The Christian Life, Chapter 4 · Section 5

The Christian Life · Chapter 4 · Section 5

p. 414SECT. V. Concerning those Duties which appertain to the Perfection and Consummation of our Christian Warfare, shewing what they are, and how effectually they conduce to the perfecting us in the Virtues of the Heavenly Life.

I PROCEED now to the Third and last Part of our Christian Warfare, viz. the Consummation of it, which is final Perseverance. For after we have actually ingaged, and made some Progress in it, our next Care and Duty is that we do not relapse and basely retreat from what we have so prosperously undertaken, and hitherto so effectually prosecuted, but that so long as we live we persist in an open Defiance to our Sins, and Endeavour to pursue and mortifie our Inclinations to them, and persevere in the Practice of all Vertue; still indeavouring thereby to improve and grow on to Perfection, that so we may die as we have hitherto lived, and consummate our Warfare in a final Victory, and that when our Lord shall come or send his Herald, Death, to summon us off from the Field, we may be found fighting under his Banner against Sin, the World and the p. 415Devil, and finally die as we have lived, his faithful Soldiers and Followers. For this he indispensably exacts of us, viz. that we should be faithful unto Death, Rev. ii.10. that we should patiently continue in well-doing, Rom. ii.7. that we should indure to the end, Matt. x.22. and hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast to the end, Heb. iii.14. that we should keep his works to the end, and finally overcome as well as fight, Rev. ii.26. in a word, that having set our hands to the plow, we should not look back, Luke ix.62. but that we should be always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as we know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord, 1 Cor. xv.58. the sense of all which is, that we should not only begin this our Christian Warfare and prosecute it for a while, but that we should proceed and persevere in it as long as we breath, and never lay down our Arms till we lay down our Lives. In order to which, as we must still persevere in the Practice of those Duties which appertain to the Course and Progress of our Warfare, so there are sundry other Duties which we must practise, and which have a more direct and immediate Influence upon the final Success and Consummation of it. All which I shall reduce to these following Particulars;

p. 4161. That while we stand, we should not be over-confident of our selves, but still keep a jealous eye upon the Weakness and Inconstancy of our own Natures.

2. That if at any time we wilfully fall and miscarry, we should immediately arise again by Repentance.

3. That to prevent the like Falls and Miscarriages for the future, we should indeavour to withdraw our Affections from the Temptations of the World, but more especially from those which were the Occasions of our Fall.

4. That we should more curiously search into the smaller Defects and Indecencies of our Nature, in order to our reforming and correcting them.

5. That, so far as lawfully we can, we should live in a close Communion with the Church whereof we are Members.

6. That we should not out of a fond Opinion that we are good enough already, stint our progress in Religion to any determinate Degree or Measure of Goodness.

7. That we should frequently entertain our selves with the prospect of our Mortality, and endeavour to compose our selves before-hand into a good Posture of dying.

8. That in order thereunto, we should be wondrous careful to discharge our Consciences p. 417of all the Reliques and Remains of our past Guilt.

9. That to compensate for these, so far as we are able, we should take care to Redeem the Time we have formerly spent in sinful Courses, by being doubly diligent in the Exercise of all the contrary Virtues, and the doing all the contrary Good we are able.

10. That we should labour after a Rational and well-grounded Assurance of Heaven.

I. TO the Perfection and Consummation of our Christian Warfare it is necessary that while we stand, we should not be over confident of our selves, but still keep a jealous Eye upon the Weakness and Inconstancy of our own Natures. For thus the Apostle declares it to be the Will of God, that we should not trust in our selves, i. e. rely too much upon our own Strength and Ability, 2 Cor. i.9▪ and elsewhere he admonishes, let him that thinks he stands (or, the present being put for the future, as it is very frequently, let him that thinks he shall stand) take heed lest he fall, 1 Cor. x.12. so also, Rom. xi.20. Thou standest by faith, be not high-minded but fear, i. e. it is thy Faith that upholds thee, but be not too secure of thy Support, lest thou also fall and perish, p. 418as thy Brethren the Jews have done before thee. And hence we are bid to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, Phil. ii.12. i. e. with a holy Solicitude and Jealousie lest one time or other we should be Tempted and overcome, and at the last finally miscarry. And indeed there is nothing doth more expose men to the hazard of falling than too much Confidence in their own Strength. This makes them venture upon a thousand Temptations which they might have fairly and much more prudently avoided; and hurries them hand over head into such inviting Occasions and Opportunities of sinning, as do too often inveagle and betray them in Despight of all their good Resolutions to the contrary. Whereas had they but suspected themselves, and not presumed too much upon their own Stedfastness, they would many a time have kept out of harms-way, and avoided the Snares that did intangle them; but by venturing like Sampson to lay down their Heads in a Dalilahs Lap, in Confidence of the Strength of their own Resolution, they have been insensibly inticed, after some coy Refusals, to betray themselves into the Snare of the Devil.

AND as through an over-weening Confidence of our own Strength we expose our selves to many needless Temptations, so p. 419we do also too often provoke God to withdraw his Grace and Assistance from us, and to leave us to contend alone with those Temptations whereunto we do so confidently expose our selves. For as he is always ready to assist us, so he always expects that we should acknowledge our Need of, and Dependence upon him, and not presume too much upon our own Strength, which without his gracious Concurrence, is Weakness and Impotence. When therefore without Gods Call and Warrant we will needs rush into Temptations in Confidence of our own Ability to resist and conquer them, he many times leaves us without his Aid and Assistance, that so he may chastise our Presumption by permitting us to be defeated, and convince us by the woful Experiment of our Fall, how unable we are to stand without his Aid and Support. It is our daily Prayer that God would not lead us into Temptation; but if for our Tryal he thinks meet to do so, we have all Assurance that if we be not wanting to our selves, he will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it, Cor. i.10.13. But if we will lead our selves into Temptation, in Confidence of our own Ability to contend with and break p. 420through it, God is so far from being obliged to second us in our Folly and unwarrantable Rashness, that he is justly provoked by it to abandon us to our selves, and, as a certain Consequence of that, to permit us to be vanquisht and led captive. Wherefore as we hope to persevere to the End and to bring our Warfare to a happy Conclusion, it is highly necessary that we should always keep a jealous Eye upon our selves, and not confide too much in our own Strength and Ability.

II. TO our final Perseverance in the Christian Warfare, it is also necessary that if at any time we wilfully fall and miscarry in it, we should immediatly arise again by Repentance. For what is forbidden us as to one Sin, equally extends to all, let not the sun go down upon your wrath, Eph. iv.26. that is, if you have wilfully given the Reins to your Wrath, suffer it not to break forth into contumelious Behaviour, but repent of it immediatly, before the Sun sets; according to that old Practice of the Pythagoreans, mentioned by Plutarch, who when at any time they fell into reproachful Language out of Anger, foreign i. e. before ever the Sun set they always took care to be reconciled, and constantly p. 421shook hands with and embraced one another; and the reason of the Prohibition, which you have in the next verse, viz. neither give place to the Devil, that is, by suffering your Wrath to grow into inveterate Malice, equally extends to all other Sins, which if they be not immediatly rooted out by Repentance, will quickly improve into Habits. So that we have as much reason to repent of our Lust before the Sun rises on it, and of our Fraud and Oppression before it hath run its course on it, as of our Wrath before it goes down upon it. And consequently, by a parity of Reason, the Prohibition must extend to all other Sins as well as this, and oblige us, when ever we have wilfully sin'd in any Particular, to revoke and expiate it by an immediate Act of Repentance.

FOR he that hath sin'd wilfully and not repented of it, doth all the while continue an obstinate Rebel against God, and is so far from persevering in the Christian Warfare, that he is actually listed a Voluntier in the adverse Party. And if after we have thus sin'd, Death should interpose between us and our Repentance, (as who knows but it may if we repent not immediately) we shall be so far from consummating our Christian Warfare in Victory, that we p. 422shall die Vassals to the Devil. But then as by sinning wilfully we do desert God, so by continuing impenitent under it we still run farther and farther from him, and thereby make so wide a Gap and Interruption in our religious Progress, as will not be easily repaired again; and whereas had we repented and come back without Delay as soon as we had strayed from our Duty, we might have soon recovered the Ground we had lost by it, and by a little more Diligence have gotten as far onward as if we had never interrupted our Progress at all; by deferring our Repentance we set our selves farther and farther back and shall every day be more and more indisposed to return. For in the Course of our Religion there is no standing still, but either we are progressive or retrograde, going backward or forward as long as we live; so that when once we are out of our Way, we are still going farther out, till such time as we return again; and consequently the longer we are out, the harder 'twill be to return, and the farther we shall have to the end of our Way. For when I first sin, and the Wound of my Innocence is yet green & fresh, it may easily be cured by the timely Application of a sorrowful Confession and new Resolution of Amendment; but if I neglect it, 'twill rot and putrifie, my Sense p. 423of it will be hardned, and my Inclination to it grow every day more inveterate, and then if it be not lanc'd and corroded by a sharp, a long and a painful Repentance, it will turn into an incureable Gangrene. Hence the Apostle bids us exhort one another daily, while it is called to day, that is, to repent while it is called to day, lest any of us be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin, Heb. iii.13. So that when we have wilfully sin'd, we run a mighty Hazard of our final perseverance, if we don't repent immediatly. For all the while we delay, our Conscience grows more sear'd, and our Lust grows more confirm'd, and God knows where it will end, but 'tis fearfully to be suspected that that neglected Bruise which we got by our Fall will grow worse and worse, and determine at last in final Impenitency. Wherefore as we intend to persevere in wel-doing, it concerns us in the first place to take all possible▪ Care not to give way to any wilful Sin, nor suffer our selves by any Hopes or Fears to be tempted from our good Resolution; but if at any time our wicked Inclinations should prevail against it, to betake our selves immediately to a serious Repentance, to make a sorrowful Confession of it to our offended God, and solemnly renew our Resolution against it, that so we may stop the p. 424growing evil betime, before it's capable of indangering our final Apostacy.

III. TO our final perseverance, it's necessary that to prevent the like Falls and Miscarriages for the future, we should indeavour to withdraw our Affections from the Temptations of the World, but more especially from those Temptations which were the Occasions of our Fall. For thus we are strictly prohibited to set our affections upon things on the earth, Col. iii.21. to love the World and the things that are in the World, Joh. i, ii.15. to lay up for our selves treasures upon earth, Mat. vi.19. and 'tis the proper Character of a true Christian to be crucified to the World, Gal. vi.14. and to converse as a Stranger and a Pilgrim in it, Heb. xi.13. As on the contrary, to mind earthly things, and to be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, are made the proper Characters of Infidels and Apostates, Phil. iii.19. compared with Tim. ii. 3.4. And so inconsistent is an inordinate Affection to the World with our perseverance in the Christian Warfare, that St. James expresly tells us, that the friendship of the World is enmity with God, Jam. iv.4. and 'tis to the Excess of our friendship to it that the Scripture frequently attributes our Apostacy, Tim. ii.4.10. and the Apostle tells us, that they p. 425that will be rich, that is, immoderately covet to be so, fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in perdition and destruction; and that the love of money is the root of all evil, 1 Tim. vi.9, 10. From all which it's apparent, how necessary it is, in the accounts of Christianity, in order to our perseverance, that we should indeavour to wean and abstract our selves from the World.

FOR this world is the Magazine of all those Temptations by which our Vertue and Innocence is importuned and assaulted; and 'tis either the Hope of some worldly Pleasure, Profit or Honour that allures, or the Fear of some of the contrary Evils which are incident to us in the Course of Religion that affrights us from our Duty. Whilst therefore we immoderately love those Goods and Evils which are the Solicitours of Vice, we are in very great danger of being conquered and led captive by it. For 'tis not for the sake of sinning that men sin, but for the sake of those Goods, or to avoid those Evils which are appendent to their sinning or not sinning; and consequently, the more a man loves those Goods which cling and adhere to a sinful Action, the more propense he will be to the Commission of it; and the more he dreads those Evils which p. 426he can most easily avoid by a sinful Action, the more prone and inclinable he will be to it. Wherefore to secure our perseverance in this Warfare against sin, it is absolutely necessary that we rectifie our Opinion of the Goods and Evils of this World, and moderate and abate our Affection towards them, especially towards those that have been most prevalent with us. For the Temptation that prevails upon us discovers the weak Side of our Nature, and instructs the Devil what Good or Evil it is that is most apt to allure or affright us; and to be sure that subtil Tempter, who hath been so many thousand Years studying the Arts of seducing us, will not fail to assault us again where he hath been already successful; and therefore it concerns us to fortifie our selves there where we have so much reason to expect the Enemy will assault us, and to rectifie our Opinions of and mortifie our Affections to those things which have already so much imposed upon our Virtue and Innocence. For 'tis our Imagination that gives Life and Efficacy to the Charms and Terrors of the World, and renders them so successful against us; we fancy that to be in them which is not, and so are affected not so much with the things themselves as with the false Representations we make of them.

p. 427FOR it's plain the Goods of the World are beholden to our selves for the greatest part of those Beauties with which they tempt and allure us; and 'tis our Fancy that gives the Paint and Fucus with which they charm and inamour our Affections; and so for the Evils of the World, 'tis our own Imagination that disguises them into such Bugs and Scare-crowes, and puts those gastly Vizors on them with which they fright and amaze us. If therefore we would but take care to rectifie our Opinions of them both, and to strip them out of their imaginary Terrors and Allurements, we should thereby disarm them of their main Strength, and render them much less able to seduce us for the future. And this methinks we might easily do, if we would but fairly represent to our selves the present State and Posture of our Affairs. For we are a sort of Beings, that are every Moment travailing from hence to an eternal World, where an unexpressible Happiness or Misery attends us; and all that we enjoy or suffer in this Life, is only the Convenience or Inconvenience of a short Journey to a long Home, but can have no other Influence upon our everlasting Condition, than as it is the Occasion either of our Virtue or Vice, which are the only Goods and Evils that will accompany p. 428us to Eternity, and make us happy or miserable there for ever. But as for Poverty or Riches, Pain or Pleasure, Disgrace or Reputation, they are things which probably within these ten or twenty Years will be as perfectly indifferent to us as our last Nights Dream was when we awoke in the Morning. And this, methinks, duly considered, were enough to render us very unconcerned at any Good or Evil that can happen to us here. For what a mighty Matter is it whether I fare well or ill for twenty or thirty Years, who when that is expired must be happy or miserable for Millions of Millions of Ages; and what will these little Goods or Evils signifie to me, when my Body is in the Grave, and my Soul in Eternity? When I am stript into a naked Spirit, and set ashore upon the invisible World, then all these things will be as if they never were, and in the twinkling of an Eye I shall lose Sight of them for ever; and of all that I enjoyed or suffered in this Life I shall have nothing remaining but my Virtue or Vice, whose Issues will prove my eternal Happiness or Misery. Doubtless would we but accustom our Minds to such Reflections as these, they would effectually restrain us from the immoderate Love or Fear of the things of this World, and reduce us to a p. 429constant and efficacious Persuasion, that there is no Good in this World comparable to that of doing our Duty, nor any Evil incident to us in this Life that is not infinitely less formidable than Sin. And when once our Affection to this World, and our Opinion of the Goods and Evils of it, are thus moderated and rectified, the Temptations to Sin will quite lose their hold of us, and be no more able to fasten upon our Resolution. So that now we may pass safely through them whilst they are sparkling about us, there being no Tinder in our Breasts for them to catch fire and kindle upon. Now they will be no longer capable to allure or affright us, those bosom Orators being silenced that were wont to contend for them, and to magnifie their Charms and Terrors; and when we neither immoderately love nor fear them, 'twill be no hard matter to defend our Virtue and Innocence against all their Assaults and Importunities.

IV. TO our final Perseverance, it is necessary that we should more curiously search into the smaller Defects and Indecencies of our Nature in order to our reforming and correcting them. Hence we are commanded to hate even the garments spotted by the flesh, Jude 23. i. e. to take care of the Beginnings of Sin, of any thing that hath p. 430the least Spot or Infection of it; and accordingly we are obliged not only to take care to rub out the greater Stains of our Nature, but to be diligent that we may be found of our Lord in peace without spot and blameless, 2 Pet. iii.14. i. e. to indeavour to reform those smaller and more indiscernable Defects of our Nature, which though they do not totally stain, yet very much spot and blemish it; that so at the coming of our Lord we may be found not only sincere and upright, but, as near as may be, innocent and blameless. For so, Phil. ii.15. we are bid to be blameless, harmless, and without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, i. e. to endeavour so to demean our selves in this World as that we may appear not only honest for the main, but, so near as is possible, spotless and unreproveable. And indeed there is nothing doth more frequently occasion mens final Miscarriage in Religion, than their not being careful and diligent in this matter. When they first enter into the Christian Warfare, they very industriously set themselves against that Course of wilful Sin in which they formerly lived, and this were wondrous well, if they did not stop here and go no farther; but alas, in the mean time, while they are thus industriously busied in subduing their old Sins, there p. 431are a great many lesser Flaws and Defects in their Nature. which by a timely Care and Inspection they might easily correct; but these they take no Notice of, but quietly permit them to grow and increase, till at last they become as hurtful & dangerous to them as their old Sins were, against which they have all this while so zealously contended. As for Instance, when they first entered upon a Resolution of Amendment, they were profane it may be, or sensual, or vehemently adicted to Fraud and Oppression; and against these they opposed themselves with great Zeal and Animosity; and so far they did well, but in the mean time perhaps there was Pride and Ostentation, Envy and Peevishness, Self-will and Censoriousness secretly budding and sprouting up in their Natures, all which they might have easily cured by timely Applications; but alas! in the Heat of their Contest against their other Sins, they never so much as minded or regarded these, but e'en left them alone till they grew up into obstinate and inveterate Habits, and became every whit as fatal and destructive to their Souls as those were which they have been all this while subduing and mortifying. So that after all they have only changed their Sins, and have been conjuring up one Devil while they have been p. 432laying another; and whilst the Tide of their Wickedness hath been ebbing on this Shore, it hath been flowing on the contrary, and as it hath sunk in Sensuality, it hath swelled into Devilishness. Perhaps whilst you are zealously carrying on your Warfare against your old Sins, you may find your selves too apt to be tickled with Applause, and puff'd with vain Ostentation; have a Care now, that while you are starving one Vice, you do not pamper another. For if you do not correct this little Irregularity of your Nature betimes, 'twill soon be as dangerous and mischievous to you, as ever any of those Vices were against which you are contending; 'twill by degrees so insinuate into your good Intentions, and so sophisticate the Purity of them, that at last you will intend nothing else but Applause; and so your whole Religion will be converted into dead Shew and empty Pageantry, and your spiritual Warfare will prove only a passage out of Profaneness into Hypocrisie. It may be whilst you are contending against those fleshly Inclinations by which you have formerly been captivated, your Hearts will begin to swell with an over-weening Conceit of your own Vertue and Godliness, and as a Consequence of that to entertain contemptuous and censorious Thoughts of your Brethren; p. 433beware now, that whilst you are struggling with your old fleshly Lusts, you do not overlook these little Defects and Indecencies of your Nature; lest while you are conquering one Sort of sins, you be captivated by another. For if you do not take care to nip them in their Buds, and to check these little Essays and Beginnings of them, they will soon spring up into Habits of Pride and Insolence, Rancour and Vncharitableness, and so your Warfare against Sin will be only a Transition from one Evil into another, from the Pollutions of the Flesh into the Pollutions of the Spirit, and from the Nature of Beasts into the Nature of Devils. Wherefore if you would be finally successful in the Christian Warfare, you must take great Care that while you are contending with the grosser and more inveterate Vices of your Nature, you do not neglect its lesser Defects and Irregularities; for whilst they are lesser they may be easily corrected, but if they are not, they will soon grow greater, and in the End prove as dangerous as those you are now contending with. For every Vice is small in the Beginning and easie to be cured, but if it be neglected, like a Scratch in the Flesh, it will corrupt and rancle into a spreading Gangreen.

p. 434V. TO our Perseverance to the End in this our Christian Warfare, it is also necessary that, so far as lawfully we can, we should live in close Communion with the Church whereof we are Members. 'Tis true a particular Church may be so corrupted, as that its Members may be obliged to disunite themselves from it. For every man is obliged by Vertue of his being in any Society, not to agree to any thing which tends to the apparent Ruine of it. Now the main End of Christian Society being the Honour of God, and the Salvation of Souls, every man that enters into it is thereby obliged in his own Station to advance this End; and consequently as to join in all Acts of the Christian Society he is united to, so far as they tend thereunto, so to refuse all such Acts of that Society, if any such should be injoyned, as do apparently oppose and are directly repugnant to it. So that if any Act that is apparently sinful, be injoyn'd by the particular Church whereof I am a Member, as a necessary Condition of my Communion with her, I am bound to abstain from it, for the sake of the General End of Christian Society. As for Instance, suppose the Church whereof I am a Member, require it as a Condition of my Communion, that I should transgress any p. 435just Law of the Commonwealth whereof I am a Subject; in this Case I am bound rather to desert that Churches Communion, than live in wilful Disobedience to the Civil Authority. And this is the Case of those men, who though they live in a Christian Commonwealth, have been Baptized into, and bred up in the Communion of particular Congregations that contrary to Law have separated themselves from the Establisht, National Church; for if in this national Church there be nothing imposed on them by the Laws of the Commonwealth that is apparently contradictory to the Laws of Christ, they are bound in Conscience to desert those separate Congregations (allowing them to be true Churches) and to join themselves with the Church National; and if they do not, they are wilful Offenders against the Law of Christ, which requires us to obey all humane Ordinances for the Lords sake. And again, supposing one National Church to be subject to another, that which is subject is bound to refuse the Communion of that which is superior, if it cannot injoy it without complying with Impositions that are apparently sinful. Which is evidently the Case between us and the Church of Rome, supposing that de jure we were once her Subjects and Members; for p. 436had we been so, we should doubtless never have separated our selves from her, could we but have separated her Sins from her Communion; could we have profest her Creed without implicitly believing all her Cheats and Impostures, or submitted our selves to her Guides without apparent Danger of being misled by them into the pit of Destruction, or joyn'd with her publick Services without worshipping of Creatures, or received her Sacraments without practising the grossest Superstitions and Idolatries. But when she had made it necessary for us either to sin with or separate from her, we could have no other honest Remedy but only to withdraw; and if in this our Separation there had been a sinful Schism on either side, we could have appealed to Heaven and Earth whose the Guilt of it was; theirs that forced us upon it, or ours that were forced to it. But yet the Case of our Separation from the Church of Rome, is vastly different from that of the Separation of private Members from their own particular Churches. For we affirm that the Church of Rome is but a particular Church, whose Authority extends no farther than to its own native Members, and consequently hath no more Power to impose Laws of Communion upon us, than we have upon p. 437her; our particular Church being altogether as distinct and independent from her, as she is from ours. So that though the Terms of Communion she imposes upon her own Members were all of them lawful and innocent, yet do they no more oblige us as we are Christians of the Church of England, than the lawful Commands of the Great Mogul do, as we are Subjects of the Kingdom of England.

BUT the Case of private members, whither of ours or any other particular Church, is vastly different. For if we will allow particular Churches to be so many formed Societies of Christians; (as we must do, or else degrade them into so many confused multitudes) we must necessarily allow them to have a just Authority (even as all other formed Societies have) over their own Members. And that they have so, is evident not only from the Nature of the thing, but also from Scripture, where the Bishops and Pastors of particular Churches are said to be constituted by the Holy Ghost Overseers of their particular Flocks, Acts xx.28. which word both in sacred and prophane Writ denotes a ruling Power. And accordingly these Overseers are elsewhere call'd ruling-Elders, Tim. i.5.17. and the Subjects and Members of their Churches p. 438are required to obey them, as those that have the Rule over them, Heb. xiii.17. and elsewhere the Apostle exhorts them to know, i. e. submissively to own the Authority of those that were over them in the Lord, Thes. i.5.12. By all which it's evident, that the Members of particular Churches are by divine Institution subjected to the Authority of their spiritual Governors, and obliged in all things to obey them, wherein they are not countermanded by Christ himself. So that though one particular Church may refuse the Impositions of another, and that not only as they are sinful, but as they are Impositions, because the other hath no lawful Authority over it; yet is it by no means lawful for the Subjects of any particular Church to disobey their Church-Governors in any lawful matter; because being subjected to their Authority by Christ the supreme Head of the Church-Catholick, they are obliged to submit to them as to his Substitutes and Vicegerents in every thing which he hath not antecedently prohibited. And if rather than do so, they shall choose to revolt from the Communion of their Church, they are Schismaticks, or, which is the same thing, they are Rebels to Christs Authority in that particular Church they Revolt from. For what Faction is in the p. 439State, that is Schism in the Church, viz. an unjust Opposition to Authority; the one to Christs civil Authority derived upon our Magistrates, the other to his spiritual Authority derived upon our Bishops and Ecclesiastical Governors.

'TIS true in some Cases, as I hinted before, withdrawing from the Communion of a Church may be so far from being a Rebellion against Christ, that it may be an Act of Duty and Obedience to him. For where Christ who is my supreme Lord, and my Ecclesiastical Governors who are in Authority under him, command things that are directly inconsistent, I am doubtless bound to obey him rather than them; yea though their Commands are not inconsistent in themselves, yet if I am fully persuaded they are, it is all one to me. Fot when I do what I falsly believe Christ hath forbidden, I am in Will as much a Rebel against his Authority, as when I do what I truly believe he hath forbidden. And so by not complying with my spiritual Governors out of an innocent mispersuasion that what they command is unlawful, I do formally and in Will as much obey Christ in so doing, as if it were really unlawful. So that in short, when the Governors of the Church whereof I am a Member do impose as the Conditions of my p. 440Communion, things that are either unlawful in themselves, or that, after due Examination, I verily believe are unlawful, I am bound in Obedience to the Authority of Christ, rather to desert that Communion, than to comply with the Terms and Conditions of it.

BUT since to desert the Communion of a Church is a matter of vast Moment, (as I shall prove by and by) it ought not to be done without the greatest Caution and Tenderness. For he that rejects sinful Terms of Communion without just Enquiry and sufficient Examination, is formally as much a Schismatick, i. e. he is as much a Rebel in Will to Christs spiritual Authority in his Church Delegates and Vicegerents, as he that rashly rejects innocent and lawful ones. For had it been only the Sinfulness of the Condition that displeased him, he would have made Conscience before he presumed to reject it, duly to inform himself whether it were sinful or no; but by thus rejecting it at a venture, without a due Enquiry into the nature of it, he plainly shews that 'twas not so much the Sin that displeased him, as the Authority that imposed it; and that 'twas not his Conscience that took offence at it, but his Humour; and consequently, that he would have had the same Dislike of it, p. 441though it had been lawful and innocent. For Conscience being an act of the Judgment and Reason, cannot be offended without Reason either real or apparent; and without making a due Enquiry into the Nature of the thing we are offended at, we can have no Reason that will either warrant or excuse our Offence.

NOW to a due Enquiry, it is necessary that we should impartially examin both sides of the Question; and that while we are doing so, we should keep both our Ears open to the Matter in Debate, and equally attend to what can be said for, as well as to what can be said against it; and then that upon a full hearing of both, we should determin, as near as we can, on which side the Truth lies, without Favour or Affection. For he that enquires only what can be said against the Matter he is offended at, doth thereby give a plain Indication that he is resolved to be offended at it right or wrong; and that the End of his Enquiry is not so much to satisfie his Conscience, as to fortifie his unreasonable Prejudice. Wherefore before we do reject the Conditions of our Churches Communion as sinful, we are obliged under the Penalty of wilful Schism impartially to enquire what is to be said for as well as against them; and for this End to p. 442apply our selves to our Spiritual Governours and Pastors, and propose our Doubts to them, and attend to their Resolutions with an honest, teachable Mind that is willing to be informed; and where we are capable of judging, faithfully to peruse those Books and Arguments that make for the one side as well as the other. For unless we do thus, its plain that we are biassed by a factious Inclination, and that we have a great Mind to separate from the Churches Communion. For if we were not prejudiced against her Authority by a schismatical Temper of Mind, we should be as forward at least to consult what may be said for her Impositions, as what is said against them.

BUT then if the Matters she imposes are such as a plain and illiterate Communicant cannot judg of, nor comprehend the Force of the Reasons that make for or against them, such Persons in such Cases are obliged humbly to acquiesce in the Churches Authority, and not blindly to separate from her they know not why. As for Instance, suppose the Matter imposed should be such a Form of Government, or such Modes of Discipline, or Rights and Circumstances of Divine Worship as carry no such apparent Evil in them, or express Contradiction to any Command of our Saviour as to inable an illiterate Christian p. 443rationally to pronounce them unlawful, and whither they be unlawful or no is not to be determined perhaps without some Skill in the Original Languages and the critical Acceptations of Phrases, or Insight into Ecclesiastical History or Metaphysical Nicities and Speculations; and 'tis by some of these that most of the Controversies between us and our dissenting Brethren are to be judg'd and decided. Now in such Matters as these, where he cannot judg for himself, what should an unlearned Communicant do? Why this he knows well enough, that 'tis his Duty in all lawful things to submit to the Governours of his Church, and reverence Christs Authority in them, but whether the above-named matters they impose be lawful or no, he neither doth nor can know. So that if upon the score of those Impositions, he rejects the Churches Communion, he rejects it he knows not why; and to avoid doing that which he doth not know is a Sin, he refuses to do that which he knows is a Duty. So that whether that which the Church imposes be lawful or no, 'tis apparent Rebellion in him to refuse it; because for all that he knows it is lawful, and though it should be unlawful, yet that cannot be the Motive of his Non-compliance with it, who doth not understand the Reasons that make it so. He p. 444therefore that separates from the Communion of the Church for Causes that he cannot judg of, must necessarily separate without Cause or Reason; he can have neither true nor false Pretence for his Separation; because the Arguments pro and con are beyond the Sphere of his Cognizance; and consequently if he thereupon withdraw from the Churches Communion, 'tis not because he cannot comply with her sinful Impositions, but because he will not submit to her just Authority. Whereas by modestly submitting our Judgment to the Churches, in Cases where we cannot judg for our selves, we take an effectual Course to secure our Innocence. For though that which the Church injoins us should be materially sinful, yet to us who neither do nor can understand it to be so, it will be imputed only as an innocent Error; because by following the Churches Reason where own cannot guide us, we take the best Course we can not to be mistaken; and if we should be mistaken, we have this to excuse us, that 'twas by following an Authority which God himself hath set over us; whereas if we are mistaken on the other side, we are left altogether inexcusable.

BUT then there may be other Conditions of Church Communion, of whose unlawfulness p. 445a Communicant may be very doubtful, though he be not confidently persuaded of it; and what is to be done in this Case? To which I answer; First, that 'tis doubtless our Duty not Rashly to determin any thing to be false or unlawful which our spiritual Governors have determined to be true or lawful. For we are bound by the Law of Christian Modesty, to conclude that they having a larger Prospect of things than we, and greater Advantages of enquiring into them, are far more capable Judges of what is true and lawful; and consequently though we may possibly have some little Probability that their Opinion is false or their Command unlawful, yet we ought not to determin it so, unless it be in such plain and evident Cases as do not only outweigh the Probability of their Opinions, but the Authority of them to. Wherefore in Cases of a doubtful Nature, 'tis both modest and safe to subscribe to the Judgment of our Superiors; because in so doing we have not only our own Ignorance to excuse, but their Authority to warrant us; and if we should happen to be in the Wrong through our Modesty and Humility, 'twill be safer for us than to be in the Right through our Pride and Self-conceit. But perhaps the Probability of our side may be so great, or at least seem p. 446so to us, that notwithstanding we give all due Respect and Deference to her Authority, we cannot forbear doubting of the Lawfulness of her Conditions of Communion. If so, then, Secondly, 'tis to be considered that 'tis as much our Duty to Obey her Commands in things that are lawful, as not to Obey them in things that are unlawful; and therefore if we only doubt whether her Commands be lawful or no, our Doubt ought to make us as fearful of disobeying as it doth of obeying them, because the Danger of sinning is on both sides equal. And therefore in this Case, wherein I am necessitated to determin my self one way or t'other, it is doubtless my Duty to determin on that side which makes most for the Churches Security and Peace, which next to the Honour of God and the Salvation of Souls ought to be preferred above all things; and which consequently, if it be of any Weight with me, must necessarily turn the Scale of my Choice when it is before in Aequilibrio; and whither to obey or disobey be most for the Churches Peace, is very easie to be determin'd.

THE Sum of all therefore is this, that 'tis our Duty to continue in strict Obedience to, and Communion with that Particular Church whereof we are Members, so long p. 447as it injoyns us nothing that is plainly and apparently sinful; that if either we cannot judg of the Sinfulness or Lawfulness of her Conditions of Communion, or do only doubt of their Lawfulness, we are obliged to submit to her Judgment and Authority, and not to separate from her till upon an impartial Enquiry into the Reasons of both sides, we are fully convinced that they are sinful.

NOW that this is an indispensable Duty of our Religion, is evident not only from the above-named Scriptures by which the Bishops of particular Churches are constituted the Overseers and Governours of them, and the Subjects and Members of those Churches are required to yield them Obedience; but also from those Texts which forbid Divisions in the particular Churches, such as, 1 Cor. i.10, I beseech you by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that there be no divisions among you; and which bid us mark them that cause divisions among us and avoid them, Rom. xvi.17. and also which Schisms and Divisions to be Fruits of the flesh, as particularly, 1 Cor. iii.3. and St. Jude xix. and in a word, which require us to indeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, Eph. iv.3. to be of one mind, 2 Cor. xiii.11. and to stand fast in p. 448one Spirit, with one Mind, Phil. i.27. all which was spoke to Christians as they were Members of particular Churches, to oblige them by no means to dissent and separate from those Churches, unless they were forced to it by just and manifest Reasons; and methinks 'tis a most pathetical Conjuration of the Apostle, If there be any Consolution in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies; fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like minded, being of one accord, and of one mind, 2 Phil. 1, 2. which Exhortation he gives them as they were a particular Corporation of Christians under Epaphroditus their Head and Bishop by whom he sent this Epistle to them. The sense of all which is, to oblige us not to disunite our selves from the Church of which we are Members, so long as we are permitted to continue in her Communion without doing any thing that is apparently unlawful. Or if we suppose those Divisions which the Apostle speaks of and forbids, to be meant of Factions within the Church without actual Separation, then much more is Separation which is the highest Faction and Breach of Unity to be lookt upon as wicked and unlawful. So that for men to separate from the Churches Communion upon little Piques, uncertain Scruples, and p. 449blind Prejudices, is a very great and dangerous Sin against the Gospel; 'tis a manifest Violation of the Laws of Vnion, and an open Rebellion against Christs Authority in his Church. And being so, it is no Wonder that in the purest Ages of Christianity 'twas branded with such an infamous Character. For thus in the 31 Canon of the Apostles, 'tis called Ambition and Tyranny, and condemned by Ignatius, the Disciple of St. John, as the foreign, or Original of Evils, Ep. ad smyrn. as a Sin that shuts men out of the Kingdom of Heaven, Ep. ad Philad. and by the African Code 'tis stiled a destructive, sacrilegious Sin, Con. Carth, &c. Can. 100. and St. Cyprian makes it to be more Heinous than the Sin of the Lapsi that offered Sacrifice to Idols to avoid persecution, and to be such a Sin as martyrdom it self would not expiate, de Vnit. Eccles. and Dionysius Alexandrinus affirms that to suffer martyrdom rather than make a Schism in the Church, is as Glorious an Act as to die refusing to offer Sacrifice to Idols, Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. 6. And as they thus decry Schism so on the contrary they extol Union, as the Nurse of Piety, the Fence of Religion, the Quintessence and Extract of all Christian Vertue.

p. 450AND indeed 'tis to the Vnity of the members of the Church among themselves, that the Scripture attributes their Growth and Emprovement in Piety and Vertue. For thus the Apostle tells us not only that Charity (or a mutual Agreement among Church-Members) edifies, 1 Cor. viii.1. but also assures us that the whole Church or Collection of Members becomes an holy Temple and an Habitation of God, by being foreign compacted and closely united together in all its Parts, Eph. ii.21, 22. and Eph. iv.16. he tells us, that the Church increases or improves unto the edifying it self in love by being closely compacted and united in all its parts and members; and Col. ii.19. he tells us, that 'tis not only from its Vnion with Christ, and those nourishing Influences that are thereby conveyed from him, that the Church increases with the increase of God, but also from its being knit together or firmly united in all its Parts. And if Vnion be so necessary to the Growth and Perfection of the Church, it can be no less necessary to the Improvement of each particular Member of it. For,

1. Schisms and unnecessary Breaches of Church Communion do naturally sour the Tempers of men, and render them peevish and uncharitable towards one another. p. 451For the separating Party must in their own Vindication be forced to accuse those they separate from of something that may be foul enough to justifie their Separation; and what they want in Reality they must make up in Pretence; otherwise they will be lookt upon as peevish and obstinate Schismaticks; and then the Party they separate from, will be sure to deem itself injured, and in its own Defence be forced to recriminate, and this will alarm the Separatists into greater Heats and Animosities, and so like two Flints dash'd together, they will be continually sparkling and spitting fire at one another, till they have kindled the quarrel into an inquenchable Flame. Whereas had the Dividers but continued their Communion, all this might have been prevented, and they might have easily continued their Charity, though they had retain'd the Opinions upon which they separated. For had they but exercised that Modesty and Goodness as not to prefer their own private Sentiments before the Reason and Peace of the whole Church, they would either have kept their Opinions to themselves, or at least not have advanced them into Principles of Separation; and so by continuing in Communion with that Party of the Church from whom they dissented in Opinion, they would have p. 452declared that they judged their Errors to be tolerable. For by not separating from them, they would have plainly manifested that they saw Reason enough to unite upon the score of those Points in which they were agreed, but none to disunite upon the score of these in which they differed; and consequently that they had a great deal of Reason to love, but none to hate and persecute one another; and whilst they mutually retain'd this good Opinion of one another, 'tis very unlikely that their little Differences should cause any great Breaches in their Charity. Schism therefore being so destructive to our Charity, which is one of the leading Vertues of our Religion, must needs have a very malevolent Aspect upon our Perseverance. For he that from a charitable Temper, relapses into a spiteful and rancorous one, is apostatised from one half of the Religion of a Christian, and hath exchanged one of the fairest Graces of a Saint, for one of the blackest Characters of a Devil. But then

2. Schisms or unnecessary Breaches of Church Communion do naturally lead to the foulest Hypocrisies. For he that separates from a Church is a very bad man, if he hath not a great Opinion of, and Zeal for those things upon which he separates; which p. 453Zeal of his, when once he is actually separated, will be much more inflamed, and that both by the Opposition of the Church he is separated from, and the Instigation of the Sect he is separated to; and so by Degrees that holy Fervour which should animate him in the plain and unquestionable Duties of Religion, will blaze into a fierce Contention for those little Opinions that constitute the Sect he is ingaged in. For our Nature being finite and limited in all its Operations, it is impossible we should operate diverse ways at once with equal Force and Vigour; but whatsoever Time and Attention we bestow upon one thing, we must necessarily substract from another. Now whilst we continue in a peaceable Communion with the Church, we have no other use for our Zeal, but to inspire our Devotions, to quicken our Vertues, and to fight against our Sins with it, and this all men agree is the best Use it can be put to; but when once we are entred into a schismatical Separation, we shall find other Employment for it; namely, to quarrel at Ecclesiastical Constitutions, to wrangle about Modes and Circumstances of Worship, and contend for our trifling Speculations and Opinions. Which must necessarily weaken it in its nobler Operations, and render it more remiss p. 454and indifferent in the great and indispensible Duties of Religion; and whilst 'tis thus impertinently busied in picking Straws, and contending about Mint and Cummin, to be sure it must more or less neglect the great and weighty things of the Law; and so proportionably as it grows warmer and warmer about little Opinions and Circumstances of Religion, it will be continually waxing cooler and cooler in the necessary and essential Duties of it, till at last 'tis wholly degenerated into Peevishness and Faction, and dwindled away into a fierce Contention about Trifles. That this is the natural Effect of Schism appears by too many woful Experiments. For how many Instances of men are there among our selves, who had once an honest Zeal for the Life and Substance of Religion, and made great Conscience of living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, but afterwards becoming Bigots to such a Sect or Party, have diverted the Stream of their Zeal into another Channel, where its irregular Current hath only made a Noise, and fill'd the world with a loud and turbulent Clamour about little things, but as to those great and important Duties upon which their Happiness depends hath been profoundly mute and indifferent; and so their Religion like an p. 455Hectick Body, hath by degrees been consumed by its own Heats, whilst that Zeal and Fervour which should move and animate it hath been converted into its Disease, and wholly evaporated into Faction and Turbulency; and whilst their Zeal is thus misimployed about the little Trifles of their Sect, and they are ready to start at an innocent Ceremony, and to swoon at the sight of an indifferent Mode and Appendage of Religion, as if they were afraid lest it should infect them at a distance, they can swallow Camels though they strain at these Gnats, and glibly digest the grossest Immoralities.

3. And lastly, Schisms and unnecessary Breaches of Church Communion do naturally lead to downright Irreligion. For when once a man is departed from an established Church without a just Warrant, there is nothing can confine or set Shores to him, he hath no Principles that can stay him any where, or set any Measures of changing to him. For when upon a meer Humour or Fancy he hath run from the Church to such a Sect, what should hinder him from running from that Sect to another, and so on from Sect to Sect, till he hath run himself out of all Religion? He is rolling down a steep Hill, and hath no Principles to stay him, so p. 456that 'tis impossible to determine whither he will go, or where he will stop; he may perhaps stay at such an Opinion, but if he doth, it is by chance, and if he doth not, he will be endlesly rolling from one Opinion to another, and shifting his Church as oft as his Almanack. For Schism is a large Labyrinth, that naturally divides and subdivides into infinite Paths and Allies, wherein a man may wander to Eternity, and the farther he goes the more he may lose himself; and then when he hath wandred a while out of one wild Opinion into another, and still perceives that the farther he goes, the more he is dissatisfied, 'tis a thousand to one if he doth not at last suspect and question all Religion, as if the whole were an intricate maze of absurd or doubtful Opinions, contriv'd on purpose to amuse mens Minds, and intangle them in endless Perplexities. For the Schismatick, as I shewed before, doth commonly place a great Part of his Religion in that Opinion upon which he divides and separates; so that if once he be dissatisfied with this, as in all probability he will quickly be, having begun already to ring Changes, he will be under a great Temptation to mistrust the whole Religion to be as great an Imposture as he finds this darling Opinion is; especially after he hath run through p. 457several Sets of Opinions, and finds them at last to be all Delusions. For as weak Heads, when they perceive the Battlements shake, are apt to suspect that the Foundations are infirm; so weak Understandings will be ready to suspect even the fundamental Principles of Religion, when once they perceive those darling Notions totter which they have confidently presum'd to superstruct upon it. Upon this Account therefore I make no doubt, but that the Atheism of this present Age, is very much owing to its Sects and Divisions. For how many woful Examples have we of persons who had once a great deal of Zeal for and Satisfaction in Religion, that upon their causless Defection from the Churches Communion have run from Sect to Sect, and from one extravagant Opinion to another, till being at last convinced of the Cheats and Impostures of them all, they have discarded Religion it self, and made their last Resort into Atheism and Infidelity? Since therefore Schism hath so many Mischiefs attending it, and such as do manifestly endanger our Perseverance in Religion, it highly concerns us, as we would hold out to the End in the Course of our Christian Warfare, to keep close to the Communion of the Church.

p. 458VI. TO our final Perseverance in the Christian Warfare, it is also necessary that we should not stint our Progress in Religion (out of a fond Opinion that we are good enough already) to any determinate Degrees or Measures of Goodness. For thus we are injoyned not only to have Grace, but still to be growing in it, 2 Pet. iii.18. and not only to do the work of the Lord, but to abound in the doing it, 1 Cor. xv.58. and not only to walk in all wel-pleasing to God, but to abound in so doing more and more, 1 Thes. iv.1. to forget what is behind, i. e. the Degrees of Vertue and Goodness we have already attained, and to be still pressing forward to the mark of our high calling, Phil. iii.13, 14. The sense of all which is, that we should not limit our selves to any present Attainments, out of a slothful Opinion that we are good enough already, but that we should still be proceeding on to farther and farther Degrees of Perfection. For Holiness is every where injoyned in the Gospel in unlimited and indefinite Measures, and our Progress in it hath no other Boundary than the farthermost Degree of possible Perfection. An Injunction which will keep us for ever sufficiently imployed, and oblige us to Eternity to be still aspiring beyond our present Attainments; and the Neglect of this is p. 459doubtless the Occasion of many a Mans final Miscarriage. They aim at no more than what is absolutely necessary to remove them from the Brink of eternal Perdition, and if they can but so far prevail against their Sin, as to arrive at the lowermost Degree of Sincere Obedience, and but just pass the Line which separates between a bad and good State, that so if they die as they are, they may hope to escape Hell and arrive at some Degree of Happiness, they think they have very fairly acquitted themselves. But now besides that that Line which parts those two States of Sin and Grace is not so easily discernable, but that you may very probably be deceived, and imagine that you are got over it into the State of Grace, whilst you are yet upon the Frontiers of the Dominion of Sin, and so may perish at last at the very Mouth of your Harbour; besides that 'tis a fearful Sign that you are yet in your Sins, that you design no farther but just to escape that everlasting Ruine that attends them, which plainly shews that the Fear of Hell is the Soul of your Religion, and that there is not the least Degree of true Love to God intermingled with it, without which your Religion will be altogether insignificant; besides all this I say, while you rest in such an imperfect State of Goodness, p. 460you dwell in the next Neighbourhood to a sinful State, and so are in continual danger of returning thither again. For how is it possible you should be safe, while you stay upon the Brink of that miserable State out of which you are but just emerg'd and recover'd, and have so many strong Inclinations within you, concurring with the numberless Temptations without you, to thrust you head-long back again into it? So that if you would be secure, it is not sufficient for you just to get out of your sinful State, and stay there, but you must still be removing farther and farther from it, by proceeding on still to farther Degrees of Perfection. For you must consider that there is vast Distance between a State of sincere, and of confirmed Goodness, and that all the while you are passing on from the one to the other, you are more or less in Danger of relapsing. For you have been sincerely good, ever since your first Entrance into a firm and hearty Resolution of Amendment; but alas since that, how many times have you been in Danger of relapsing into your old sinful Courses again? What strong Contentions have there been between your Flesh and your Spirit, your bad Inclinations, and your pious Resolutions? and though the later hath been most commonly victorious, yet p. 461how often hath it been yielding, yea, how often hath it been vanquisht? Insomuch that if you had not by a quick Repentance revived it immediately, it had been dead long since, and you had been as much enslaved to your Lusts as ever. And from these dangers you will never be wholly free, till you have utterly extinguisht your vicious Inclinations, and inwrought all the Vertues of Religion into your Natures; and then you will be arrived to that confirmed State of Goodness, from which it will be morally impossible for you to revolt. If therefore you would secure your Perseverance to the End, beware you do not limit your selves in the Way; for though if you die but just sincerely good, you shall certainly escape Hell; yet in all probability you will not be long sincerely good, unless you be something more, that is, unless you proceed in the Degrees of Vertue, and do more and more suppress your evil, and improve your good Dispositions and Inclinations. For so long as there remains in you any Lust to evil, you will be in Danger of being betray'd by it; and the stronger that Lust is, the more it threatens your destruction. So that you can never be safe, so long as you have an Enemy alive in your Breast, and whilst you rest in any Attainment on this side the confirmed p. 462State of Vertue, in which there is an utter Extinction of all evil Inclinations, you are more or less in Danger, proportionably as you are more or less distant from that happy Period.

VII. TO our final Perseverance, it is also necessary that we should frequently entertain our selves with the prospect of our Mortality, and indeavour to compose our selves before-hand into a good Posture of dying. For thus we are call'd upon in this our militant State to consider our later end, Deut. xxxii.29. & by the Examples of the best Men are invited to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom, Psalm xc.12. and to wait till our change comes, Job xiv.14. to which End we are put in mind that here we have no abiding City, Heb. xiii.14. and that 'tis appointed for all men once to die, Heb. ix.27. and that our life is even as a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away, James iv.14. and to this purpose the Apostle applies this Consideration, 1 Cor. vii.29, 30, 31. Now this I say, brethren, that is, of our Abode and Continuance here, upon which he exhorts us to compose our selves to a great Indifferency as to the things of this World, it remains that both they that have wives be as though they had none, and they that weep as though they p. 463wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not, and they that buy as though they possessed not, and they that use this world as not abusing it, for the fashion of this world passes away, i. e. since your Time here is very short, indeavour before-hand to loosen your selves from this World, and to put your selves into a fit Posture of leaving it; for 'tis but a short Scene that will quickly be shifted, and then there will an eternal State of things succeed.

AND indeed since to die well, is the last Act and final Consummation of our Christian Warfare, it must needs highly concern us to arm and prepare our selves for it before-hand, lest we lose the blessed Prize by stumbling just at the Goal, and after a long Voyage miscarry for ever within Sight of Harbour. For in the hour of Death we throw our last Cast for an Eternity of Happiness or Misery, and how much are we concerned to throw that well, upon which so vast a Stake depends? O! 'tis a serious thing to die, to pass this dark Entry of Eternity, through which as we go right or wrong we are made or undone for ever. For to carry us right through, 'tis not a few death-bed Sorrows, or good Wishes, a few extorted Promises, or forc'd Resolutions, or frightful Prayers, or Lord have Mercies upon p. 464us, will serve the turn; O! no, it is an expensive Passage, which we shall never be able to defray, unless we carry along with us a large Stock of spiritual Preparations. We shall have need of a strong and active Faith, of a Mind well furnished with wise Considerations, of a deep, a large and a tried Repentance, an unrestrained Charity, a confirmed Patience, a profound Submission to the Will of God, and a well-grounded Hope of a blessed Eternity. For without all these together, we shall be very ill-accoutred to die, and run a dreadful Hazard of miscarrying for ever. And these are such things as do not usually spring up like Mushromes in a Night, or in the few disturbed Moments of a dying Time, but do ask a much larger and serener Season to grow and ripen in. So that if we mean to die well, and so come off victoriously in this last Act of our spiritual Warfare, we must now while we are well be frequently entertaining our Meditations in the Charnel-house, and read Lectures to our selves upon the Skeletons and Deaths-heads there, those Emblems and Representations of our approaching Mortality, and from them take such lively Pictures of the King of Terrors, as may render his grim Visage and fearful Addresses so familiar to us, as that our Thoughts may be before-hand p. 465accustomed to the manner of his Approaches; with what an Army of Diseases he is wont to lay Siege to the Fort of our Life, how in Despight of all the Resistances of Nature he plants and quarters them in our Veins or our Arteries, our Stomachs or our Bowels, and from thence infests us all over with continual Anguish and Pain; how when he hath tired and exhausted us with his continued Batteries, and worn out our Strength with a succession of wearisom Nights to sorrowful Days, he at last storms the Soul out of all the Out-works of Nature, and forces it to retire into the Heart; and how when he hath marked us for dead with a Baptism of clammy and fatal Sweats, he summons our weeping Friends to assist him to grieve and vex us with their parting Kisses and sorrowful Adieus; and how at length when he is weary of Tormenting us any more, he rushes into our Hearts and with a few Mortal Pangs and Convulsions, tears the Soul from thence, and turns it out to seek its Fortune in the wide World of Spirits, where 'tis either seized on by Devils, and carried away to their dark Prisons of Sorrow and Despair, there to languish out its life in a dismal Expectation of that dreadful Day wherein it must change its bad Condition for a worse; or p. 466be conducted by Angels to some blessed Abode, there to remain in unspeakable Pleasure and Tranquillity, till 'tis Crown'd with a glorious Resurrection. Now since 'tis most certain that we must all one time or other experience these things, but most uncertain how soon; how much doth it concern us to think of them before-hand, and to forecast such Provisions and Preparations for them, as that whensoever they happen we may not be surprized. For besides that the frequent Meditation of death will familiarize its Terrors to us, so that whensoever it comes, our Minds which have been so long accustomed to converse with it, will be much less startled and amazed at it; besides that it will wean us from the inordinate Desire and over-eager Prosecution of the things of this World, which, as I told you before, are the Snares with which our Vices do too often intangle us; besides all this, I say, it will put us upon laying in a Store of spiritual Provisions against that great day of Expence. For he that often considers the dreadful Approaches, the concomitant Terrors, and the momentous Issues and Consequents of Death, must be strangely stupified if he be not thereby vigorously excited to fore-arm and fortifie himself with all those Graces and Defences that are necessary to render it easie, safe and prosperous.

p. 467VIII. To our final perseverance in the Christian Warfare, it is also necessary that in order to the putting our selves into a good Posture to die, we should discharge our Consciences of all the Reliques and Remains of our past guilt. For so we are commanded to take care that our hearts be sprinkled from an evil conscience, Heb. x.22. and to hold faith and a good conscience, 1 Tim. i.19. and to make this our rejoycing, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world, 2 Cor. i.12. in a word, to live in all good conscience, Acts xxiii.1. and to have a conscience void of offence, towards God and towards men, Acts xxiv.16. Which though they are General Duties, do necessarily imply this Particular, that we should very nicely and curiously examin our Consciences, those faithful Records and Registers of our Actions, and where-ever we find the least Item of an uncancel'd Guilt, immediately cross it out by a hearty Sorrow for and moral Revocation of it. For notwithstanding we may have in the general repented of all our past Sins, yet there are some Siins, which, notwithstanding we react no more, do leave a lasting Guilt upon the Mind, which nothing can cancel but our actual revoking and unsinning them. As supposing that I have heretofore either by p. 468my bad Counsels or Example seduced other men into wicked Courses; it is not sufficient for the Expiation of my Fault, that I my self abstain from those wicked Courses for the future, but I must indeavour to undo the Mischief which I have done to others by them, and by a solemn Recantation of my past Follies, by Persuasion and good Counsel, and the Application of all other pious and prudent Means, indeavour to reduce those whom I have formerly perverted. For till I have done this, I wilfully permit the mischievous Effect of my Sin to remain; and if when I have wounded another, I suffer him to perish without taking any care of his Cure, I am guilty of his Murder though I never wound him more. Suppose again, that I have injured another by any malicious Slander or Calumny; it is not enough to acquit me of the Guilt of it, that I cease to scandalize him for the future, but I must also indeavour by a free Retractation to vindicate his injur'd Name from the ill Surmises of those to whom I have asperst him; for so long as his Reputation suffers through my not Retracting the Calumnies I have cast upon it, I wilfully persist to defame and calumniate him, and so long the Guilt of it must stick and abide upon my Conscience. Once more, suppose I have injur'd another in his p. 469Estate, either by Theft, or Fraud, or Oppression, it will not be sufficient to acquit me, that for the future I forbear defrauding, forcing, or stealing from him any more, but, if it be in my Power, I must make Restitution of all that I have wrongfully deprived him of; and that to himself, if he be living, or if not, to those that succeed him in his Rights, and for want of such, to the Poor, who by Gods Donation have the Propriety of all such Wefts and Strays as have no other Owner surviving. For it's certain that my wrongful Seizure of what is another Mans, doth not alienate his Right to it, so that he hath the same Right to it while I keep it from him, as he had at first when I took it from him; and consequently till I restore it back to him, I continue to wrong him of it, and my detaining it is a continued Repetition of that Fraud, or Theft, or Oppression by which I wrongfully seized it; and whilst I thus continue the Sin, 'tis impossible but the Guilt of it must still abide upon me. In these Cases therefore it concerns us to be very nice and curious in examining our Accounts, to see if there be any of these Scores yet uncancel'd, any of these bad Effects of our Sin yet remaining. For if any such matter appear in our Accounts, it concerns us as much as our everlasting Interest amounts p. 470to, to use all present Care and Diligence to discharge it, that so before Death summons us to give up our Accounts to the great Auditor of the World, all Scores between him and us may be even'd and adjusted. And indeed if we would be safe, it vastly imports us to leave as little as may be to do upon a Death-bed; for that is most commonly a very improper State for religious Action; since, for all we know, we may be distracted in it by a Feaver, or stupified by an Apoplexy, or deprived of the Use of Reason by the insufferable Torments of a Stone; either of which will render us incapable of every thing, but dying. Or if neither of these should happen, yet to be sure a dying State will bring Work enough with it; Sorrows and Care enough, Fears and Impatiencies enough, to exercise all our Vertue, and imploy all our Reason. So that if we carry with us to our Death-bed any Item or Relique of uncancel'd Guilt, 'tis a thousand to one but in the Hurry of dying we shall leave it uncancel'd, and be arrested for it by the Divine Justice when we come into Eternity. Wherefore, as we would prevent this fatal Issue of our Christian Warfare, it concerns us now we are well, to make a diligent Inspection into our Consciences, to see if there yet remains any old Reckonings of p. 471Guilt undischarged by us; and if there be, not to give rest to our Eyes nor slumber to our Eye-lids, till by an actual unsinning and Revocation of the Facts, we have totally cross'd and discharged them. But then because many of these may slip out of our Mind, and so be past Recovery,

IX. TO the happy Conclusion of this our Christian Warfare, it is also necessary that to Compensate, so far as we are able, for these Reliques of Guilt in us, we should take care to redeem the time we have formerly mispent in sinful Courses, by being doubly diligent in the Exercise of all the contrary Vertues, and the doing all the contrary Good we are able. For of all the outward Blessings that God affords us, our Time is incomparably the most precious and inestimable; and therefore though he gives us his other Blessings in great Variety, and provides for us a plentiful Choice of Meats, Drinks and Raiment, yet in the Distribution of our Time he seems to be more sparing and streight-handed; for he gives it not to us in Rivers, but Drop by Drop and Minute after Minute, so that we can never injoy two Moments together, but when-ever he gives us one, he always takes away another. And yet, good God! what Wast do we make of these precious Drops of which thou art so p. 472nice and sparing? How great a Part of it do we consume in our Childhood upon the indifferent Vanities of Nuts and Rattles, and afterwards upon the much more ridiculous and unreasonable ones of ous vicious, profuse, and extravagant appetites? So that by that time we come to a serious Prosecution of the great End of our Beings, the main Part of our time is usually elapsed beyond revocation. How much therefore doth it concern us, after we have so prodigally squandered away the greatest Part of the Treasure of our Time, to make the best Improvement of the small Remainder? that so we may at least Morally recover, that which is Physically irrecoverable. For though we cannot cause the past Minutes we have ill spent to be present again, yet we can redouble our Diligence for the future, and thereby render every one Minute to come equivalent to every two that are past. For by a double diligence we may live as much in one Day, as we can in two by a single, and consequently by doubly improving that Part of our time which is yet good and to come, we may morally retrieve that Part which is lost and gone.

THIS therefore the Gospel requires at our hands, that after we have lived out a great Part of our Time to no Purpose, we p. 473should from thenceforth live much in a little while, and retrieve our past Negligence by our future Diligence, and redeem the Time we have spent upon our Lusts, by exerting the contrary Vertues more vigorously for the future; that the more prophane we have been for the time past, the more devout we should be for the time to come; that the more we have abounded heretofore in Frauds and Oppressions, the more we should abound hereafter in Charity and Alms; that the more industrious we have been to seduce and debauch men, the more zealous we should be to reduce and reclaim them; and by our future Candor and Charitable Construction of men, indeavour to compensate for the Malice of our past Slanders and Defamations. Thus Eph. iv.28. Let him that stole, steal no more; ay but that is not enough, but he must also indeavour to redeem his past Thefts by a more vigorous Exercise of the contrary Vertue for the future; but rather let him labour, working with his own hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs. So also, Dan. iv.27. break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor, i. e. whereas for the Time past the Course of thy Life hath very much abounded with Cruelty and Injustice, do p. 474thou now indeavour to redeem the Guilt of it, for so the Hebrew Verb signifies, by exerting more vigorously the contrary Vertues, viz. of Justice to all, and of Mercy to the poor and afflicted. And to this Purpose St. Paul's Example is proposed to our Imitation, who, because for the Time past he had been a great Persecutor of Christianity, did for the future labour more abundantly than any other Apostle to advance and propagate it, 1 Cor. xv.9, 10. The Observance of which Rule is highly necessary to the reducing this our Warfare to a prosperous Issue. For, as I told you before, there are many Sins which after we have forsaken the Practice of them, do stick such a guilt upon the Conscience, as without our undoing them so far as we are able, is not to be wiped off; such as wicked Counsel, malicious Detraction, and unjust Gain, all which we are bound, so far as 'tis in our Power, not only to avoid, but actually to revoke. But alas! there are many of these which in a long Course of Sin are utterly forgotten by us, and consequently are past Revocation, and in this Case all we can do to take off the Guilt of them, is in the general Course of our Lives to abound in the Practice of the contrary Vertues, and to do the utmost Service we are able to the Souls and good Names and Bodies of men. p. 475For Charity, saith the Apostle, shall cover a multitude of sins, 1 Pet. iv.8. that is, when it appears by the Abundance of our Charity, that we would abolish and repair all the Injuries we have done, if it were in our Power, God in this Case will accept the Will for the Deed, and deal as mercifully by us as if we had actually done it. For if it appear in his Sight that we would do it if we could, we are in his Account as truly obedient to him as if we had actually performed it, and consequently shall be dealt with by the same Proportions of Mercy. But 'tis only an extraordinary Charity that can evidence this; since what is ordinary we are obliged to though we had no past Injuries to abolish; but to ensure our Reconciliation with God, it is requisite that we should evidence to him our sincere willingness, to do not only what we should have been obliged to if we had not been injurious, but also what we are obliged to since we have been injurious. Now as actual Reparation, so far as we are able, is necessary to evidence this, when we remember the Injuries we have done, so an extraordinary Charity is no less necessary to evidence this, when we have forgotten them. And this I suppose is the meaning of that Parallel Passage of St. James, c. v. v. 20. he that converteth a sinner p. 476from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins, i. e. by such an illustrious Act of Charity to the Soul of his Brother, he shall obtain Pardon of God for many of those forgotten Injuries which he hath formerly done, and is now no otherwise able to repair. So that if we would make sure Work of our Christian Warfare, and ascertain its being finally Crowned with Success, as in general we must indeavour to redeem the past Time we have spent in vicious Courses by abounding in the Practice of the contrary Vertues; so in particular, if for the time past we have lived in any of those injurious Courses which do naturally fix a more lasting Guilt upon the Mind, we must take care not only to repair, so far as we are able, those Injuries we remember, but also to wipe off the Guilt of those we have forgotten by an extraordinary Charity and Beneficence, by laying hold of all Opportunities to do Good, and indeavouring in our several Stations, according as God hath inabled us, to reduce the Souls, relieve the Bodies, and vindicate the Reputation of our Brethren.

X. AND lastly, To our final Perseverance in wel-doing, it is also necessary that we should labour after a Rational and wel-grounded Assurance of Heaven. I put this p. 477in the last Place, because 'tis usually the last attain'd, and is not to be presently expected and catch'd at as soon as we are entered into a religious State. For there are a great many Stages of Religion to be past, before we can modestly expect to arrive at Assurance. In the Beginning of our Religion, when we are just recovered out of a vicious State, we cannot but be sensible, if we do at all understand our selves, that we are as yet in a great deal of Danger, and do border so very near upon that bad State we are escap'd from, that 'tis almost impossible to distinguish whether we are in or out of it. For though we are fully purposed and resolved against it, yet we cannot well divine what will be the Issue of it. Our Resolution is yet so young, so raw and unexperienced, and besieg'd with so many powerful counter-striving Inclinations, that we cannot confide in it without great Folly and Presumption. For till sufficient Trial hath been made of it, for all that we know, it may prove to be only a Godly Mood, or a short Lucid Interval between the raving Fits of our Lust and extravagant Affections, which in a few days perhaps may return again, and utterly alienate and distract us from all our sober Counsels, and Purposes. And if it should so happen, that which we now look upon p. 478as our Cure and Recovery, will prove but an Intermission of our Disease. And when for sometime we have tryed our Resolution, and found that hath bravely resisted those Temptations that have hitherto assaulted it, yet we cannot presently be reasonably assured of it, considering the fickleness and Inconstancy of our Nature. For it may be it hath not been yet assaulted on the weak Side, or it hath not been nick'd with a seasonable Temptation, or it may be we may be more remiss and careless another time, or more vehemently inclined to a vicious Complyance; and then those Temptations which we have hitherto conquered, may captivate and subdue us. And if it thus happen, that which we now look upon as an everlasting Breach between us and our Lusts, may prove only a Pet or short Distast, and like the Fallings out of Lovers end in the renewing of Love. And till we have made some considerable Progress in the mortification of our sinful Inclinations, and the Acquisition of their contrary Habits, our Religion will have so many Flaws, Defects and Imperfections in it, as will give us great Reason, if we have any modesty in us, to be very fearful and jealous of it. But since without Sincerity in Religion we can have no Title to Heaven, it hence follows p. 479that without a clear Sense of our Sincerity, we can have no Assurance of our Title to it; and such a clear Sense as is necessary to found such an Assurance on, is not to be acquired, you see, without a thorough Tryal of our Resolution in a long and vigorous Course of Religion. So that for men to be immediatly snatching at Assurance, as soon as ever they are entred into a good Life, argues them not to be so sensible, as they should be, of their own Imperfection and Frailty; they ought in Modesty to expect a while, and not conclude too soon for themselves, till they have made a through Tryal of their Resolution; and in the mean time to strive on, in Hope that by the Blessing of God concurring with their Endeavours, they shall at last attain such a certain Sense and Feeling of their own Sincerity, as will be sufficient to infer a firm and rational Assurance. For Assurance being the Top of Christian Attainment, we must ascend to it gradually, by the intermediate Staves and Rounds of a tryed and lasting Obedience, and not leap up in an Instant before we have taken all the Steps and Degrees that lead thither.

BUT though we ought not to be too forward in our Assurance, yet we are bound to labour after it in a due and regular Way; p. 480that is, to persist in our Obedience till we have reduced our inward and outward Motions to such a Degree of Conformity to the Standard of the Gospel, as that upon comparing our selves with it, we may be able without Flattery or Presumption to conclude our own Sincerity and Vprightness. I know there is a much shorter Passage to Assurance, which some of late have pretended to; and that is, by certain unaccountable Incomes and Manifestations of Gods Spirit, who, as they pretend, doth immediatly whisper and reveal to them their Title and Interest in Heaven. But this alas! is too much like the North-east Passage to the Indies, which is shorter indeed, if it could be found, but so very dangerous, that I doubt there are but few that attempt it but miscarry, and 'tis well if they do not finally perish in the Discovery. Not that I do in the least doubt but God doth many times suggest and whisper unspeakable Comforts and Assurances to the Minds of good men; but then it is to be considered that this is an arbitrarious Gift, which he seldom if ever bestows but in extraordinary Cases, when 'tis necessary to encourage us to some great Work, or to support us under some extraordinary Suffering. For he is a wise and careful Father of his Children, and p. 481knows 'tis much more necessary for us to be good, than to be ravished and transported; and that such high Cordials are neither proper nor safe for us but in great Extremities; and therefore for us to expect that he should make them our ordinary Food and Entertainment is an Argument of our Childish Ignorance and Presumption. But though such immediate Whispers and Revelations may serve to good Purposes in a Pinch of Extremity, yet are they by no means to be built upon as the Foundations of our ordinary, standing Assurance. For so long as there is an evil Spirit without, and a disordered Fancy within us, that can imitate these Whispers, we shall be continually liable, so long as we put Confidence in them, to all the Cheats and Impostures of natural and Diabolical Enthusiasm, and unavoidably mistake many an Injection of the Devil, and many a warm Flush of Fancy, or brisk Fermentation of melancholy Humour, for a Whisper and Testimony of the spirit of God, and by this means be often lull'd into false Confidences and Assurances, which like Golden Dreams will vanish when we awake, and leave us miserably disappointed. That Assurance therefore which we are to aim at, must be founded in the Testimony of a good Conscience, and infer'd from the p. 482Sense of our own Integrity and Uprightness.

AND this we are commanded to indeavour after; so Heb. x.22. we are bid to draw near unto God, foreign, in Confidence, or full assurance of faith, that is, in a firm Persuasion of Gods Love to us and our Interest in his Promises; which Persuasion is to be founded upon an inward Sense of our having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies wash'd with pure water; and accordingly Heb. vi.11. to be diligent in good works, to the full assurance of hope unto the end, i. e. to be so diligent in our Duty as that we may thereby acquire such a full Assurance of our Reward as may inable us to continue and hold out to the End. For so St. John tells us, that 'tis by the Integrity of our Vertue, and particularly of our love to one another, that we are to assure our hearts before God, 1 Joh. iii.14, 19. for, saith he v.21. if our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God; and for this purpose, among others, the same Apostle tells us he wrote this Catholick Epistle, that true Christians might know and be assured that they had eternal life, 1 Joh. v.13.

FROM all which 'tis evident, that 'tis our Duty to labour after such an Assurance of Heaven, as naturally ariseth from the p. 483clear and certain Sense of our Sincerity towards God, and the firm Belief of the Promise of eternal Life, to which our Sincerity intitles us. For when we are so far improved in Religion, as that upon an impartial Surveigh of our selves we can feel our own Integrity, and sensibly perceive that our Intention is pure, our Resolution fixt, and our Heart intirely devoted to God, we may from thence most certainly infer our Title and Interest to the Promise of Heaven. So that to the obtaining this Assurance, all that we have to do is, so far to purifie our Intentions from sinister Aims, and subdue our bad Inclination to our Resolution of Obedience, as that when ever we reflect upon and compare our selves with the Rule, our Conscience may be able without any Diffidence to pronounce us sincere; and then we may as certainly conclude our Interest in Heaven, as we can that Gods Promises are true; and if after we are thus far improved in Religion, we still remain unassured, it proceeds not from the Want of sufficient Evidence, but either from a melancholy Temper, or a weak Faith, or a misinformed Conscience; and whichsoever of these is the Cause of it, when that is once removed, we shall as plainly feel our own Sincerity, and therein our Interest in p. 484Heaven, as we do now our bodily Passions. And having once attained this Assurance, 'twill animate our Hearts with an Heroick Courage against all Temptations, and carry us on with unspeakable Alacrity through all the remaining Stages of our Duty; it will invigorate our Endeavours, and wing our Activity, and make us all Life and Spirit in the Exercises of our holy Religion. And as when the Christian Army, after a tedious march towards the Land of Canaan, came within view of the holy City, and beheld afar off the Towers and Turrets of Hierusalem, they were so Ecstacied with Joy that they made the Heavens ring with triumphant Shouts and Acclamations, and as if that Sight had given new Souls to them, ran on upon their Enemies with a Courage that forced Victory whereever they came; so when a good Man after a long Progress from one Degree of Vertue to another, is got so far as that from a certain Sense and Feeling of his own Sincerity he can discern the new Hierusalem above, and his own Interest in it, that blessed Sight will fill him with so much Joy, Courage and Alacrity, that no Temptation for the future will be able to withstand or interrupt him. So that his Conscience will be always ringing with Acclamations of p. 485Victory, and the remainder of his March will be all a Triumphal Progress to him; and when he comes to the Conclusion of it, to die, and pass the Gate of this blessed City, the firm Assurance which he hath of Admittance, will dispel the Fears, sweeten the Troubles, and asswage the Pangs and Agonies of the dolorous Passage. So that he will die not only with Peace, but with Joy, and go away into Eternity with Hallelujahs in his Mouth. If therefore we mean to bring this our spiritual Warfare to a happy Conclusion, it concerns us now while we have Opportunity, to labour after a wise and well-grounded Assurance of Heaven.