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certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adverfaries. He that defpifed Mofes's law, died without mercy, under two or three witnefes: of how much forer punishment, fuppofe ye, fhall he be thought worthy, who hath troden under foot the Son of God? &c. For we know him that bath faid, Vengeance is mine, I will recompenfe, faith the Lord. And again, The Lord fball judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. What can be more fevere and terrible than thefe expreffions?

I will mention but one text more, and that is, Rev. xxi. 7. 8. where, in the catalogue of great finners, thofe who apoftatize from religion out of fear, do lead the van: He that overcometh, shall inherit all things; (which is elsewhere in this book expreffed by continuing faithful unto the death); He that overcometh, fhall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he fhall be my fon. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and whoremongers, and forcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, fhall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimftone: which is the fecond death. The fearful, and unbelievers, and liars, that is, they who out of fear relapfe into infidelity, and abide not in the truth, shall be reckoned in the first rank of offenders, and be punished accordingly.

And thus I have done with the four things I propounded to fpeak to, from these words; the nature of apoftafy; the feveral fteps and degrees of it; the heinous nature of this fin; the danger of it, and the terrible punishment it expofeth men to.

And is there any need now to exhort men to hold fast the profeffion of faith, when the danger of drawing back is fo evident, and so terrible? or is there any reafon and occafion for it? Certainly there is no great danger amongst us, of mens apoftatizing from Chriftianity, and turning Jews, or Turks, or Heathens? I do not think there is; but yet for all that, we are not free from the danger of apoftafy. There is great danger, not of mens apoftatizing from one religion to another, but from religion to infidelity and atheifin; and of this wort kind of apoftafy of all other, I wish the age we live in had not afforded us too many inftances. It is greatly to be lamented

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lamented, that among those who have profeffed Christianity, any should be found, that should make it their endeavour to undermine the great principles of all religion; the belief of a God, and his providence; and of the immortality of the fouls of men; and a state of rewards and punishments after this life; and to bring the most serious matters in the world into contempt, and to turn them into jeft and raillery. This is not only a renouncing of Chriftianity, the religion which God hath revealed; but even of the religion which is born with us, and the principles and notions which God hath planted in every man's mind: this is an impiety of the first magnitude, and not to be mentioned without grief and horror; and this, it is to be feared, hath had a great hand in thofe great calamities which our eyes have feen; and I pray God it do not draw down fill more and greater judgments upon this nation. But I hope there are none here that need to be cautioned against this horrible impiety, and highest degree of apoftafy from the living God. That which people are much more in danger of, is apoftafy from the purity of the Chriftian doctrine and worship, fo happily recovered by a regular reformation, and established amongst us by all the authority that laws, both ecclefiaftical and civil, can give it; and which, in truth, is no other than the ancient and primitive Christianity; I fay, a defection from this, to thofe grofs errors and fuperftitions which the reformation had pared off, and freed us from. I do not fay, that this is a total apoftafy from Christianity; hut it is a partial apoftafy and defection, and a very dangerous one; and that thofe who after that they bave received the knowledge of the truth, fall off from it into thofe errors and corruptions, are highly guilty before God, and their condition certainly worfe, and more dangerous, than of thofe who are brought up in thofe errors and fuperftitions, and never knew better: for there are terrible threatenings in fcripture against those who fall away from the truth, which they once embraced, and were convinced of; If we fin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, &c. and, If any man draw back, my foul shall have no pleafure in bim.

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God confiders every man's advantages and opportunities of knowledge, and their disadvantages likewife; and makes all reasonable allowances for them: and for men to continue in the errors they have been always brought up in, or, which comes much to one, in errors which they were led into by principles early infufed into them, before they were in any measure competent judges of thofe matters; I fay, for fuch perfons to continue in thofe errors, and to oppofe and reject the contrary truths, againft which, by their education, they have received so strong and violent a prejudice, this may be in a great degree excufable, and find pardon with God, upon a general repentance for all fins, both known and unknown, and cannot be reasonably charged with the guilt of this great fin of apostasy: but not to abide in the truth, after we have entertained and profeffed it, having fufficient means and advantages of knowing it, hath no excufe.

I would not be rash in condemning particular perfons of any fociety or communion of Chriftians, provided they be fincerely devout, and just, and sober, to the best of their knowledge; I had much rather leave them to God, whose mercies are great, than to pafs an uncharitable cenfure upon them, as to their eternal state and condition: but the cafe is far otherwife, where the opportunities of knowledge are afforded to men, and men love darkness rather than light; for they who have the means and advantages of knowing their master's will, are anfwerable to God as if they had known it; because, if they had not been grofsly negligent, and wanting to themselves, they might have known it.

And this, I fear, is the cafe of the generality of those who have been bred up to years of confideration and choice in the reformed religion, and forfake it; because they do it without fufficient reason, and there are invincible objections against it. They do it without fufficient reafon; because every one amongst us knows, or may know upon very little inquiry, that we hold all the articles of the faith, which are contained in the ancient creeds of the Chriftian church, and into which all Chriftians are baptized; that we inculcate upon men the neceffity of a good life, and of fincere repentance and

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perfect contrition for our fins, fuch as is followed with real reformation and amendment of our lives; and that, without this, no man can be saved by any device whatfover.

Now, what reafon can any man have to question whether he may be faved in that faith which faved the first Chriftians, and by believing the twelve articles of the Apostles creed, though he cannot fwallow the twelve articles which are added to it in the creed of Pope Pius IV. every one of which, befides many and great corruptions and fuperftitions in worship, are fo many and invincible objections against the communion of the Roman church; as I could particularly fhew, if it had not been already done in fo many learned treatifes upon this argument. What is there then that should move any reasonable man to forfake the communion of our church, and to quit the reformed religion?

There are three things chiefly with which they endeavour to amuse and affright weaker minds.

1. A great noise of infallibility, which, they tell us, is fo excellent a means to determine and put an end to all differences. To which I fhall at present only object this prejudice, That there are not wider and hotter differences among us about any thing whatsoever, than are amongst them about this admirable means of ending all differences; as, where this infallibility is feated, that men may know how to have recourse to it, for the ending of differences.

2. They endeavour to fright men with the danger of fchifm. But every man knows, that the guilt of fchifm lies at their door, who impofe finful articles of communion; and not upon them, who, for fear of finning againft God, cannot fubmit to thofe articles; which we have done, and ftill are ready to make good, to be the cafe betwixt us and the church of Rome. But,

3. The terrible engine of all is, their pofitive and confident damning of all that live and die out of the communion of their church. This I have fully spoken to upon another occafion; and therefore fhall only fay at prefent, that every man ought to have better thoughts of God, than to believe, that he, who delighteth not in the death of finners, and would have all men to be faved,

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and come to the knowledge of the truth, will confirm the fentence of fuch uncharitable men, as take upon them to condemn men for those things, for which our Saviour in his gospel condemns no man. And of all things in the world, one would think, that the uncharitablenefs of any church fhould be an argument to no man to run into its communion.

I fhall conclude with the Apoftle's exhortation, 23d & 24th verfes of this chapter, Let us hold fast the profeffion of our faith without wavering; and provoke one another unto charity, and to good works; and fo much the more, because the day approacheth, in which God will judge the faith and lives of men by Jefus Chrift, according to his gospel.

SERMON

LXVI.

Of self-denial, and fuffering for Christ's fake.

MATTH. xvi. 24.

Then faid Jefus unto his difciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himfelf, and take up his cross, and follow me.

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The firft fermon on this text.

Hen faid Jefus unto his difciples; that is, upon occafion of his former difcourfe with them, wherein he had acquainted them with his approaching paffion, that he muft fhortly go up to Jerufalem, and there fuffer many things of the elders, and chief priests, and feribes, and at laft be put to death by them: Then faid Jefus unto his difciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

If any man will come after me, or follow me; that is, if any man will be my difciple, and undertake the profeffion of my religion; if any man chuse and resolve to be a Chriftian, he must be fo upon these terms: he must deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me; he must follow me in felf-denial and fuffering.

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