FourtJdij, And as senseless a thing it is to condemn all, for the miscarriages and faults of some ; which, yet, is the common prac- tice of the world. Are all that profess godliness loose and care- less ? No ; many are an ornament to their holy profession, and the glory of Christianity, and why must the innocent be condemned for the guilty ? What is your reason and ground for that ? Why might not the enem.ies of Christianity have condemned the eleven apostles upon the fall of Judas ? Had they not as good a warrant for it, as you have for this ?
To conclude. You little know Avhat a snare of the devil is laid for your souls, in all those prejudices and offences, you take at the ways and professors of godliness ; and what a wo you bring upon your own souls by them. You speak evil of persons and things you know not, and prejudice is like still to keep you in ignorance of them. " Wo to the world (saith Christ) because of offences ; and " blessed is he that is not offended at me."
The eleventh way of ruining the precious soul opened.
XI. The eleventh way, wherein abundance of precious souls perish in the christianized and professing world, is the way of formal hypocrisy in religion, and zeal about the externals of wor- ship. Such a generation of men have, in all ages, mingled them- selves with the sincere worshippers of God ; and the inducement to it is obvious ; the form of godliness is an honour, but the power of it a burden. By the former, earthly interests are accommodated ; by the latter, they are frequently exposed and hazarded.
We find in the Jewish church, abundance of , such chaff inter- mixed with the wheat, which the doctrine of Christ discovered, and
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN. 215
purged out of the floor, Mat. iii. 9, 12. such were the Pharisees, who were exceeding zealous for traditions, and the external rites and ceremonies of the law, but inwardly ftdl of all filthiness, Mat. XV. 7, 8, 9. Men that honoured the dead, and persecuted the living saints ; that reverenced the material temple, and destroyed the living temples ; that strained at gnats of ceremonies, and swal- lowed down the grossest immoralities.
And well had it been, if this generation had ended with the state and time of the church ; but we find a prophecy of the in- crease of these men in the latter days, 2 Tim. iii. 5. which is every where sadly verified. Religion runs into stalk, and blade, into leaves, and suckers, which should be concocted into pith and fruit : Yea, it is of sad consideration, that amongst many high pretenders to reformation, their zeal, which should nourish the vitals of re- ligion, and maintain their daily work of mortification and com- munion with God, spends itself in some by-opinion, whilst practical godliness visibly languisheth in their conversations. How many are there that hate doctrinal errors, who yet perish by practical ones ? who hate a false doctrine, but, in the' mean time, perish by a false heart ? It is very difficult to reclaim this sort of men from the error of their wa}^ ; and thereby save their souls from hell. However, let the means be used, and the success left with God.
The eleventh way to hell, hy formality, hatred up.
1 . No sin entangles the souls of men faster, or damns them with more certainty and aggravation, than the sin of formal hypocrisy ; it holds the soul fastest on earth, and sinks it deepest into hell. There was no sort of men upon whom the doctrine of Christ and the apostles, had so little success and effect, as the Scribes and Pharisees ; they derided him, when publicans and sinners trembled, and beheved, Luke xvi. 14, 15. The form of godliness wards off all convictions ; their zeal for the externals of religion secures them against the fears of damnation, whilst in the mean time, their hypocrisy plunges them deeper into hell than others that never made such shews of sanctity and devotion : " He shall ap- " point him his portion with hypocrites ;" Mat. xxiv. 51. that is, he shall be punished in hell, as hypocrites are punished, viz. with the greatest, and sorest punishment. Hypocrisy is a double ini- quity, and will be punished with double destruction : their un- grounded hopes of heaven serve but to puUy up their wretched souls to a greater height of vain confidence, which gives them the more dreadful jerk in their lamentable, and eternal disappointment.
2. Blind, superstitious zeal, v/hich spends itself only about the externals of religion, usually prepares, and engageth men in o,
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more violent persecution of those that are really godly, and con- scientious. The Lord opened a great door of opportunity at Antioch to Paul ; the whole city came together to attend the discoveries of Christ in the first publication of the gospel, and the poor Gentiles began to taste the sweetness of the gospel ; but the devil, perceiving his kingdom begin to totter, immediately stirred up his instruments to persecute the apostles, and drive them out of the country : and who more fit for that work, than the devout, and honourable women ? Acts xiii. 15. These stirred up their husbands, and all they had influence upon, under a fair pretence of zeal for the law, to obstruct the progress of the gospel. No bird (saith one) like the living' bird, to draw others into the net. Men of greatest names, and pretentions to religion, if graceless, are the most dangerous instruments the * devil can employ to the ruin and extirpation of true godliness. Such a zealot was Paul, in his unregenerate state.
3. Nothing is more common, than to find men hot and zealous against false worship, whilst their hearts are as cold as a stone in the vitals, and essentials of true religion. Many can dispute warmly against adoration of images, praying to angels and saints departed^ who all the while are like those dead images which others worship. Jehu was a zealot against idolatry ; and yet the vital power of true godliness was a stranger to his soul, 2 Kings x. 15, 16. The Pharisees spared no pains to make a proselyte, and yet all the while were the children of the devil themselves. Mat. xxiii. 15.
This was a sad case, yet what more common ? The Lord open the eyes of these men, and convince them, in season, that their zeal runs in the wrong channel, and spends itself upon things which shall never profit them. O if they were but as much concerned to promote the love of God, and life of godliness in themselves and others, as they are about some external accidents and appendages of religion, what blessings would they be to the world, and what evidence would they have of their own sincerity ?
The twelfth way to hell, opened,