hearts as Job speaks of his children when they had feasted each other in their several houses It may be my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts Job 1.5 Lâ—â— us fear all our works after Jobs example Job 9.28 So as not to reposâ— any trust and conâ—idence in them and utterly to renounce all opinion of merit by them and seeing there was no sacrifice without dung fear we the wants and weaknesses the sinful defects and imperfections that adhear and cleave to our best actions say we every one of us with the devout affection of holy Bernard (k) Bernard in Cantic Horreo quicquid de meo sum ut sim meus abhor we whatsoever it ours that so we may be ours and not so much ours as Gods This sollicitous and watchful fear will not be a means to impain but improve not to shake but to strengthen our security That which one sometimes told the Senators of Rome Ego sic existimabam patres conscripti uti patrem meum saepe praedicantem audiveram qui vesiram amicitiam colerent multum laberein suscipere caeterum ex omnibus maxime tutos esse As I have often heard my father acknowledge so did I ever think that the friends and favorers of this state barged themselves with greatest labour but no mans condition so safe as theirs the same may we a great deal more justly say in this case our Fathers and Prophets yea our Lord and Master have full oft spoken and by long experience we have found it most true as many as are retained in this service Eosmaximum laborem suscipere they have taken upon them a laboursome a toy lesome a painful profession sed omnium maxime titos esse but no mans security like their If then there be any that propound and move the jaylours question Act. 16.30 What must I do to be saved I shall return no other then St. Pauls answer Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved provided alwaies that we forget not St. Peters rule 2 Pet. 1.5 and besides this giving all diligence add to your faith vertue and that we take along with us St. Pauls charge to Titus 3.8 this is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God be careful to maintain good works This is the duty of every Titus of each faithful Minister of Christ to hold forth faith and good works in the course of their publick Ministry and it is a duty of as high concernment to the private Christian to joyn saith and good works in their personal practise These are the two pillars of Religion whereon it relies and rests like unto Iachin and Boas that supported Solomons Temple and are like unto Rachel and Leah which two did build the house of Israel Ruth 4.11 and by both these we must edifie and build up our selves in the working of our salvation As therefore holy Brâ—â—lford cried out frequently in the ears of this Nation Repent Repent Repent And that other Martyr was wont to call upon his followers Pray Pray Pray So let me bespeak you I say not with the bare ingemination but trebling of the duty Work Work Work Let us begin and set upon the work to day this present hour and minute I now speak unto you And let us go on with the work the next and the next yea all the daies of our life And being at the point of death let us say with that dying Emperour Severus Is there yet any more work to doe Let us not cause the work to cease till we cease to be any more Till we rest from our labours and our good works follow us not to the Grave alone but to the highest Heaven I close up all with the repetition of the context and what Saint Paul made use of as a Preface shall serue me instead of a Conclusion Wherefore my Beloved as ye have always obeyed not as in my presence onely but now much more in my abfence Work out your salvation with sear and trembling VNVM NECESSARIVM OR CHARITY Is ALL in ALL A SERMON Preached before the Maior and Court of Aldermen of the City of Norwich in the Newhall Chappel Vnum opus est id est unum necessarium est Non unum quasi singulare opus sed opus est expedit necessarium est August in Evang. secund Lucam Serm. 26. de Martha Maria. Propterea unus sanabatur in illa Piscina quisquis alius descendebat non sanabatur Ergo iste unus commendat unitatem Ecclesiae August in Evang. secund Johan Tractat. 12. LONDON Printed by T. C. for Will. Rands at Fleet-bridge 1659. VNVM NECESS ARIVM OR CHARITY Is ALL in ALL. 1 COR. 16.14 Let all your things be done with Charity A Concise and short Text a small Ray or Sparkle The Introduction like unto that of a precious pearly or orient Diamond but of great price and value A drop of Words and yet a sea of Matter (a) Tertul. de Orat. cap. 1. Quantum substringitur verbis tantum diffunditur sensibus as Tâ—rtullian speaks of the Lords Prayer It is not mord compendious and contracted in form of speech then copious in sense and substance The words are very few in number and but five in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And may fitly be resembled to Saint Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so highly commended 1 Cor. 7.19 In the Church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I may teach others also then five thousand in an unknown tongue And surely these nâ—r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the five words of the Text being solidly and judiciously handled might prove more edifying then five thousand imployed upon some other Theme and Subsect But far be it from me to presume or promise it in my own behalf And yet what is wanting in the sufficiency and abiliâ—ieâ— of the speaker is abundantly supplied in the worth and weight of the matter An argument that commands and calls for your awakened attention and most serious observation That what I preach and press you may practice and while I spear of you may hear with charity therein rendring yourselves exampies of the Aposâ—es rule even in this present exercise Let all your things be done with Charity The Apostle Saint Paul spends a whole Chapter from the beginning of the thirteenth to the end in a large and liberal commendation of the grace of Charity describing it in fair and fresh colours from the several marks and characters And it is Saint Chrysostoms earnest request and obtestation of the Reader that they would not pass over so lively an image and pourtraicture in a cursory manner but exactly consider every line and lineament in so beautiful a piece as a most exquisite Picture drawn by the hand and pencil of a Curious Limner And here in the words of the Text the Apostle reassumes the same subject not
for to suffer Secondly Secondly as a peremptory command for particular Tares This word suffer as it hath relation to the servants of the Housholder may be considered as a peremptory and strict command to weed out and pluck up each particular Tare to the utmost of their ability And so it respects four sorts of men And so it respects and reflects upon four sorts of men 1. The civil Magistrate 2. The ecclesiastical Judge 3. The publique Minister 4. The private Christian 1. By the right managing of the sword of Justice 2. By the orderly use of the spiritual Keyes the just censures of the Church 3. By the religious ministration of the Word and Sacraments 4. By their devout Prayers and Tears First First the civil Magistrate two manner of ways the civil Magistrate must do his best endeavour to weed out every Tare by the right managing of the sword of Justice And that two manner of ways First by coaction and impulsion to the unity of the faith having to deal with refractory and pertinacious persons and such as are obstinate and obdurate in their impiety Secondly by inflicting capital punishment upon those that are desperate and incorrigible First First by compelling men to the unity of the faith obstinate and obdurate sinners are to be compelled to the unity of the faith by the sword of the civil Magistrate Man indeed is a reasonable creature and the Lord of his own actions God had not made us men unless he had made us free And this freedome shews it self nowhere more then in point of Religion (a) Nihil est tam voluntarium quam religio In qua si animus sacrificantis aversus est â—am sublata iam nulla est Last l. 5. c. 20. Nihil est tam voluntarium quam religio saith Laciantius And faith is not to be inforced by violence but perswaded by force of argument And yet that of Tertullian against the Gnosticks is most true on the other side (b) Ad efficium Hâ—retieos compelli non inlici dignum est duritia vincenda est non suadenda Tertul. Sco piac adveâ—s Gnosticos cap 2. Obstinacy is not to be allured or intreated only but subdued and conquered with a high hand Qui imponit praeceptum extorquet obsequium And he that imposes a precept will both expect and exact obedience (c) Intrare posse hominem in Ecclesiam nolentem accâ—dere ad altare posse nolentem accipere sacramente posse nolentem credere non posse nisi volentem August in Joan Tract 26. For though a man cannot believe without the elicite act and express consent of his own will yet he may be constrained to profession which is the exterior act of it To frequent the assembly of Saints in the Temple to communicate in divine Rites and Mysteries the participation of the Word and Sacraments even against his inclination Howsoever the will of a Recusant cannot be compell'd to reform his Religion and turn Protestant yet may compulsion be offered to his outward man To his estate by urging pecuniary mulcts and the penalties of the law upon his purse and to his Body by Incarceration and imprisonment This is the duty of the civil Magistrate highly commended in good Josiah who compelled all that were found in Israel to serve the Lord 2 Chro. 34.33 And commanded by our blessed Saviour to the servants in the parable Luke 24.23 compel them to come in Though not unto faith yet to the means of faith the hearing of the Word and to the receiving of the Sacraments as St. Austin well expounds it And this he retracts as an oversight (d) Haec mea primitus sententia erat neminem ad unitatem Christi esse cogendum verbo esse agendum disputatione pugnandum Sed haec opinio mea non contradicentium verbis sed demonstrantium superatur exemplis August Epist 48. ad Vincentium in his 48 Epistle to Vincentius This was once my opinion that no man ought to be forced to Christian unity but that we should deal by perswading strive by disputing conquer by reasoning But this judgement of mine is confuted not so much by words of contradiction as demonstrative example to the contrary And many there are who have so thriven and profited by the Terrour of the law that they have thereby been enabled to an ingenious confession Gratias ago Domino qui vincula nostra dirupit I give God thanks who hath broken my bonds in sunder Secondly by inflicting capital punishment upon such as are incorrigible Secondly the civil Magistrate must weed out Tares by inflicting capital puishments upon such as are desperate and incorrigible The brain-sick (e) Illis hominibus solenne est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 formale Para bolarum Christi negligere to materiale urgere Camer Myret pag. 17. Anabaptists would strain and squeaze this inference from our Saviour's answer to the demand of the servants in the parable wilt thou then that we go and gather them up But he said unto them nay lest while ye go about to gather the Tares ye pluck also with them the wheat Matth. 13.28 29. That it is altogether unlawful for the civil Magistrate to execute judgement upon evil doers whereas they themselves make use of most direful and dreadful excommunication as Cameron observes And our late Socinians Ostorodius Smalcius and the rest of that litter plow with the Anabaptists Heifer in this point and under pretence of Christian charity they take away the power of the Sword from the Christian Magistrate so far as it concerns capital punishments and the effusion of bloud unto death Quis non impudentissime nitatur aliquid in Allegoria positum pro se interpretari nisi habeat manisesta testimonia quorum lumine illustrentur obscura August Epist 49. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clemens Alexandrines This they seem to ground upon that Ancient law Thou shalt not kill which is not repealed abrogated or any way altered say they in the New Testament whereas God onely interdicts in that royal law of his private revenge and unjust murder not the just effusion of blood by the lawful hand of a Magistrate who is a publique person and the Minister of God that beareth not the sword in vain but to take vengeance on him that doth evil Rom. 13.4 And is in that respect non Homicida sed malecida He slays not the man but his mischief That very God who speaks thus unto the private Man Thou shalt not kill sayes likewise unto the publick Magistrate Thou shalt kill And were there not an occides to authorize the one in the inflicting of deserved punishment Cui convenit illud scholasticorum placitum Theologia Symholica non est argumentativa Thomae Opuscula 70. there would not be a non occides to restrain the insolency and the outrages of the other This was the exemplary practise of the Jews under the policy of the old law of the
prodigious blasphemie open profanation of the Sabbath the filthiness of whoredom or any other these are the Tares which they principally endeavour with all their might not only to top or crop as the Heathen King stroke off the tops of the Poppies but pluck them up by th roots What though they meet with difficulties and discouragements of all sorts and reap no other guerdon of assiduity and faithfulness in their calling but enmity and opposition yet must they make their face hard against their faces and their forehead hard against their foreheads Cry aloud and spare not lift up their voice like a Trumpet Preach the word be instant in season and out of season improve rebuke exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine I will close up the Point with a story of Luther who when he began first to appear in publick against Popish indulgences a friend of his rounded him in the ear with more safe then sound advise As good hold your tongue the custome is so strong you will do no good go into your study and pray Domine miserere nostri And get you no anger This is the distressed and intangled condition of poor Ministers in the Gospel If they plead for their due maintenance they are bar'd with legal customes and prescriptions If they preach in the Name of the Lord against the crying abominations of the time they are affronted in the same manner with customary and common practices So that one way or other the custome is always too hard for us And though it be a matter of as great difficulty and slender hopes to cry down the customes of sin as of Tythes and payments in the vulgar being armed and fenced with prescription in both Yet this must not daunt or damp our spirits nor quell or quail our courage no more then it dismayed the Heroical resolution of stout-spirited Luther much less must it move us to grow feeble and faint-hearted and utterly to desist with disconsolate Jeremiah Then I said I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name Jer. 20.9 But notwithstanding the strength of custome the publick Minister must do his best to weed out these Tares of wickedness by the religious ministration of the Word and Sacraments Fourthly The private Christian must bend his strength Fourthly the private Christian and bâ—ckle to the task of gathering out of Tares by devout prayers and Tears Acts of authority and jurisdiction are confined and limited to publick offices But duties of common piety pity fall within the verge compass of the meanest Christian It were presumption and usurpation for every one to lay hands upon the civil sword To arrogate and assume the power of the keys to sit in Moses chair and teach authoritatively in the Church yet is there none no not of the lowest rank but may pour forth his soul unto God in prayer and pour out his inward grief in sad and mournful tears Arma ecclesiae sunt preces lachrymae Prayers and tears are the spiritual weapons of the Church and the offensive defensive arms of the private Christian How much better do these become them then to repine and whine in a malecontented humour which is the natural language of the multitude to defame the persons censure the actions of superiours to look upon Government with an oblique eye and cast dirt in the face of authority How may we solace and recreate our selves in the most exulcerate and calamitous times even in a holy Soliloquy with God and a pathetical lamentation of our own miseries And memorable is that example of Gerson in this kind that famous Chancellour of Paris who being exulsed the university by the Sorbonists and in his old age deprived of all his dignities he betook himself to the profession of a School-Master and caused all his Schollers being but little children to joyn with him daily in this short prayer (k) Illyric Cat. Test Tom. 2. pag. 805. My God my Maker have mercy upon thy miserable servant Gerson Thus may every Christian address himself unto God in sending up a pithy ejaculation unto Heaven My God my Maker have mercy upon thy miserable Servant for the redress of particular grievances the pardon of Epidemical evils and the prevention of universal vengeance when as impiety and iniquity domineers and overrules with an high hand the judgements of God hang over our heads and threaten us with destruction when as the times are most intricate and perplexed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there are fightings without and fears within This this is the fittest season for each private Christian to call upon the Name of God and to stir up themselves to take hold on him The supine neglect whereof God severely faults and taxes Isa 64.7 This necessity should be their opportunity that when they are at their wits end driven to the straitest pinch and exigent and find neither hope nor help in the sons of men To appeal unto God for succour and after holy David's example to excite and awaken him by their prayers up Lord let not man prevail Psal 9.19 Help Lord for there is not a godly man left Psal 12.1 Tunc votorum locus praecipuus quum spei nullus Then is the chiefest place for request up Lord and help Lord when there is no place left for hope but if ever Christians mourned and cryed in the bitterness of their spirits for the abominations of the Time If ever they cryed mightily unto the Lord now now is the time to pluck up and root out these Tares of wickedness by their devout Prayers and Tears The End of the first Sermon Lapis Lydius OR THE TRYAL OF SPIRITS A SERMON Preached at the Cathedral in the City of Norwich Prove all things hold fast that which is good 1 Thess cap. 5. ver 21. LONDON Printed by T. C. for Will. Rands at Fleet-bridge 1659. THE TRIALL OF SPIRITS 1 JOHN 4.1 Dearly Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God for many false Prophets are gone out into the World THis Text is the Watch-word The Preface or Warn-word of the great Apostle Saint John and that not bound up with any particularities of time place or person but of universal extent and concernment applyable and applyed by him to all ages and may well be conceived as the Prophesie of the latter times This was the peculiar priviledge and preheminence of Saint John that he was an Evangelist Prophet and Apostle An Evangelist in the penning of his Gospel A Prophet in his revelation A. Apostle in his Epistles A Divine Trismegistus or thrice excellent yea he shews himself a Prophet in his Epistles and that in these words of the Text wherein he foretels the Epidemical disease of the latter times and withal prescribes and applies the remedy We This Sermon was preached during the distraction of the late Civil Wars are now fallen upon times of war and bloodshed haec fundi
Psalmist Psal 83.5 And if holiness becomes the material Temple then much more the mystical And if the mystical Temple then chiefly the Priests and Ministers of the Temple Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord Isa 52.11 Yea above all other the High Priest under the Law had this Motto ingraven upon his Mitre Holmess unto the Lord. And certainly the Ministers of the Gospel are every way as much bound to make good this impress and inscription Not ike unto the high Priest and Bishop of Rome who hears no less than His. Holiness in the abstract he being in the mean time as S. Paul justly stiles him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that stigmatical Out-law and man of sin And if we must needs grant him the Livery of Holiness let him be accounted holy as (k) An ad priorem partem nominis Hildebrandini alluserit Petrus Damiani cum Hildebrandum Virgam Assur Sanctum suum satanam appellat equidem nescio quod ad posteriorem attinet ipsa res clamat fuisse illum furialem mundi incendiarium adeoque ipsum Acheronta movisse ut ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 demum perduceretur tyrannis Antichristi Vsserius de Christ Eccles succes cap. 5. pag. 112. Pope Hildebrand one of his own rank and order sed Sanctus Satanus It is the holy Epithet that is given him by Damianus And let them be for ever honoured and magnisied in their royal Title to all posterity (l) Sanctos Cinaedos sanctos adulteros sanccos proditores parricidas sanctes Apostatas sanctos Atheos sanctos Diabolos Defens Eccles Anglic. Cracanth cap. 2. As holy Sodomites and Adulterers at the best holy Traitors holy Apostates holy Atheists and holy Devils If the words sound something harsh I speak them not without authority they are not mine but one of the Worthies of our Church These are the men that are at league with Hell and exorcise the Devils by consent or else as by a Writ De ejectione Firmâ cast them out of their Churches at their pleasure but can in no case dislodge or conjure them out of their own consciences whose very Reliques their Ashes Salt Candles Oyl Wafers are all holy in the highest degree yea their Bells are baptized by them while they in the mean time remain impure wretches and their inward parts are very filthiness But far be it from us to resemble them in their wickedness or to he holy with their holiness Let it not be thought enough for the Ministers of the Gospel to be men in holy orders of impure and unholy lives to be clad in black a colour of gravity and to be light in their carriage and behaviour Nor let it seem sufficient to be meer outsides and formalists in religion like unto an empty superficies without bulk or body ringing out that solemn peal of the Jews The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord And yet these Templars This order of the Templars for the most part have but little regard to the Lord of the Temple and as small care to maintain the honour of the mystical Let us not confine all holiness to the publick place of Gods worship but reserve some part of it at least and assign it to the time And if we maintain out of judgment the calling of Bishops the duty of Tithes of Divine right let the Lords day obtain as much favour at our hands let Christ be thought the Author of it whose name it bears and not pass for an Ecclesiastical constitution Let not those spirits that are of God be holy in this manner but as he that hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 2. Secondly A touch of peaceableness in respect of the Church and State there must be a touch of peaceableness in respect of the Church and State The wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable Jam. 3.17 Even so the spirits that are from above are pure in the first place and peaceable in the second The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace verse 18. Peace is the seed of righteousness This is a duty that concerns Christians in the generality Seek peace and pursue it Psal 34.14 but especially the Ministers of the Gospel who are Embassadors of Christ the Prince of peace whose office it is to bring good tidings to publish peace to preach peace to pray for peace and to endeavour by all lawful means to procure a true and sound peace For although the civil and secular Jurisdiction of the Clergy be lately abrogated and annulled and Ministers remain no longer Justices of peace yet they are and must for ever continue Ministri pacis Ministers of peace And that which should encourage and provoke them thereunto is the present fense and woful experience of the calamities of a civil war The old Athenians never consulted about peace until they were clad in their mourning gowns How hath this whole Kingdom been clad in black the Livery of sorrow and lamentation as if we were now solemnizing the funeral Exequies of our Nation The disconsolate Widow bemoaning the loss of her dearest Husband Parents bewailing the fruit of their own Womb Rachel weeping for her children refused to be coniforted because they were not How hath the High and Honorable Person the Great and Grave Counsellor been snatcht away by an untimely death And is it not high time to advise of peace Heu quantum potuit terrae pelagique Lucan Bel. Pharsal parari Hoc quem civiles hauserunt sangume dextrae And had there been half so much English blood hazarded and adventured as hath been already shed in this civil war we might have made a vehement impression upon the common enemy redeemed and ransomed the Palatinate out of the hands of Popery and cruelty whereunto it hath been morgaged for many years We might have subdued and conquered the Irish Rebels long agoe those barbarous and blood thirsty Rebels not once to be mentioned or thought of without just horror and execration Who now roar in the midst of the Congregations and set up their Ensigns for signs They have said in their hearts let us destroy them together They have burnt up all the houses of God in the land Psal 74.4 8. Yea they have burnt up not the material houses of God alone but well near all the mystical Temples of God with the fiery flames of a civil war 3. A touch of obedience to Authority Thirdly there must be a touch (l) Mallem obedire quam mi acula facere ctiamsi possem It was Luthers answer to the Bishop of Brandenbourg diss ading him from the present publishing of his Propositions Tom. 1. Epist Luth. Epist 32. of obedience to Anthorities For though humane laws do not bind the conscience directly and by an immediate power and vertue of their own yet have they a binding power indirectly and at the second hand The Commands of God are
her losses her greatest gains Charity is kind 1 Cor. 13.4 not to those only that are nearly related and allied but even unto strangers and professed enemies like unto a sparkling fire which heats and warms the by-standers and the flames likewise reach unto those of remote distance And being a common good it is so much the more excellent There is the same difference betwixt Faith and Charity that is betwixt the Root and Branches Faith is as the root of the tree that attracts and sucks in the juyce of the earth to conserve and preserve the life of it But charity is as the boughs and branches down laden with plenty of ripe fruit which stretch out and as it were spread forth their arms to as many as are willing to take the pains to pluck and gather them Secondly Charity is greatest in the longitude and length of it Secondly in the longitude and length of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 13.8 charity never faileth neither in this life nor in that which is to come It is but a Popish gloss of Caietan upon the place Take heed when you read these words that you fall not into that error (d) Charitatem semel habitam nunquam amitti Charitas quantum est exparte temporis nescit casum Caiet in locum That charity once bad cannot be lost And yet that which he adds is sound and Orthodox wherewith he strangles and cuts the throat of what he had formerly laid down for a sure conclusion charity knows no loss nor end in respect of time For whereas Faith and Hope shall determine and expire in another world Faith being turned into a Vision the beatifical vision of God and Hope into Fruition yet both Faith and Hope shall be swallowed up of Love which then shall be consummate and made perfect (e) Appetitus inhiantis erit amor fruentis August The thirsting desire of the soul after happiness shall be then exchanged with the full fruition and perfect enjoyment of Love through all eternity And hence it was that Henry Nicolas the Founder of the Family of Love was wont in a most prodigious and blasphemous manner to boast among his seduced Sectaries (f) Se nimirum Mosi Christo praepenendum eo quod Moses spem docuisset Christus fidem ipse vero cbaritatem utraque majorem Jo. Laetus Camp Hist universal pag. 583. Calvin in Locum That he was every way to be preferred before Moses and Christ upon this ground and reason That Moses taught the people of Israel the grace of Hope Christ the grace of Faith but he the grace of Love which is greater then both And so pronounced by the definitive sentence of the Apostle Now abideth Faith Hope and Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity Nor doth this any way allow or priviledge the corrupt gloss of the Papists that if charity be the greater grace it must needs have the greater hand and stroke and proves more availsome then faith it self in point of justification A strained and forced inference an inconsequential and unconcluding argument and it is all one as Calvin well observed as if they should reason in this manner Therefore the King must till the ground more knowingly then the Husbandman and make a neater shooe then the Shoemaker as being far above both therefore a man must ran swifter then a Horse or Dromedary and bear an heavier weight and burden then an Elephant because he surpasses them in worth and dignity therefore the glorious Angels must afford a better and brighter light unto the earth then either Sun or Moon as being creatures of greater excellency For the force and efficacy of justifying Faith is not to be measured by any intrinsick and inherent quality in the nature but by the proper place and office of Faith whereunto it is designed wherein it hath no coparcener nor corrival In this respect Faith hath the preheminence even as Charity is the greater in the forementioned partiâ—ulars the Bredth the Length the Extent and Continuance This is the reason why the spirit of God every where inculcates and inforces the duty with a reiterated and a zealous vehemency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Above all things put on charity which is the bond of perfection Colossians 3. verse 14. Therein resembling it to an outward garment that is put over and covers the other apparrel that is larger and wider that is more comely and costly then the rest and serves to distinguish the several Orders and Ranks of men according to their different capacities and conditions Such a spiritual garment is charity to the soul a proper badge and cognizance of a Christian the livery of Christs Disciples By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another Ioh. 13.35 And it is not without cause that the Apostle stiles it the bond of perfectnesse it being of the same use unto other vertues that the bond is unto the faggot that holdeth the sticks together and keeps them from severing and falling from each other and to the Church of God in common which is the mystical body of Christ it is in the place of the nerves and sinnewes in the body natural which connect and joyn the several members and make them mutually helpful and serviceable to each other this is St. Pauls commendation Above all things put on Charity And that leads me to the second speciality that was promised the extent of the duty in reference to the object 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let all your things be done with Charity Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt Mar. 9.49 such a salt is Christian charity which must season every sacrifice and so make it well pleasing and acceptable unto God The second speciality The extent of the Duty all your things and beneficial and profitable unto men charity is a spiritual leaven which affords tast and savour to the whole mass of dough that it may prove toothsome to the palat and wholesome and nourishable to the body Charity is the soul of religion and like to the soul in the body it is Tota in toto tota in quelibet parte and is well translated by the Apostle in the words of the Text Let all your things be done with charity And would you know the comprehension of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and now far the All things extend and reach you may have them explicated and inlarged in a foursold consideration 1. In our diligent enquiries and researches after truth These all things inlarged in a fourfold consideration 2. In passing judgment and censures upon others 3. In the exercise or forbearance of our Christian liberty 4. In all our affaires and business the whole series and course of our conversation First Charity must take place in our diligent inquiries and researches after truth First In our diligent inquiries and researches after truth and moderate in all our disputations
outward occasion and impulsive cause of their fall into sin and that either by stumbling or staggering their judgements the sadding and perplexing their spirits the intangling and puzling their consciences with doubts and scruples and the utter ruine and overthrow of the whole man This the Apostle exemplifies by instancing in meats and drinks which are both clean in themselves and in the judgement of those that are sufficiently instructed and informed touching the nature and use of them but prove unclean unto those that through ignorance or errour misapprehend them to be such and yet partake of them being encouraged and emboldened by their examples who out of supercilious scorn or the ralliness of indiscretion at the best adventure on them in their fight and presence to the open violation of Christian charity That is Saint Paul's resolution in the case Rom. 14.15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat now walkest thou not charitably Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died For Actions of this nature in the use of things indifferent must be ordered and measured by a double Rule Two Rules in the use of our Christian liberty 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Duty 2. Decorum 1. Lawfullness 2. Expediency 1. Necessity 2. And edification And there must be regard had not only to the strength of our own knowledge and the stedfastnesse of our perswasion but a tender respect shewn to the infirmity and weakness of others An arrogant knowledge may swell our spirits and make us carry our heads on high but it is an humble charity that must cause us to submit and stoop to the necessities and advantagos of our Brethren This is the excellency of Charity above that of Knowledge in the different effect of it 1 Cor. 8.1 Knowledge puffeth up but charity edifieth Fourthly Charity must act and operate in all our affairs and business In all our affairs and business in the whole series and course of our civil conversations Many are the works of charity in order to our converse and commerce with men And should I treat of them at large and in particular yet might you justly affirm even after the enumeration and rehearsal what the Queen of Sheba sometimes spake touching the report of Solomon 's wisedom the half was not told us I shall therefore bind up an handful of gleannings or rather some few Eurs out of a large and wide Field And reduce these works of charity to four Heads Four works of charity in the course of our civil conversation 1. The concealing and hiding the natural infirmities or moral and sinful imperfections of others 2. A Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and meek-spirited condescension to those that are beneath us for the avoiding of superfluous quarrels and contentions and for the procuring and promoting of peace and unity 3. A liberal communicating and distributing with a free heart and open hand to the necessities of our brethren 4. The exercise of benevolence and beneficence to such as are most alienated and estranged from us the persons of professed enemies 1. The first work of charity is the concealing and hiding the natural infirmities The first work of charity The concealing of natural or moral imperfection of others or moral and sinful imperfections of others this is the proper and immediate effect of it and is laid down by St. Peter as the Basis and ground-work of his exhortation 1 Pet. 4.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Above all things have fervent Charity among your selves for charity shall cover a multitude of sins not that charity covers our sins in the sight of God or hides them from the all-seeing Eye of his Vindictive and Avenging justice which nothing else can do but the glorious Robe of Christs unspotted and perfect righteousness imputed unto us for the remission and covering of sin which are both one in Davids account Psal 32.1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered but as for our righteousness and charity which is a part of it Pallium breve est 't is a very short cloak and mantle that will not reach down to the Ankles and palliate the spirtual nakedness of the soule and yet nevertheless charitie covers the sins of others by not divulging and spreading them abroad not lending an open and listning ear to reports and rumors that are dispersed and scattered by others by denying defending justifiing excusing extenuating qualifying what soever is capable of a candid and a courteous construction so far as it is compatible and consistent with the rule of charity Like unto Shem and Japhet that took a garment and laid it upon their shoulders and went backward and covered the nakednesse of their Father Gen. 9.23 or as the Emperour Constantine who in case of detecting the miscarriage of an Ecclesiastical person full sore against his will he would (y) Seâ—paludamento obtecturum scelerarum faciuus ne forte cui cernentium illud visum noceret Theodoritus Hist lib. 1. cap. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Historian and taking the royal Robe from his own back cast it upon his fault and folly Such a cloak is that of charity a wide and side cloak and as St. Peter speaks of it covers a multitude of sins there cannot be a more demonstrative argument and evidence of our love then this and if we will credit the wise man Solomon he who covereth transgression seeketh love Prov. 17.9 2. The second work of charity is a Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and meek spirited condescension to those that are every way beneath us The second work of charity A meek spirited condescension to those that are below us for the better avoiding of unnecessary quarrels and contentions and for the procuring and preserving of Peace and Amity a notable example whereof we have in the Patriarch Abraham who though he was Uncle to Lot and every way his superiour in age and dignity yet doth he leave it to his liberty for the setling his abode and for the choice of his habitation Is not the whole land before thee separate thy self I pray thee from me If thou wilt take the left hand I will go to the right or if thou depart to the right hand then will I go to the left Gen. 13.9 And that which moved him to yield so far and stoop so low was a sollicitous care to prevent and cut off all occasion of strife that sounded ill in the ears of the Gananite and Perezzite that then dwelt in the land And Abraham said to Lot let there be no strife betwixt me and thee and betwixt my Herdmen and thy Herdmen for we are brethren v. 8. thus doth Abraham conjure his Nephew Lot with a charm of love and charity And the Apostle St Paul severely reproves and taxeth this spirit of debate and division in the many headed Corinthians 1 Cor. 6.7 Now there is uttterly a fault among you