LI.

SERM. Devil, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, and to persevere to the end in so doing.

And indeed, I know nothing in the world, that by the grace and blessing of God, contributes more to our steadiness in the doctrine and communion of our Church, than frequent receiving of the Holy Sacrament, and constant attendance at her public prayers, which, whosoever doth heartily and sincerely as he ought, may defy the very gates of Hell, for they will never be able to prevail against him; whereas, they who make no conscience of these great duties, are in continual danger of being caught in the next trap that shall be laid for them.

Thus now you see what are the chief things in which you ought to be steadfast; you ought to be steadfast in the Apostles' doctrine, steadfast in fellowship or communion, steadfast in breaking of bread, and steadfast in prayers; and if you be steadfast in these things, you will be so in all things, wherein you need be steadfast, in order to your obtaining eternal bliss, and so perform the first duty enjoined in my text; "Be ye steadfast."

But the foundation of an house may be well laid, and the superstructure so carefully raised, that it may continue strong and steadfast, for some time, and yet nevertheless, such storms and tempests may afterwards beat upon it, as may make it shake and move to and fro, and at last, perhaps, fall down to the ground again; so it is in religion: a man may be well grounded in the fundamental articles of our Christian faith, and make some considerable progress in the practice of it, so as to continue steadfastly for a while in it, and yet after all, may, by the violence of temptations, or some other way, be moved and seduced from it; and therefore, as the Apostle adviseth us, not only to be steadfast, but unmoveable too, as the house which our Lord saith was Matt. 7. 25. "built upon a rock, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was built upon a rock." Or, as the same Eph.4. 14. Apostle elsewhere expresseth it, "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive."

This was a necessary caution in those days, and so it is in ours, there being as much sleight and cunning craftiness used now, to pervert and draw men from the Church, if not much more than ever; and therefore, all that mind religion in good earnest, so as to obtain "the end of their faith, even [1 Pet.1.9.] the Salvation of their souls," had need to have a care, and not suffer themselves to be tossed to and fro with every new wind of doctrine that is raised among us, but to resolve, by the grace of God, to continue not only firm and steadfast to the Church, but immoveable, as the rock upon which it is built; for which purpose therefore, you must not give heed to those seducing spirits which would draw you off from the Church, under the pretence of greater purity, stricter devotion, or higher perfection than is commonly practised, or can be obtained in it; for this is an old artifice which the Devil hath made use of all along, to impose upon well-meaning people; if he should appear in his own colours, as the Prince. of Darkness, all men would withstand him, or else run from him, and therefore he "transforms himself into an Angel of 2Cor.11.14. Light," and under that disguise, he insinuates himself into ignorant and unwary people, and "carrieth them captive," as [2 Tim. 2. 26.] he pleaseth; this we may be sure of, for St. Paul saith it. And a greater than St. Paul, Christ Himself, forewarns us of the same thing, saying, “Beware of false prophets which come to Matt. 7. 15. you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves," whereby He plainly intimates, that there will always be false Prophets in the Church, such as the Devil sends upon his errands, but that he will always send them in sheep's clothing, like innocent and harmless lambs, whereas in truth, they are ravening wolves sent on purpose to devour and destroy the flock, but our Saviour bids us to beware of them; and so we had need be, for it was by such, that all the errors, heresies, and schisms, that ever infested the Church, were first sown in it.

And indeed, as Christ and His Apostles foretold it, so there always have been such false prophets, and false teachers in the Church, who under the colour of greater purity in doctrine and worship, have seduced men into all manner of Heresy and sin. "This know," saith the Apostle, 2Tim.3.1,2, "that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men

5, 6.

LI.

SERM. shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud having a form [or show] of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away; for of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts." Such were they in the Primitive Church, that called themselves rous Kadagoùs, 'the pure,' as pretending to be more pure and holy than others; such have been in all ages, and such there are in ours, who blame our Reformation as defective, as if the Church were not reformed, not purged enough from the errors it had before contracted; but if such would but lay aside all prejudices, and impartially consider the constitution of our Church, as it is now reformed, they might clearly see, that as there is nothing defective, so neither is there any thing superfluous in it, but that it exactly answers the pattern of the Primitive and Apostolical Church itself, as near as it is possible for a national Church to do it; insomuch, that they who truly believe all that she teaches, and practise all that she requireth, may be as pure and holy as any of the first Christians, or the Apostles themselves were, or can be, so long as they continue in the Church Militant here on earth; and therefore, instead of making such frivolous and groundless exceptions against our Church, do but you sincerely believe, and live as you are there taught, and you will be as pure and holy as you need to be upon earth, and as happy as you ever can be in Heaven, and will be so far from being moved by such silly arguments to leave our Church, that nothing will be able to move you to it, no, not any seeming miracles themselves, which is the highest sort of arguments that can be used in matters of religion.

For our holy religion having been confirmed by many undoubted miracles, wrought for that purpose by Christ and His Apostles, many have pretended miracles for the confirmation of their private opinions in it, howsoever erroneous and contrary to the nature of that religion which was so established, which therefore cannot possibly be real miracles, such as were at first wrought for the confirmation of our religion in general, but they must be delusions either of men or devils; for God having confirmed the Scripture, which is the standard of our religion, by miracles, nothing can be more

absurd, than to imagine that He should work miracles, to confirm any opinion that is contrary to the said Scriptures; and therefore the Apostle saith, "Though we or an Angel from Gal. 1. 8. Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." If an Angel should come down from Heaven with all his rays of glory and majesty shining about him, and so appear visibly to us at this time, this would certainly be a very great miracle, yet if he should preach any other Gospel than that which we have received, or affirm any thing contrary to what is there contained, we ought not to believe him, but rather defy and curse him, as one that would lead us out of the right way to Heaven.

Neither must we wonder if there have been, or really should be, strange things wrought (which look like miracles, though they are not so), to confirm some in a false religion, or draw others into it; for this is no more than what Christ Himself hath foretold, shall come to pass, saying, "There Matt.24.24. shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch, that if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect. But then He adds, ver. 25. "Behold I have told you before," and so forewarns us both to expect and slight them, and not to suffer ourselves to be moved

at all by them, but still to keep close to that" more sure Word [2 Pet. 1. 19.] of Prophecy," which He hath delivered to us, notwithstanding all the signs and wonders that ever were, or ever can be wrought to divert us from it: and it is a great comfort to us, that our Lord Himself here plainly intimates, that whatsoever becomes of others, it is not possible for the elect, who truly love and fear God, to be deceived by them.

But the greatest danger that people are in, of being perverted or seduced into error, Heresy, Schism, or superstition, is from their own lusts and passions, which either corrupt or overpower their judgments, and then carry them headlong into any thing that seems to gratify their prevailing humours, especially the love of this world; the hopes of getting, or the fear of losing something in it, commonly stifles all the sense that people have of religion, or else puts them upon acting contrary to it. This our Lord Himself observes, where He tells us, that" the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of Matt.13.22. riches, choke the Word, and make it become unfruitful."

LI.

2 Tim. 4. 10.

SERM. "Demas hath forsaken me," saith St. Paul, "having loved this present world." There have been many such Demases in all ages, who out of love to this world, and preferring it before the favour of God and their own eternal happiness, have apostatized not only from the true religion to a false one, but from all religion to none at all, and verily, it is no 1 Tim. 6.10. wonder; for "the love of money," as St. Paul saith, " is the root of all evil," and therefore must needs be inconsistent with the love of God, the chiefest of all goods, as St. John tells us (1 John ii. 15). Insomuch, that whosoever really loves the world, may be confident that he doth not really love God; and he that doth not really love God, will be easily tempted to leave His service, whensoever it comes into competition with that which he prefers before it.

Hence also it comes to pass, that as some are allured from their religion by the hopes of gaining, others are affrighted out of it, by the fear of losing this world, or something in it which they love better; as their estates, their honour, their ease, their liberty, or their life. These are things that are very dear to most men, and therefore, although they be not really in any danger; yet if they do but fear it, many are ready, to do any thing to prevent it, even to the parting with their religion itself, if they imagine that will do it. We have had many instances of this in all ages. God grant that we may have none in ours, at least, not among us; for which end, it will be necessary to get our minds possessed with a true fear of God above all things in the world besides, and then we shall never be moved with the fear of any thing else, according to that remarkable promise that God hath made Jer. 32. 40. us, “I will put My fear into their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me." Which we see notably exemplified in St. Paul, who having the fear of God always before his eyes, and in his heart, could never be moved from his duty unto God, by all the dangers and troubles he met with in it; Acts 20. 23, "The Holy Ghost," saith he, "witnesseth in every city, saying, that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the Grace of God." "None of these things move

24.