end; though when we come to consider, it is what we shall not be able to deny: For as the reason why God threatens, is be­cause he would have the Punishment a­voided, since he that threatens before­hand, doth it, that there may be no occa­sion of Punishment; so the reason why the threatning is not inflicted presently, is the very same, especially when it is de­clared expresly, that Repentance will be admitted: I say, the reason of the for­bearance is the very same, viz. That [Page 307] we might have time to repent, and means to escape: Which use of God's forbear­ance, as it is necessary for our Salvation in the World to come, so it is the best means of our escaping in this; although that be a concern for which we ought not in any measure to be so solicitous, as for the other. When bad Men grow worse and worse, it is a sign that God will visit the World, and no longer bear the Indignities that are done to his Holy Name: And therefore the security of good Men must lie in the growing better and better. When God's Patience and Forbearance is extended to all alike, and some are incu­rable, and grow hardned by it, and others frame themselves to Piety and Charity, and dependance upon God more than ever they did before, it is highly probable, that when he finds so great a difference, he will make as great a difference; and for a general instruction, make it plain on both sides, that he will neither fail to punish the Wicked, nor to protect the Righteous.

Brethren, let us remember our Profes­sion, which is to believe in God, and consequently to believe, that we are not made safe by Wealth, or by Favour, by worldly Power, or by worldly Policy; but that God is more to us than all these [Page 308] things; and that we depend intirely upon him; that by forsaking him, we forsake our Strength and Defence; that by ad­hering to him. we have that Power for our Security, and that Goodness for our Security, which made the World, and which governs the World. Let us then in this our day consider the things that be­long to our peace, and seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near, that he may be near unto us in all our Troubles and Adversities, whensoever they oppress us, and be found of us at the hour of Death, and the day of Judg­ment, that God of Mercy and Love, which in himself he always is, and which he desires to shew himself to be to us all. Let therefore the unrighteous man forsake his ways, and the wicked man his thoughts; and turn unto the Lord, for he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. To the God of infinite Goodness let us ascribe all Ho­nour and Glory, now, and for ever. A­men.

The Twelfth Sermon.

COncerning the Galileans, whose Blood Pilate mingled with their Sa­crifices, and the Eighteen Jews upon whom the Tower in Siloam fell and slew them, our Saviour's Discourse to those that were present was this: Suppose ye, that these Glileans, and these Jews were Sinners above all the Galileans, because they suf­fered such things; and above all men that dwelt at Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise pe­perish.

From which Words taken in Connexi­on with what went before, there are two kinds of Observations that may be laid down: The former are rather suppo­sed [Page 310] than expressed; and they are these Two:

1. That God is just in the Punishments that he inflicts upon Sinners.

2. That by what means soever Evil happens to Men, the Providence of God is concerned in it.

The second kind are intended more di­rectly, viz.

1. That they who suffer very great E­vils, are not always greater Sinners than those who in the mean time suffer no­thing.

2. That one reason why such Evils do nat befal all Persons at the same time, who are equally Sinners, is, That while some are visited with the Rod, others may take warning by it. And,

3. That if they do not take warning, they shall not escape.

These are all profitable Instructions, and such as this place naturally yields; which I shall therefore pursue, without taking much pains to shew how they are contained in it.

Something I shall say, but very brief­ly, of the two first, because they are supposed in these Sayings of our Lord, [Page 311] though not the main things intended.

The first is, that Punishment is due to Sin; which is the Ground of all that our Saviour discourses here, concerning the Ends of those unhappy Men; he knew that his Hearers would be apt to pass an hard Censure upon them, and he took care to prevent it; but they would never have been in danger of running into that extreme, if it had not been fixed in all of them, That Punishment was due to Sin; and this our Saviour was far from correcting, but rather confirmed them in it, by concluding, That they al­so should perish, except they repented. The Truth is, this is one of those things that Men know by Nature; and it is well that they do; for if notwithstanding this Sense, the World is so bad, how much worse would it have been, if these appre­hensions could have been extinguished? Hence it is, that the Conscience of well-doing inspires a Man with assurance; and that Guilt makes him a Coward; that the disasters of others expose them to be hardly thought of; and that our own Af­flictions bring our old sins to remembrance. The Natives of Melita, though they were Barbarians, yet when they saw a Viper [Page 312] fasten upon St. Paul's hand, presently con­cluded, That he was a murderer, whom though he had escaped the Sea, yet vengeance would not suffer to live, Acts 28. There the natural Sense of Punishment being due to Sin, wrought, though they carried it too far. But with something better reason did Joseph's Brethren, when he had brought them into distress, argue with one ano­ther, Verily, we are guilty concerning our Brother, therefore this distress is come upon us, Gen. 42.21. It is this natural belief, that supported many Mysteries of Religi­on every where, in all Ages of the World, whether those Mysteries were of God's ap­pointing, or of Man's inventing. A good part of the Sacrifices and Rites of the Hea­thens, and the Jews, in their Worship, was to make expiation of Sin; and the Beast was killed, to confess that Punishment was due to that Man for whom it was offered. It is this Sense that disposes Men to believe strange Delusions; that there is vertue in little things, which seem to he no better than Charms to take away the guilt of Sin, and to prevent the Punishment of it: When people wear Habits, and go Pilgri­mages, and touch Relicks, and apply Holy Water, and twenty other such Remedies to themselves, for the ease of their Minds, [Page 313] tho' they take a silly way to their end, yet the Principle is good at the bottom; That Sin and Punishment are linked together, and that one naturally draws on the other, if some method be not used to break the Chain; which belief is so troublesom to a guilty mind, that for this reason the ge­nerality of Men are naturally disposed to like a Religion so much the more, for ha­ving great variety of Reliefs for an un­easie Conscience; which is the true reason why Mankind, if good care be not taken, are ready to run into a thousand Supersti­tions. To prevent which, and to bring us into the way of Salvation, God sent his own Son into the World to be a Sacrifice for us, that we having so great an assurance of the expiation of our Sins, should chear­fully set our selves to the Reformation of our Hearts and Lives, and serve God with­out fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. This is the first Observation, That the Principle upon which all this Discourse proceeds, is a na­tural Truth, viz. That Punishment is due to Sin.

2. That by what means soever evils be­fal Men, it still comes by the Providence of God, either directly sending it, or at least knowingly permitting it, and for wise [Page 134] and good Reasons determining to permit it: This also is evidently presumed in this Discourse; for upon the relation of those disasters, the minds of the hearers present­ly turned to this Conclusion, That they were very great Sinners that suffered such things, and consequently, that the evil was sent by a just and wise Providence: Now this our Saviour did not go about to cor­rect neither, but rather confirmed them in it, that God's Hand was in all that happen­ed, as themselves should find it too, if they repented not: So that whether evil comes by the free will of others, as it did upon the Galileans, whose Blood Pilate mingled with their Sacrifices, or by such means, as seem to be meerly casual, as it did upon the eighteen upon whom the Tower in Siloam fell; in both cases the Providence of God doth interpose, attending the whole Affair, regulating, and ordering, and with exact knowledge of each circumstance, permit­ting that which happens, and the means by which it happens: A very instructing Consideration, which we should lay up in our Minds, heartily believing it, and fre­quently entertaining our selves with it, that we may be directed by it in our Pros­perity, and comforted with it in our Adversity; for it will give us in our bet­ter state, the best direction how to secure [Page 315] it; and to all other methods and ways which we use to keep off evil, it will make us add that which is best of all, to secure by well-doing an Interest in the Favour of God. It is a great defect of Wisdom, as well as of true Religion, to be so nice as we often are, in weighing the means of our welfare, with the causes of danger; and this with respect only to second causes, forgetting all the while, that which ought in the first and chiefest place to be remem­bred, the supreme Mover and Orderer e­ven of those Causes, and of the whole Matter. But if we laid to heart what we all believe, that it is an unseen Hand that governs all, undoubtedly we should be more afraid of our Sins, than of all other miseries; and more concerned to be strong in the Favour of God, than in the Arm of Flesh. This consideration is equally good to comfort us under Adversity, if that hap­pens, because God sends it; for tho' there may be good reason to take evil in evil part, from Men who seldom mean well to us, when they trouble and grieve us; yet there is this to make us patient, that it is of God's sending too, who means us no harm, and will convert it to good; which is the true reason of that excellent saying of Job, ch. 2. v. 10. Shall we receive good [Page 316] from the hand of God, and shall we not re­ceive evil? For the Emphasis lies in these Words, From the hand of God. For we rank him in effect with Men, if we cannot be pleased with him, but when he gives us what we desire. When good comes to us, it is welcome from what hand soever it comes; but this is one part of the sin­gular Worship we pay to God, that from him we can receive evil too, without su­specting either the Goodness of his Intenti­on, or the Wisdom of his Counsel.

These are the two Points which lie at the bottom of this Discourse of our Sa­viour, viz. That Punishment belongs to Sin; and, That the Evils which happen in this World, do not happen without the Providence of God attending upon all the Circumstances thereof.

I proceed now to those points which are the direct purpose of this place; whereof the

1. Is, That they who suffer very great Evils are not always greater Sinners than those who in the mean time suffer no­thing: That is the plain Doctrine of our Saviour, expressed in these Questions, Suppose ye that these were greater sinners, than all the Galileans? and these, than all that dwell at Jerusalem? They indeed [Page 317] that heard him, being Jews, were ready enough so to suppose; but this was that Error of theirs, which he in the first place designed to correct; and it was ne­cessary for them to be set right in this matter by some great Authority, because it was an Error so easie for them to slide into, by reason of the Temper and Con­stitution of their Law, which to them that kept it, promised all the good things of this Life, and threatned all the evils of Life to them that broke it: But the time was now coming, when these considerati­ons should not be so much regarded, and God would establish a Covenant upon pro­mises of an higher nature than those of the Law of Moses, and upon more terri­ble Penalties than those were threatned by that Law: And therefore this plain Do­ctrine of our Saviour, which no doubt was something surprizing to his Hearers, was very seasonable to be delivered, just when that Law was expiring, and a bet­ter was to take place: The time was com­ing, when all that would live godly in Christ Jesus should suffer Persecution; when his Disciples should be hated of all men for his names sake, and delver'd up to be beaten and scourged, and put to death; Which when they should see, they would have [Page 318] reason to remember that he had told them, upon a particular occasion, that they were not to call them the greatest Sinners, who suffered such things, as so many to­gether never endured before; but there was a notorious Provocation of divine Ju­stice to deserve it. Now there were great­er designs in hand, than to keep a small nation, in comparison to the observation of a Law, that required abundance of Cere­mony, and was content with the out­ward Work, which served to an happy Life in this World. The true Rules of Righteousness and Charity were now to be laid down, and Men were to learn to live above the World, and to be brought to the practice of Piety, by the Promises of Immortality in a future State; to reward them for any thing they should lose or suffer for it in this: It would therefore be expedient, that the power of this Faith should be sometimes demonstrated, to the Glory of God, and the Instruction of Man, and that by Examples of Constancy in suffering for Righteousness; it would al­so be expedient, that the Profession of so holy a Faith should not be dishonoured by the continual scandals of Men, whose Con­versation is quite contrary to their Professi­on: and therefore that God should purifie [Page 319] his Church in the Furnace of Affliction, and sometimes separate the Sincere from the Hypocrite, by bringing them to the Test of Persecution, that those who hang loosely upon the Christian Communion, might be shaken off, and none but good Examples left in it, to bring greater Cre­dit to the Gospel, and more Proselytes to it, than it had before. Since therefore the time was coming, when Men should suffer not at all, as Sinners or Evil doers, but for a good Cause, and with a good Conscience, most certainly it was a seasonable Instru­ction, that the greatest Sufferers were not to be accounted the greatest Sin­ners.

But this, I confess, is a Reason that doth not reach the full Intention of our Savi­our, in the Doctrine he laid down upon this occasion mentioned in the Text; for his true Disciples in suffering for their Faith and Profession, cannot be said to suffer for their Sins; but his words considered with all the circumstances wherewith they are to be taken, do suppose that when Men suf­fer for their sins, they are not to be accoun­ted greater Sinners meerly for that rea­son, than those who at the same time e­scape and suffer nothing; for when he said, that neither should they escape that heard [Page 320] him, unless they repented; it was impli­ed, or at least not denyed, that those things happened to the aforesaid Galileans and Jews, as a Punishment of their Sins; and a plain case it is, that in this Life where the Tares and the Wheat grow together, that by the same Afflictions, God punishes the Sins of some, while he manifests the Sin­cerity of others: And in this Case it re­mains true, that those who are punished, are not to be accounted greater Sinners than all those that escape; of which we need not desire any other Proof than our Saviour's Word for it: But in some Cases we have very evident and sensible demon­stration of it: For sometimes God pu­nishes the Sins of some Men by the Hands of others that are worse than they, whom he reserves for far greater Punishments in this Life, as the Histories of the Church do abundantly testifie: Now by the same reason, that it must not be concluded of those that suffer under the Oppressions of others that they are worse than those that oppress them, it ought not neither to be concluded of those that do not suffer by them, that they are worse than those that do; for the former observation is an evi­dent Proof, that they do not suffer first, who deserve it most. Which is a Doctrine [Page 321] that our Saviour thought fit to deliver in his days, and will be of constant use, while the World lasts, to keep Christians at the greatest distance from that Jewish Error; That Men may discern God's Love and Hatred by what befals them in this World. I will therefore never suffer my self to be run into an ill opinion of any Man, or any People, by any adversity, how great soe­ver it be, which happens to them before my Eyes; much less will I enter into com­parisons; I will not conclude from the Affliction I see, that there must needs be some great Sin at the bottom, which Ven­geance has found out: And when I see the Sin and cannot forbear acknowledging the Justice of God, I will not go on to suppose, there is something more than I do see, and make him to be a worse Man than he seems to be; nor will I conclude, that he is worse than those that do not suffer such things: And what construction I will forbear to make of a single Person, I will much more forbear to make of Multitudes: Because I know the Reasons of God's Proceedings with Peoples and Nations, and great bodies of Men, are by me unsearchable, and that time discovers that Wisdom of his Coun­sels, which my Reason cannot fathom: In a word, I will conclude ill of none, [Page 322] because they suffer, but rather well of them, if I know no cause to the contra­ry, because it is often God's method to afflict his own best Servants, and when he punishes for Sin, to begin with those that do not most of all deserve it. Shall I con­clude, for instance, that the French Prote­stants have been the greatest Sinners of all the Protestants in Europe, or greater than our selves, because they have suffered such things? God forbid! I speak not of those, who to their Glory in this World, but alas, that is little worth, it becomes me to say, and you to hear it, who to their Praise with God, and to the encrease of their Reward hereafter in a better Life, have suffered the loss of all things, to keep a good Conscience, but of those whom the Terrors of this World have prevailed with, more than the Terrors of the Lord; in whom the desire of ease here, hath been too hard for the de­sire of Salvation hereafter; I will not say, and we must not say, that even these were greater Sinners than our selves, who have not fallen into their Temptations. Such instances as these, Brethren, do best explain the intention of our Saviour in these words, and will affect us with the true sense of them, and the more that we look abroad into the World, and consider the unsearch­ableness [Page 323] of God's Judgments, and that his ways are past finding out, as we cannot but do, if we ask our selves the reason why this and that happens; the more sensibly we shall acknowledge the Truth of our Savi­our's Doctrine in this place, and shall for­bear passing Judgment upon the unhappy, meerly because they are so. But yet to take notice of what God doth of this kind in the World, is not an unprofitable obser­vation, and that because the second point of the three which I have mentioned, is as true as the first, and that is this.

2. That one reason why the Evils of this Life do not befal all Persons at the same time, who are equally Sinners, is, That while some are visited with the Rod of God, others may take warning by it. This Pro­position I lay down with great confidence, not only of the Truth of it in general, but also of the pertinence of it to the Text: For you may observe, that our Saviour up­on mention made of the former of the two tragical Stories, observes the latter himself, and takes occasion from thence to divert his Hearers from censuring those miserable persons, as they were ready to do, and to im­ploy them in reflecting upon themselves: I tell you, nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish: He imployed them in [Page 324] reflecting upon their own sins; for, says he, except ye repent; and upon their own dan­ger, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And now I am sure it will be grant­ed, that our Saviour did not wander from the true intent of God's Providence in the things that happened to those Persons, nor make an application of them, which was not to the purpose; and therefore since he gave warning by their examples, it remains true, as I said, that one reason why the E­vils of this Life do not befal all Persons at the same time who equally deserve them, and I will add, who equally need them, is this, That while some are corrected, others may be instructed: I rather keep to the case of punishing Sin, than trying Virtue, because that is the case of the Text; tho' I might say too, that the reason why all that can bear a tryal, are not tryed at the same time is, because the tryals of some righteous Men are not only profitable to themselves, but the examples of them also are profitable to other good Men to en­courage and fortifie them. But when God punishes, he doth not at one and the same time, punish all that deserve it equally, but he punishes some, that the rest may take warning; for if the Sufferings of a few in comparison, would instruct all the [Page 325] rest, God's end is gained, which is, that we should learn righteousness, when his judg­ments are abroad in the earth: And this is one of those arguments which may con­vince us, that God doth not willingly afflict and grieve the Children of Men; for if he took pleasure in that, then without questi­on where there was the same cause, there would be the same effect of his displea­sure; and where the same need appeared, the same Remedy would be used; but if where all might justly be punished, he uses his Prerogative to punish some only, and for the time spares the rest, to prove and try them, whether the examples of his Ju­stice upon others will bring them to Re­pentance; in this case it plainly appears, that he delights not in that which is grie­vous to us, but would bring us to Repen­tance at the same time, by shewing his Ju­stice upon some, and his Patience towards others. We can indeed give no account why God begins to afflict this Man, and not that; this People, and not another; but the general point is very obvious (i.e.) why all are not made to suffer together, where there is the same Provocation of Divine Justice, and the same need of being awakened to Repentance; for the reason of it is this, That the Punishment of some [Page 326] is a sufficient warning to others; and God does not afflict all at once, because he doth not willingly afflict the Children of Men: For mark our Saviour's arguing in this place: There were among the Galileans as great Sinners as those whose Blood Pi­late mingled with their Sacrifices: There were among the Inhabitants of Jerusalem, as great Sinners. as those were upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell; and yet those ca­lamities happened but to a few: The use that he would have the rest make of those Examples, was this, That they should re­pent; which he urged by this threatning, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise pe­rish: Now he that threatens to punish and has power to do it, doth plainly shew, that he takes no delight in punishing, but would prevent the fault that deserves it; espe­cially, when he threatens and shews Exam­ples of Justice at the same time, and might have made those Examples of his Justice too, whom he threatens. And so I proceed to the third Proposition; which is,

3. That if those who escape from the Punishment, do not take warning by those that suffer, themselves shall not always e­scape; and this is the direct purport of the Words. I tell you, nay; but except ye re­pent, ye shall all likewise perish; and that [Page 327] by Perishing here, our Lord meant the Punishments of this Life, is plain from hence, that he threatned such like destru­ction, as happened to those few Galileans, and those few upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell. Ye shall all likewise perish, (i. e.) much after the same manner, as in­deed it happened, and that to admiration; For as the Blood of those Galileans was mingled with their Sacrifices▪ so was the Blood of those Paschal Sacrifices, which they came to offer just before the Roman Army hemm'd them in; and as those eigh­teen were kill'd by the fall of the Tower of Siloam, so were the Inhabitants of Jerusalem destroyed in the destruction of Jerusalem it self. Although the Covenant of the Go­spel was established upon better Promises, and with more frightful Penalties than those of this World; yet the Providence of God doth not neglect the bringing Men to re­pentance by the good and evil of this Life; nay it is necessary to the maintain­ing a sense of God, and a World to come, even amongst Christians, That his displea­sure should be seen, where his goodness doth not lead to repentance; and it is his goodness, that by his Judgments he doth a­waken us, when nothing else is able to do it. And therefore although the great mo­tives [Page 328] of Christianity are those that concern another Life; yet when these do not pre­vail, the only remedy that is left, is to in­struct us by present corrections, and to touch us in those things, of which we are most sensible, viz. The present concerns of this World. If therefore, after he hath made some examples to others, these do not re­pent, it is still more necessary that they should not escape, because they have abus'd the long-suffering of God towards them­selves, and taken no warning by those whom God chastened, while he spared them: For if their obstinacy should go without punishment, the example of their Impunity would do more hurt to succeed­ing Generations, than if there had been no warnings given at all; and for this reason, the sufferings of those Sinners that were made the first examples, are commonly less than theirs that would learn no instru­ction by them, as it happened to the Jews forty Years after this Warning that our Saviour gave them, upon so instructing an occasion.

The use we are to make of these consi­derations, is, to do the same thing, which we should certainly do, if God's Judgments were upon us, as they are upon others, that we also perish not: For if we would judge [Page 329] our selves we should not be judged; and if the warning that God gives us by others, hath the same effect, that correction it self would have upon us, God who doth not willingly grieve the Children of Men, would spare us, and not enter into Judg­ment with us. It is but considering how we should be disposed by great affliction and bringing our minds to that temper without it, and then the great design of di­vine corrections and punishments is attain­ed without punishment. And how are Men wrought upon by Calamities? ex­cepting some few who are such Wretches as Ahab was, who in his distress sinned yet more and more. These are the common ef­fects: In general, they begin then to call their sins to mind, and their Consciences bring forth the guilt, that hath been for the most part quiet, and do set their evil ways in order before them: Nay, then they are very willing to acknowledge, that what they suffer, is no more than what they de­serve, but a great deal less. Thus, as I insi­nuated at first, Joseph's Brethren, when they felt the anguish of mind, that their present distress cast them into, could then say, Ve­rily we were guilty concerning our Brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, and would not hear him. It is not to be thought but [Page 330] that after so treacherous and villanous a part, as the selling of Joseph was, their Consciences had pulled every one of them for it at certain times; but it is likely they made a shift to forget it, as much as they could from time to time, till they fell into that perplexity, which their Brother cast them in; and then they talk to one a­nother about their Sin freely and sorrow­fully, as if they had all along dissembled their sense of it to one another before: Verily we are guilty concerning our Brother. This is one end of God's Chastisements, to bring those to an effectual acknow­ledgment of their evil ways, who till then had smothered the Conviction of their Guilt; and that is one end too of God's warnings, when some are made examples of his justice, and he spares others to prove them, whether they will be warned by such Examples. Again, when we feel an­guish our selves, we remember how we have for a long time abused the Patience of God, and turned his grace into wanton­ness: Then our Luxury and Intemperance, whilst we had plenty of all things for this Life, and our neglect of Instruction and Admonition under all means of Grace for a better Life; then, I say, these things come to mind: And if God spares us, whilst he [Page 331] smites others, it is that we may not need any thing more, than such a warning, to make us reflect upon these things as we ought to do. Thus also God's Correcti­ons dispose Men to Charity and Conside­ration of one another; they cure us of that stiffness and wantonness, which, whilst all things go well with us, carries on Con­tention and Hatred: And therefore, that we may not make it necessary for Provi­dence to teach us Wisdom and Charity by withdrawing those Bounties of his, which we abuse to the pampering of Pride, and Obstinacy, we should learn to be wise by Examples, before we are made Examples our selves.

To conclude this matter, who can be ignorant that Affection drives those Men to Prayer, and other Duties of Piety, who were very careless of them before? In their distress they will seek God early, though in their Prosperity they were so backward to any thing of Religion, and for the most part felt very faint and ineffe­ctual dispositions to it, rather complying with Custom than with Inclination and Conscience; and honouring God with their lips, while their hearts are far from him: And this is the great danger of a prospe­rous State, to be full, and to forget God. [Page 332] But if nothing else will cure this Sloathful­ness in Religion, and this indifference and coldness in the Service of God, yet at least Affliction doth it, which makes us to feel our dependance upon God, and shows us, that we have no hope left but in him, and then we abound in Prayers, and we attend willingly to instruction; we apply our selves to God in good earnest, and to all the Comforts of Religion; we make ma­ny vows and promises, and we set our selves immediately to perform them: This is the natural effect of sufferings, when we feel them our selves; and if we are wise, it should be the effect of all those warnings that God hath given us by the sufferings of others: Since therefore we cannot look a­broad into the World, but we shall see the Judgments of God in the Earth, let us learn Righteousness, let us not be high-minded, but fear; let us not judge others, but judge our selves, and often consider, what our Saviour replied to the supposition of their being Sinners above all others, who suffe­red such things as others had not suffered; I tell you, Nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

The Thirteenth Sermon.

FOR the understanding of these Words of our Saviour, two things are to be considered.

1. What is here meant by the Coming of the Son of Man. And,

2. What is meant by his not finding Faith upon the Earth.

1. How we are to understand those Words, when the Son of Man cometh? I answer, the meaning is, when he cometh to execute Judgment upon the ungodly, and to deliver his faithful People out of their Hands: For after our Saviour had spoken the Parable of the unjust Judge, that was wearied by the Widow's importu­nity to do Justice for her against her adver­saries [Page 334] he argued thus, v. 7. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them? or rather, as it might have been translated, and will he bear long in their cause? I tell you, that he will avenge them speedily: And then follow these Words, Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh (i. e.) when he cometh to do that which was spoken of before, viz. to avenge the cause of his Elect, or to punish their Enemies and Oppressors, and to deliver them out of their hands.

Now of the Coming of Christ for this purpose, there is also a twofold significati­on in the New Testament, whereof one is manifestly the Principal, and much more considerable than the other, and that is his second coming in Person to judge the Quick and the Dead, which will not be till the end of the World: Thus the coming of the Day of the Lord, 2 Pet. 3.10. Is called his coming, v. 4. and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with all his Saints, 1 Thes. 3.13. and in many other places. And this is all the coming of Christ properly so called, that the New Testament menti­ons after his First, because this only is to be his second personal Appearance. But then,

2. There was another notion of the coming of Christ, after his first, which is [Page 335] also plainly enough intimated in the New Testament, and that was his coming to destroy the Jews, and to deliver the Chri­stians out of their Hands, which happen­ed 40 Years after his Death: And of this the 24th. Chapter of St. Matthew is an undeniable Testimony, where a Descripti­on of the Destruction of Jerusalem, and a Description of the Day of Judgment are so interwoven one with the other, that it is a matter of some difficulty to know punctually and fully, what is proper to the one, and what to the other: But plain it is, that the one as well as the other, is called the Coming of the Son of Man, as appears by verses 27. and 37. The Destruction of Jerusalem was made as it were a Type or Figure of the Day of Judgment; and therefore these Words are there, Verily, I say unto you, this Generation shall not pass away, till all these things be fulfilled, v. 34. (i. e.) till they are accomplished in that part of the meaning which respects the Destruction of Jerusalem, which was de­stroyed before that Generation passed a­way. Of this it seems plain that St. James speaks, C. 5. v. 6, 7. where speaking to the Jews, says he, Ye have condemned and killed the Just; and to the Christians, Be patient therefore, Brethren, unto the coming of the [Page 336] Lord; and v. 8. Be ye also patient, stablish your Hearts, for the Coming of the Lord draweth nigh; and some other places there are, where the Phrase is to be interpreted thus; particularly that, Let your modera­tion be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand, Phil. 4.5. (i. e.) let all Men see by your Meekness and Patience under those Oppressions which you suffer, that you be­lieve those Predictions, which we have de­livered to you from Christ, that he is at hand to deliver you; and although pro­perly the end of all things will not be till the last day, when the Earth shall be burnt up, and all the works that are therein, yet because this notable revolution of the de­struction of the Jews was in some degree like unto it, therefore it was also called the end of all things, meaning the end of the Jewish State and Religion, which was to be accompanied with manifest Tokens of God's Favour to the Christians, and of his indignation at their Enemies. And thus we are to understand that passage in St. Peter, The end of all things is at hand, be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer, 1 Pet. 4.7. Not that this was in a strict and proper sense, the Coming of Christ, be­cause he did not come in Person as he will do at the last day; but in some sense it [Page 337] might be so called, because he appeared by his Power and Providence to do the same work in part, which will with incom­parably greater perfection be done at the last, (i.e.) to take Vengeance of the un­godly and to save his own People: for the Incorrigibleness of the Jewish Nation, and their incurable hatred of the Truth, and obstinate Persecution of it, was dreadful­ly punished in the destruction of Jerusa­lem; and the Christians had not only all escaped out of it, before the Roman Army came against it, but by the destruction of it, they gained also a very considerable rest from Persecution for some time after.

And now the reason why this wonderful Providence was called the Coming of Christ, seems plainly to be this, That after his As­cension into Heaven, he set down at the right hand of God, and had all Power put into his hands; and therefore because it is he that governs the World as well as the Church, such remarkable Revolutions, as that was, for the destruction of his enemies, and the saving of his Servants, are called the coming of Christ; God hath given him to be head over all things to the Church, and therefore such Passages as that was, are called his coming, to signifie that they are the effects of his Providence and Govern­ment, [Page 338] for the good of his Church, no less than if he had come in Person to order them, as he will do at the end of the World, to order all things then.

And for this reason then, though in the proper sense of his coming, he will come but once at the end of the World, yet in this improper sense of it, his appear­ance to destroy his Enemies, and to save his People that trust in him, nothing hinders, but that he may be said to come often be­fore the end of the World, (i. e.) as often as his Providence doth signally and remar­kably appear for this purpose: And thus we are to understand the coming of the Lord in 2 Thes. 2.8. where it is said of the Man of sin, that wicked one, That the Lord shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy him with the bright­ness of his coming; which being to be done, before the personal coming of Christ to Judgment, the meaning must be, that his de­struction shall be so remarkably the Work of a Divine Providence, that all shall con­fess it was not the effect of worldly Poli­cy, but no less the doing of the Lord, than if himself had come in Person to destroy him. And whenever the Kingdoms of the World become the Kingdoms of the Lord; when the knowledge of God covers the earth, [Page 339] as the waters cover the sea: When those magnificent Predictions are fulfilled con­cerning the universal prevalence of Truth and Goodness amongst Men, with which the Old and New Testament are plentiful­ly furnished, and which are to be fulfilled before the coming of Christ to the last Judgment: then also is it true, that the Lord comes, (i.e.) by the Power of his Spirit and Providence to renew and re­form a degenerate World, that was run­ning headlong into perdition.

And thus much concerning the sense of these Words, when the son of man cometh, which I have shewn, do principally signifie that great and amazing revolution, when he shall come by coming in his own Person at the last day to judge the World, but in a secondary sense do also signifie the remar­kable Works of his Providence, in punish­ing some, and saving others, even in this Life. Now,

2. How are we to understand that other clause, will he find Faith upon the Eartb? The meaning of the Question is plainly this; That he will not find Faith on the Earth, or very little in comparison. But what is here meant by Faith? I answer, that is easily discerned by the Parable and the Application of it, that went before. [Page 340] The design of both which, was to infer the conclusion in the foregoing verse, And shall not God avenge his own Elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them; I tell you he will avenge them speedily: That is to say, God would hear the Prayers of righteous Men, and in a little time take their cause into his own hand; and then, says our Saviour, Never­theless when the son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (i. e.) notwith­standing the Promises of God to hear the Prayers of good Men, and to interpose for them that depend upon him, there will be but little Faith in these Promises found up-upon the Earth, even when the Son of Man comes to fulfil them: The greatest part will not be found to believe any thing at all of them, and so will be surprized with that day, without any preparation for it, or expectation of it. Many will yield to the Temptations of this present World, and throwing off their dependance upon God, will think to secure themselves by Flatte­ry and Hypocrisie from the Violence of wicked Men; others will despair of any better state of things; and very few will lay to heart the promises which God hath made to hear the Prayers of his Servants, and to save them: Few will strengthen [Page 341] themselves in God by crying to him day and night, and by putting their whole trust and confidence in him; and this notwith­standing the clear and strong reasons they have from his Word so to do. Neverthe­less, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth; And thus we may from other places of Scripture observe, that immediately before the Day of Judg­ment, there will be a great falling away from Christian Piety and Charity; nay, and the World should begin once more to depart from the Purity of Faith; many false Prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many; and because Iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold: But, says our Saviour, he that endures to the end shall be saved; thereby intimating, that it would be some matter of difficulty to endure to the end. Thus also St. Peter tells us, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? which is plainly meant of the Day of Judgment, before which, according to the Revelation of St. John, Satan was to be loosed for a lit­tle time, and to go out, and to deceive the nations, and to gather them together against the City of God. And therefore it will be remarkably true at the day of Judgment, [Page 342] that when the Son of Man cometh, he will find but little Faith in the Earth: The World will be in a careless Posture, as it was before that the Flood came and took them all away: And for the same reason there is but little Faith in the Earth when God enters into Judgment with the World for the Violence and Iniquities of Men, and asserts the Cause of Innocence and Righ­tousness against them; for in all such Ca­ses the Temptations to Unbelief and Apo­stacy are very great, and likely to prevail upon many of those that believe; so that this is the meaning, That in such a wick­ed Age, as calls for the coming of the Son of Man, the open Enemies of God, which are the greater number, will be void of all regard whatsoever to his Word and to his Providence, or if they take any notice of it, it is that of the Scoffers mentioned by St. Peter, Who will say, Where is the promise of his coming? Many of his professed Ser­vants will be weary of depending upon him, and give way to Temptations, and de­pend more upon the arm of Flesh Than upon the Promise of God, and the Faith of many good Men will be very much weak­ned and abated; so that when he cometh, he will find but little Faith upon the Earth.

And thus I perswade my self to have given you a true Illustration of these re­markable Words of our blessed Saviour, and that upon the two significations of the Son of Man's Coming, which seem to be both intended in this Text; and indeed it is very hard to know which was principal­ly intended, the day of the general Judg­ment, or the Destruction of Jerusalem: The day of general Judgment is in it self the principal meaning of Christ's Coming, and therefore ought not to be excluded; but yet the Parable, with the Application of it, being manifestly intended to stir up that Generation to pray to God, and not to faint, and to give a firm Faith to the Promises of God, notwithstanding the great troubles they were like to meet with from the un­believing Jews: therefore neither could the coming of the Son of Man to be aven­ged of these his Enemies, and to deliver his Servants, be excluded, but was as di­rectly intended as the other.

And now I proceed to observe the two main Points which the Text supposes, be­sides those which it affirms; and the con­sidering of them will not a little contri­bute to a more perfect understanding of this place.

[Page 344]1. It is supposed manifestly, that after the first Coming of Christ to call the World to repentance, and to be offered up for our sins, there would yet be degenerate Ages sometimes, and a most corrupt state of things, before his second personal Com­ing to judge the World.

2. It is also supposed, that his Provi­dence would then appear to set all things right, when there was the greatest need to interpose in behalf of his Church.

1. That his first coming would not infal­libly prevent the degeneracy and corrupti­on of future Ages: For notwithstanding that evidence of Truth, which he taught, many false prophets would arise, and deceive many; and notwithstanding the Power of his Doctrine, iniquity would abound, and the love of many would wax cold: And not­withstanding both these advantages, yet his own servants would sometimes be reduced to that state, that it should be needful to them to cry unto God day and night; which is a matter that may cause some wonder, if we do not consider the reason of it: That the Principles and Manners of Men were so often, and so generally corrupted, be­fore the Coming of the Son of God into [Page 345] the World, is that, which might not appear strange at all, to those that consider the weakness and folly of Mankind: That after the Creation, the Earth should so abound with luxury and violence, that God swept all Mankind away with the Flood but eight Persons: That after Noah's Family had peopled the Earth again, Men should fall into Idolatry so universally, that God called Abraham out of his own Country, and entred into a particular Covenant with him, for the maintaining of the true Worship in his Family and Posterity: That Pharaoh should oppress the Israelites after his Country had been saved by them: That the Israelites should fall to worship other Gods, after that the true God had wrought so many miraculous Deliverances for them: That when, not without much ado, they were cured of Idolatry, they should fall into scandalous ways of Hypo­crisie and Immorality. These and the like things, perhaps, are not so much to be wondred at, because God had not as yet used the last means to instruct Mankind, and to oblige them to Piety and Vertue; but that there should be Times as bad as the worst of those, after Christ himself had appeared in the World to die for Sinners, and to bring the Doctrine of Salvation to [Page 346] Mankind, with the most convincing Evi­dence that could be desired, and with the most powerful Motives that could be thought of; that notwithstanding all this, Oppression, Violence, Fraud, Hypocrisie, Error, Superstition, Idolatry, and scan­dalous Examples, should for some Ages reign no less than before the times of Christ, and to that degree, as to shake even the Faith of good Men; and if it were possible, to deceive the very best of all; this seems to be an amazing Conside­ration; and tho' the noble Examples of Christian Piety and Vertue that have ap­peared in the World, and the assured Ex­pectation of a larger Progress that Christi­anity will make in the Earth, and of bet­ter Effects that it will produce, may answer the Objection; yet that the World, that the Church, should be so bad under the last means, is what may raise some admi­ration: But you are to consider, That when our Lord first came into the World, he came not to establish a Religion, which should either by its Truth convince, or by its Power reform Mankind, whether they will or no; but what was sufficient for both purposes, if they would be wise and honest, and suffer the Concernments of eternal Life to prevail with them above [Page 347] their worldly Interests; and therefore there was as much reason to expect an uni­versal Reformation, as to expect that Men would not resist the Evidence of Truth, in Matters of the greatest concern to them in the whole World; but to bring them to this, the Gospel was furnished with no irre­sistible means, but left them under the na­tural liberty they had before, with a provi­sion of Grace, that might be resisted; and therefore it was in it self likely, that the Truth would be opposed by some, and corrupted by others, and by many held in unrighteousness; that several to whom it was propounded, would not believe it, and several that believed it, would not obey it, and in time, that it would be mixed with Errors and Superstitions, and framed to the Designs of Ambition and Covetousness; nay, the better and more Divine a Religion that of the Gospel is, the more violently it would be opposed by some, and the more certainly corrupted by others: So that if we consider the Excellency of the Gospel, with the Pur­pose of God not to overbear the World into the Faith and Obedience of it, by forcing the natural Liberty of Men, it had rather been much more strange, if it had escaped opposition and corruption, [Page 348] than to have been both opposed and cor­rupted as it hath: Thus our blessed Sa­viour himself, and his Apostles, foretold that it would be: Take heed that no man deceive you; for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall de­ceive many; many false Prophets stall arise, and deceive many; and if any one shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, and there is Christ, believe it not; for there shall arise false Christ's and false Prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect: Behold I have told you before. Thus he foretold how Christianity should be corrupted by Impostures and Frauds: Again, says he, They shall deliver you up to be afflicted and killed, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my names sake; and then shall many be offended, and shall be­tray one another, and shall hate one another. Thus he foretold the violence that should be used to extinguish the Profession of the Truth. Again, saith St. Paul, 2 Thess. 2. There shall be a falling away, and the man of sin shall come with all deceiveableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the Love of the Truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that [Page 349] they should believe a lie, that they might all be damned who believe not the Truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. The [...]e he foretels a fearful Apostasie from the Purity and Simplicity of the Christian Profession. Again, says he, 2 Tim. 3.1, 2. This know, that in the last days perilous times shall come: For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affecti­on, truce-breakers, false accusers, inconti­nent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of plea­sure more than lovers of God: There he foretels a terrible corruption of Manners: And again, 1 Tim. 4.1, 2, 3. The Spirit speaketh expresly, says he, that in the lat­ter times some shall depart from the Faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisie, ha­ving their Conscience seared with an hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath crea­ted to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the Truth. Now lay all these things together, and here is as plain warning, as can possibly be given, of most corrupt and degene­rate Times, even after Christ's first co­ming; [Page 350] and so that is expresly foretold, which the Text evidently supposes: For here would be glorious Pretences to de­ceive, Violence to compel, and wicked Examples to offend the Disciples of Christ. And what Provision hath our Lord left to secure them from being misled, where there is so much danger? They are to attend to the Doctrine, which he deli­vered us at first by his Holy Apostles, to secure themselves from being deceived; they must lay to Heart the Promises of the Gospel, to arm themselves against the Temptations of the World, and the Power of evil Examples; and they are to con­sider, that all these things were foretold by our Lord himself, and his Apostles, that they might not be scandalized, when they should happen, nor be tempted to suspect, that either Christianity was not of God from the first: or at least, that our Lord has neglected all care of it since, be­cause it doth so little good, as yet, in the World; because it runs out into so many Errors, and because the Truth of it is so vehemently opposed; for, says our Saviour, Behold, I have told you before: But still it is in their power, whether they will take warn­ing by such Predictions, and whether they will guard themselves against Errors and [Page 351] Evil Examples; and therefore a very cor­rupt state of Things in the Christian World, will, in all likelihood, shake the Faith of many Believers, and cause some to turn from the holy commandment delive­red to them, not regarding the admonitions of Christ and his Apostles before-hand: And so when Christ comes, he will find but little Faith upon the Earth: And this is the Observation which in the first place is unavoidable from the Text: That even after Christ, there would be degenerate Ages; for this is plainly supposed, as the cause why there would be but little Faith found, when he should come to visit the Earth, for the Iniquities and Offences it a­bounds with. The

2. Supposition is, That the Providence of our Lord would then appear to set things right, when there was the greatest need to interpose in behalf of his Church: For whereas it is said, When the son of man co­meth, shall he find faith on the earth? It is intimated manifestly, that his coming is then to be expected, when little Faith is to be found amongst Men; and consequently, when Scandals and Temptations are so strong, that it is an hard matter to bear up against them. I have said already, that the Evidence of Christianity doth not make [Page 352] all Men receive it; and that the Power of Christianity doth not make all that receive it, wise and good Men; and it is not to be denied, but that amongst Christians them­selves, there are as monstrous Errors and leud Examples, as ever there were in the World before Christianity, or as there are now where Christianity is not at all pro­fessed. Now at this rate, should the Lord of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ, let things go as they would, it would in time come to pass, that nothing of Christianity would remain in the World, but the name of it, and that for no other purpose but to do more hurt with it, than could be done without it. But how is it, that Divine Providence will interpose, or according to the expression of the Text, that the Son of man will come, and will make good his Promise of being with his Church to the end of the World; which is never more re­markably fulfilled, than when he interposes in those Circumstances, which make Men think that he will not interpose, and that he is not at all concerned, what becomes of the State of Religion, or the Affairs of the Church? Because our Lord hath not made the Gospel an irresistable means of convincing Ʋnbelieuers, and reforming wic­ked Men, therefore it would in time be [Page 353] needful, that in order to the keeping up of true Religion, and making Christians such as they ought to be, that he, I say, should by his Providence correct his own Disci­ples, and reduce wretched Mankind into an unavoidable necessity of consideration, that Truth and Righteousness should not utterly fall from among the Children of Men. When there is the greatest danger of losing the true Profession of Christia­nity, our Lord will not be wanting to maintain it: When all Flesh had corrupt­ed their ways, God came and swept away Mankind with a Flood, and saved Noah to be the Father of a new and better Ge­neration: When their Prosperity had cor­rupted their ways, he called Abraham forth to preserve true Religion in him, and in his Family; and these, and the like Pro­vidences are Pledges of the same care to interpose in behalf of Truth and Righte­ousness, when the Faithful seem to fail from among the Children of Men. While God seems to let the World alone, and to suffer all Men to go on in their own ways, as if he took no notice of them, nor were at all concerned at what they did, he is all the while trying and proving what they are, not indeed for his own Information, for he knows all things; but for the in­struction [Page 354] of those that are to come after. If he at every turn should interpose, when we think it needful, we should very seldom know, who are sincere, and who are Hypo­crites; it is very fit, that it should be some­times seen, whether Men are what they pretend to be, whether indeed they are concerned for that Truth, for which they have once pretended a mighty Zeal; whether they are governed by Consci­ence, as they say, or by mere worldly and politick Considerations; for such Dis­coveries as these are very instructing, and serve for the bringing about of much good in the World, and in the Church; which we may reasonably presume to be one cause why, when the Son of Man comes, he will find but little Faith upon the Earth, because while he suffers the World to go on, as if he minded it not, he is trying those that pretend to Faith, and upon the Tryal ma­ny are discovered not to have it. In short, Divine Providence is so far from being re­gardless of the Affairs of Men, that it then most of all shews it self, when Men are tempted to think, that it regards nothing (i. e.) when there is but little Faith to be found in the Earth; and this will be a­bundantly demonstrated at the close of all things, that is, at the Day of Judgment, [Page 355] which will be the most convincing Act of Providence that ever was in the World, and one Forerunner of it, will be that Question, Where is the promise of his co­ming?

And now the use of all ought to be that, which is the declared intention of our Saviour in the beginning of the Para­ble: And he spake a Parable to them, to the end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint: For the true Ground of Prayer, is Faith in the Providence, and Promises of God; and if there be no time, when these fail, then ought Men always to pray, and not to faint (i.e.) they ought always to depend upon God's Providence, they ought always to believe his Promises, they ought always to be certain that their Prayers are heard, and will turn to good account for them; that God is gracious to all, and much more to them that love and serve him; and if they do all this, then they will always pray, and not faint, (i.e.) and not be discouraged: And if they ought always to pray, then also, when they are most apt to be discouraged, and when there is but little Faith to be found upon the Earth: nay, then most of all, be­cause when Temptations to Unbelief are greatest, we should the most of all streng­then [Page 356] our selves by recourse to God, and dependance upon him.

To this Instance in Prayer, there are two things must go.

1. A stedfast Resolution to walk in all the ways of God, and not to be diverted out of them by any worldly Interest what­soever: For he can have no Faith to go to God, who thinks of taking care for him­self, without regard to his Duty to God: A Man is not in a condition to seek the Favour of God, or to commend his case to him, that contrives how to shift for himself without him.

2. A perfect resignation of himself to the Will of God; for by this also it is, that a Man entitles himself to his Favour and Blessing. The most effectual way to obtain the particular Blessings we pray for at any time, if they are such things as may prove evil as well as good for us, is to leave the matter, after all, to the dispo­sal of Divine Providence; for then if we obtain them, we get his Blessing with them too; if we do not, we are sure to get his Blessing without them, which is the gene­ral thing we pray for always: With these Dispositions we are in a fit case to present our Prayers to God for Spiritual Blessings [Page 357] for our selves, and for the Church of Christ, which will assuredly come accom­panied with Temporal ones too, if it be best for us, and if God sees that it is bet­ter for his Church to be prosperous, than to be afflicted in this World; and then it is better so to be, when Men are suffici­ently prepared for it by God's Correction, and their own Repentance. Men ought therefore always to pray, and not to faint; for their Prayers thus qualified, will not fail of obtaining what they ask; which our Saviour thought good to illustrate by an Example in the Parable delivered before the Text, viz. of an unjust Judge, that nei­ther feared God, nor regarded man; who nevertheless upon the importunity of a Widow, did what was right in her case; much more shall God hear the Prayers of his faithful Servants: For,

1. He is the Just God, and is of him­self ready to right those that do at any time suffer wrong.

2. He is also the merciful God that re­gardeth Men; and when we desire things of him that are needful, he is of himself ready to grant what we ask, or at least, that which is more needful than what we ask.

[Page 358]3. Whereas the Judge in the Parable seem'd to contemn the Poverty and Mean­ness of that Person, that sued to him for Justice; for which reason she is repre­sented here to be a Widow, one of a desti­tute Condition, that wanted a Patron to assert her Right; God, who is Just and Good to all, is particularly gracious to his Servants, and esteems them highly, and no Circumstances of Meanness and Distress, which he suffers them to fall in­to, can alter his Favour towards them; for all which Reasons, if the Judge in the Parable granted the Widow's Suit, merely because she lay upon him, and was trou­blesome to him, much more will God, to whom we are never troublesome, when we make our Requests known to him, grant what we ask, because he is Righte­ous and Gracious, and loveth and pitieth us, as a Father doth his Children.

The Fourteenth Sermon.
AN ASSIZE-SERMON, PREACHED at St. Maries in Bury, 1678.

THE Religious Use of an Oath, depends chiefly upon the Matter, and the Discharge. The Mat­ter must be worthy of that Obligation which an Oath implies; in promising, it must not be unlawful; that we may swear in Righteousness, it must not be impossible, it must not be trivial; and in affirming [Page 360] it must be some Fact proveable by our own Testimony, that we may swear in Judgment: All which implies, That we are not to swear indeliberately, passionate­ly, or commonly. The Discharge of an Oath must be answerable to the Obligati­on, which is to Sincerity of Intention, Fi­delity of Performance, and the giving of Testimony exactly according to Know­ledge; and then we swear in Truth.

All which Conditions of using an Oath religiously, are put together by the Prophet Jeremiah, c. 4. v. 2. And thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness. In righteousness, not pro­faning an Oath by making it the Bond of Iniquity; in Judgment, not exposing it to Contempt, by using it rashly and impro­perly; and in Truth, not violating the bond of an Oath, by breaking Promise, or giving Testimony to a Falshood.

Swearing in Truth, is that part of the Religion of an Oath, which I shall at this time press upon you, omitting the Con­sideration of what things an Oath may be conversant about; and that the rather, because I shall apply what I have to say upon the former point, either to such Oaths as fasten any Duty upon us, required by the Laws; or to Swearing in Courts of Judica­ture, [Page 361] where the end of Swearing, viz. the Judicial deciding of Controversies, does always make the Matter enquired into, worthy of so high a Testimony.

Therefore have I chosen these Words of God for my Subject, Ye shall not swear by my name falsly: A Law which, if any, is written upon the very Hearts of Men; and yet it pleased God, that it should be written in our Bibles too: I would to God there were no occasion given by the pre­sent Age to urge it in our Sermons, at least in the way of Complaint and Reproof. But since Perjury, Perjury I say, that mon­strous Sin, which strikes even at the Maje­sty of God, and betrays the Throne of the King; which undermines the very Foundations of Religion and Justice which does most sensibly grieve the Hearts of all good Christians, and threatens the safety of every good Subject; which does not only work mischief to the Innocent, but also damns the Guilty, almost without re­medy. If Perjury, as 'tis commonly said, be grown the crying Sin of our Land, and it appears that the Penalties of the Law are not terrible enough to prevail against it; we are then bound in Allegiance to God, in Loyalty to the King, in Love to our Country, in Charity to the Souls of [Page 362] Men, to bring in all the assistance we can from Religion, to expel this fatal Mischief, and to remove this foul Scandal from a­mong us, by instructing plainly, by re­proving impartially, by exhorting and perswading most vehemently. In contri­bution to which good end, I beg your Pa­tience while I endeavour to shew,

• First of all, Wherein lies the peculiar Obligation of an Oath.
• Secondly, What are the several ways of violating this Obligation, or incurring the Crime of Perjury.
• Thirdly, What are the usual Temptati­ons and Inducements thereunto.
• Lastly, Some of the fearful Aggravati­ons that belong to the sin.

That an Oath induces the utmost Ob­ligation to speak the Truth, is confessed by general Practice, which has made, or rather received it to be the end of Con­troversie: For if a Man could be obliged yet more deeply than by swearing, surely the final resort would not be had to an Oath; if any thing could confirm a Te­stimony more assuredly, which is in our Power, this should not be the last Con­firmation: Therefore let it be considered, [Page 363] that the very end of an Oath implies a peculiar obligation to discharge it truly; for the greater that trust is, which I cause another to repose in me, the greater trea­chery I am guilty of, if I then deceive him. But if the end of an Oath obliges Men not to swear falsly, much more does the nature of it. With very good reason may an Oath be rested in as the highest security that Men can offer for their Honesty and Truth: For the nature of an Oath con­sists in this, That it is an appeal to God as to the Witness of Truth, and the Avenger of Falshood, for the confirmation of our own Testimony.

1. God is appealed to as a Witness; he who is the God of Truth and Knowledge, the faithful and infallible Witness of every Thought and Action; he whose Testimony alone, needs not to be confirmed by any other, since for him only it is naturally and eternally impossible to deceive or to be deceived: I ought never to lye or dis­semble, or break my Word, because I know my self always to be in the presence of God: This ought to restrain me from be­ing guilty of Falshood at any time, that I am within the sight and hearing of the God of Truth: But most of all am I bound to [Page 364] be sincere, when I have appealed to him as present, for the confirmation of what I say. It is a grief to a good Man to hear a Lye told to his Face; but if the Lyar should call him to witness his Falshood, this he would take in foul scorn and with greatest indignation: And what an height of im­pudence must it needs be, to put the like affront upon God himself, by appealing to his Knowledge for our Unrighteousness, in Matters wherein we deal falsly? What is this, but to impute our own Baseness and Falshood, to his most Holy Majesty; and to do what is in us, to make him a Lyar like unto our selves?

2. God is not only called upon as the Witness of Truth when we swear, but al­so as the Avenger of Falshood: And in­deed 'tis the adding of this which makes an Appeal to God's Testimony by Invoca­tion, a most forcible Obligation to Truth, and the utmost Security which we can of­fer for the same. When we pretend that there is a Man present who knows that to be true which we affirm, it would be su­perfluous to wish that he were revenged of us, if it be not true, because he may be called forth openly to attest the Truth, or discover the Falshood of what we say: Where the Witness is visible, and the Te­stimony [Page 365] credible, it is sufficient to appeal to his Knowledge only. But when God is taken to Witness by us, there is no voice or sensible Appearance, by which he does either confirm or disown the Matter. What is it then which makes an Appeal to God, the silent and invisible Witness, to be of greater force to oblige our selves, and con­firm others, that we speak the Truth; what is it but this, that we do appeal to his Justice as well as his Knowledge, and call the Vengeance of the Almighty down upon our Heads, if he discerns any False­hood and Deceit in our Testimony? And 'tis impossible that any obligation to speak the Truth, or to discharge a Trust, should be greater than this, that if we are now guilty of lying or unfaithfulness, we do not only consent, but desire that the Indig­nation and Curse of God may fall upon us. I do not think that the invoking of Divine Vengeance, if we swerve from the Truth, is only consequent upon Swearing, accord­ing to the Opinion of some learned Men, but also that it belongs to the very Essence of an Oath; for that should seem to be essential to it, which if it were removed, the fear of Perjury would be taken away with it: But no Man doubts that appeal­ing to God as a Judge, is implied in ap­pealing [Page 366] to him as a Witness, Hence it is, that the Septuagint sometimes useth [...], a Curse, for [...] an Oath. Said Abraham to his Servant, Gen. 24.41. Thou shalt be free from this my Oath: But the Sep­tuagint render it, [...], thou shalt be free from this my Curse. And this is that meaning of an Oath, which is well exprest both by the Forms and Rites of Swearing used amongst us, the common Form being this, So help ye God; to which the Party Sworn, gives his As­sent by laying his Hand upon the Holy Gospel, and kissing it; all which is as much as if he had said, If I falsifie, let me have no part in the Grace and Mercy of God, and in the Blood of Christ; may I be accursed in this World, and let my name be blotted out of the Book of Life. And is there not good reason then, why an Oath should be, as the Apostle speaks of it, the end of Controversie, since of all other Obligations to Truth, this plainly is the strongest; and if a Man's Conscience will not be held by this, it will be held by nothing.

Thus much concerning the sacred Ob­ligation of an Oath. I proceed to shew how many ways it may be violated, and the Guilt of Perjury incurr'd. It is usual­ly [Page 367] said, That an Oath is either promissory, or Assertory; but I think, that in strict­ness, every Oath includes a Promise, even the assertory Oath, by which a Man binds himself to declare what he knows concern­ing some matter of Fact, past or present; for this Oath includes a Promise of decla­ring the Truth concerning it, only the Promise and Performance are so close to each other, that they can hardly be distin­guish'd; whereas the Obligation of those Oaths we call promissory, continues for some considerable time to come. These Oaths are mostly taken out of Courts of Judicature, such as the Oaths of subordi­nate Magistrates, to execute the Laws ho­nestly, and to administer Justice imparti­ally; of the Members of a Society or Cor­poration, to observe the Rules, and vindi­cate the Rights of the same; of inferiour Officers, such as Church-wardens and Con­stables, to present Offenders, and execute their Offices according to Law; finally, of Subjects, to yield true Allegiance, and faithful Subjection to the King. Such Oaths as these, are directly violated two ways. First, If there be not an honest Intention at the time of Swearing. 2. If there be not a faithful Performance afterwards: For a Promise has a double aspect, both [Page 368] upon the present Intention, and the future Performance; he that makes a Promise, which at the same time he intends not to perform, is guilty of lying; and though he intends at first, yet if he willingly neg­lects the Performance afterwards, he hath broken his Word; therefore if the Promise was made under Oath, he is forsworn in either case; and if he was false in both, he is guilty of a double act of Perjury; nay, though the Oath were but one, yet his Perjuries may be many; for so long as those Circumstances remain, in which the Oath binds him, every wilful omission of performing the tenour of his Promise, is contrary to his Oath, and consequently a new violation of it; so often as he fails, so often he is forsworn, as truly so often, as if he had every time before each guilty Failure, taken the same Oath which he bound himself withal at first. Thou may­est be sworn once for all the Year, or for all thy Life; but there is no such matter as being forsworn once for all, as vain Peo­ple talk; for by disobeying thy Superior, suppose thou hast done contrary to thy Oath yesterday, that was one Perjury▪ and shouldst thou do the like to morrow that would be another. If thou art under a Promise confirmed by Oath, but not un­der [Page 369] the restraint of the Fear of God, thou mayest bind one Curse fast upon thy Head with another, and seal them with a third, and go on to treasure up Wrath against the Day of Wrath.

In Courts of Judicature, Perjury is in­curr'd, when false Witness is given in upon Oath, i. e. either when a Man swears that to be true, which he knows to be false; or that he is certain of a matter, whereof he is uncertain; or that he declares the ut­most of his Knowledge concerning a Fact, when yet he conceals any part thereof. In this last case, the Witness is forsworn as plainly as in the two former; for his Oath is to give in Evidence, not only the Truth, and nothing but the Truth; but likewise the whole Truth, to answer such Questi­ons as the Court shall put to him; there­fore the Witness is not clear from Perju­ry, meerly by saying nothing but what is true, touching the matter in question, if in favour to either side he conceals so much as any one Circumstance in his Answers and Depositions, which he knows would alter the Case: What can be plainer? He that swears to declare the whole Truth, is forsworn if he does it not; and he surely does it not, who declares it in part only. Moreover, a Witness may incur the guilt [Page 370] of Perjury, by endeavouring to blind the Evidence with deceitful shuffling Answers, instead of declaring what he knows, in plainness and simplicity of speaking; for tho' the Court by multiplying-Questions, may screw out the Truth at last, yet he has not discharg'd his Oath, which obliged him not only to an actual and final discove­ry of the Truth, but to an honest intention of so doing; and 'tis very plain, that he in­tends not the Truth should be discovered, who darkens and hides it as much as he can. Much less can his Oath be discharged by the help of Equivocation, and Mental Re­servations, which being of no force to save a Lye, are much less able to excuse from Perjury.

The Oath of the Jury being a Promisso­ry Oath, to bring in a Verdict according to Evidence, their Oath may be doubly violated, as was now observed, by not in­tending so to do, and by not doing of it. If any one of the Jury be prepossess'd in favour of one side, intending, be the Evi­dence what it will, to use all his Interest with the rest, in favour of that; that man, I say, is perjur'd as soon as ever he is sworn; he has sworn falsly, tho' perhaps he be over-ruled, and an honest Verdict be brought in at last. Again, if any of them [Page 371] intend honestly at first, but are afterward wrought to conspire in a Verdict contrary to the Evidence, they have violated their Oath at last. Nay, a corrupt Jury is guilty of Perjury in another respect, since they swear against that very Temptation which mis­leads them; they are to bring in a Ver­dict according to the proof of the Fact; whereas they make it according as they are inclined to the Parties: and yet they are sworn, not to swerve from the Truth, for Fear, Hatred, Favour, or Affection.

But farther; one Man may be guilty of the violation of another Man's Oath; he that suborns a false Witness, is before God, guilty of his Perjury; yea, if he does so much as tempt a Witness to be false; for tho' he himself is not actually sworn, yet he designs that an Oath should be broken. God hath said, Thou shalt swear in truth; he in effect says, Thou shalt not do so; and therefore if he prevails, he is at once guilty of the false Witness his breaking that Law of God, and likewise of his own contradicting it, which is eve­ry whit as bad; and there is this Circum­stance rendring the Perjury more displea­sing to God, That two Men are guilty of violating one Oath.

The Case is the same in tampering with Juries, to possess them beforehand with favour or disaffection to either of the Par­ties: For what is this, but to perswade them to Perjury? that is, to give their Verdict with respect to Persons, and not with regard to the Evidence.

And I do not see, but they who are to impannel Juries, are likewise guilty of the Violation of other Mens Oaths, if in any Case depending they return Jurors whose Interest and Affection they believe will carry them to favour the side befriended by their own Wishes; for tho' they may chuse whether they will be forsworn, yet he that returns 'em had a Mind that they should, rather than the Cause should mis­carry on that side to which he is partial himself.

Lastly, Whoever in behalf of a Client, puts words into the mouth of a slow Coun­try Witness, while he is giving his Testi­mony, by which the Witness means one thing, and he another, by this means perverting the Evidence, while the poor Man perceives it not; he does not only directly offend against the end of Swear­ing, which is the discovery of the Truth, but before God he is as guilty of the Vio­lation of an Oath, as the honest Witness [Page 373] would have been, had he knowingly used the same subtilty in giving Testimony, which was indeed but practised upon him,

And thus much concerning the usual ways, direct or indirect, by which an Oath may be violated; it being requisite to touch upon them at least, that what re­mains to be said, may find us prepared for particular Application.

As to the Inducements to Perjury, which was the third Subject propounded, there is no doubt but every sin which preys upon the Conscience, does form the mind more or less into some disposition to this, the blackest of them all; every thing inclines to it, which lessens the Sense of Religion, and the Fear of offending God: The pre­valency of any Lust, especially of Ambition and Revengefulness, animates Men to break loose from all the most sacred Bonds that should restrain them from gratifying their inordinate Appetites. Again, Partiali­ty grounded upon Prejudice and Interest, upon Envy and Covetousness, has been the cause of many Perjuries; in most questi­ons concerning Rents and Tythes, every bo­dy is ready to say how the Case is like to go.

But when all is said, there is nothing in this our Age has made such foul work in swearing, as Faction hath done; that com­bination [Page 374] of Covetousness, Pride, and Am­bition, of Envy, Hatred, and Malice, uni­ted and made fast together, under Hypo­crisie. Any one of these singly by it self, leads to Perjury; but when they all conspire they drive on to it, without opposition.

Another inlet to the violation of Oaths, is the Practice of Common Swearing; he that will call God to witness Trifles, by de­grees loseth the Reverence of an Oath, and is within a little of calling him to witness Falshood, I mean upon Solemn Oath; for 'tis not to be doubted, that the customary Oaths of Conversation, make the Swearer guilty of frequent Perjuries, when he thinks not of it; but if he swears in truth, before a Court of Judicature, against his Interest or Affection, we are to thank his Generosi­ty for it, and not the respect he has for an Oath. Otherwise, he that swears com­monly and rashly, will upon any conside­rable Temptation swear falsly with delibe­ration.

In a word, such are the Inducements and Occasions of Perjury, that perhaps it were to be wished, that the manner of admini­string Oaths, were in all places a little more awful and solemn than it is, to strike into those Men some reverence of an Oath, and fear of Perjury, who bring nothing of it [Page 375] along with them. Indeed, the most effe­ctual way to prevent false Swearing, would be to consider the heinous Aggravations of the Sin, some of which in the last place I shall now represent.

We know that sincerity in speaking of the Truth, and keeping ones Promise, is every Man's Duty, whether he be Sworn or not. The natural Obligation we lie under to be true and faithful to our Word, is so strong and so sensible, that every Man is ashamed to be found in a Lye. But who­ever is known to be a common falsifier of his Word, and so given to Deceit that he is not to be trusted, let him be endued with never so many considerable and useful Parts besides, that shall be sure to ruin his Reputation. Insincerity is so foul a Stain, that no good quality can wipe it out; and this shews that there is a strong Obligation to trust, common to all Mankind; where­fore this must needs be one heinous Cir­cumstance of Perjury, That when the sa­cred Bond of an Oath, is once violated, the perjur'd Person is guilty of breaking that Faith and Truth, which was a natural Du­ty before.

But Sincerity is still more a Duty, when my Testimony is required in order to pub­lick Peace and Justice. All Men have [Page 376] right to be truly dealt with, much more the Magistrate, by whom I am protected most of all, when he requires it in order to the doing of Justice, or the securing of Government. It is then my Duty to the Magistrate, 'tis my Duty to my Neigh­bour, 'tis my Duty to my Country, to speak the Truth clearly and honestly, and if I promise any thing, to discharge it faith­fully. The discharge of thy Office which thou art sworn to execute, is both requi­site for the publick Good, and requir'd by just Authority; if thou hadst not so much as promised it, thou hadst been still obliged to the same, in obedience to thy Superi­or, in Love to thy Country. If thou hadst been barely required to give thy Testimo­ny in Court, yet even without Oath or Promise, thou wert greatly bound to Truth; because the telling of a Lye in this Case, were impudent undutifulness to the Judge, and manifestly injurious to thy Neigh­bour. In like manner, a Verdict should be according to the Evidence, if it were only for this, that a Controversie might be righteously decided, instead of esta­blishing some instance of Iniquity by a Law. This therefore is a farther Aggra­vation of the Sin of Perjury in all these Cases, That the Oath which is violated, [Page 377] did not only bind to that Sincerity, which is the Duty of all Men every where; but to that Truth, which was particularly demanded by the Magistrate, which was to be an Instrument of Justice and publick Security, which was necessary for the preventing of Wars, and the doing of Right.

But these are light Aggravations in comparison to those that arise from the nature and particular Obligation of an Oath it self. At least, they will receive great weight from these, as you shall see presently.

'Tis an excess of impious boldness to worship God with a Lye at the Tongues end; but Swearing is an Act of Worship. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and swear by his name. Swearing is a direct acknowledgment of the Divine Attributes; and to swear falsly, must needs be as bad as making long Prayers to devour Widows Houses. But he that Swears, does not barely worship God, he takes him to witness in his behalf too, so the forsworn Man calls him to attest a Lye. To imagine the wickedness of this, what would you think of a Man, who should appeal to some worthy Per­son, for the truth of a Matter, which [Page 378] he is sure the Gentleman knows to be a Lye? Farther, what if he should dare to appeal to the Judge himself, or to the whole Court of Judicature, tho' he knew that every one there would utterly deny it; however, that they would not con­fess it without being Lyars like unto him­self? But this is a shameless Insolence, that no Man ever ventured upon. What think you then of him that appeals to God's Testimony for the credit of a Lye? To the Testimony of God, I say, who is infinitely greater, and to be had in more Reverence than the most venerable Assemblies of Men. When we are guilty of other Sins, we sneak away from the thoughts of God. The Drunkard, and the Adulterer, and the Thief, are ashamed and afraid to think there is so great a Witness of their Crimes; and in Comparison to the false Swearer, they retire with some sort of Modesty from his Presence, hiding him from themselves at least, tho' they cannot hide themselves from him. 'Tis only the forsworn Wretch, that must of necessity Sin without any shamefacedness; that tells a Lye to the very Face of God, and desires him to observe it, be the Witness of his his own dishonour.

And yet a more desperate degree of Wickedness is implied in Perjury than this, and that because an Oath is an Ap­peal to God's Justice. For the Swearer by consenting to fall under the Rigour of Justice, unless he deals uprightly, as far as in him lies, he calls himself off by Perju­ry from any Appeal to Mercy afterward. By other Sins we make an ill use of the Mercy of God; but by this, we set it at defiance. The perjur'd Man deprives him­self, as much as he can, of the last hope of Sinners, who though they put many Affronts upon the rest of God's Attributes, yet study to keep a reserve in his Goodness and Compassion; but he throws himself, according to his own Will and Consent, to the hands of Divine Justice, and its ut­most Severity.

Yet farther, through all these Obstacles does the false Swearer make his way, that he may come to pervert Justice and Equity. A Man should be horribly afraid at the thought of so much impiety, if his end were to help the Fatherless and Widow, and to save the Poor from wrong, or to secure his Country out of danger; but how much more when he hunts for the precious Life, when he betrays the Simple and protects the Crafty, or serves the designs of Faction [Page 380] or Oppression? For I should guess that Forswearing is never practised but upon the wrong side, at least, that 'tis call'd in very rarely, in comparison, to assist the Right. 'Tis the unjust Man that seeks to defend himself by artificial delays, by indi­rect Proceedings, and at a dead lift by down­right Perjuries; while the Righteous trusts to the Honesty of his Cause, and the Wis­dom of the Judge, and the Providence of God. But if I should be mistaken in this, if Forswearing should be more ordinary than I imagine, even on the Right side; surely it must be, because 'tis so common on the Wrong, that nothing is believed to be safe without it. Behold then, what hor­rible confusion it makes in the World, while it confounds Right and Wrong, Truth and Falshood, Justice and Injustice, blotting out the clearest Characters, by which they can be distinguisht from one another in Courts of Judgment. 'Tis this, which levels an honest Cause with the unjust one that is advanced a­gainst it; nay, which creates Confi­dence of Success in the Oppressor, and fills the good Man, who dares not be damn'd, with Mistrust and Fear. It is this which makes the Fortune of Ver­dicts as uncertain as that of Arms; and [Page 381] gives Courage to the Villain to go to Law with the Innocent; it robs Vertue of much of its Defence and Security in this World, and puts Power into the hands of the Malicious, and affords Pro­tection to the Murderer, and the Tray­tor, The detestable Effects thereof in the present Life, cannot be described, but by the Cries of the Oppressed, the Sighs of Orphans, the Tears of Widows, the Ruin of Families, and the shedding of innocent Blood. And tho' every Man that dares be forsworn, has not arriv'd thus far in doing mischief, yet he only wanteth a gainful Opportunity; or an unlucky Provocation, and then a Devil to put it into his head.

To conclude, What should I say far­ther, to enkindle your Zeal against a Sin already swell'd into so vast a bigness, but this, That so far as it prevails, it is always likely to intercept between us, and the most happy Influence of the Honourable Judges, w [...] they come to us full of the invaluable Blessings of Government; they in whom good Subjects, and wronged In­nocents expect to meet with powerful Patrons, while none but the Criminal and Seditious shrinks away with Shame and Fear; who to the State bring along with [Page 382] them Peace, by deciding our Controver­sies; and Plenty, and Honour, and Safety, by enforcing Obedience to the Laws: Who to the Church bring the Securities of her Patrimony and Rights, making the Benefits of their Justice to bear good pro­portion with the Authority of their Com­mission, which they have received not only from the King, but by him from God, who are the faithful Dispensers of the Justice of the King, and the most wel­come Messengers of his Love and Care for the People: Who from the Sovereign convey Life and Spirit through the whole Body of the Nation, returning the same in grateful Loyalty and Duty from his Subjects, and in their Blessings and Prayers for the Establishment of the Throne. Should we not all conspire to remove every hindrance of such Advantages as these, which being rightly considered, seem to be no less desirable, necessary and universal, than the refreshing Showers, and the return of fruitful [...]asons. But than Perjury, nothing does more fatally intercept the Communication of those ex­cellent Benefits; than Perjury, I say, which can obstruct Justice in its very Course, and baffle the most solemn Pre­paration for it, even when the Judge is [Page 383] present, when the Court is set, when the Matter is opened, when all things are ready for impartial Proceedings, when the Injur'd is arrived to the height of his Hopes, and the Evil Doer is almost faln into the Hands of Justice. To sum up all: The Man who dares be forsworn, is one whom neither a natural Sense of Good and Evil, nor Duty to the Magistrate, nor Love to his Country, nor Justice to his Neighbour, nor Compassion to the Miserable, nor the Presence of the Judge, nor the Presence of God, nor an Appeal to his Knowledge, nor an Appeal to his Justice, and the fear of damning himself by his own Sentence, can retain from Ly­ing, and breach of his Word.

We can hardly think that such a Wretch as this, is fit to live upon the face of the Earth. But shall he then ever ascend into God's holy Hill? Shall he ever come into the Portion of the Righteous? How ten­der are thy Mercies, O God, who art yet willing to accept even of his Repen­tance; who hast yet suspended the most deserved Execution of his own Sentence against himself, and left him under some possibility of Forgiveness. In conformity to which great Example we pray, That [Page 384] he may be snatcht as a Brand out of the Fire, and through a great Repentance, escape the Damnation of Hell.

Now to the most Gracious and Sacred Majesty of the Infinite good GOD, be ascribed all Honour and Blessing for evermore.

The Fifteenth Sermon.
A SERMON Preach'd at WINDSOR, Before the Princess of DENMARK.

IN these Words there are two Things expressed:

1. The Character of Enoch, that he walked with God.

[Page 386]2. The manner of his End in this World, that he was not, for God took him. Both which Points I intend to consider, and then to shew how we may make such Considerations profitable to our selves.

1. Concerning his Character; we may observe, That it was given to none of his Predecessors; from which we must not conclude, that none of them were good Men, but only that he excelled the rest. In so very short an Account of the Patri­archs before the Flood, as we have in this History, wherein little more is re­ported of them, but their Names, and their Age, to have it said of one of them, that he walked with God, and but of one is a reasonable intimation, that he ex­celled in Godliness and Vertue: And this appears farther, in that God translated him, which of it self implies, that he had arrived to great Perfection. But to walk with God, is the Character of all Persons that are truly Holy and Good, though it agrees more eminently to some than to others; as it did to Enoch, more than to all his Predecessors. As for the Expres­sion, it is figurative, but yet very plain; [Page 387] for Walking doth in this place, as in many more, signifie the general Course and Te­nour of a Man's Life; and therefore walk­ing with God, is a lively expression of his doing those things which are well pleasing to God; as if in every step of his passage through this World, he had God so pre­sent with him, as to see him with his bo­dily Eyes? which meaning may be more distinctly explained by these two Parti­culars.

1. That Piety, or Faith in God, is the over-ruling Principle of his Actions.

2. That because he is governed by such a Principle, he lives in the con­stant Practice of all other Vertue and Duty.

1. That Piety, or Faith in God, is the over-ruling Principle of his Actions; a Reason that prevails with him, above all other Reasons and Motives whatsoe­ver: He is therefore said to walk with God, because it is a sense of God that runs through his Conversation, and takes place against all other Considerations; and leaves a mark of it self upon all his Behaviour: A sense of God, I say, that is [Page 388] of God's infinite Wisdom, Power, and Goodness, of the absolute Right which he hath to be obeyed by his Creatures, and of their absolute dependance upon him; A sense of his Presence every-where, be­holding the evil and the good: A sense of his Justice, that will not suffer the wic­ked to go unpunished; and of his Faith­fulness, that will not suffer the Righte­ous to be unrewarded: It is this sense of God, that governeth his Conversati­on, that restrains him, that puts him for­ward, that sets bounds to his desire, and to his use of Pleasures: that prescribes to him how to get, and how to use his Wealth; that hath to do in all his Affairs, and admits no Reason from Flesh and Blood, or from worldly Interest, to be heard, but in subordination to it self: And surely he that is thus affected, that believes in God, that stands in awe of him, that Loves him, and puts his Trust in him, may well be said to walk with God, since he doth so steddily walk in his ways, as if God took him by the Hand, and led him through every doubtful Pas­sage of his Life; for it is, in effect, the same thing, that he having God still be­fore his Eyes, or rather a lively sense of [Page 389] him in his Heart, and knowing what his Will and Pleasure is, regards nothing in comparison, but the doing of that which will please him; and whatever reasons of Action do, as he goes thorough the World, mix themselves with this; this is still the supreme and prevailing Reason, by which all others are either allowed or rejected. This, I say, That what God will be plea­sed with, must be done; and what will displease him must be let alone. And this is that Faith by which the Just have lived in all Ages, That Faith there­fore, which the 11th. to the Hebrews so highly extols: Those Worthies recorded there, believed that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

2. To this we must add, That because he that is said to walk with God, lives by Faith, therefore he lives also in the Pra­ctice of all other Vertue and Duty: For Faith leads a Man to all, which no other Principle that we know of will do, though other Principles there are of good use too. To walk with God, is something more than to cherish, and keep alive the good Inclinations that came into the World with us; for it is to correct and [Page 390] amend the bad ones: some Men are by Nature framed to many Virtues, as I believe all are to some or other; but no Man is naturally disposed to all; and most certainly every one hath a share of corrupted nature; but he that walks with God, is ruled by a Principle, that doth not only improve what is good in his Nature, but mends what is bad in it.

It is also a great deal more, than to ob­serve Humane Laws, since the Laws of Men can do no more, than restrain Peo­ple from being intolerably bad, and such as Humane Society cannot bear. He that be­lieves in God, submits to just Authority for Conscience sake; but the Case hath of­ten happened, when for the same Consci­ence sake, such a one hath done his Duty, by refusing to do what the Law of Man required; which is a plain argument, that Human Authority is not the Rule of Per­fection; and that we must live by an higher Principle, than that of Obedi­ence to Man, if we live in all respects, as we ought to do.

It is something more, than to govern our Intentions and Actions by doing well for our selves in this World? For although [Page 391] integrity and well-doing in all kinds of Duty is generally the best way to prospe­rity in this Life; yet sometimes the con­trary happens, and more is to be got by Flattery and Falshood, than by Honesty and Sincerity; nay, it is the inordinate desire of the Prosperity of this World, that still makes Men do base and wicked things; and therefore the regard of our ease and advantage here, cannot be the true Principle of Virtue. And if we should bring every other reason of doing what we ought to do, to the Tryal, every other reason besides that of Faith, will be found very defective and insuffi­cient, and such as will lead a Man to evil as well as to good, as it happens. But a sense of God, with the belief of all his Perfections, and all his Promises and Threatnings, makes a Man every way, and in every respect, what he ought to be, because it shews him all his Duty, and obliges him to all his Duty; and while he is under the Power of his Faith, he is steddy in the right way, not to be moved out of it by any Tempta­tion; but whether it be opportunity in­vites, or danger threatens, what Tem­ptation soever sets upon him, he will say [Page 392] with Joseph, How can I do this great wic­kedness and sin against God? Setting a­side Faith, it may bear dispute, whether it be adviseable or no, in such or such a Case, to do what becomes a Righteous and Virtuous Man; but let a Man live by Faith in God, and there can be no dis­pute about it. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth, and walk in the fight of thine eyes, and the imagination of thy heart; that is, were there nothing else to be consi­dered but Pleasure, nothing but Wealth and Greatness, but the Splendor of this World, and the gratifying of a Lust, this Liberty might possibly be made to ap­pear not so very unreasonable. But know, that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment. That to be sure turns the Case, and answers every Objection against our Duty, and every Argument for any Sin; and therefore he that walks with God, doth all his Duty otherwise, is good in all kinds, and in every place where his business lies, or where his Temptations lie; For God is in all his thoughts, in all his Affairs, in all his Com­pany, and in his retirement from Com­pany; God's Word is with him, that Word of God which shews him his Du­ty [Page 393] upon all occasions, and which shews him the Rewards of doing what is com­manded, and the Punishments of Diso­bedience; and the sense of his Presence is with him, that sense which fills him with Life and Joy in well-doing, especially where the Temptation to Sin is very great, and which would dismay him, and make him a burden to himself, if he should act contrary to his clear and setled Judgment of what he ought to do. In short, to walk with God, is to be universally good and righteous, which no Man can be, but he who lives by Faith. Hence it is, that we find God himself encouraging the Father of the Faithful to go on in his way of Piety and Vertue as hitherto he had done; Walk before me, and be thou perfect. chap. 17, v. 1. That is, Be thou still ruled by my Word, still believe my Pro­mises, and Trust my Providence, and in all that thou doest, be mindful of this, that I am with thee, and then shalt thou be perfect. An Example to all Generati­ons of Virtue as well as of Piety, and of all good Works, no less than of a firm Faith: Hence it is, that the wise Man tells us, that by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil, Prov. 16.6. and that the [Page 394] fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to de­part from the snares of Death, Prov. 14.27. And St. John, This is the victory that over­cometh the World, even our Faith, 1 John 5.4.

I have thus shewn, what is meant by the Character of Enoch, when it is said that he walked with God, viz. That his re­gard to God was the over-ruling Prin­ciple of all his Actions, and that be­cause he was Governed by Faith, he li­ved also in the constant Practice of his Duty in all relations whatsoever; this be­ing the only Principle that makes a Man in every respect, what he ought to be. I proceed,

2. To say something concerning the end he made in this World, He was not, for God took him; which place is thus ex­plained by the Author to the Hebrews, chap. 11. v. 5. That Enoch was transla­ted; that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him, (i. e.) he died not, but was translated a­live into Heaven; and it was a strange sur­prize to the Age in which he lived; who by his sudden removal from them, and their hearing no more of him, were convinced that it was God who had taken him to a [Page 395] better Life. Now that which we are in this place to consider, is the instruction so singular an Act of Providence afforded to the World; and there are these Two ends to which it manifestly served, viz. That that Age might be awakened into the consideration of another Life, by so sur­prizing a Testimony thereof, as this was; and withal, that they might by so sensible an Argument be led to consider, that the true Reward of Piety and Integrity, was not in this World, but in a better.

1. There was this Instruction in the Translation of Enoch, which the World could not but take notice of, That there was undoubtedly another life after this, to which he was taken, Soul and Body, having left no part of himself behind him here, as other Mortals did. And by this time, such an instruction was grown very needful: For the World, tho it was yet in its Youth and Vigour, was grown old e­nough for Men to forget their Creator, and to abandon themselves for the most part to a Voluptuous and Dissolute Life: And that this is no uncertain Conjecture, ap­pears from hence, that Enoch was transla­ted but Sixty nine Years before Noah was [Page 396] born, in whose time Mankind was grown to such an intollerable degree of Licenti­ousness, That God sent the Flood to sweep all away but eight Persons. Now it is not to be thought, that the World was overspread with such monstrous Vices all of a sudden, but that after the manner of all Humane Degenera­cy, Corruption of Manners, and of Prin­ciples too, came on by degrees, and con­sequently that in Enoch's time, who was translated little less than a Thousand Years after the Creation, there was a very great decay of Piety and Virtue e­very where; that Men were generally be­witched with the Pleasures of the beau­tiful and charming place, which the Earth was before the Flood, and forgot their Creator, and had lost the Sense of that infinitely better World which Adam and the religious Patriarchs had by reve­lation from God given them assurance of: In such an Age as this, when for the Rea­son now mentioned, it is evident, that the generality of Mankind were sunk in­to Debauchery, and perhaps into Infide­lity too; Enoch was a steddy Pattern of Piety and Virtue; and whilst most Men walked after their own Lusts, and the [Page 397] best were much to blame, he walked with God, and lived above the Pleasures and Enjoyments of this Life, having God before his Eyes, and another Life, and a better Life in his Hopes. It is therefore ve­ry reasonable to conceive, that God inten­ded by this surprizing Testimony of tran­slating Enoch alive into a better World, to convince the unbelieving, to awaken the inconsiderate, and to call off that Volup­tuous Age from these bruitish Debauche­ries, to mind better things, and to prepare for a better Life; especially since in the second place,

2. This was a very instructing admoni­tion, That God who is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, as the Epistle to the Hebrews says upon this very exam­ple of Enoch; that God, I say, rewarded his Piety, not with giving him a longer Life in that pleasant World, but in ano­ther, which was therefore a place more happy and desirable than the Earth was, even in that delicious state and condition of it, before the Flood had made as strange an alteration in that, as it made in the Age of Man's Life: That God, I say, should take him alive out of this World, when it abounded with all manner of De­lights [Page 398] and Pleasures; and this at the Age of 365 Years, when he was but a young Man, as the World was then, younger in proportion, than we are now at 30; when he was in full Vigour and Capacity for all the Entertainments of Sense, which the Earth afforded, even to Luxury, and this according to the course of Na­ture to last for some Hundreds of Years to come; That God should translate him under these Circumstances to another Life, after he had served him with a constant Piety in his younger Years, and lived among Men with an unrepro­vable Innocence and Vertue; this, I say, was a demonstration to all that would consider it, That that World to which he was translated, was a better World than that from which he was taken; and that they might be sure to understand this In­struction, God took him not away by the common means of Mortality; since if he had died, that vicious Age would have imputed that change to any thing, rather than to a divine Providence, re­warding so excellent a Man with so ear­ly a removal to a better Life; and there­fore he was taken away alive, that they might not be able to question the Power [Page 399] that did it, or to mistake the Reason, why it was done, that they might know Enoch had obtain'd a Reward from God, suitable to that Life that he had lived here, and to that Faith by which he had li­ved, and in which he had wrought righte­ousness; being removed from hence to Pleasures more pure and ravishing, than all this World can afford. In a Word, They might have seen, and for some time it is like they acknowledged it, though they soon fell back again, That the great Business of Mankind here, is to live in all Godliness and Honesty; and that God doth not reward them that do so, with the Pleasures and Glories of this World, but with the Enjoyments of a better.

And now having said thus much con­cerning the extraordinary Character of Enoch, and the singular end it pleased God to make with him in this World, I have yet more to do by way of Applica­tion; and that,

1. To propound the Example of Enoch, and such as he was, who walked with God, to our imitation. And,

[Page 400]2. To propound, though not the man­ner, yet the substance of his Reward for our Encouragement to walk as he walked.

1. To propound his Example, as an Ex­ample that is of it self worthy of our imitation, and is withal an imitable Ex­ample, an Example that is worthy to be followed, and an Example not too hard to follow; that it is worthy of our imi­tation, appears both from that Life to which his Faith led him, and from the Nature of that Principle it self by which he lived. As to the Life whereunto it leads, it is made up of whatsoever things are just, honest, lovely, of good report: if there be any vertue, praise; of Justice, Faithfulness, Temperance, Government of Passions, Wisdom and Fortitude, which are the Glory of Humane Nature, and things acceptable to God, and approved of men. These things are enough to recom­mend the Principle from whence they come: And yet (2.) It is in it self the best, whether we consider, (1.) Our con­cernment in those things which we be­lieve. For if there be a God, what is [Page 401] our dependance upon this World, to our dependance upon him? And if we shall endure beyond this Life, and that for ever, what are our Fortunes till we die, to our Eternal state after Death? It is not our mere Nature, but our Relation to God, that makes us considerable; and we are very abject Creatures, if we have nothing to do but eat and drink, and to live a sensual Life for a little time, and then to vanish into nothing. Or, (2.) Whether we consider Faith as a Persuasion grounded upon rational Evidence, that is, such Evidence, as requires a free and unprejudiced, and clear Judgment to per­ceive, but which not bearing upon the Senses of Men, distinguisheth between the Wise and the Honest on one side, and un­teachable Persons on the other: A Belie­ver doth of all Men make the most proper use of his Reason, because he assents to the Principles of Religion: For instance: That there is a God; not upon imme­diate bodily Sight, but upon a means of Conviction suited to a reasonable Nature: Or, (3.) Whether we consider Faith as a means to secure an happy Enjoyment of our selves in this World, of which I need to say no more; that it is the only true Support of Man's Mind, un­der [Page 402] all the Afflictions and Calamities of Life; and that which can make us easie under them, will make us happy in eve­ry condition; that the Example of these Men, who have lived by Faith, and walked with God, is worthy of our Imi­tion, is a Subject that might be spo­ken to without end. But let us consi­der it,

2. As an imitable Example: For that it is so, the Pattern mentioned in the Text, doth abundantly prove; Enoch li­ved in a World that was full of Tempta­tion, and those as dangerous as Tempta­tions can possibly be, the Temptations of Luxury, which in their kind are inferiour to none; and as to their degree, when Enoch lived, they were at the height; and as I have shewn already, he had bad Examples enough, and probably but very few that were good. So that Piety lay under great disadvantage in the common Opinion, and likely enough it was a mat­ter of some reproach to observe Rules: for that Generation of Men was now be­gan, of whom we find in the next Chap­ter, that God saw that the wickedness of men was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, were [Page 403] only evil continually: They set themselves at no time to do any good; all their bu­siness was to follow their bruitish Appe­tites from one day to another, without restraint; the World was hastning apace to that Condition, when Enoch lived; and yet he lived so piously, set so good an Example, as if he had never seen any but good ones himself; and whilst al­most all Men were busie to fill themselves with the excess of sensual Pleasures, his only business, in comparison, was to please God; he looked up every day to his Maker, out of whose Hands so lately came that beautiful Fabrick, which was made for Man; and instead of surfeit­ing himself with those delightful Enter­tainments of Sense that were round a­bout him, he raised his mind above them to the Contemplation of the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God; he offered to the Creator of all things, the Sacrifices of Praise and Thankful­ness; he resign'd himself wholly to his Will and Pleasure; he believed his Pro­mise of a better World; and in that Faith he wrought Righteousness. And what can be said, why we, who can­not reasonably count our Temptati­ons [Page 404] greater than those he was under; why we, I say, should not also live as he did? Why should the Govern­ment of our Passions, and the orde­ring of our Conversation by the Rules of Religion, be harder to us, than it was to him? What should hinder us from adoring and praising our Maker every day, and from offering our Pray­ers and Supplications to him? Why should not we consider, that God is present with us every where, and sees us in all that we do, that we may al­ways behave our selves, as in his Pre­sence? May we not with as much advantage, as he possibly could have, look beyond this World, and compare it with Immorality in a far better State of things than this; and set our affe­ctions upon things above, and not upon things on the earth? Especially, since we have not here a continuing place; I mean, since we do not expect to live hardly the tenth part of that time upon Earth which the Patriarchs did before the Flood; but all our days are few and evil, and our Life short and troublesome; and therefore doth of it self admonish us to look after [Page 405] another, and to provide better for our selves hereafter, than we can possibly do here.

Let no Man say, That the Baits of Pleasure, and the Cares of Life, and the multiciplity of his worldly Affairs, that the evil Manners of others, and the Snares of Conversation, and his unavoi­dable Engagements in the World, will not permit that Justice and Purity, that Devotion and Sobriety, which Religi­on requires; nor that consideration of God and another Life, which is neces­sary to keep us unspotted from this present world. That for this purpose, we must retire out of the World, and live in Cells, or in Houses where there is no­thing else to do, but to watch and pray; where the Cares of Life cannot follow them; where evil Examples, and where Temptations cannot find them out: All this is but unreasonable, and vain pretence: For, I beseech you, what was Enoch, and his Profession and Order of Life in the World? Was he shut up from any part of common Conversation, or eased from any part of the common Cares of this Life? No, by no means; he in all respects of Se­cular [Page 406] Conversation, and civil Relation, was in the very same Condition that other Men were, as you will confess, if you look back to verse 21. and so on till you come to the Text: And Enoch li­ved sixty and five years, and begat Me­thusaleh: And Enoch walked with God af­ter he begat Methusaleh three hundred years, and begat Sons and Daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years; And E­noch walked with God, &c. By which you may see, that Enoch, who had this Testimony, was a married Man, and for that reason engaged as much in the ne­cessary Affairs of Civil Conversation, as any other; and we do not find, that after he begat Methusaleh, his eldest Son, he left his Wife and his Family, and betook himself to any retirement, and was from that time forward, under Vows of single Life; it is expresly said, that Enoch walked with God, after he be­gat Methusaleh, three hundred years, and begat Sons and Daughters. So that all this time, viz. for three hundred Years, of which it is said, that he walked with God, Enoch was the Husband of a Wife, the Father of Children, the Master of a [Page 407] numerous Family; nay, he was a Prince in his Generation, the seventh from A­dam, in the Line of Seth; the el­dest Son by descent from the eldest House of Seth; one therefore, who in his time made no little Figure in the World, and was deeply engaged in the Affairs of Government, beyond all others, ex­cepting his Father and Grandfather, and the Patriarchs, that were yet alive. E­noch then differed not from other Men, in any respect of Civil Affairs; he had such Relations, and common Engage­ments, as other Men had; and in some respects more, being descended from Seth in the Patriarchal Line, which some believe was the Regal Line too, in one Division of Mankind. But tho' in these Circumstances he differed not from other Men, otherwise than that his Affairs might be more Cumber­some than those of ordinary Persons; yet with respect to Religion and Vir­tue, to Faith in God, and an Holy Life, he differed very much from the generality of Mankind; for in the midst of all that Business and Conver­sation, which his place in the World engaged him in; he walked with God, [Page 408] he was a perfect Man, and grew to that heighth of Piety and Righteousness, that God thought fit to reward so e­minent a Person, with translating him alive from Earth to Heaven; a plain demonstration against the pretences of the Roman Church, That retirement in Monasteries, and a single Life, are not necessary to the highest degree of Piety; that the best part of Religion is not to be coop'd up in a Cloyster, but to be seen in the World, and in the ordinary Conversation of Men: That the most excellent part of Devotion, that the best, and noblest degrees of Faith and Vertue, may be attained and exercised, and im­proved in a state of worldly Relations and Engagements; and that these things therefore ought not to be pretended in our excuse for not walking with God, as Enoch did. Let me therefore add in the

2. Place, That we have the hope of the same reward to influence us, which Enoch had, tho' not of being translated alive into a better World, yet of going thither by the common passage of death, which as to the substance of the Reward is the same thing; the other Circum­stance, [Page 409] so singular in the case of E­noch, being not altogether so much for his own sake, as for the instruction of others. There were but Two Persons that went thus into a better World, E­noch one: For the instruction of a de­clining and degenerate Age, almost whol­ly sunk into a worldly Life; Elias ano­ther, for an admonition to a very cor­rupt Age too; the former when all things were running into Licentiousness, and disorder amongst the Patriarchs before the Law; the latter, when the time was as bad under the Law, and both these to maintain a sense of God, and another World; while yet the revelati­on of a future Life, was not so clear and publick as it was made by our Lord Jesus Christ, who brought life and im­mortality to light: And since he by his Doctrine, and by his Resurrection, and his Ascension into Heaven, hath given us such evidence and notice of a Life to come, that a more clear evidence could not have been reasonably desired, there is no need that the World under the Go­spel, should be admonished by such extraordinary Methods any more: Our blessed Lord himself was not transla­ted [Page 410] into Heaven, till after his Death and Resurrection; he in all things going before us, shewing us by his Example, not only what our Duty is, but what, and in what manner our Reward shall be confer­red: We must die, and rise again, and then ascend to the Heaven of Heavens, for the consummation of our Reward: And ha­ving this hope, let us purifie our selves, as he is pure; having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit, perfecting ho­liness in the fear of God.

To conclude, We have the same God to serve and obey that Enoch had; the same Promises, and those more publickly and solemnly made, and more strongly confirmed to us, than ever they were to the Fathers; we have, I say, the same Pro­mises to excite us, that he had, and all the same Advantages that he had, and in many respects much greater, through the Revelation of the Gospel by our Lord Je­sus; and we are under no greater Tempta­tions and Discouragements, than he met with; or if we were, the grace of God is sufficient for us; and therefore let us walk with God, as he walked with him; that [Page 411] when that time cometh, of which Enoch prophesied, as St. Jude reporteth, v. 14. That the Lord shall come with ten thousands of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, which they have committed, and of all their hard Speeches which they have spoken against him; we may lift up our heads with joy, and find mercy in that day.

The Sixteenth Sermon.

THIS was part of Job's Answer to that Saying of his Wife in the former Verse, Dost thou still retain thy integrity? Curse God and die. She pretended that his Piety and Virtue were now discerned to be unprofi­table, and that it was all one whe­ther he blessed or cursed God; for if he cursed him, he could but dye, and it was better to dye than to live in such Misery. To which he answered, Thou speakest as one of the foolish Wo­men [Page 414] speaketh. What, shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? The Idumean Women, it is likely, were wont to rail at their Gods, when any great Adversity befel them, and Job told his Wife, that she spake like one of them, but not like one that knew and worshipped the true God: From whom it is reasonable that we should take all in good part, not only the good, but likewise the evil things of this Life.

There are two things intimated in the Text, besides what the Words express, and they are these.

1. Our Life here is a mixture of Good and Evil. No Man is wholly deprived of the Comforts, nor any Man per­fectly exempted from the Troubles of it. There is indeed a great variety in the mixture: The Afflictions of some be­ing as inconsiderable as the Enjoyments of others. But in some proportion all receive Good and Evil; nor is any Man's Condition at a perfect stay: We change often for the better or the worse. Sometimes from the bottom of Adver­sity we rise to great Happiness; and at [Page 415] other times we fall as low; which was the case of Job beyond ordinary Exam­ples. All which is true, as well of Fa­milies and Nations, as of particular Per­sons.

2. The Good we enjoy, and the Evil we suffer, are both from the Hand of God: For his Providence always attends the working of second Causes, either di­sposing them or permitting them to produce those things that happen in the World. When the Air is healthy or infectious; when the Seasons are fruit­ful or unkindly; when the Wind makes a Shipwrack, or when it brings the Ship safe into the Harbor; when we suffer by Malice and Passions of others, or when they are taken in their own Net and we escape; we are in all these and the like Events to look farther than the im­mediate Causes of the Good or the Evil, and to acknowledge the over-ruling Pro­vidence of God. Thus although they were the Sabeans and the Caldeans that slew Job's Servants, and carried away his Cattel, though his Sheep were destroyed by Lightning and his Children by a Tem­pest that blew down the House upon them; yet he omitting, or not so much [Page 416] regarding the influence of these second Causes, applied himself to the considera­tion of that Providence under which they all concurred to reduce him to this sad state, and he fell down upon the ground and worshipped, and said, Na­ked came I out of my Mothers Womb, and naked shall I return thither: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. These are the two points intimated in the Text; That this present Life is a State of Good and Evil, and that both are from the Hand of God. But,

3. The main scope of the Words is, That we are to take all in good part from Divine Providence, and to receive Evil from God's Hands as well as Good. Which is a Duty necessary to be understood, and necessary to be practised by every one of us, both for the discharge of a good Con­science, and likewise for our own Ease and Comfort in this uncertain and miserable World. I shall therefore in the first place illustrate the sense of this Passage, and shew what is meant by receiving evil at the hand of God; and then I shall propound to your consideration some of those many reasons why we should effectually perswade our selves so to do.

As to the first, The manner of bearing Evil from the hand of God, is that which is meant by receiving it at his hand. Parti­cularly,

1. We are to receive Evil with the same honourable thoughts of God, where­with we are to receive Good from him. We must abate nothing of our esteem of his Righteousness, or of our belief of his Wisdom and Goodness. The sense of mise­ry is indeed apt to breed hard thoughts of all those by whose means it comes, if they have knowingly contributed to­wards it, and designed what we suffer. But let us remember, Brethren, that this is a Case always to be excepted. God knows and sees all the troubles that befal us, nay and it is his Will that they should happen to us, and yet we must not think the worse of him for it. And though we take it ill of any Man that can easily help us when we are in distress, and yet refuses to do it; yet we ought not to be so affect­ed towards God; and whilst we complain of that grief from which, 'tis true, he could deliver us in one moment; we must at no hand complain of him, nor entertain the least unworthy thought of him, for seeing [Page 418] us in pain and suffering us to continue un­der it.

2. We are to receive Evil with the same constancy of serving and obeying him, as if we received nothing but good. We are not to grow weary of Religion, nor to give over praying, nor to depart from Justice or Charity, or any Duty incum­bent on us. The Truth is, they must be great Strangers to the Spirit and Design of Christianity who can be tempted to count their Prayers and their Repentance and Righteousness unprofitable, when they do not save them from the Calamities of this World. Under the Law, indeed, the Promises whereof were Temporal, we may observe the Temptation prevail­ed upon some good Men. Verily, said Asaph, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastned every morning, Psal. 73.13, 14. But then he recoverd a better Mind, ver. 21, 22. Thus my heart was griev­ed, and I was pricked in my Reins; so foolish was I and ignorant, I was as a beast before thee. It was this that Job's Wife bad him do, i.e. to throw off all [Page 419] pretence to serve God, who had thus for­saken him; said she, Curse God and dye; scorn to serve him any longer, and make an end of thy life. But, said he, Thou speakest as one of the foolish Women speak­eth; what, shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? Nay,

3. We are to receive Evil from God with thankfulness for the good things we have enjoyed, for those which remain, and for those which we expect; and a­bove all, for the hope of eternal Life. We must thank him for the care he takes of us, and therefore for all his dealings with us, for sending us that which he sees is most expedient for us; yea, for those ve­ry Tryals and Chastisements which we complain of, though for the present they are grievous. And thus Job received E­vil. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

These, I confess, seem to be hard Les­sons, but they are such as we must learn: and how hard soever they may be, yet let us be assured, that they are not un­reasonable; and that is the second point [Page 420] I was to shew; and what I chiefly de­signed to insist upon at present. There­fore,

1. We should consider, that we have not deserved the Good that we receive from the Hand of God; but the Evil which we receive, that we have abun­dantly deserved. All, indeed, do not deserve Evil from God equally; but all deserve it more or less. And as for meriting good from him, that no Man must pretend to, how Righteous and Godly soever he be. For if God should be severe to mark what is amss, who could stand before him? If he should enter into Judgment with his Servants, no Flesh living would be justi­fied. Now if Job, who was a perfect and upright Man, a Man of extraordina­ry Piety and Virtue, received Evil from God as he ought, how much more should we do so, that fall short of his Perfection▪ When we suffer Affliction, our Heart must justifie God in all, because they condemn us in so many things. Our own consciences are enough to stop our mouths or rather to make us confess, that we have sinned, but that God is righteous: Espe­cially since all the good that we eve [...] [Page 421] enjoyed, and do now enjoy, is from a holy and just God, who is of purer eyes, than to behold iniquity. For if we who are obnox­ious to his Purity and Justice, have yet re­ceived innumerable benefits from him, it is hard and unreasonable to complain of him, though but in our thoughts, that he sometimes lets us feel a little of his anger, and puts us in mind of our Sins, and of his own Justice; and that as he is a Gracious and a Bountiful, so he is withal a Holy God. Which con­sideration should prevail the more, be­cause,

2. God has absolute Authority over us, and so is every way just in correcting us for our Offences; not only because we have done that which deserves Punish­ment, but because also he has a just and rightful Power to punish us for it. Tho' a Man knows that he has done ill, yet every body must not take upon him to give him correction. A Servant will submit to his Master, and a Child to his Father, and the Subject to the Magistrate, when they will not bear Punishment from every Hand, as there is no reason that they should. How much more should [Page 422] we submit to the Chastisement of the Al­mighty, who is the Father of Spirits, and our Sovereign Lord, upon whom we absolutely depend, because he made us out of nothing, and sustains us every mo­ment that we live? When we were born, we brought nothing with us into the World, but have lived ever since upon the good things, which God of his Bounty hath lent us for our use. And if he for good Reasons takes them away, he does us no wrong, for they are not ours, otherwise than by his continual Gift. Which con­sideration disposed Job to submit when he was divested of all. Naked came I out of my Mothers Womb, and naked shall I return thither. To the Earth from whence I was taken. The Lord gave, &c. Let us remember that no Lord has that right over his Servant, nor Parent in his Child, which God has in us all; and that since there is no obligation like to that which we have to God that made us, nor any Authority that one can have over ano­ther, equal to that which he has over us, there is great reason why we should meekly submit to his Chastisements, and be content to receive not only that Good which we have not deserved, but [Page 423] that Evil also which we have deserved at his Hand. But this is not all: For,

3. To confess the Truth, when the Evils, of this Life happen, they are for the most part very necessary, and may be always very profitable to us.

They make us to reflect upon our Sins, and they dispose us to Repentance. For a great Truth it is, and we may hap­pily know it by experience, That 'tis our way to do many things in our Prospe­rity, which trouble us in our Adversity. When Joseph's Brethren were brought in­to Distress themselves, then they could say, Verily, we are guilty concerning our Brother; — and therefore is this distress come upon us. Our Faults do not much trouble us, when we have nothing else to give us disturbance; and in this case Af­fliction does well to bring us to a sense of them.

Again, We are not so apt to feel our need of dependance upon God, when all things that we can desire are round about us. We must confess to our shame, that Piety and Prosperity are seldom found together in a great degree both of [Page 424] the one and the other. When we are full, we are apt to forget God; but in our Affliction we seek him early. Not but that a Man may grow more impi­ous under the chastisement of God, as A­hab did. But then this was left as a mark of Infamy upon him, that in his distress he waxed worse and worse. This is that King Ahab.

We should consider also, that the trou­bles of this Life teach us patience, a quali­ty very necessary for us in this World. It is undoubtedly true, that continual ease and fulness, and enjoying all that we would have, incline us to be soft, and hard to be pleased. Every little thing almost is enough to put us into a passion; and if God should always let us alone, we should make great Troubles to our selves, out of the smallest disappoint­ments. And when Afflictions happen to us in good earnest, our very impatience is an Argument that we needed them to bring us to Wisdom and a good Temper. God's Trials make us able to bear what once we could not; they correct the In­temperance of our Desires, and give us a firmness of Mind; they bring our Contentment within a narrow compass, [Page 425] and make it more easie for us to be hap­py than it was before; and therefore, says St. Paul, We glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience Rom. 5.3.

By the same reason they disengage our Affections from worldly things, more than we are well able to do it without them. For 'tis Indulgence that makes us fond of the Pleasures of this World; but when any one of them is taken away, we must learn to be content without it: and by satisfying ourselves wheh we have lost one, we learn to moderate our desires about the rest, which is a good that recom­pences all the grief we endure in the way to it.

Especially since it leads to another good thing, which is the moderating of our Love to this Life it self; which when we feel to be made up of Care and Trouble, as well as Mirth and Pleasure, we grow more reconciled to the thoughts of Death, which puts an end as well to the Troubles, as to the Delights of this World.

All which things tend to the greatest good of all, even our eternal Salvation; to which we should add, that whate­ver [Page 426] Duties are necessary to this great end, we shall perform them most carefully; For when by experience we are convin­ced how foolish a thing it is, to think of finding a compleat Happiness in this World, or indeed any thing that de­serves the Name of Happiness, we shall seek for a more solid and enduring sub­stance. For we must needs be more sol­licitous to secure that Rest and Happiness which God hath promised in a better Life, when we are satisfied that no such thing is to be obtained here: We are not so deeply affected with the danger of worldly Enjoyments, as with the uncer­tainty of them: They are indeed apt to corrupt our Minds, but we do not use to be jealous of them upon that ac­count; but when we lose them, we are easily sensible that they are not to be tru­sted, and that if we would be wise for our selves, we must take off our minds from these perishing things, and grow wise to Salvation.

To conclude this Point, The Evils of Life do not only offer good considerati­ons to our Minds, but they are proper means to put us into a considering Tem­per, and to make us capable of under­standing [Page 427] the full weight of them. They cure us of the Levity and Easiness of Mind, which grows out of Ease and Luxury, and indisposes us to dwell for any long time upon wise and profitable thoughts.

Finally, the Patience and the Godly manner of bearing Evils, and the good use we make of them, worketh the en­crease of our Reward, especially if we endure grief, suffering wrongfully, and most of all, if we suffer for righteousness sake. This is that which St. Peter makes no doubt to say is thank-worthy; and it turns so greatly to our account, that instead of mentioning it as a thing fit to discou­rage and deject his Disciples, our Saviour bid them to rejoice, and to be exceeding glad; for, says he, great is your Reward in Heaven.

4. As the Evils of this Life are for our good, so God means and designs them for our good too. There is not any one good use which may be made of them, but God intends it when he sends them; and 'tis our own fault if we do not grow the better for them. David found by experience, that it was good for him that [Page 428] he was afflicted; and he confessed that God in very faithfulness had afflicted bim, (i. e.) meaning all the advantage to him which he had gained. For that rea­son it is said, God does not afflict wil­lingly, nor grieve the children of men; not meerly to make us feel Pain and Trou­ble, but because our good requires it. Phy­sick is sometimes as necessary for us as Food; and though it be bitter, we do not think the worse of him that administers it, because 'tis administred for our Health, either for the cure, or for the prevention of a Disease. And should we take it in ill part from God, when for the health and improvement of our Souls, he gives us wholesome, though sharp Medicines? He gives us Food, Raiment, Plenty, Peace, and Health, that we might in the midst of these good things serve him with thankfulness; and the greatest cause we have to rejoice in them, is that they are of his sending, who intended them not for Snares, but for Blessings to us. When therefore he takes any of them away, he does it with the same good meaning either to correct what is bad, or to per­fect that which is good in us; the best reason of our rejoicing concinues still, [Page 429] which is, that God still exercises a Pater­nal care over us, as a Father corrects the Faults of his Child because he loves him, and would have him do better for the time to come. We are therefore to take all in good part, the evil as well as good, that comes from God's Hand, because 'tis all meant in good part to us. Especi­ally if we consider,

5. That he is not, and cannot be mista­ken in judging what kind of Evil, or what degree of Evil is expedient for our good. Let that which happens be of what kind it will, and how great soe­ver it be in the kind, yet from his infinite Wisdom we ought to conclude against all Objections, That all things considered, it is the best for us. We perhaps no not see how it should be so, but we have not the less reason to believe it. God's thoughts are above ours, and his ways above our ways; and we are not to ar­gue as if we understood our selves as well as God understands us. Our busi­ness is to submit to him patiently, and to depend upon him intirely, and to thank him from our Hearts for his continual Providence over us; acknow­ledging [Page 430] that we are not fit to be humou­red in all our Desires, neither to enjoy Pleasure longer than he sees 'tis for our good, nor to say with what pain we should be chastised, or with what Trouble we should be exercised; we are not wise e­nough to be our own Chusers; and we cannot be better than by being in God's Hands.

6. We should take Evil at God's Hand in good part, because he is not want­ing to supply us with strength to bear it, and to support us with comforts of a better kind than those he takes away. If he makes us more conformable to his Will, we get a better Conscience than we had before, and that will of it self enable us to go through many and great Troubles of this Life. If he les­sens our Love of this World, and in­creases our Faith and Hope of a bet­ter Life, and fixes our thoughts upon Hea­ven more than they were wont to be; if he inspires us with a greater sense of his Love, and gives us more and more of his Holy Spirit; then although here are worldly Evils to be born, yet there are also such spiritual Consolatives [Page 431] to support us under them, that we have more reason to be thankful than to complain. God will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able, but will with the Temptation, &c. So the A­postle assured the Christians, and were themselves Examples of it; none ever went through greater Troubles and Per­secutions than they, but they do not speak of themselves as Objects of Pi­ty. He says they were strengthned with all might according to God's glorious Power, unto all Patience and Long-suf­fering with joyfulness, Col. 1.11. They were indeed troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; sorrowful, yet always re­joycing, 1 Cor. iv. 8. vi. 10.

7. We are to consider that the Trou­bles of this Life are not always Punish­ments, but sometimes Trials. In which case they admit of great Comforts; and therefore St. James says, My Brethren, count it joy, when ye fall into divers temp­tations, James 1.2. where by temptations he understands those Troubles that from time to time befel the Christians, for [Page 432] their Profession, and proved their Sinceri­ty; for so 'tis explained in the follow­ing Words, knowing this, that the tryal of your Faith worketh patience. Such were the Afflictions of Job, as we see by the circumstances of his Story. God had gi­ven this Testimony to him, That he was a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God, and eschewed evil. But Satan answered, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast thou not made an hedge about him, and about his House, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. Thus the Devil charged Job, and in him all Religious Men, That his pretence to Pi­ety was meer Flattery, not proceeding from a hearty love to God, but from the love of worldly Prosperity. Now though the Event shewed the falseness of the Devil's Suggestion; yet thus far he was in the right, That affliction tries whe­ther a Man be a meer mercenary preten­der to Religion, or whether he be an up­right Man fearing God and eschewing evil. For he that pretends Religion, pretends to [Page 433] serve God, and to depend upon him in all conditions of Life, and that God is more to him than all the World besides. But the reality of this can never be so well seen as when we do his Will, and bless his Name, even when he deprives us of the good things, and sends us the Afflictions of this Life▪ We should there­fore receive evil from God's hand as well as Good, though we were as perfect as Job was, in fearing God and eschewing Evil; because though it does not befal us in such a case as a Punishment, yet it comes as a Tryal, and there are weigh­ty Reasons for Patience under it: For, (1.) It is exceedingly for the Honour of God and Religion, if we acquit our selves well in bearing it. This shews the Since­rity and the Power of our Faith; and that Religion is a Principle of the truest Fortitude and Fidelity, when no world­ly loss, nor outward pain can hinder us from blessing God, and persevering in our Duty; the World will see that we are very sure we serve a good Master, and one whom we believe nothing ought to deter or discourage us from obeying, not Death it self, nor Vexations worse than Death. Hereby we declare that with­out [Page 434] all this Worlds good, he alone is suf­ficient for our Reward; that there is no evil like losing his Favour, no good like keeping it. (2.) It will make also for our own Comfort; for although with­out this a good Man may have reasona­ble assurance of his own Integrity, i. e. by an equal Care to do his Duty in all respects, while God makes an Hedge a­bout him on every side; yet it can­not be denied that he must needs have yet a more comfortable assurance of it, when he goes on to depend upon God under the hardest pressures of Affli­ction. For this is the highest Point of Religion, and therefore proves our Since­rity in all the rest. Upon this trial we cannot doubt but that it was for God's sake, that we abstained from Drunken­ness and Theft, and hard dealing, and Lust and Uncleanness; that in pure Con­science, and with pious Affections we offered up our daily Prayers, and bles­sed God for all his Gifts, and observed his Laws. For no other Principle can make a Man persevere in religious dependance upon him, when he is not bribed with the Prosperity of this World. The Truth is, that all the Virtues that are exercised [Page 435] while every thing goes well with us as heart can wish, are something necessary for our Welfare in this World, if we go wisely to work for it. A Lyar will not be believed, a false Man will not be trusted, Drunkards will hardly thrive, a malicious and hard-hearted Man will be hated, and he that does not worship God shall be reproached. The Vices and Impieties of Humane Life are Enemies to our well-doing in this World; affect­ing either our Bodies or our Estates, or our Quiet, or our Reputation; so that the very love of this World will teach a wise Man to live well and religiously in appearance, that he may fare the bet­ter for it here. But when God sends those Evils that our Piety is so far from hindring, that it does expose us to them, and yet we go on to bless and serve him, this puts it out of all question, that we are really and in earnest what we seem to be, the faithful Servants of God, as God speaking after the man­ner of Men, said to Abraham, when he offer'd up his Son Isaac. Now I know that thou fearest God, because thou hast not with-held thy Son, thine only Son from me.

Thus I have laid down some Conside­rations very useful, I am persuaded, to pre­pare us for all the Portion of Evil which God may think fit to send upon any of us in this World, that whenever any of it happens, we may follow the Example of Job, and receive Evil from God's Hand, as well as good.

But then, Brethren, we must remem­ber that such things as these are to be thought of very much before, or we shall be little the better for them, when once ad­versity happens: For 'tis not barely know­ing nor hearing them, but 'tis much con­sidering them, that must make them Prin­ciples within us, and fortifie us against all Surprizes.

It is a great mistake that these thoughts must make us melancholy, and spoil that reasonable comfort we should take in the good things which God lends us for our use. For while we enjoy them without overvaluing them, we have all that they are good for; and they are not the less pleasant, because we know of greater Bles­sings than they are; our part is to use them thankfully, while they are ours, for our use; and by all prudent means, as far as lawfully we can, to keep off Ad­versity; [Page 437] because then we may be sure that those Evils which befal us with­out our own Faults, are most properly of God's sending. And so we shall feel our selves under the Power of all those Rea­sons why we should with submission and thankfulness receive not only good, but evil also at the hand of God.

The Seventeenth Sermon.

THESE Words signifie one of these things; Either that when God justifies, no Man will con­demn, but that when we are sure of pleas­ing him, we are sure of pleasing all too; or else that if he approves and justifies, it is no great matter, nor should we be much concerned by whom we are accused or condemned.

But the first cannot be the meaning, that no Man condemns whom God justi­stifies: for the Disciples of Christ were used in that manner, that St. Paul applied this Saying to their Case, v. 36. For thy [Page 440] sake we are killed all the day long, we are appointed as sheep for the slaughter.

He means therefore, That if God justi­fies, it is not considerable who condemns. They were brought before the Tribunals of Men, where grievous things were laid to their Charge; yet because God saw their Innocence, says the Apostle, who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? They were dealt with as Malefactors, yet, says he, Who is he that condemneth? so that he supposes them to be condemned by no body, in comparison, because while they were condemned by Men, God ju­stified them.

Which offers two Points to be conside­red.

1. That Men do sometimes condemn those whom God justifies. (2.) That they whom God justifies have no cause to be dejected when they are condemned by Men.

1. That Men do sometimes condemn those whom God justifies; and they con­demn them too for the sake of those things which he approves, and lay that to their charge which he is now pleased with, [Page 441] and will hereafter reward. It was such a case which our Saviour prepared his Disciples for, when he said, Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil falsly a­gainst you for my sake: Which began to be fulfilled as soon as ever the World took notice of them. And here let us briefly consider what kind of Persons they then were, and how they were used.

The Apostles, and those that were in fellowship with them, professed the sin­cere and uncorrupted Truth of the Go­spel, teaching all Purity and Virtue, and whatever they received in Command from our Lord Jesus. Nor will any Christian of what other Name soever, pretend that there was too much or too little in their Doctrine. All are agreed, not only that Christianity is worthy of all accepta­tion; but also that it was by them profess'd intirely and without mixture. As to their Manners, they were Persons of the grea­test Simplicity, easie to be known what they were, given to no deceit, desiring to live in quiet, because there was nothing in their Doctrine, or in their way of Life, to create Jelousies in others. It was a very great part of their Religion [Page 442] to deny themselves, and to do good to their Neighbours. They did not aim at worldly Power and Greatness, but instead of using that interest they had in the Peo­ple to save themselves by Violence from Persecution; they urged subjection to Laws and Government upon Principles of Conscience. They were such kind of Men, and we doubt not but God justifi­ed them.

Let us therefore see how they were u­sed by Men, by Jews and Gentiles. As for the Jews, it was not indeed very likely that they should be treated much better than their Master had been before. And so the Event shewed; 'tis true they made many Converts, and a great part of the People cleaved to their Doctrine and Fellowship, but this enraged their Ene­mies so much the more; and the more nu­merous that Christians grew, there were so many more to be hated and reviled, and persecuted: For

1. They were charged with Heresie, and represented as a Sect that subsisted up­on the Profession of new and false Do­ctrines. For thus we find St. Paul obli­ged to apologize for himself before Foelix, [Page 443] against the accusations of the Jews; They cannot, says he, prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But this I confess unto thee, That after the way which they call he­resie, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law, and in the Prophets, (Acts 24.14.) And have hope towards God, which they themselves allow, That there shall be a resur­rection of the dead. And herein do I exercise my self, to have a conscience void of offence towards GOD and men. St. Paul, and such as he, believed all things that were writ­ten in the Law and the Prophets, those very Writings which the Jews themselves acknowledged to be Divine, and tho' to this Faith, they added the Doctrine and Practice of a good Life, yet they were e­steemed Hereticks because they undertook to see with their own Eyes, and to judge for themselves, instead of submitting to the Authority of the Council that had betrayed and murdered the Lord Jesus.

2. They were accused of Sedition too, as if they designed to make Stirs and Commotions, and to alienate the People from theia Governours. Thus when Paul and Silas had converted a multitude [Page 444] of Devout Greeks, and not a few of the chief Women at Thessalonica, the Jews who believed not, moved with Envy, took unto 'em certain lewd Fellows of the baser sort, and drew some of the Brethren to the Rulers, crying, These that have turned the world upside down, are come hither al­so, who do contrary to the decrees of Coe­sar, saying, That there is another King, one Jesus, Acts 17.5, 6. And yet they never made one step by Word or Deed, towards deposing Princes, and changing Govern­ments. Jesus, indeed, who had command­ed them to pay Tribute unto Caesar, had also forbidden them to be of the Religi­on which Caesar was then of; and this was drawn into an accusation of Faction and Disloyalty. Thus also the same St. Paul being brought before Foelix at Jeru­salem, the Jews complained by Tertullian their Oratour, That they had found him a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ring-leader of the sect of the Nazarenes, Acts 24.5.

3. They concluded them under a sen­tence of Damnation, as far as they could do it. Indeed they would have it thought so impossible for a Christian to be saved, [Page 445] that some of them after being converted to Christianity, were strongly persua­ded, that they still ought to keep the Law of Moses, and would have mingled Ju­daism and Christianity together: as if there was no hope of Salvation out of the Synagogue: Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be sa­ved, Acts 15.1.

4. As 'tis usual in such Cases, to damn first, and then to kill, they delivered the Disciples of Christ to death, and pretend­ed the service of God for it. For which we may take those remarkable Words of St. Paul, describing the Temper of the Jews then, and what his own once was. Says he, I was taught according to the per­fect manner of the Law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye are at this day. And I persecuted them even unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons, both men and women. Acts 22.3, 4. And in chap. 26. v. 10, 11. he declares, That he persecuted them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, he persecuted them even into strange cities.

Such was the entertainment they had from the Jews, to whom the Word of Salvation was first delivered: But when it was carried amongst the Gentiles, they condemned it too For,

1. It was run down, as if it had brought Irreligion and Atheism into the World; insomuch that the ancient Apo­logists were fain in good earnest to set themselves against this absurd Accusation, and to shew that it was not all one to serve God at all, and not to serve many Gods; That there might be Devotion without bowing down to Images; and Religion and Worship without Idolatry; and bet­ter a great deal without these things than with them.

It was exclaimed against as a late up­start Religion, that began but yester­day, and was fitter to be hissed than ar­gued out of the World. They used to ask the Christians what sort of Men they could name, either Greeks or Barbarians, that made their Profession, and had their Rites and Worship, before Jesus appea­red. You have forsaken, say they, the Customs of the Fathers, that had been observed of old time in all Cities and [Page 447] Countries; you have revolted from a Wor­ship, which has had the Tradition of all Ages; and the Approbation of Kings and People, Law-makers and Philosophers, and by almost all the World, till such as you appeared, who are but of yester­day.

3. They try to overwhelm it with the most gross and palpable Untruths; they gave it out, that the Christians were Wor­shippers of the Sun; nay, that they a­dored an Asses-head, and sometimes a Cross: They did not stick to say, That in their solemn Assemblies they kill'd a Child, and committed Incest. They also upon no occasion in the World, disarm'd them as a seditious and disloyal People, and ac­cused them of Treason, tho' none ever set better Examples of Fidelity to their Go­vernours.

To conclude: Our Predecessors of the Primitive Church, were now and then condemned to several sorts of deaths; and it was often a great deal more safe to be some notorious Malefactor, than to be a Christian.

In a word: The Gospel met with that Opposition, which no Religion ever did before. The Gods of other Nations, [Page 448] new Gods every day were admitted into a Temple at Rome, with some forma­lity, and without trouble. But when the Disciples of Jesus came to call Men to the Worship of the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he had sent; Jews and Gentiles conspired to extinguish their Re­ligion, and to blot out their name for ever; insomuch that the Jews at Rome could tell St. Paul, As concerning this Sect, we know that it is every where spoken a­gainst. Those therefore whom God ju­stifies, have been, and may be condemned by Men: Which will not seem strange to any of us, if we consider what the Causes of it are. For instance:

1. That hatred of truth which reigns in a great part of Mankind. They can­not bear sound Doctrine, nor can they therefore bear those that profess and pra­ctice it; Truth is against them, and there­fore they will be against the Truth, and all that follow it. So long as Pride, Lust, Avarice, Revenge, Luxury, and such things remain, there will be so many Cau­ses of condemning that which God ap­proves. To which we must add,

[Page 449]2. The inflexibleness of true Doctrine, and of those that maintain it, to the de­signs of Worldly Men. Christianity was said to be a perfect Scheme of Religion, that would suffer no additions or altera­tions. It was stiff, and would not bend to the Pleasure of Priests or of States-men; as all that would, which the Heathens called Religion among themselves. Whilst it was kept in wise and honest hands, and truly represented, there was no room for Cheating, no Allowances for pious Frauds, no place for convenient Inventions: In­novations could not be brought into the Faith of Christians, or the Substance of their Worship, but they would be cor­ruptions of both; without tampering with it, it could not serve the ambition of a few, to the prejudice of all others. And therefore while it was pure, they could not bear it, whose Gain was their Godliness, and who had been used to tell Lies in Hy­pocrisie.

3. The proneness of Mankind to Su­perstition, is another cause of disappro­ving what God approves. The true Disciples of Christs are, according to their Religion, for a plain Faith, a pure and simple Worship, and for a few Mysteries, [Page 450] no more than God has made: And for making Charity and Purity the end of all these. But, generally speaking, people are for being saved by a multitude of Ce­remonies, with a Priest to administer them. They love to be amused, and to have their Imaginations entertained with Mysteries that they do not understand, and then to believe that their Souls have received a great deal of good by it. On the other side, Christianity does very lit­tle gratifie the Fancy, and labours very much to inform the Understanding; and therefore has been thought a Religion fit only for Philosophers, being not accom­modated enough to the Vulgar, unless it were dressed out with more Mystery and Pageantry. But then the ancient Fathers made no doubt to call it a Philosophy, and such a one as was designed to make Plowmen and vulgar Persons Philoso­phers, i. e. to cure them of Superstition, and to inform their minds with the know­ledge of the most profitable Truths. This is the true business of Christian Priests, not to make gain to themselves by decei­ving people that were to be deceived, nor to get power, and dependencies by those Doctrines whereby the people get ease and [Page 451] liberty, and ignorance; but instead of nou­rishing and encouraging, to repress and correct the proneness of Mankind to Su­perstition.

4. These two opposite Infirmities, a fondness of any thing that is new on the one hand, and a passionate Zeal for that which has some Antiquity on the other, do by turns promote this Mischief. Some Errors have very successfully taken place at first, when they were Entertainments to those that loved Novelty; and the same Errors in process of time, are hugged by others, because they have the appearance of great Antiquity. They are few in comparison, that had not rather be told, what is Late, and what is Ancient, than what is True. To which we may add,

5. The vast influence that prejudice and prepossession has upon Mens under­standings; which is very often so great, that it will not allow any thing to be said on the other side, and so condemns him that offers Truth before he is heard; or if a hearing cannot be avoided, it is a­ble sometimes to divert the attention; or if attention be given, it can corrupt the Judgment. Men in those circumstances [Page 452] are but ill Judges, whatever their natu­ral Abilities are. They love one side of the Question, they bate the other: and they judge accordingly.

6. In many Persons, the impatience of considering and weighing things, and the ease of letting others judge for them, without examining Particulars, is the cause of false Judgment. For the ease that a Man gets this way, inclines him to believe, that there are Judges who cannot err, and will be sure to tell him nothing but Truth; and this disposition is a migh­ty friend to those that pretend to so high an Authority, because it gives them an opportunity to say what they list, and to determine what they please. Whoe­ver therefore comes with truth on the other hand, against an Authority that must not be thought capable of mista­king, 'tis like to be welcome neither to those that teach, nor to those that are taught; for in effect he comes to the former to tell them that they must quit their power, and to the latter that they must quit their ease.

These are some of the causes of Men's condemning those whom God justifies; by which it appears, that it is an Evil which [Page 453] comes of Evil. And the conclusion we are to make of them, it is this: That we do by no means square our Professions and our Actions, by so false a Rule as that of pleasing Men, and gaining the favour and good Words of Men; for they may, and they often have, and I doubt not but they often will condemn those whom God ju­stifies; and by the same reason they will justifie those whom God condemns. To get Favour, and to avoid Disgrace, is a hap­piness which he that scorns, is not wise; but 'tis no rule for a Man to live by; and he that makes it so cannot be honest. Man may condemn those whom God justifies, That is the first Point. The second is this,

2. That to be condemned by Man, is tolerable, if God justifies. A Truth so clear, that more Words cannot make it clearer, but they may serve to fasten it more upon our Minds. Let us consider such things as these,

1. The infinite disproportion between GOD and Man; St. Paul's meaning was, that GOD justifies, and Man condemns; and to shew that in comparison no body condemned in this case, he puts his mean­ing [Page 454] into the form of a Question; It is God that justifies, who is he that con­demns? A wise Man will not be much troubled to be rail'd at by a Slave, if he be honoured by a King.

2. We can cetainly tell how to please God, because we know what profession, and what practice he approves; for he hath told us what they are, and we may believe him. We are secure also that what will please him to day, will do so to mor­row; and that what he accounts good ser­vice now, he will always reckon to be so: For God changes not, and can by no means contradict himself: He conceals no part of our Duty from us, and therefore to gain his Favour, we need not go forward and backward, nor contradict our selves neither. If we study to approve our selves to God, as we have but one Lord to please, so he is ever constant to himself; our way is one, and plain; and our rule the same yesterday, to day, and for ever.

3. God knows the very secrets of our hearts, and the springs of all our actions; and therefore they whom God justifies, are truly worthy. He that can bear the All-seeing Eye of God, is in reality all [Page 455] that he appears to be; he is that Just, Faithful and Unbiassed Man, and he has that pure and clear Mind, which if we could see with our bodily Eyes, we should, as Plato fancied, be ready to fall down and worship it. Man justifies only by the outward appearance, and sometimes happens to be pleased with profession and service, where nothing is meant of that which is so well taken. A Knave and a Hypocrite may win thanks from Man; but where God justifies, there is Faithfulness and Integrity; and whoever condemns such an one, disgraces himself more than him.

4. If God justifies us, our own hearts do at the same time acquit and absolve us; says St. John, If our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God. And 'tis true on the other side, that if God con­demns us not, then have we confidence of our selves. By doing those things that please him, we are sure to please our selves: By making him our Friend, we shall infal­libly make one Friend more, and that is our own Consciences, which is infinitely more to us than the opinion of the World. 'Tis a plain case, that we approve our selves to God by following Truth and Goodness; [Page 456] and this we know will not put us upon struggling with our own Judgment, and straining points against our clear knowledge of what we ought to do. All the while we are gaining his Favour we are sure we do well; and when we have done it we shall thank our selves, instead of being plagu'd with a sad and black remembrance of the way we took to get it. Acquaint now thy self with God, and be at peace with him, and so shall good come unto thy Soul.

5. There lies no Flattery, nor false Ac­cusation, nor outward accident against us, to put us out of God's Favour, or to make us lose that we have wrought, to turn his mind, or to blot our services out of his re­membrance. No change of Fortune shall bring us into disgrace; which considerati­on St. Paul laid great strength upon in pursuance of the Text. Who shall sepa­rate us from the love of Christ? shall tri­bulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? v. 35. I am persuaded, says he, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come; nor height nor depth, nor any other creature shall be a­ble to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, v. 38. Nay says [Page 457] the Apostle, in all these things we are more than Conquerors; that is, we get by being condemned by others, because by that we are made more dear to God, who will consider not only, that we served him, but under what discouragements from the World, we did so. Lastly.

6. Whom God justifies, them he also glo­rifies. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to he conformed to the Image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren, v. 29, 30. i. e. Those whom he foreknew to be his most faithful Servants, he did before time decree, that by suffering for Righteousness, they should follow so glorious a Pattern as their elder Brother, the Lord Jesus. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called (i. e.) he brought them to the profession of the truth in a hazardous time, that they should shew their Integrity; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Which is so sure, that the Apostle mentions it as if it were done already. Then he proceeds in the following Verses, What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but de­livered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things? who shall [Page 458] lay any thing to the charge of God's elect: It is God that justifies, who is he that condemn­eth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. The conclusion is this, That whoever con­demns, we are not to be discourag'd, if God justifies.

But it may be said, That all this is ve­ry true indeed, but it serves the turn of all Parties, even of those who are most se­verely condemned by each other, while each of them pretends to have God and Truth on their side: And therefore that this Subject might have been more useful­ly pursued, by shewing particularly what that Faith and that Practice is, with which they must be qualified whom God justifies; and how we are assured of it. Now I considered all this at first; but then I knew that I was to speak to persons who are neither ignorant of the Doctrine of this Church, nor of the evidence whereby it appears to be the very Truth of Christi­anity; by which, whoever governs him­self in worshipping God, in behaving him­self to others, and in all his ways, shall be assuredly justified of God, though all the World should condemn him for it. But I considered also, that of all things which [Page 459] are apt to shake the constancy of modest Persons, nothing is more likely to do it, than the mighty confidence wherewith they of the Roman Church condemn us, and exclaim against us. For to those who are acquainted with the History of the World, and of the Church, it must needs be a surprize, that Men who are said to be Learned, and known to be zealous, do pronounce against us with no less seve­rity than if we were mere Infidels: One would think there must be some deep rea­son for it, when they make us nothing at all, and themselves all in all. For thus they will not allow that we are a Church, or that we have any certainty so much as of that true Doctrine we profess; for they know us better than we do ourselves, and as for our Salvation they are as sure it be­longs not to us, till we are converted to them, as if they kept the Keys of Heaven. Nor do they sink us more than they raise themselves, who are not only a Church, but the whole Church, and not only not deceived, but even Infallible. They talk as if there were no safety with us, and no danger with them; which may raise such doubts in weaker Minds, that I thought it not unseasonable to bring to your remem­brance how violently the Apostles and their [Page 460] Christian Brethren were condemned by Men, of whom yet these Men will grant that they were justified of God.

If it shall be said, This is a common-place Argument, of which all Men serve them­selves. I answer, That the Argument is so much the stronger. For if these Men themselves will tell you, that confidence is not to be trusted, you will, I hope, make this application, That neither is their con­fidence to be trusted; and therefore that you ought to consider what they are, be­fore you believe them to be what they call themselves; and examine what they teach, before you think the worse of your selves, for what they call you: And this is all that we desire of you, That you would weigh the reasons of things, and not mind swel­ing Words.

Brethren, it is by no means a new Arti­fice to talk in a very high strain, when Ar­gument runs very low: Thus Jews and Gentiles exclaimed against our Fathers the Apostles, and the primitive Believers, con­demning them for going against Antiqui­ty, Universality, Authority, Tradition, Philosophers, Law-makers, Kings and Nati­ons. And yet when all was done, all this was but empty noise, and vain pretence, and the Cause of Christianity was the [Page 461] Cause of God. Foul Errors have been drest with glorious appearances of Truth, and Truth has been opposed with Confidence; and God suffers it to be so, to try the since­rity of Men, that while they who are wil­ling to be deluded, fall by the Temptation, Men of Probity, and Lovers of Truth, should upon diligent examination hold it faster than otherwise they would have done. This is one of the great advantages to which that opposition tends, which Truth has met with in the World. And therefore the more lofty those Pretences are, by which the other Church would bring us to an intire submission to her Authority in e­very point of Religion, so much greater rea­son there is to examine every one of her particulars; and if I find that she is mista­ken in any of them, I am very sure that she is not infallible in all. And if she will not allow me to make a Judgment of the Par­ticulars, 'tis just as if a Man should try to hinder me from casting up my own Ac­counts, by going about to prove that he cannot possibly mistake in doing it; he might indeed shew some Wit in working his Demonstration, but I should shew a great deal more folly in trusting him.

To conclude: We have a Rule where­by to try the Doctrine, I will not only say of [Page 462] a Church, or a Pope, or a Council, but e­ven of an Angel from Heaven, if an Angel should come and preach to us; and that Rule is the Holy Scripture; especially the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles. These are by all Christians acknowledged to be the undoubted, and the most ancient Records of our Holy Religion; and they have had a Tradition so uncontroulable, as no Books in the World ever had the like. Whoever therefore is our Guide, it is ve­ry reasonable that this should be our Rule. And of all Churches in the World, I will never trust my self to her discretion, that will not trust me with the Knowledge and Study of this Rule.

Here we may, if we please, make our selves very sure, that we are of those whom God will justifie; for here we may discern what kind of Persons St. Paul and the Christians of whom he speaks in this place, and what all the Apostles and Pri­mitive Disciples of our Lord were. For those Books which acquaint us with their Names, and which were written by some of themselves, do also discover to us what Faith they professed, what Doctrine they taught, and what Lives they led. Now if we profess that very Faith, and teach no other Doctrine, and frame our practice [Page 463] by their Rules and good Examples, then without all question we are such kind of Christians as they were; and then altho' we should be used by the World▪ as they were too, yet the encouragement and comfort which they had, will also belong to us; and we too may say, Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect? it is God that justifieth, who is he that con­demneth? it is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again.

Having therefore the infallible Rule of God's Word, whereby to guide our selves, We beseech you, Brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how you ought to walk, and to please God, so you would abound more and more; that while evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceiv­ed, ye may continue in the things which ye have learned, knowing of whom ye have learned them, even from the Sayings of our Lord Jesus and his holy Apo­stles, delivered to us in the Scriptures, which are able to make us wise unto Salva­tion, through Faith which is in Christ Jesus. Let us remember, that it had been better for us not to have known the way of righ­teousness, than after we have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered [Page 464] to us; not forgetting by any means, that 'tis a way of righteousness we have been made to know, and an holy Command­ment that hath been delivered to us, from which therefore we may depart as dam­nably by an impure Conversation, as by let­ing go our pure Profession; in which case we are so far from being justified, that we shall be the more condemned by our Faith: We have no false Principles to save our Hearts from condemning us, if we allow our selves in any way of wicked­ness; and God is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things: Whoever else con­demns us, that is more than recompence enough, if God justifieth. But who is he that shall justifie us, if God con­demns?