and gives this reason why he requires it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We were ordained and appointed of God to preserve the faith holy and incorrupt as we received it the Pope will now tell the Emperour so sed non fuit sic ab initio from the beginning it was not thus no nor in many hundreds of years after and in the sixteenth Action of this Council the acclamations of the Bishops to the Emperour at first calling him Another Constantine another Martian another Theodosius another Justinian are a proof beyond exception for no History is so irrefragable as the Acts of a Council that those Emperours had called the forementioned Councils and the petitions at last of the same Bishops praying for him as the Defender of the Orthodox Religion as the bulwark of the Church and as the Defender of the Faith cannot but assure us that they thought it the Emperours duty to call those Councils because they thought them bound to defend the Faith and to protect the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You see the title of Defender of the Faith to a King is of much greater antiquity then our Henry the eight as well as the reason of it and so many several laws in the Code and in the Novels of the Catholick Faith of the Sacraments of Churches of Bishops of Synods of Hereticks will be an evidence to the worlds end of the Supremacy of Kings in causes Ecclesiastical no less then those other titles in the institutes and digests that concern liberty and property and the affairs of this world will be an invincible evidence of their Supremacy in civil causes But I may not insist longer upon this Argument such kinde of quotations being fitter for the school then for the pulpit I will onely add this one more from Pope Adrian's own mouth to Charles the Great of France whom he calls Spiritualem Compatrem that is either his Spiritual Godfather for his patronage and care over his Person or his Fellow-Father in spirituals for his jurisdiction and government over the Church and he labours to give him such punctual satisfaction in all particulars concerning the second Nicene Council as if he feared that of Franckford called by Charles would as indeed it did over ballance that of Nice procured by himself no less in truth then it did in authority but we think his Compater to his Lord and Master a little too high though his Successours will not stoop so low for as we allow the Supreme no superiour so we must allow him no equal which is my second conclusion No person but is inferiour to him in power as no power but is inferiour to his in causes whether Ecclesiastical or Civil so no person or persons whether Ecclesiastical or Civil but is and are inferiour to him in power we understand not that Singulis major Universis minor or if we understand it think that Omnis anima speaks as well Universis as Singulis and therefore not onely one and one by himself but also one and all Subjects together all are inferiour to their Sovereign because they are all bound to submit unto him Let every soul be subject to the higher powers Rom. 13. 1. Their convening together doth as much take off their souls as it doth their subjection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can never agree but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is joyned with the universis in the text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore of them also no less then of single persons must the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the next verse be necessarily understood Whosoever resisteth or How many soever resist both alike are comprehended in They that resist and they shall receive to themselves damnation The word here used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subordinetur let every soul be subordinate a word that more particularly points at the Ordines regni in the very signification of it because they can never want power to make resistance and seldom want chaplains that encourage them to make it but Ordines sunt ordinandi and subordinandi or else Ordines will be Confusiones Orders must be ordered and subordinate or though called States yet will be Ruines though called Orders will turn Confusions both of the text and of the kingdom and certainly the reasons alledged by S. Paul as equally concern Ordines regni as other Subjects and those as well all as some Universos as well as Singulos First Gods ordinance which may no more be rejected by all then by some by all together then by single persons in particular Secondly Damnation which may be incurred by all as well as by some by a Parliament as well as by Private Gentlemen 'T is true the King may not be so great a terrour to all as to some because all joyning together may not be afraid of his power What then yet I hope all have consciences as well as some and though happily it may not be said of the all of the whole kingdom Ye must needs be subject for wrath because all subjects holding together need not fear their Kings wrath yet it may and must be said of them all Ye must needs be subject for Conscience sake as 't is in the first verse For be they never so many that combine together that will give no satisfaction to the Conscience in regard of it self nor release in regard of God and yet even this very objection is sufficiently answered in the verse before in that he is said To bear the sword as the Minister of God and therefore Not to bear the sword in vain For though happily or rather unhappily in regard of his Person he may bear the sword in vain and perish under it yet in regard of his office he cannot for so he is the Minister of God and consequently a revenger of wrath that cannot fail of his revenge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Epiph. Haer. 40. adversus Archontichos He hath from God the right of the sword not from any other and he hath it for revenge Would to God those men who follow these Hereticks in multiplying powers and principalities though not in heaven yet in earth and in some other things too for these Archontici did abhor baptism and slight the Communion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. ibid. I say would those men who follow these Hereticks in this gross opinion would likewise seriously go along with this learned Father in his solid confutation there would never again be any cavilling disputes upon the 13 to the Romans His confutation in brief is this You Archontici think by multiplying powers in heaven to overthrow the dominion and power of one God but indeed you rather establish it For if in earth there may be so many principalities and powers in one kingdom all subject not repugnant to one King then much more so in heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In every kingdom upon earth there are many principalities but they are all under one King Nothing
courage in regard of Gods goodness who hath promised salvation to those that sanctifie him in their hearts by good resolutions and in their mouthes by good professions and in their lives by a good conversation and it fills them with constancy in regard of Gods truth and faithfulness who cannot but perform his promise This is the Tenure of a true Catholick he holds both his Religion and Salvation upon certainty not upon conjecture his Religion he holds upon the certainty of Gods most holy word for nothing else can furnish his mouth with a satisfactory answer to silence much less with a sufficient reason to convince his adversary and his Salvation he holds upon the certainty of Gods most faithfull promise for nothing else can furnish his heart with comfort or establish it with courage to satisfie and content himself and agreeable to this as far as concerns the certainty of Religion upon which alone is founded the certainty of salvation is Vincentius Lirinensis his description of a true Catholick Ille verus germanus Catholicus est qui divinae Religioni Catholicae sidei nihil praeponit non hominis cujusquam Autoritatem non Amorem non Ingenium non Philosophiam non Eloquentiam sed haec cuncta despiciens in fide stans permanens amplectitur quicquid universaliter Antiquitas Ecclesiam Catholicam tenuisse cognoverit He is a true and genuine Catholick who prefers nothing above divine Religion and the Catholick faith not the Authority of any man not Love not Wit not Philosophy not Eloquence but despising all these and standing fast in the faith doth embrace whatever he knows was universally and anciently held by the Catholick Church From this description it is easie to gather who are the true Catholicks viz. those Christians First Who in their Religion prefer causes above persons who pretend not to infallible Doctours but make sure of an infallible doctrine who look after Gods not mans Authority as the foundation of their faith for else they cannot stand so fast in it as to despise the Authority Love Wit Philosophy Eloquence of man in comparison of the Oracles of God Secondly Who in their communion prefer persons above themselves that is Gods Trustees above their own humours regard not any novelty or singularity but make much of antiquity and universality or in a word those who are immoveable in the Catholick Truth that they may persist in the true Christian Religion and who are obedient to the Catholick Church that they may persist in the true Christian communion Accordingly my business in this Treatise shall be to shew First The certainty of Religion in its substance that notwithstanding all our present impieties on all hands men may know when they have the true Christian Religion Secondly The certainty of Religion in its exercise that notwithstanding all our present inconstancies men may know when they have the true Christian Communion and when this Certainty of Religion both in its substance and exercise is compassed and atchieved which is the work then the certainty of salvation will be an undeniable consequent which is the reward of good Christians But till I come to my preaching I think it needfull to give my self to praying for though we may get the knowledge of Religion by preaching yet we cannot get the certainty much less the comfort of that knowledge but by praying so ill a course have those Divines taken of late to make this people gain the certainty of their Religion who have turned all praying into preaching for he that prays what the congregation knows not doth rather preach then pray as â—o his congregation for they can onely hear â—s judges they cannot joyn as Communicants in his prayer well he may teach them to pray after him but he cannot cause them to pray with him for though they may wish yet they cannot pray but in the assurance of faith and they cannot have the assurance of faith upon uncertainty and there is nothing but uncertainty in ignorance the ignorance of intention disposition and an erring direction of him that prays and the ignorance not onely of the substance and nature but also of the scope and drifts of his prayer If any faith can be exercised here it must needs be wholly implicite such a faith as we justly blame in the Papists and therefore most unjustly force upon Protestants a faith that hath no particular evidence of what it is to do and therefore can have no particular assurance of what it doth But whilest I have fallen upon others prayers I have almost forgot mine own God of his infinite mercy look upon us once more shew us the light of his countenance that we seeing our new building is upon the sand which is never the surer for being cemented with bloud may return again unto the Rock our Saviour Christ the onely foundation of our souls that is the onely way to make atonement for our impieties and finding the want of the Master builders or most artificial workmen may return also to his Church which also is built on that foundation for that is the best if not the onely way to get a remedy for our uncertainties that so coming to the infallible certainty of our Religion both in its substance and in its exercise we may also come to the most comfortable certainty of our salvation and from the certainty pass to the enjoyment from the assurance pass to the inheritance thereof through the Authour and Finisher both of our Religion and of our salvation our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This being the main scope of this small treatise ought to be the fervent prayer of its Authour who knoweth this lesson is not to be learned by recommending his book to you but by recommending your souls to God for 't is not all the preaching in the world though the whole world should turn preachers not onely with swords in their hands but also with Authority in their mouthes and with grace in their hearts I say it is not all the preaching in the world can bring you to this saving knowledge of Christ and of your self but onely praying and since you will not abide your Church to pray you may be the better contented to let his reviled Ministers continue and increase their prayers for you because you have the greater need though the lesser ability and power to pray truly and heartily for your self as either praying without Christs intercession or praying against his word but sure praying without Christs Communion because praying without if not against his Church 'T is hard to be a wilfull Separarist from your Church and not to be thus peccant in your prayers but you are all for preaching Christ whilest I am rather for praying him that is for such sound and set prayers as by their matter assure me of his intercession and by their form assure me of his communion and I am sure that with Mary I have chosen the better part though
continency then they did observe but concerning this the world would more willingly leave men to the judgement of their own consciences how to serve God with the most purity and with the least distraction if they did but answer to themselves this Question whether it is better that they which have wives be as though they had none 1 Cor. 7. 29. or that they which have no wives be as though they had them for what is best is doubtless in this as in other cases the determination of Religion for that labours to make men like God both in their bodies and in their souls in their bodies by sobriety temperance and chastity either virginal or vidual or conjugal in their souls by holy meditations and more holy affections and where men do most truly express this holiness in their lives and conversations 't is not to be doubted but there is the best and the purest Religion although it is often seen that where is the best and the purest Religion there men do not alwaies express the same in their lives and conversations which made the same S. Augustine declare this as a dogmatical sanction ex malorum Christianorum moribus non vituperandam esse Ecclesiam Aug. lib. de mor. Eccl. Cath. cap. 34. that the Church is not to be blamed for the misdemeanours of some men that live in her communion since she her self condemns those misdemeanours and labours to correct them The upshot of all may be this that not the practical but the doctrinal miscarriages of men are to be imputed to the Church and where are fewest of such miscarriages there is most of truth and goodness where is most of these there is most of the pure Religion for as manners make the man so Religion makes the manners and it is little other then the doctrine of devils that saith hell is full of moral honest men though it pretend to set up faith for S. Paul plainly shews that faith alone was the cause of all moral honesty in the Jews Heb. 11. so that 't is too much for any man to doubt much more to deny but that faith alone is the cause of all true moral honesty in the Christians whence our blessed Saviour preacheth onely moral duties S. Luk 21. 31. take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life c. he bids them be temperate sober and content watch and pray and what is all this but moral honesty yet if this rightly done and 't is rightly done onely in true beleevers proceed not from faith we must infer that we may stand in judgement without faith for so it follows v. 36. that ye may stand before the Son of man nor would Christ have thus taught daily in the temple v. 37. had this not been the right way of preaching true faith in Christ and what he prescribes in his doctrine he performs in his practise for his nights were spent in praying as his days in preaching and therefore to say that hell is full of moral honest men is to say that hell is full of true beleevers and consequently to blaspheme that precious faith in Christ which could not sanctifie the hand in working did it not first sanctifie the heart in beleeving and we cannot but say that Noahs preparing the Ark and Abrahams offering his son was materially an act of obedience that moral honest vertue which this world cares not to profess much less to practise though it was formally an act of faith and so we may say concerning those other examples there cited by S Paul wherein some vertue that belongs to the catalogue of moral honesty will come in for the material part though faith alone may happily challenge the formal part of the performance and Aquina's distinction of actus virtutis imperatus câ—â—â—tus will reconcile the difference for all vertuous acts truly so called are the acts of faith imperativè as commanded by it whence S. Augustine stiled the best works of unbeleevers but gilded or glittering sins though onely the peculiar acts of beleeving and confessing be the acts of faith elicitive as immediately and directly flowing from it for faith is in the soul as the soul is in the body and as all motion in the body is by redundancy from the soul so all good motion in the soul is by redundancy from faith and hence it is there is so great an influence of our words upon our manners and of our manners upon our doctrine and consequently upon our faith for as evil words corrupt good manners so also evil manners corrupt good words it having been the fate of Religion first to decay in mens lives then in their doctrines first in their works then in their faith so that irreligion first gets into our conversations then into our catechismes and the miscarriages of Churches have first been practical and after that dogmatical men being generally more zealous for their credit in labouring to justifie their errours then for their innocency in confessing that they have erred The third and last Attribute we are now to consider in God is his Mercy whereby he freely forgives what is due unto himself For as the act of grace is most clearly evidenced in freely giving what was not due unto the creature so is the act of mercy most conspicuous in freely forgiving what is due from it Aquinas makes Gods Mercy the foundation of all his works of distributive justice even in rewarding the righteous then much more is it the foundation of his not working according to his vindicative justice in the punishment of our unrighteousness 'T is a heavenly contemplation of his and such heavenly contemplations are very frequent in the angelical doctour opus divinae justitiae semper praesupponit opus misericordiae in eo fundatur 1 Par. qu. 21. ar 4. the work of Gods Justice alwaies presupposeth the work of his Mercy and is founded in it for the creature can have nothing due to it but for some thing that is in it and the creature hath nothing in it which did not flow immediately from the goodness of the Creatour therefore that goodness alone must be looked upon as the ground and foundation of all that the creature is capable of which alone put the same into a capacity of any thing at all Et sic in quolibet opere Dei apparet misericordia quantum ad primam radicem ejus cujus virtus salvator in omnibus consequentibus etiam vehementius in eis operatur sicut causa primaria vehementius influit quam causa secunda words that deserve to be engraven with letters of gold and much more to be engraven in our hearts and this is the meaning of them there is no work of God but mercy is the ground and root of it and this ground is preserved in all the building this root is seen in all the fruits that grow from it nay it hath a great efficacy of working above them
offend many of those that manifestly oppose the truth and immortally injure their brethren by turning them out of the road of salvation to look after some new by-paths no less doubtfull then perilous for if St. Paul did wish himself accursed from Christ for his brethren his kinsmen according to the flesh Rom. 9. 3. then none that takes upon him St. Pauls calling but is bound to have so much of St. Pauls zeal as to think the salvation of souls his greatest blessing and to make it his chiefest aim and he that doth the one will certainly do the other and consequently not regard the causless displeasure of many if he may take the right course to save but one and without doubt this doctrine doth immediately tend to the salvation of all which adviseth men to take heed of hypocrisie in professing Religion and of apostacy in renouncing it or of schisme in receding from it for schisme is a particular apostacy even as a apostacy is a general schisme For the onely way to be assured of our future communion with God in happiness is to be assured of our present communion with God in holiness and we cannot be assured of communion with the Father of lights unless we walk as children of the light It is in effect St. Iohns argumentation 1 Epist. c. 1. v. 5 6 7. He that saith he hath communion with God must walk in the light But all we that profess our selves Christians do say we have communion with God in and by our Saviour Christ Therefore we must all walk in the light We that do profess our selves Christians as we do say that we have communion or fellowship one with another so we do much more say that we have communion with God not inviting men to our civil but to our Christian communion and unless we make good that saying we cannot make good our own Christian profession for he that hath communion with Christ hath communion with the Son of God and he that hath the Son hath the Father also 1 Joh. 2. 23. Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father therefore Turks and Infidels and Antitrinitarians do not worship the same God with us Orthodox Christians but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also therefore Orthodox Christians in having Christ are sure they have communion with God For although these latter words He that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also be not in the Greek originals either of Greek or Latine Church for which cause they are by our Interpreters inserted in different characters from the text who did not desire to follow Beza where Beza did not follow the Church yet they are in the Vulgar Latine and are owned by Clemens of Alexandria in his comment upon this Epistle as it is recorded in Bibliothecâ Patrum and also by the Syrus Interpres and indeed are in effect owned by the Spirit of God himself for that they are virtually included in the former words by the rule of Contrariety or Opposition for by the same reason that whosoever denieth the Son hath not the Father it is most undoubtedly true that whosoever confesseth the Son hath the Father therefore all our labour must be that we may have the Son for in having him we are sure to have the Father And this is the grand doctrine of all the New Testament this is the main Gospel-truth that the Apostles maintained against all sorts of gainsayers in their time and they have left us their writings that we should also maintain it unto the worlds end That the Christian Religion is the only way to eternal salvation This their doctrine was strongly opposed in their days by four sorts of men 1. By the Gentiles not yet converted for they still maintained their heathenisme 2. By the Jews not yet converted for they still maintained their Judaisme 3. By the Jews not fully converted for they still maintained a mixture of Judaisme with Christianity they mingled together the Jewish and the Christian Religion 4. By the Christians converted but withal partly perverted for they brought in untrue professions and ungodly practises into their Christianity they corrupted and depraved the Christian Religion and the Apostles were accordingly very carefull as to confute these heresies so also to confirm and establish the contrary truth whence it is that all their writings are wholly taken up either in those confutations or in this confirmation For though the truth it felf is but one yet the controversies concerning it were no less then four and the Apostles thought it necessary not only to establish the truth in it self that it might appear truth but also to establish it in our hearts that it might appear truth to us that is truth without controversie not only a mystery of Godliness but also a manifest and confessed mystery 1. Tim. 3. 16. Wherefore it will not be amiss for us to see the state of the several Controversies that so we may the more clearly see the more firmly embrace the more constantly profess the truth The state of the first Controversie which the Apostles had with the Gentiles consisted of these two questions First whether there were a life everlasting to be looked for after this life Secondly whether that life everlasting were to be obtained by continuing in the idolatry of the heathen or by turning to the Religion of the Christians And in both these questions the truth of the Christian Religion is declared or rather demonstrated against the heathenish superstition out of the principles of natural reason and that truth summ'd up by St. Paul 1 Thes. 1. 9 10. How ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come There is a resurrection from the dead therefore the soul dies not with the body but lives eternally and this eternal life is not to be gotten by serving Idols but by serving the living and true God and there is no serving him but by waiting for his Son from heaven Thus was the Christian Religion justified against Heathenisme which afforded the first Controversie The state of the second Controversie which the Apostles had with the Jews not converted consisted but of this one Question Whether eternal life and salvation was to be obtained by the Jewish or by the Christian Religion And we finde the Apostles still proving out of the Old Testament the Ground of the Jews Religion and so acknowledged by themselves without the least doubt or contradiction that salvation was not to be had by Moses but by Christ so S. Peter in his several Sermons Acts 2. and 3. and 4. Christus Messias that Christ was the Messias the Saviour of the world is the subject of them all This he proves Acts 2. for that he had given the holy Ghost and was risen from the dead and both his proofs are out of the Old
coalescere Unio Gentilium Iudaeorum insimul habitantium Iudaeis enim propter antiquam consuetudinem suffocatum sanguis erant abominabilia Comesti autem immolatorum simulachris poterat in Iudaeis suspicionem ingenerare circa Gentiles quod scilicet redituri erant ad Idololatriam ideo ista fuerunt prohibita pro tempore illo in quo de novo oportebat convenire in unum Gentiles Iudaeos procedente autem tempore cessante causâ cessat effectus manifestâ doctrinae Evangelicae veritate in quâ Dominu◠docet quòd nihil quod per os intrat coinquinat hominem Mat. 15. nihil est rejiciendum quod cum gratiarum actione percipitur 1 Tim. 4. Fornicatio autem prohibetur specialiter quia Gentiles non reputabant eam esse peccatum The Apostles forbad things strangled and bloud and meats offered to Idols not to oblige the Gentiles to the observation of the Ceremonial Law but to bring the Jews and Gentiles now living together into one peaceable Communion that the Gentile might not offend the Jew by eating bloud and things strangled which had been forbidden by their Law nor the Jew suspect the Gentile as relapsing to his former Idolatry if he should eat things offered unto Idols therefore those three things were forbidden for that time onely till there might be a right understanding and a firm agreement betwixt the Jew and the Gentile but in process of time when the Gospel came to be fully published the cause ceasing the effect likewise ceased with it for then both Jew and Gentile were taught that nothing that entreth into the mouth defileth the man S. Mat. 15. 11. and that every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanks-giving 1 Tim. 4. 4. But as concerning fornication that was especially forbidden meerly in relation to the Gentiles because though it were a sin in it self yet was it not so in their opinion Thus the Angelical Doctor determines concerning this decree of the Apostles and to shew it was the undoubted judgement of his Church which in some things clearly sways him against the strength of his own reasons he again in effect renews the same determination Fornicatio illic connumeratur non quia habeat eandem rationem culpae cum aliis sed quia poter at esse similiter causa dissidii quia apud Gentiles Fornicatio simplex non reputabatur illicita propter corruptionem naturalis rationis Iudaei autem ex Lege divinâ instructi eam illicitam reputabant Alia verò quae ibi ponuntur Iudaei abominabantur propter consuetudinem legalis conservationis unde Apostolica Gentilibus interdixerunt non quasi secundum se illicita sed quasi Iudaeis abominabilia 22. qu. 154. art 2. resp ad 1. Fornication is there reckoned up with those other things not that it had as little sin as they but because it might have produced as great a cause of contention for the Gentiles through the corruption of their natural reason accounted fornication as no sin which the Jews knew to be a sin having their reasons enlightned and rectified by the Law of God and as for the other things they were forbidden not as unlawful or abominable in themselves but only as abominable to the Iews And indeed we cannot put fornication into the same bed-role of indifferency with the rest if we do but consider that the Apostles intent was not to give to those new beleevers a rule of life but a rule of peace not directions for their conversation but for their communion not to set down what was fit for their action but what was fit for their Union not what was conducible in it self but what was conducible to their present agreement in the first respect their Decree had been a very imperfect catalogue of things unlawfull a very imperfect rule of abstinence but in the second respect we have great reason to suppose that neither as a catalogue nor as a rule it needed any greater perfection And this was the judgement of the Latine Church concerning this matter though the Greek Church in the Trullane Council can 67. seem to be of another opinion and forbid all manner of eating of bloud but the reason is evident those of that council looked upon this decree as a command of the text and not as a condescention of the Apostles which doubtless was a mistake the like to which had been in the Asiatick Church before concerning Easter whence in process of time sprang up the heresie of the Quartadecimans for whereas S. Iohn the Apostle and some other Apostolical men had out of compliance with the Iews in Asia whose Church was mainly fixed in those parts kept the fourteenth day of the first moneth according to the law of Moses for their Pass-over Polycrates afterwards and the Clergy of his Churches taking that for an example or president which was onely a compliance or condescention would have perswaded the whole Christian Church to keep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Scaliger cals it to keep a Pass-over rather in remembrance of Christs Passion which was upon a week day then in Remembrance of his Resurrection which was upon a Sunday the Reason was the Churches of Asia had mistaken S. Iohns condescention to the Iews for an approbation to themselves as if what he allowed onely to the Iews he had also approved and by consequent established for the Christians The like mistake seems here to have been amongst the Fathers in Trullo concerning eating of bloud whereas the Greek Church had otherwise a right judgement concerning Apostolical condescention which is not to look upon it as a dogmatical sanction for so Theodoret in his argument upon the Epistle to the Galatians tels us that some Iews had perswaded the Galatians to stick to the Iewish ceremonies of Sabbaths new moons and circumcision saying they should not follow S. Paul who was of yesterday but rather S. Peter and S. Iames and S. Iohn which had been with Christ and did not forbid Circumcision nor those other Ceremonies whereupon Theodoret thus declares his judgement or rather the judgement of his Church for he was neither heretical nor schismatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And true it was that those Apostles did not then forbid Circumcision because they thought it requisite for that time to condescend unto the Iews but these men concealing the cause laid hold of the practise and endeavoured by that means to turn the Condescention into a Constitution The like was also the judgement of Oecumenius on Act. 3. 1. where he tels us that S. Peter and S. Iohn went up to the Temple at the hour of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. not that they did care to Iudaïze but that they might condescend to gain the Iews so that we may safely conclude notwithstanding the Canon of Trullo as well as the practice of the Asiatick Churches that the judgement of the Catholick Church
Isaac and of Jacob onely we trust in him not by Moses nor according to the law but by Christ and according to the gospel for the law which was given in Horeb is now antiquated for it was given onely to you Jews but the law which we serve God by is a law given to all nations of the world and is to abide to the worlds end for Christ is given unto us as the law and as an everlasting law his Testament as a faithfull Testament to remain for ever after which no law no commandment is to be expected or may be received Thus far Justin Martyr to the Jew because thus far the Apostle had stated the question to the Martyr and indeed to all Christians in the epistle to the Hebrews the sum whereof is briefly this that Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God coequal and coessential with the Father and the holy Ghost is perfect God and perfect man in the unity of the same person and is that onely eternal King Priest and Prophet which God in the fulness of time gave unto his Church to govern instruct and sanctifie it for ever and this he proves by the promises before the law by the types and figures under the law and by the general consent of all the prophets And therefore in this same Christ the Christian Church hath already a perfect knowledge of God in this world and shall have a perfect enjoyment of him in the world to come and therefore may expect no other Doctrine either for sanctification here or for salvation hereafter Now in that the old Testament is alledged to prove and confirm the New it is evident that the substance of Religion is one and the same in both Testaments unless we will suppose the Spirit of God to have made use of unfit and unproper proofs a thing not agreeable with the spirit of a prudent man who gains his knowledge by succession of time and much less agreeable with the Spirit of the omniscient and onely wise God who seeth all things at once in the looking-glass of eternity and if the Spirit of God confirm the new Testament by the old and hath left both the old and the new Testament to confirm us then it is evident that no Christian can seek to weaken or diminish the authority of either Testament but he must be an enemy to his own confirmation in the Christian faith Wherefore among all the contestations contentions that have been in the Church of Christ that controversie doth least become Christians and doth most shake the foundation of Christianity which doth seek to undervalue the authority of the word of Christ for if there be no infallible certainty in the word of Chrst it is impossible there should be any infallible certainty in the Christian Religion therefore they are the greatest enemies to the certainty of the Christian Religion who seek to add to the Church by detracting from the Scripture for if the Scripture hath not a most undoubted authority the Church can have none at all for sure we are the Scripture was delivered to the Church without any faults or corruptions and therefore we are bound not onely in common charity but also in common prudence and justice to beleeve that the Church hath so kept it because all the faults of the Text are to be layed upon the Church to whose care and trust God did commit the keeping of the text for God requireth two things of his Church first to be a faithfull keeper then to be a faithfull interpreter of his word and if we will needs say she hath not been faithfull in the keeping how can we choose but say she may be as unfaithfull in the interpreting of the word of God So that they are the greatest schismaticks that ever were who under pretence of extolling the authoritie of the Church do question nay debase the authoritie of the Scriptures for these men have begun an everlasting schisme which must needs last as long in the Church as there shall be any Christians so well perswaded of Gods truth as to think it was worth the registring and of the books wherein it was registred as to think them worth the keeping And Cassander himself seems to be of this opinion in his consultation of Religion in the chapter of the Church I cannot deny but the chiefest cause of this calamitie and distraction of the Church is to be ascribed to them who being puffed up with an empty kinde of pride of ecclesiastical power did contemn and repel those who rightly and modestly admonished them wherefore I think there is no firm peace to be hoped for unless they begin the reconciliation who began the distraction that is unless they who are set over the ecclesiastical government do remit somewhat of their excessive rigour and do yield somewhat to the peace of the Church and hearkening to the instruction and advice of many pious men do correct some manifest abuses according to the rule of Gods word and of the ancient Church from whence they have lately swerved I will set down the words in Latine for their sakes who do understand the Authour as well as I have the sense of them in English for their sakes who do desire to understand their Religion Non negarim praecipuam causam hujus calamitatis distractionis Ecclesiae illis assignandam qui inani quodam fastu ecclesiasticae potestatis inflati rectè modestè admonentes superbè fastidiosè contempserunt ac repulerunt Quare nullam firmam pacem sperandam puto nisi ab iis initium fiat qui distractionis causam dederunt hoc est nisi ii qui ecclesiasticae gubernationi praesunt de nimio illo rigore aliquid remittant Ecclesiae paci aliquid concedant multorum piorum votis monitis obsequentes manifestos abusus ad regulam divinarum literarum veteris Ecclesiae à quâ deflexerunt corrigant Cassander in consult de Rel. ad Ferdin 1. Max. 2. Imp. cap. de Ecclesiâ His judgment is plainly this that the Scripture is to rule and govern the Church and that to advance the authority of the Church against the authority of the Scripture much more above it is to give the occasion of a calamitous if not of a remediless schisme and distraction a distraction not possibly to be remedied till this irreligious tenent which is the cause of it be renounced and it is high time though the tenent it self be yet scarce one hundred years old for all good Christians that wish better to Christs interest then their own to renounce it and leave raising objections against the holy Scripture thinking to set up the Church by pulling down the word of God for besides that both Scripture and Church by their joynt authorities can never make us too sure of our Religion it is not possible for the Church to stand if the Scripture fall but they must needs both fall together Whereas let the Church not be
and in the hand as Truth is opposed to Dissimulation or Hypocrisie Thirdly in its certainty or perseverance And of thy great mercy keep us in the same as Truth is opposed to uncertainty or to levity and inconstancy Religion then hath and must have a two-fold truth the first consists in a right apprehension whereby we believe the thing as it is the second in a right affection profession and action whereby we love and profess and do the thing as we beleeve and there cannot be a more religious prayer invented by the wit of Piety nor a more affectionate prayer practised by the zeal of Charity then that which is so remarkable both for its Piety and for its Charity in our own Church Collect 3. Sunday after Easter Almlghty God which shewest to all men that be in errour the light of thy Truth to the intent that they may return into the way of Righteousness there 's its piety towards God rightly descanting upon Gods intent in shewing the light of his truth to make men righteous not to make them inexcusable These things I say that ye might be saved S. Joh. 5. 34. not onely convinced saith our blessed Saviour and yet he spake to those who had not the love of God v. 42. Grant unto all them that be admitted into the fellowship of Christ Religion that they may eschew those things that be contrary to their profession and follow all such things as be agreeable to the same there 's its charity towards men affectionately desiring that as they have a Christian Communion so they may also have a Christian conversation lest their unchristian conversation destroy and disanull their Christian Communion which without doubt it hath done already in many ages of the Church and will do still to the worlds end unless God in his mercy fill our hearts more and more with this true piety towards himself and with this true charity one towards another And for this cause the Commandments are in the judgement of some Divines accounted practical Articles of the Christian Faith because if these be left out in our conversation what is true in it self of our Creed is as it were false to us since either our profession gives the lye to our apprehension and affection or our action to our profession for this is the difference betwixt speculative and practical truths speculativè practicè credibilia those things that we must believe speculatively and those that we must believe practically the first which are summed up in the Creed are truly believed if there be a conformity of the thing with the Understanding but the second which are summed up in the Decalogue are then onely truly believed when there is a conformity of the affection and of the profession and of the action with the belief thus they that worship Images do expunge the second and they that resist Magistrates do expunge the fifth Commandment if not out of their books yet at least out of their Faith in their Books they may be true believers but in their Lives they are in these particulars little less then Infidels Now see in what a miserable condition is the irreligious miscreant who so beleeves as to make void his own faith and so receives the truth as to make the truth it self a lie to him either for want of a sanctified affection in not loving it or for want of a sanctified action in not practising it and hence we may likewise see and must confess that not he who knows most of the doctrine of Faith is the best Beleever but he that most loves what he knows in speculatives and he that most practises what he knows in practicks so that a great Scholar may fully know the truth and yet to him it may be as a lye because he loves it not for to him it is what he desires it should be contrariwise an ignorant peasant may not fully know the truth and yet to him it may be the saving truth because he loves it for what is wanting in his head is made up by his heart O my soul glory not in the knowledge of Christ but in the love of that knowledge glory not in thy learning if thou art Mistress of any but in thy Religion to which thou oughtest to be a servant learning may make a man wise to ostentation but 't is onely Religion can make him wise to salvation Do not then with Pilate ask thy Saviour what is truth and then go away without his answer much less mayest thou turn to those Jews that help to crucifie him for if thou know these things happy art thou not because thou knowest them but if thou do them thy happiness consists not in knowing Christ but in practising him nor is it possible for a man to be long defective in his practise and not to be defective also in his knowledge since what is sinfull in the deliberate action is sinfull in the will and what is sinfull in the will is erroneous in the judgement or understanding and this is the reason that a man may be a heretick not onely in credendis but also in agendis not onely in Articles of Faith but also in Duties of Life nay indeed he cannot easily be a heretick in the Duties of Life and still remain truly Orthodox in the Articles of Faith as for example he that prays to a Saint or Angel in stead of God directly overthrows the first Commandment but indirectly also the first Article of his Creed I believe in one God for Prayer is a Sacrifice that may be offered onely unto God again he that wilfully dishonours his Governours whom God hath set over him directly overthrows the fifth Commandment but indirectly also the ninth Article of his Creed I beleeve the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints for being a Lover of division he is not a true beleever of that Communion and this we may take for a general doctrine fitter to be received then opposed First that any practical errour which is against our duty towards God doth tend to a speculative errour against some part of the Creed which concerneth God as he that doth not honour God as God doth in effect deny him to be maker of heaven and earth therefore saith the Psalmist O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our maker as if we could not truly beleeve him to be our maker if we will not worship him with all possible reverence and fear Secondly that any practical errour which is against our duty towards our neighbour doth tend against some Article of the Creed that hath relation to men as he that will not be subject to the authority of his lawfull governours Civil or Ecclesiastical doth in effect deny The Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints Thirdly and lastly that any practical errour against the duty which a man oweth unto himself doth tend against some Article of Faith that concerns himself as he that is a common
the reconciliation would be easily effected as to what concerns Gods interest were it not impeded and hindred by our own Hence it is also that many under a pretence of settling and regulating Religion do indeed disturb and disorder it and in stead of rightly guiding the Christian do indeed misguide him whiles they stand so much upon ceremonals which are of their own making as that they much more neglect morals which are Gods undoubted commands and so desire to have their converts be some of Paul some of Appollos some of Cephas as they little regard and less care to see they be truly all of Christ. And yet amidst all these grand miscarriages of men which no Rhetorick can sufficiently express no repentance can sufficiently bewail though we finde much that may trouble us in the practise of Religion yet we finde nothing that can excuse us if we practise it not for there is matter enough uncontroverted on all sides to engage the whole soul of man if we would take notice of that engagement Satis ampla pietatis exercendae materia est in iis rebus de quibus utrinque convenit nam de side in Christum mortuum resuscitatum pro nobis collocandâ de charitate Deo proximo exhibendâ controversia nulla est at in his duobus capitibus pietatis summa consistit saith the most judicious and pious Cassander in his book De officio pii viri What pitie is it that there should be the greatest defect where is the least controversie amongst Christians This made the forenamed Authour profess that he was nothing at all satisfied with those men who pretended that the contentions of Christians hindred their progress in Christianity for saith he There is matter enough for the exercise of piety which is quite exempted from all controversie for all sides agree that we must be saved by faith in Christ crucified for our sins and raised again for our justification and by the love of God for his own sake and of our neighbour for Gods sake and in these two heads saith he of faith and charity is comprised the sum of all true Christianitie Saint Paul had said no less before him 1 Tim. 1. 5 6. The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and of faith unfained which Aquinas thus proves most substantially Omnes enim virtutes de quarum actibus dantur praecepta ordinantur vel ad purificandum cor à turbationibus passionum sicut virtutes quae sunt circa passiones vel saltem ad habendam bonam conscientiam sicut virtutes quae sunt circa operationes vel ad habendam rectam sidem sicut illae quae pertinent ad divinum cultum haec tria requiruntur ad diligendum Deum nam cor impurum à Dei dilectione abstr ahitur propter passionem inclinantem ad terram conscientia vero mala facit horrere divinam justitiam propter timorem poenae fides autem ficta trahit affectum ad id quod de Deo fingitur separans à Dei Veritate 22 ae qu. 44. art 1. All the vertues whose acts are commanded in the Law directly tend either to the purging of the heart from the disturbances of the passions as those vertues which teach us to order our affections or they tend to the getting and keeping of a good conscience as those vertues that concern our works and operations or they tend to the getting and keeping of a true Faith as those vertues which immediately concern the worship of God and all these three are required to the true love of God 1. A pure heart for that else will cleave to the earth by its impurity 2. A good conscience for that else will run from God because of its guiltiness 3. an unfained faith for that else will follow a fiction in stead of God and falsities in stead of his truth This being taken for granted which cannot rationally be denied the meanest man that is will finde little cause to be discouraged or disheartened in the Christian Religion by reason of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from all which S. Paul so exceedingly dehorts S. Timothy that there are amongst Christians so many strifes about words and so many vanities and novelties and emptinesses in those strifes for if he will have a diligent care of his own heart that it may be pure of his own conscience that it may be good and of his own faith that it may be unfained he will not dangerously neglect his duty either towards himself or towards his neighbour or towards his God but will always finde matter enough to busie his soul here and take a sure course to save his soul hereafter it is evident from the ensuing words that none but they who swerve from these three scil a pure heart a good conscience and a faith unfained do turn aside unto vain janglings And for this cause our blessed Saviour chides not onely the Scribes and Pharisees but also the meanest of the common people for not following and embracing the undoubted truth though there were at that time as great contentions in the Jewish as are now in the Christian Church S. Luke 12. 54 56 57. And he said also unto the people Ye hypocrites can ye discern the face of the sky and of the earth But how is it that ye do not discern this time yea and why even of your selves judge ye not what is right He chides them for being quick-sighted in matters of earth but as it were pur-blinde in the things of heaven that they could of themselves judge rightly of the seasons for their profit not so for their amendment and notwithstanding he professeth that he came not to give peace on earth but rather divisions such as should divide the nearest and dearest relations from and against themselves yet he gives no writ of ease to any man that he should leave off being a judge in matters of his salvation for if divisions hinder them not from judging what is right in husbanding their lands why should they hinder them from judging what is right in husbanding their souls To apply this to our present purpose since 't is not in our power to doubt either of Christian faith or Christian Charity as necessarily required and immediately conducing to salvation why should it be in our will to neglect them both for this is in effect to proclaim that we had rather with Martha be troubled about many things then with Mary choose that good part which shall not be taken from us it is in effect to declare that we will have a Religion rather to serve our selves then to serve our God rather agreeable with mens present humours then with Gods eternal truth otherwise our whole labour would be to conform our selves to that eternal truth in our understandings by faith in our wills by charity which two would make us
all even as the first cause hath a stronger influence then the second and all that come after it Will you then ask me why God rewards the best of men the righteous far above their deserts 't is because his mercy first made them men to be capable of righteousness and made them righteous to be capable of reward and that being the first cause must needs have the strongest influence Will you ask me again why God doth not reward the worst of men impenitent sinners according to their ill deservings I must answer again 't is the same mercy because that was the first cause of the creation and therefore cannot but have the strongest influence upon the creature and consequently though his justice do as it were force him to punish for his law must be satisfied either by our active or by our passive obedience yet his mercy will not let him punish to the utmost and hence comes in the citra condignum in the Schools that even the damned in hell shall be punished much less then they have deserved If you ask me in the third place why God forgives so much sin in the best of sinners the true penitents that he may discharge them from all punishment you must still be contented with the same answer for 't is nothing but mercy which having been the first cause of his working will have the greatest preeminence and the strongest influence amongst all his works nay over them all as saith the Psalmist his mercy is over all his works Ps. 145. 9. Deusnon miseretur nisi propter amorem in quantum amat nos tanquam aliquid sui saith the same angelical Doctour Gods mercy is from his love and his love is from himself he sheweth us mercy because he loveth us and he loveth us because he seeth something of himself in us nothing else being truly good and lovely in us but what the fountain of goodness and love hath made so and hence it comes to pass that where is the most of God there is also the most of mercy where is most of his image either by the first righteousness that of innocency or by the second righteousness that of repentance there also is most of his love there is some of his love towards the worst men because there is some of his image in them which they had by their creation but there is very much of his love towards the best men because there is very much of his image in them which they have from their sanctification We are all dull of our apprehensions and cannot easily discern Gods mercies by a right valuation but more dull of our affections and will not easily profess and acknowledge them by our thankfulness but the Apostle whose eyes were opened to discover whose heart was opened to perceive whose mouth was opened to express the goodness of God towards men breaketh forth into this great exclamation but greater admiration for us all O altitudo divitiarum O the depth of the riches who hath first given unto him and it shall be recompenced again Rom. 11. 33 35. here in the words is mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in the thing is made good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sigure notorious in Rhetorick for want of words and so called because the latter clause of the sentence doth not contribute or give its part to make up the full sense as Exo. 32. 31. If thou wilt forgive their sin S. Luk. 13. 9. if it bear fruit where nothing more is said to make up a perfect sense but the rest is left to be understood from the silence of the speaker this figure is notorious in Rhetorick the very art of speaking meerly for want of speech but 't is much more notorious in Divinity the art of doing meerly for want of deeds for if when we have done all we are unprofitable servants what shall we say of our selves that we can do nothing this is indeed a true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for here is nothing to be given back again God hath given us all but we can give him nothing and that he might be sure to leave nothing ungiven he hath given us him who is all in all he hath given us himself in our creation he hath given us his Son in our redemption he hath given us his holy Spirit in our sanctification but who either first or last hath given unto God and it shall be recompenced unto him again If we give any thing to him 't is but what we first received from him and we cannot give that so entirely as we received it it came better to us then it can return from us so that we must needs confess all that is given is given onely on one side without any the least recompence on the other and consequently none of Gods gifts to man can properly come under the consideration much less under the claim of justice but all of them flow from the inexhausted fountain of his free and undeserved mercy by this mercy alone it is that he willeth our salvation and hath given us his oath that he wills it As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Ezek. 33. 11. which made the ancient Father fall into a rapture and break forth into this exclamation O nos soelices quorum causa jurat Deus O miserrimos si ne juranti quidem Deo credimus O happy we for whose sakes God hath been pleased to swear O most unhappy if we do not beleeve him upon his oath by this mercy alone it is that he inviteth us to repentance the onely means of salvation that in his invitation he condescendeth to our infirmities and beareth with our delays by this mercy alone it is that upon our repentance he actually delivereth us from the bondage of sin and Satan working that deliverance by his Son and sealing it by his holy Spirit and that altogether freely that is to say so far without our good deservings as above them so far with our ill deservings as against them so saith the Apostle Rom. 3. 24. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus what did we do for Christ that he hath redeemed us what can we do for God that he should justifie us It is reasonable that we first shew what we have done towards our redemption before we presume to boast what we can do towards our justification Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit saith the Psalmist thereby shewing that the salvation he beseecheth God to restore unto him is as free as the Spirit whereby he restores it Eodem modó retinetur quo acquiritur no more merit is to be pleaded for our retaining of Gods Spirit then was for our first receiving him the Spirit was free when he first laid hold on us and is as free now he still upholds
keep his Oath in slaying those who brought him the head of Ishbosheth so carefull was God of David and David of himself that though he were made King yet he made not his own way to the possession of the kingdom nay yet more after another persecution he is still the same man 1 Sam 26. 8 9 10 11. and will rather flie for the safety of his own life then seek to destroy his Sovereign he was afraid to go a King-catching for fear that might teach him to go a King-killing therefore he saith There is nothing better for me then that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines 1 Sam. 27. 1. and at last when the Amalekite had done this horrid act of killing King Saul for no Israelite would do it the Armour-bearer that was not afraid to kill himself was afraid to kill his King 1 Sam. 3. 4 5. you see how David punished him for doing it caused him to be put to death and said unto him Thy bloud be upon thy head for thy mouth hath testified against thee saying I have slain the Lords Anointed 2 Sam. 1. 14 15 16. and moreover cursed the place where it was done v. 21 The mountains of Gilboa must have no more dew nor rain because upon them had been spilt the Kings bloud and He bids not tell it in Gath nor publish it in the streets of Askelon lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoyce lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph v. 20. He looks upon this act as the reproach of Israel though it were done by an Amalekite how much more if the Israelites themselves had done it and in truth they were very much guilty of it for it was their not destroying Amalek within that made God leave Amalek without to destroy them for as this Amalekite had not been left to kill King Saul if Saul had obeyed Gods commandment of utterly destroying Amalek 1 Sam. 15. 3. so questionless If Israel had destroyed the spiritual Amalek for warring against them which is the reason why Amalek was to be destroyed 1 Sam. 15. 2. That is the sinfull lusts of the flesh which warred against the Spirit and made them in their hearts return into Egypt God had not suffered Saul to spare the temporal Amalek without them 't was once in their power to have destroyed Amalek but now 't is in Amaleks power to destroy them and they may pronounce that as a sentence which their brethren afterwards pronounced onely as a wish or imprecation His bloud be upon us and upon our children 't is our not destroying the spiritual Amalek hath given the temporal Amalek power to destroy both our King and us and our childrens children In all these particulars of Samuels mourning of Davids relenting lamenting and weeping of Sauls perishing not by an Israelite but by an Amalekite of the Amalekites being put to death and mount Gilboas being put out of heavens blessing the Word of God doth as it were make Proclamation in the name of the King of heaven That it is it can be no other then a fire from hell that cannot be quenched but by a Kings bloud But what should the Preacher talk of hell to Amalekites that look not after another world so they may enjoy this Let us therefore see what success of disloyaltie he bids them expect even in this world and sure 't is like to be none of the best for there is upon earth a Power if not a Person left to punish it even the very same power which such men abuse and therefore will not be tardie may not be sparing 1. their punishment as it follows in the next words For he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him Be not hasty to go out of his sight much more Be not hasty to put him out of thy sight stand not in this evil thing For he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him This doctrine of Allegiance is inforced by reasons that concern both the inward and the outward both the spiritual and the carnal man that if it work not upon us as called to the inheritance of another world yet it may as loving the inheritance of this The Preacher sets down both reasons The first concerns the spiritual man who looks after his conscience to him he pleads the Oath of God The second concerns the carnal man that looks after his interest to him he alledgeth the power of Kings For he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him And this is S. Pauls method after him who writes the most demonstratively of all the Apostles in all the doctrines of Christianitie yet in this doctrine doth he after a sort strive to go beyond himself for in this he doth not onely use demonstrative or convincing arguments taken from the nature of the cause but also prevailing or perswading arguments taken from the condition of the Person this great Doctour in other doctrines thinketh it enough to use those prooofs which we call argumenta ad rem but in this he is moreover industrious to apply those proofs which we call argumenta ad hominem not onely fit to prove the thing but also fit to reprove and charm the man that gainsays it In other documents of Christianity he preacheth by the demonstration of the spirit 1 Cor. 2. 4. But in this he useth another kinde of demonstration which we may call A demonstration of the flesh for so he argues Rom. 13. 4. He is the minister of God to thee for good as if he had said If not for Gods sake yet for thine own sake thou must be subject if not for thy Conscience yet for thy convenience if not for the good of thy soul yet for the good of thy body if not for thy everlasting salvation yet for thy temporal preservation Thus after the confounding arguments of resisting Gods Ordinance and receiving damnation to work upon the Conscience he brings his perswading argument He is for thine own good to work upon the man He is the minister of God to thee for good and the same method that he useth in his preaching he useth also in his praying 1 Tim. 2. 1 2 I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men For Kings and for all that are in authoritie that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty Nor are these very words In all godliness and honesty an argument to work onely upon the conscience but also upon the condition or the person of the man who though he may cast away the practice yet is loth to cast away the repute of godliness for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is honestie properly Honesta quaedam morum gravitas quae reverentiam conciliat saith Beza so then he that will be godly or will be thought godly must zealously pray for Kings he that will have the power of godliness in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the form of godliness in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the reason will extend to