But yet, because our bleffed Saviour was God as well as man, and clear of all stain of fin, (for though he was clothed with the infirmities, yet he was free from the corruption of human nature); therefore the examples of mere men, liable to fin as we are, may in many refpects be more fuitable and accommodate to encourage us to the imitation of thofe virtues which are attainable by us in this ftate of imperfection: for which reafon the Apoftle hath thought fit likewife to propofe to us the higheft examples of that kind, the first teachers of our religion for of thefe he feems to speak here in the text, namely, thofe Apostles, or apoftolical men, by whom they had been instructed in the faith of Christ, but who were now departed this life; it being very probable, that the Apoftle here fpeaks of fuch as were dead, when he says, Remember them which have had the rule over you, (or those that have been your guides), who have spoken to you the word of God: whofe faith follow, confidering the end of their converfation.

I fay, this is very probable, because he minds them to remember; which fuppofeth them to be abfent; but efpecially, because he minds them to confider the end of their converfation: by which, furely, he means the bleffed ftate of thofe good men after death; which is elfewhere called the end of our faith, even the falvation of our fouls, I Pet. i. 9. So likewife Rom. vi. 22. this is faid to be the end of a holy life: Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. And it very much favours this interpretation, that the Apostle afterwards fpeaks of the living guides and governors of the church, y 17. Obey them that have the rule over you, and fubmit yourfelves; for they watch for your fouls.

So that it is highly probable, that the Apostle here fpeaks of fuch guides and governors of the church as had once been over them, but were now departed this life; and therefore he might, with more freedom, and lefs envy, recommend their example to them, and bid them call to mind their faith, and exemplary converfation among them, and propose it for a pattern to themselves, confidering the happy end of it, viz. the bleffed state they were now in, and the glorious reward they were made partakers of in another life.

In the words thus explained, you have,

Firft, A duty injoined; which is, to propofe to ourfelves, for our imitation, the examples of good men that have gone before us; efpecially the primitive patterns of Christianity, and the firft teachers of our religion: Remember them which have been your guides, and have spoken to you the word of God: whofe faith follow.

Secondly, The motive or encouragement to it, from the confideration of the reward of it: Confidering the end of their converfation..

Firft, The duty injoined; which is, to propofe to our felves, for our imitation, the example of good men that have gone before us; efpecially the primitive patterns of Christianity, and firft teachers of our religion: Remem ber them that have had the rule over you, that have been your guides, and have spoken to you the word of God: whofe faith follow. In which words the Apoftle bids them call to mind their firft guides and inftructors in Chriftianity, whom they had known, and heard, and converfed with in this world, but who were now refted from their labours, and were receiving the reward of them; to remember the doctrines they had heard from them, and the virtues they had feen in them; and to embrace the one, and imitate the other.

Thus we cannot remember the primitive teachers and patterns of Chriftianity, the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour; because we did not perfonally know them, and converfe with them, living at the distance of many ages from their time: but we may do that which is equivalent, and a kind of remembrance of them; we may comme morate their faith, and the virtue and holiness of their lives; and what we hear and read of them, we may propofe for patterns to ourfelves, and copy them out in our lives and actions: and this is our duty, and the fame in fubftance with theirs, who had the happiness to know and converse with thofe excellent perfons, to hear them preach, and to fee the rules and precepts of that holy doctrine which they taught, exemplified in their lives.

In the handling of this argument, I fhall do these three things.

1. Shew why, amongst all the examples of good men, Dd 3

we should more especially propose to our imitation the primitive teachers and patterns of our religion.

2. Wherein we fhould imitate them. The Apostle expreffe:h it in one word, in their faith: Whofe faith follow.

3. The encouragement to this, from the confideration of the happy flate they are in, and the glorious re→ ward they are made partakers of: Confidering the end of their converfation.

I. I fhall endeavour to fhew why, among all the examples of good men, we should more efpecially propose to our imitation, the primitive teachers and patterns of our religion; I mean, the holy Apostles of our Lord and Saviour, whofe faith we fhould endeavour to follow, and to imitate the holiness and virtue of their converfation : for thefe certainly come nearest to that most perfect and excellent pattern of all goodness, our bleffed Saviour, and are the faireft tranfcripts of that unblemished original. Hence it is that St. Paul fo frequently exhorts Chriftians to imitate his example, and the examples of the other Apostles; it being reasonable to prefume, that they came nearest to the pattern of our Lord: 1 Cor. xi. 1. Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Chrift. Phil. iii. 17. 20. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk fo, as ye have us for an ensample. For our converfation is in heaven.

And this is reasonable, that the firft in every kind fhould be the rule and pattern of the reft, and of all that follow after; because it is likely to be most perfect. In procefs of time, the best inftitutions are apt to decline, and, by infenfible degrees, to fwerve and depart from the perfection of their first state; and therefore it is a good rule, to preserve things from corruption and degeneracy, often to look back to the first inftitution, and by that to correct thofe imperfections and errors which will almost unavoidably creep in with time.

If we would preferve that purity of faith and manners which our religion requires, we fhould have frequent recourfe to the primitive teachers and patterns of Chriftianity, and endeavour to bring our belief and lives to as near a conformity with theirs as is poffible. Who fo likely to deliver the faith and doctrine of Chrift pure

and

and uncorrupted, as the primitive teachers of it, who received it from our Lord himself, and were, by an extraordinary afsistance of the Holy Spirit, fecured from error and mistake in the delivery of it? and who fo likely to bring their lives and conversations to an exact conformity with this holy doctrine, as they who were fo thoroughly inftructed in it by the best master, and fhewn the practice of it in the most perfect example of all holiness and virtue? Great reafon there is, therefore, why all Christians fhould follow their faith, and make their converfation more especially the pattern of their lives.

The want of a due regard to thefe fountains of Chriftian doctrine, and the first and best patterns of Christian practice, hath been the great cause of that foul degeneracy of the Romish church, both in the doctrine and practice of Christianity. They do not follow the faith of the Apostles, the first fathers and teachers of Christianity, but of the fathers of the council of Lateran and Trent. Thus have they forfaken the fountain of living. waters, the holy fcriptures, and have hewn to themfeves broken cifterns, that will hold no water, the doctrines and traditions of men. Nay, they have ftopped up this fountain of living waters from the people, and forbid them to come to it; and forced them to drink of those impure and puddled ftreams, which they let out to them: and instead of the lives of the holy Apoftles, and thofe eminent graces and virtues which shined forth in them, they represent to them the patterns of new faints: fome of which neither they nor their fathers knew, and indeed never were in being; as St. Almanach, and St. Synoris, and several others: many of them fo far from being faints, that they may be reckoned among the worst of men; for instance, our countryman Thomas a Becket, who, for pride and rebellion, may almost vie with Lucifer himself; and yet this ill man, and worst of fubjects, was canonized to that height, as for two! hundred years together, to ingrofs the worship of thefe Western parts of the world, and to impoverish the: fhrines of all other faints, even of the blessed virgin her felf: others fuch idiots, or hot-headed fanaticks, that be that reads their lives would take them to be fools and madmen, rather than faints; as Francis, and Domi

nic,

:

nic, and Ignatius Loyola, and feveral others of the fame ftamp and many the very best of them fo difguifed by their legends, that, instead of the substantial virtues of a good life, their story is made up of falfe and fantastical miracles, and ridiculous freaks, and superftition.

All which confidered, there is great reafon why we fhould have recourfe to the primitive patterns of faith and holiness, and be followers of them, who we are fure were followers of Chrift. I proceed to the

II. Second thing I propofed, namely, Wherein we fhould imitate thefe patterns. And the Apoftle expreffeth it in one word; in their faith: Whofe faith follow. And the word faith is frequently in the New Teftament ufed fo largely, as to comprehend the whole condition of the gofpel; a firm belief of the doctrine of it, and the fruit and effect of this belief in a good conversation. And that faith here in the text takes in a holy life, is evident from what follows, Whofe faith follow, confidering the end of their converfation from whence it is evident, that the Apostle fpeaks of fuch a faith as fhews forth itself in a good conversation.

So that we may very well fuppofe the Apostle here to recommend the primitive faith to our imitation in these four refpects.

1. In regard of the fincerity and purity of it. 2. In regard of the firmness and stability of it. 3. Of their conftancy and perfeverance in it.

4. Of the efficacy and fruitfulnefs of it in a good converfation. All these may be collected from the expreffions and circumftances of the text.

1. We are to imitate thefe primitive patterns in the fincerity and purity of their faith; I mean, that the faith which we profefs be the fincere doctrine of Chriftianity, and the pure word of God, free from all mixture of human additions and inventions; and not made up, as the faith of the Pharifees was among the Jews, and theirs of the church of Rome is at this day, of the word of God, and the doctrines and traditions of men ; not like the creed of Pope Pius IV. (which is now the ftandard of the Roman faith), confifting of the twelve old articles of the Chriftian faith, delivered to us by