SERMON

LXIII.

Of Conftancy in the Profeffion of the true Religion.

959

HE B. X. 23.

Let us bold faft the profeffion of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promifed.

TH

LXIII.

this text.

HESE words contain an exhortation "to hold S ER M. "faft the profeffion of our faith without wa"vering," and an argument or encouragement there- The fixth to, because "he is faithful that promifed." By fermon on the exhortation "to hold faft the profeffion of our "faith without wavering," is not meant, that those who are capable of examining the grounds and reafons of their religion should blindly hold it fast against the best reasons that can be offered; because upon these terms, every man must continue in the religion in which he happens to be fixt by education, or an ill choice, be his religion true or falfe, without examining and looking into it, whether it be right or wrong; for till a man examines, every man thinks his religion right, That which the apostle here exhorts Christians to hold faft is the ancient faith, of which all Christians make a folemn profeffion in their baptifm; as plainly appears from the context. And this "profeffion of our faith," we are to hold in the following inftances, which I fhall but briefly mention, without enlarging upon them.

SERM. 1. We are "to hold faft the profeffion of our LXIII. "faith" against the confidence of men, without fcripture or reafon to fupport that confidence.

2. And much more, against the confidence of men contrary to plain scripture and reason, and to the common sense of mankind."

3. Against all the temptations and terrors of the world, against the temptations of fashion and example, and of worldly intereft and advantage and against all terrors and fufferings and perfecution.

4. Against all vain promises of being put into a fafer condition, and groundless hopes of getting to heaven upon easier terms than the gospel has propofed in fome other church and religion.

Laftly, we are " to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, " against all the cunning arts and infinuations of bufy and difputing men, whofe defign it is to unhinge men from their religion, and to make profelytes to their party and faction.

But without entring into these particulars, I shall in order to our establishment in the reformed religion which we profefs, in oppofition to the errors and corruptions of the church of Rome, apply myself at this time, to make a fhort comparison betwixt the religion which we profefs, and that of the church of Rome, that we may difcern on which fide the advantage of truth lyes; and in making this comparifon, I fhall infift upon three things which will bring the matter to an iffue, and are, I think, fufficient to determine every fober and confiderate man, which of thefe he ought in reafon, and with regard to the fafety of his foul, to embrace; and they are these.

I. That we govern our belief and practice in matters of religion, by the true ancient rule of chriftianity, the word of God contained in the holy fcrip

tures:

tures: but the church of Rome, for the maintenance SER M LXIII. of their errors and corruptions, have been forced to devise a new rule, never owned by the primitive church, nor by the ancient fathers and councils of it.

II. That the doctrines and practices in difference betwixt us and the church of Rome, are either contrary to this rule, or deftitute of the warrant and authority of it, and are plain additions to the ancient christianity, and corruptions of it.

III. That our religion hath many clear advantages of that of the church of Rome, not only very confiderable in themfelves, but very obvious and difcernable to an ordinary capacity, upon the first pofal of them. I fhall be as brief in these as I can.

pro

I. That we govern our belief and practice in matters of religion, by the true ancient rule of chritianity, the word of God contained in the holy fcriptures: but the church of Rome, for the maintaining of their errors and corruptions, have been forced to devise a new rule, never owned by the primitive church, nor by the ancient councils and fathers of it; that is, they have joined with the word of God, contained in the holy fcriptures, the unwritten tra ditions of their church, concerning feveral points of their faith and practice, which they acknowledge cannot be proved from fcripture, and thefe they call the unwritten word of God; and the council of Trent hath decreed them to be of equal authority with the holy fcriptures, and that they do receive and venerate them with the fame pious affection and reverence; and all this, contrary to the express declaration and unanimous confent of all the ancient councils and fathers of the chriftian church, (as I have already fhewn;) and this never declar'd to be a point of faith, till it was deceed, not much above a hun

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LXIII.

SER M. a hundred years ago, in the council of Trent. And this furely, if any thing, is a matter of great confequence, to prefume to alter the ancient rule of chrifțian doctrine and practice, and to enlarge it, and add to it, at their pleasure. But the church of Rome having made fo great a change in the doctrine and practice of chriftianity, it became confequently neceffary to make a change of the rule: and therefore with great reafon did the council of Trent take this into confideration in the first place, and put it in the front of their decrees, because it was to be the foundation and main proof of the following definitions of faith, and decrees of practice, for which, without this new rule, there had been no colour.

II. The doctrines and practices in difference betwixt us, and the church of Rome, are either contrary to the true rule, or diftitute of the warrant and authority of it, and plain additions to the ancient chriftianity, and corruptions of it. The truth of this will best appear, by inftancing in fome of the principal doctrines and practices in difference betwixt us.

As for their two great fundamental doctrines, of the fupremacy of the bishop of Rome over all the Chriftians in the world, and the infallibility of their church, there is not one word in fcripture concerning these privileges; nay it is little lefs than a demonftration that they have no fuch privileges, that St. Paul in a long epistle to the church of Rome takes no notice of them, that the church of Rome either then was, or was to be foon after, the mother and mistress of all churches, which is now grown to be an article of faith in the church of Rome; and yet it is hardly to be imagined, that he could have omitted to take notice of fuch remarkable privileges of their bishops and church, above any in the world, had he known they had belonged to

them.

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them. So that in all probability he was ignorant of S ER M. those mighty prerogatives of the church of Rome; otherwise it cannot be, but that he would have written with more difference and fubmiffion to this feat of infallibility, and center of unity; he would certainly have paid a greater refpect to this mother and miftrefs of all churches, where the head of the church, and vicar of CHRIST either was already feated, or by the appointment of CHRIST was defigned for ever to fix his throne and establish his refidence; but there is not one word, or the leaft intimation of any fuch thing throughout this whole epiftle, nor in any other part of the new testament.

Besides that both thefe pretended privileges are omitted, by plain fact and evidence of things themfelves; their fupremacy, in that the far greatest part of the chriftian church, neither is at this day, nor can be fhewn by the records of any age, ever to have been fubject to the bishop of Rome, or to have acknowledged his authority and jurifdiction over them: and the infallibility of the pope, whether with or without a general council, about which they ftill differ, though infallibility was devised on purpose, to determine all differences; I fay, this infallibility, wherever it is pretended to be, is plainly confuted by the contradictory definitions of feveral popes and councils; for if they have contradicted one another as is plain, beyond all, contradiction, in feveral inftances, then there muft of neceffity be an error on one fide; and there can be no fo certain demonftration, that any one is infallible, as evident error and miftake is of the contrary.

Next, their concealing both the rule of religion, and the practice of it in the worship and fervice of GOD, from the people, in an unknown tongue,

and