for ideò permisit libertatem Religionis quia sic sperabat posse interire Christianos Out of perfect spight he gave way to a general Toleration thinking thereby to destroy Christianity it self Aug. Epist 156. This is a true account of the world of old Heathen Jewish and Christian and 't is a sad one As for latter Ages there have been many pretences to Toleration of which I need not speak Only one thing is observable of all Ages namely That it has been the Custome of all false Teachers to plead for a Toleration themselves but never to afford it to the Orthodox Professors witness the Jews the Roman Tyrants the Arrians the Donatists not to speak of the present Age how unmercyful were they Pass we therefore from the History to our Duty as we shall be able to gather it out of Scripture and the Opinion of the Ancient Church truly Orthodox and Catholick abstracting from the particular Controversies now on foot in any part of the Christian world And I humbly conceive we may certainly conclude against a Toleration in general of any Religion that is false in the substance of it For as for Ceremonies and Circumstances who will insist upon them so as to make a Schism but use them as he finds them as St. Austin practis'd and advis'd But if Religion in the substance of it be false 't is an undeniable Maxim that what we must not do our selves we are forbidden to suffer in others we may not allow in others a sin which we are forbidden to commit our selves Non est innocens nisi qui cum scit prohibere non potest He is not to be esteemed innocent who knows a thing to be a sin unless he cannot help it from being committed And the Canon Law gives a Reason Decret parte 13. distinct 55. Non caretscrupulo occultoe Societatis qui manifesto crimini desinit obviare A man is to be suspected to have some secret Society and combination with that fault he does not hinder Besides there cannot but be a great Deformity and the Beauty of Holiness is quite lost by such a Toleration There is but one God and Christ and Truth and Faith and Church and t is great confusion to associate things not sociable Light and Darkness if it be in our power to hinder it and there be any liberty of Prudence to hinder it for there is an absolute and blind Power whereby indeed we may do such or such a thing without any good Reason all circumstances consider'd and without any good effect And there is a Power of Discretion with which all good and Religious things should be accompanied otherwise you may cast Pearls before Swine and they may turn and tear you in pieces And you may pluck up the Wheat with the Tares i.e. You may be the occasion of doing so For if the Hereticks which our Saviour means by Tares prevail in the Confusion and get the upper hand the Church may be destroyed However the Conclusion still stands We are not to tolerate diversities of Religions if we can with any Discretion and safety prevent it Otherwise a Toleration is not only lawful but necessary So in the case of Ambassadors who have been allways suffer'd in the Private use of their Religion One King cannot prescribe to an other Par in parem c So also in Reasons of State as when Kingdomes be Elective and obleige themselves and cannot without great Confusion help it and both Parties are intrusted in the Government So in case of Matches when Kings out of Reasons of State take Wives out of Kingly Families of a contrary Religion the absolute Lawfulness of which I think can never be questioned but is rather manifest from many Instances of Scripture such as Isaac and Rebecca Jacob and Rachel before the giving of the Law not to speak of David with Maacha the Daughter of the King of Jeshuron and Solomon with Pharaoh's Daughter after the giving of the Law which for fear of the sad effects of Idolatry did forbid such mixtures I am sure after the coming of the Gospel St. Paul requires the Believing Party to continue even with the Infidel who is said 1 Ep. Cor. 7. c. 9. v. to be bound by the Law so to do i. e. by the Law of Marriage Vide Bezam in locum and the Apostle is content for the making of a Marriage Lawful only with one Condition namely Arabs Interpres nimiū angustè restringit ad accipiendū maritum ex fidelium numero that it be in the Lord i. e. in the fear of the Lord. But these Exceptions and the like being provided for 't is certainly our Duty to God to suppress all erroneous Religions if it be in our Discreet Power so to do still observing the Apostles Rules which be these First What have we to do to judge those that be without or those that be not subject to the State in which we live They flatter the Pope that give him Jurisdiction over all the world As for those that be without no Christian may draw his Sword against Infidels only for the sake of Religion unless there be a special Warrant from God as the Children of Israel had for the Canaanites and Saul for the Amalekites But if the Unbeliever be a Member of the State in which he lives he is not to be suffer'd in the outward exercise of his Religion So Constantine the first Christian Emperour shut up the Temples of Idolaters and there is the same Reason against the Synagogues of the Jews and the Mosques of the Mahometans Secondly As for those that be within the Church by Baptism and Profession if they fall into Heresy or Schism they must be corrected and reform'd but still according to the respective offices Lines and Powers of men which are various The Minister must do his part and his office is to stand Sentinel and to discover the first Approaches He must try them which say they are Apostles and are not Rev. 2. He must blow the Trumpet and bid the People beware of false Prophets Math. 7. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees Math. 16. Beware of Dogs Beware of Evil-workers Beware of the Concision Philip. 3. He must instruct in Meekness 2 Tim. 2. He must convince the Leaders and reprove them sharply If this prevail not He must use the Power of the Keys The Epistles of Christ to the 7 Churches of Asia are altogether to this purpose and that upon condition of removing the Candlestick out of its place in the 2d of the Rev. 14. I have a few things against thee to the Church of Pergamus because Thou hast them that hold the doctrine of Balaam who taught Baalak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel and to commit for nication and that held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate said the Spirit to the Churches So likewise to the Church of Thyatira v. 20. I have a few things against
e. let them work miracles bring to pass Heroick Acts without proper and competent means The Sum is and it ought to be the governing Rule in our whole lives We are to do our Duties when called to it not else no not in the Acts of our general calling as we are Christians Let not this seem strange to any The great Duty of Christianity is to believe with our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus is the Christ neither is it sufficient to keep Faith only in our hearts as some Hereticks in the Primitive times blasphemed though it be to save our lives but then 't is when we are requir'd to make Confession with our mouths and the Ancient Church to check the Forwardness and blind zeal of some hasty Christians refus'd those that offer'd themselves to the rage of Persecution forbid'em I say to be taken into the Catalogue of Martyrs So likewise for our Duties to men we are in 6. Gal. requir'd to do good to all men but t is as is there express'd as we have opportunity And as for particular Callings we have the same Apostles Rules in two Epistles In the 12. Rom. 4. All members says the Apostle have not the same office and therefore v. 16. let every one attend on the office wherein he is plac'd whether it be Ministry Teaching or Ruling v. 7 8. The same counsel we have 1 Ep. Cor. 7.20 Let every man abide in the same Calling wherein he was called Art thou call'd being a Servant care not for it v. 21. though if thou mayst be made free use it rather And v. 24. he repeats it again and to enforce it upon them uses the great engaging term of Christianity Brethren let every man in the Calling wherein he is called abide with God otherwise you sin against the common notion of Brethren you walk not as Christians and therefore 2ly you forfeit the great blessing that attends our living suitably to that Relation neither do you abide with God and how then can you expect God's favour when you go away from him God's Protection to his Church is promis'd upon this condition In the 90 Psalm it is written He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee and if they have charge over us we need not doubt the services of other creatures but then t is in all thy ways not else and That clause the Lyer and the Murderer from the beginning left out in his Temptation to our Lord. T is very observable how particular the Apostles are in laying out the respective Duties of Inferiours Obedience in this world is the great thing the sins of Superiors are remitted to the other world and then Great men shall be greatly tormented But the Apostles are in nothing more exact in their commands upon Christendom than in laying out the Duties of Servants to Masters not so much as answering again Children to Parents Wives to Husbands all Inferiors to their Betters valuing of men by the discharge of these offices And t was good advice therefore of a Cardinal Jackson Tone 1. p. 232. much commended by a great Divine of our Church in reading of St. Paul's Epistles to begin with the end of them which contain the plain Duties of a Christian life private and publick for being once well acquainted with them we shall more easily attain to the true sense of the former part which being usually Doctrinal are the more difficult And as the Apostles were thus careful in enjoyning the Duties of these particular Callings so the Christians were as careful in performing them though mean and base ones When the Publicans and Souldiers chang'd their Religions they kept their Callings still would fight for their Emperor and dye for Christ at the same time not but that Callings may and must be sometimes changed too as if one be subordinate to the other or in case of disability of Body Mind Estate or Private necessity as when Paul made Tents and we have power over our selves and be at our own disposal If thou mayst be made free use it rather never out of Pride Lightness Ambition Covetousness Idleness Pragmaticalness and as Busy bodies and without Authority For what I pray makes a Calling either to a Profession or single Action but first Fitness of Abilities secondly Authority both of them necessary always but the latter absolutely and in the highest degree And therefore when men loath the Stations in which God hath set them and either utterly abandon them or reach at those Imployments which in the ordinary course of Providence are deny'd them when he shall teach that ought to learn and he command that ought to obey such Inversions and transposing of things are no more hurtful to men then hateful to God So much for Professions and Callings without Authority The like must be said concerning single Actions upon any emergent occasion When Demetrius the Silver-Smith in the 19. Acts being afraid upon the account of St. Paul's preaching of losing his Trade in making Shrines for the Goddess Diana of his own head had called the Craftsmen together though he spake notably in the behalf of the great Goddess Diana whom all Asia and the world worshipp'd and had fill'd his hearers with wrath against St. Paul and the whole City with confusion crying out for the space of two hours Great is Diana of the Ephesians and yet the biggest part knew not for what they came together the Town-clerk to still the people very wisely and very loyally told them If Demetrius and his Crafts-men have a matter against any man the Law is open and there are Deputies or as t is in the Margent of our Bible the Court-days are kept let them plead one another and it shall be determin'd in a lawful Assembly and ye ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly for we are in danger of being accus'd for this days riot for as much as there can be no cause given for this concourse of people As for the Church examine the whole Bible Old and New Testament you will find Priests and Prophets and Apostles and all the People of God and the Son of God himself submitting and ruling their outward behaviour by humane Constitutions and Powers as carefully as this Town-clerck The Acts of the Apostles and the life and death of Christ are perfect submission to the Emperial Laws The Apostles refer themselves to them First for Obedience and then for Protection We have them both notably at once in St. Paul I appeal to Caesar and I am a Roman and when wrongfully imprison'd in the 16 of the Acts and the Inferiour Magistrates fear'd when they heard they were Romans and sent to set them at Liberty privily no says St. Paul They have beaten us openly uncondem'd being Romans and have cast us into Prison and now would they thrust us out privily Nay verily let them come themselves and fetch us out v. 37. But their Obedience to the Laws they allways perform'd
A SERMON Preached before the KING At White-hall November 23. 1684. BY GILBERT IRONSIDE D. D. VVarden of Wadham Coll. in Oxon and Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY PUBLISHED By His Majesties special Command OXFORD Printed by Leonard Lichfield Printer to the University for James Good Bookseller near the Theatre MDCLXXXV A SERMON Preached before the KING The 23 of November 1684. 1 Peter cap. 4. ver 15. Let none of you suffer as a Murderer or as a Thief or as an Evil-doer or as a Busie-body in other mens matters Yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed FROM which words we may observe Two things 1. A Prohibition of suffering in a bad cause Let no man suffer as a Murderer c. And t is a divine Prohibition for the discharge of our consciences upon the pain of sin 'T is the divine favour the Apostle aims at not time serving He gives this injunction as an Apostle not as a States-man as an Apostle that had the care over all the Christian Churches And if there be any thing extraordinary in that 't is the very Apostle that had a special charge Three times to feed the Sheep and Lambs of Christ Let no man says St. Peter suffer c. 2. The Support and Comfort and Honour that attends the Cross of Christ But if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed Of this last I shall not speak I hope in this distracted disputing luke-warm Age if yet Christianity it self shall come to be the Controversy which God of Heaven forbid there be not many among us that profess the name of Christ will want Blood nor their Blood Spirit enough to dye for him who dy'd for them when he was the Son of God The business here is to consider well what 't is to suffer as a Christian not to be too hasty and positive in pronouncing this or that Rule or Doctrine to be Christianity If any man suffer as a Christian i.e. according to Christ's Institution not the foolish no nor the wise Fancies of men Single or in Assemblies a Divine and Apostolieal Christian We need not nay we must not look for the Image of him any where but as we find it in Christ's and his Apostles drawing Even the Church it self when it represents Religion a right falls infinitely short of what is in the Bible as to the Lording it over our Faith and is not so hardy as to equal Her Institutions with Divine Precepts And we can never be sufficiently thankful to God for the Wisdom with which he inspir'd the Church of England in this Respect the modest and humble Wisdom of the Church of England indeed all true Wisdom is such a Wisdom from above First Pure and then Peaceable I wish the Church of Rome had continued so too But how many Articles of Faith and how many Precepts of Life have they added to Religion and required the belief and practice of them as necessary to Salvation the only cause of difference betwixt us We are content with the account of a Christian as we find it in Scripture and in that we read they were called Christians first at Antioch not at Rome however if any man say Loe here is Christ or there is Christ this is a good Christian that a good Catholick either in Greek or Latine Church believe them not unless you find them such and only and meerly such as he was when St. Peter said if any man suffer as a Christian such an one even in his greatest Sufferings ought not to be ashamed 'T is but a thin Expression according to the sound but the Figure speaks great things Let him look upon it as his Honour and Glory 1. Pet. 1.4 The spirit of Glory resteth upon you Let him esteem it as an Excellency a Preferment and the special gift of God To you t is given to suffer for the name of Christ Philip. 1.29 But of this comfortable encouragement I shall not speak My time shall be spent upon the first The Prohibition of suffering in a bad cause Let no man suffer as a Murderer or as a Thief those are words easy to be understood and so is the next an Evil-doer The Apostle having mentioned Thieves and Murderers to avoid a further enumeration of the other great Immoralities concludes them all in one word of Evil-doers and then further adds to secure the State as a Busy-body in other mens matters Beza tells us that the Syriack Version does not read those words as a Busy-body and he undertakes to give a reason for it because says he the humor of medling with other mens matters does not seem to be of the number of those faults that are usually punished or are punishable unless quòd soepe in rixas incidunt qui curiosè satagunt aliena unde postea majora mala oriantur Busy-bodies naturally fall into controversies whence greater Evils may arise and surely that alone if there were no other reason is a sufficient one for the Prohibition in the Text in an Apostle that writ for the peace of Christendome even in private concerns much more in publick and State Affairs In the Prohibition it self there are two things to be observed The one supposed The other infer'd 1. T is supposed there is a Power for the suppressing of Vice and Immorality and not only so but also in limiting the several Ranks and Orders and Imployments of men and coercing of them if as Busy-bodies they transgress and the Apostle reckons even such Constitutions lawful wholesome and necessary 2. This being the Magistrates power t is manifestly the Christian Subjects duty to avoid all the things here mentioned the last as well as the first and that not only in prudence as to worldly affairs but upon pain of sin and the displeasure of the King of Kings Let no man suffer not only as a Murderer and a Thief and an Evil-doer but as a Busy-body in other mens matters i. e. 't would be monstrously shameful for Christians to be guilty of either of these things not only of gross heathen Immoralities but of the later sort also And there is an Emphasis in the words Let none of you Christians The Apostle here supposes that all these are to suffer and and the Magistrate would otherwise bear the Sword in vain I do not love to prove suppositions yet when Principles themselves are disputed or misunderstood or neglected or the Light and Evidence of them fought against and in a great measure quencht they may well be opened and the strength of them lay'd before the understandings of weak and prest upon the Consciences of corrupt men And of all principles Obedience to Magistrates the great Eye-sore and the Execution of Justice the support of the world will be alwayes necessary to be taught and prest upon the conscience I shall therefore consider from the words 1. The Power for the suppressing of Vice and Immorality Indeed a Toleration of Vice was