S a c 'r. I Í I. Falfe Signs of Grace. 139 Fourthly A fourth corrupt motive in fufferfngs though for Gòd, may be IIIÌ. Pride and Vainglory, Ambition to get a Name in the Generationsto come. One Suffering would think this werea poor thing to venture a manslife for fuch an aëry bub- p ble. Yet ifwe made humane Hiftories, and fee how willingly men have et- poled themfelves to death for this outward glory ; or ifwe perufe Ecclefiaftical Hiftories, and confider , how much the Patriarchal! Hereticks, Heads of Fa- ftións, have fuffered 'to propagate their Seéts, we will orafe to wonder ; for as by the blood of Martyrs, the Church bath flourifhed, fo fometimes by the blond of Hereticks , Heretics have encreafed ; as Paul laid ; Many of the godly Waxed bolder by his bonds ; So many times doe erroneous perfons growmore obilinate by the fufferings of their fellow Hereticks. Though afhesand fire are barren things, yet pride is fuch a Salamander, that will live in thefe flames. 4.Tofuflerfof Fourthly , In the fourth general place As fufferings for Chrifl, doe not tTofflff% argue neceffarily a Rate of Grace , fò muéh leffe doe fufferings for thofe things but real errors, a mifguided confcience thinketh the truths -of God, but are indeed damnable He- cannot poffibly relies, and dangerous Opinions. Yet how often doe we finde this in Books argue'grace. to prove Heretics great innocency, becaufe they goe with a good confcience, they deny all carnal emoluments, patiently fuffer the utmoft dangers ! but (alas) here is no folidity in this : For firft, A falfe raffled confcience may put a man upon all outward dangers. A deluded confcience in mat- ters of Religion, will throw a man, as that Devil did the party poffeffed; Sometimes in the fire, and fometimes in the Water a So that as our Saviour laid, Some men thought they did God good fervice in patting others to death: So again, They may thinkthey doe God great fervice in fuffering themfelves tobe put to death. Doe not Sociniansdie? Doenot Papifts die for their Reli- gion ? A falfe Religion, efpecially if received upon confcientious, not politi- cal( Principles, will make a man think his blond not dear enough to lofe for that. The Pharifees by What reafon they compaffed Sea and Land to' make profs- (rus , by the fame theywould have loft their lives to defend their fuperilitious worfhip. Doe not then hereafter admire that fpecious Argument for Here- ticks ? Doe they feek themfelves ? Doe they not deny all worldly hopes? Doe they not givetheir bodies tobe deftroyed ? for this is no more then Heathens do for their I dols. Nor is it anywonder, if mendie thus for a falfe Religion, feeing wereadeof Atheifls who have died becaufe theyheld there was no God. Vanitous who oncewrote a Book toprove God and his Providence, yet after- wards revolted to Atheifine, holding no God, and was put to death for it at `Paris : And being commanded by the ridge, that he fhould ask forgive- nefle of God ; and the King, and his Judges : He anfwered, Of God he would not, becanie hedidnot believe there was any : Of the King he would not becaufe hehadnot wronged him; Of his Judges he would not , but ra- ther if there were 'a'Hell, as he believed there was none, he would curie them all thither. Thus Voetitu de Atheifmo. You fee here a miferable wretch, dying for thisprofeffedly, becaufe he thought there wasno God. So that all fufferings even todeath, are notprefently tomove us. And ifyou ask,whatJhouldmake them thus venturotu, if they be not inGods Way ? What makes I anfwer, two things, Fill , There is a Carnal Self. Secondly, A Spiritual men fo ready Self; which alto is carnal, though not groffe. A carnal Self is then let up, tofuffèr; íf one when a man proflitntesall Religion to outward advantages s Of loch were fome of Gods way. falfe Apoftles Paul (peaks .of, whefe God Was their belly , who minded earthly + Self. things, and did all they,could toavoid perfecution. Such anone was one Theo, phiGua- Bifhop in Ecclefialical'Hillory , nicknamed Euripus, becaufe of his fickleneffein Religion, turning his confcience, as Diogenes did his Barrett al- wayesagainft die-winde. Thisman, when the warre was between Con/tantine T 2 the
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