in substance that we now have though not the same in manner nor in degree They knew him to be the Mediator between God and man as well as we but they know this confusedly and imperfectly we now know it clearly distinctly and perfectly The difference was not in the substance of the knowledge but in the manner and degrees only So that the Jews worshipped God in Christ as we Christians worship him for in all their sacrifices they did look upon the Messiah as the only propitiation for their sins Hence the 22. Psalm was a part of their dayly morning service which may not unfitly be called Christus Patiens for that it doth rather Historically then Prophetically set forth the passion of our blessed Saviour For Christ upon the Cross appropriated this Psalm unto himself by using the first words of it My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And Saint Matthew applieth it unto him in the eighth verse He trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him Saint John in the eighteenth verse They parted my raiment among them and for my vesture they did cast lots And Saint Paul in the twenty second verse I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the Church will I praise thee Heb. 2. 12. Christ assumes this Psalm to himself whilst he is in his passion and the Apostles apply it to him whilst they are describing of it And this very Psalm amongst all the rest was chosen out by the Jews to be a part of their dayly morning service nay indeed it was composed of purpose by the Spirit of God that it might be so As plainly appears from the title or inscription thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad primordium aurorae for the dawning of the morning Sensus est Psalmum hunc sacerdotibus Levitis fuisse traditum ut singulo quoque mane in Ecclesia quamprimùm aurora erumperet caneretur Sic voluit Deus Ecclesiam veterem singulis diebus recolere fiduciam de expectatione Christi saith Junius The meaning of the title is That this Psalm was delivered to the Priests and Levites to be sung in the Congregation every morning at the break of day For so would God inure the Church of the Jews to have a daily recourse to Christ and to revive the hope they had of his comming in the flesh And indeed the Chaldee Paraphrase saith no less on the inscription of this twenty second Psalm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro robore seu virtute sacrificii jugis matutini For the virtue or strength of the dayly morning sacrifice or oblation for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comprizeth both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both sacrifice and oblation The meaning of the gloss is this that this Psalm concerns him who is the virtue and strength of all their service or Religion And that all their sacrifices and oblations had their virtue only from the Messiah who was exhibited unto them in this Psalm as offered upon the Cross The Jews offered all their sacrifices in hopes of being accepted in this Mediator and what do we Christians more but believe and profess that our persons and our prayers are accepted in him Only here is the difference the Jews worshipped God in the Messiah that was to come the Christians worship him in the Messiah that is come The Religion is but one in substance though two in circumstances And we may say that the worship of the Jews was the inchoation of the Christian but the worship of the Christians is the perfection of the Jewish Religion For whom they worshipped implicitely in Types we do worship explicitely in spirit and in truth All the fault is they were more zealous in their typical then we are in our substantial and real worship For the Babylonian captivity could not make them forsake their Religion but we have captivated our Religion of purpose that we might forsake it and so are fallen under that severe reprehension 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Insensati quis vos fascinavit O ye that are mad and sensless who hath bewitched you not to obey the truth For we who could not be seduced not to receive the truth are little less then bewitched not to obey it SECT IV. That those Christians who adore God by any other Mediator then by Christ alone do not rightly adore him And that those who do rightly adore him ought not to be discouraged in their Religion and much less be deterred from it GOD never yet had never can have any true worship or glory but only in Christ Hence Saint Paul saith To God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ for ever Rom. 16. 27. Take away Christ from the glory and you were as good take away the glory from God And again unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Eph 3. 21. This is the true Catholick Religion or worship of God that obligeth all persons in the Church at all times throughout all ages and in all places in heaven as well as in earth world without end for no worship can be world without end but that which shall be in heaven And sure we are the worship whereby we Christians glorifie God in and by Jesus Christ shall be in heaven The Jews worship though in substance it was Christian yet the manner being figurative and typical in extent it was but National and in duration it was but temporal But the Christians worship being wholly in Spirit and in truth in the manner of it is angelical in the extent of it is universal in the continuance of it is eternal The same to all ages that it is in this the same in heaven that it is in earth It is not safe for Christians to worship God so now as they cannot worship him world without end If they worship him now by his Son they may so worship him for ever But if they worship him now by any other Mediator they are sure they must leave that worship behind them when they leave this world and therefore they are on the surer side who had rather not take it then be forced to leave it For the Angels and Saints in heaven do not go to God by one another but all go to him by his Son and why should we men on earth go to him by any other then by him by whom they do go with us now and we shall go with them hereafter Shall the Church Militant set up a Communion of Saints disagreeing in the worship of God from the Church Triumphant And why then doth the Canon of the Mass begin with an Illative particle that hints a conclusion rather than a beginning saying Te igitur clementissime Pater per Jesum Christum filium tuum Dominum nostrum supplices rogamus Therefore O most merciful Father we humbly beseech thee by Jesus Christ thy Son and our Lord that thou wilt accept
Disciples who were in Jerusalem at S. Peters first Sermon were but 120. He is afraid of an imaginary miscief but fals into a real inconveniency the mischif was meerly imaginary as if S. Paul to the Corinthians had clashed with S. Luke in the Acts whereas Saint Luke saith not there were then in Jerusalem but 120. disciples only there were but one hundred and twenty of such note as the Apostles had called together to consult about the election of a new Apostle accordingly he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the number of the names that is such as were notorious and eminent in the Church not denying but there might be many hundreds of the inferiour sort of people which are called by the Poet sine Nomine turba the common sort that are without a Name who were at that time reckoned among the disciples though they had not been called to the election of Saint Matthias Thus the mischief he feared was meerly imaginary but he fell into a real inconveniency For this supposition that it is possible there should have been such chopping and changing in the Text tends directly to the enervating of the Authority of the Scriptures and the fidelity and veracity of the Catholick Church for both Greek and Latine Churches do now read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 five hundred and if they read not now as they found it delivered to them they are defective in their Veracity if it was not delivered to them as it was at first written their forefathers were defective in their Fidelity for this is too great a change to come in by the mistake of a writer though it is very improbable that the whole Church should be so careless as to suffer any such mistakes However in this particuler Eusebius will justifie our present reading of the Text against all conjectures whatsoever for he lib. 1. Histor Eccles cap. 12. setteth down this very apparition of our blessed Saviour totidem verbis not by numeral letters but in so many several express words as Saint Paul had before saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is an undeniable argument that these words were so writ at large from Saint Pauls own hand Having given this hint only out of zeal to Gods holy word which must sway my faith against the practice of whole Churches much more against the phansies of private men I pass to the words which our blessed Saviour spake immediately before he ascended for without all question he then again repeated them though he had spoken them several times before Saint Luke records them as spoken on the very day of his Resurrection Luke 24. 47. Saint John records them as spoken also on the very same day John 20. 19 20 21 22. Saint Mathew records them as spoken after that day sc on the mountain in Galilee Mat. 28. 16 19. And Saint Mark records them as spoken both on the day of his resurrection for so was the Apparition to which he annexeth them and also on the day of his Ascension for such is the manner of his annexion So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into heaven For what was it that the Lord had spoken unto them but these words concerning the discharge of their Apostolical Office or Function Go ye therefore and teach all Nations c. which is yet more evidently attested by Saint Luke Acts 1. 9. where it is said when he had spoken these things that is those things which concerned their Function whiles they beheld he was taken up For Saint Matthew's Go ye therefore and teach all Nations And Saint Mâ—â—k's Go ye into all the world And Saint Lukes ye are witnesses of these things And Saint Johns As my Father sent me even so send I you do all of them concern one and the same office of preaching the Gospel and administring the Sacraments and whatever else the Apostles were bound to do in order to the gathering or preserving or governing the Church of Christ And we cannot deny but these same words or at least words to this effect were solemnly spoken at three several times by our blessed Saviour to his Apostles that is to say On the day of his Resurrection and afterwards again in Galilee and yet a third time also after that immediately before his Ascention to shew what a necessity was laid upon them to discharge that sacred function when he thought it necessary so often to repeat their charge as if it had been his only business from his Resurrection to his Ascention And doubtless if we seriously consier the words themselves we shall easily see and willingly confess that as they did concern the constitution of the Church at that time so they do concern the constitution of the Church at this day and will concern both its constitution and conservation to the worlds end I will accordingly explain them briefly as I find them in the Evangelists yet so as to make Saint Matthew the standard for the rest having already explained the words as they are recorded by Saint John And thus Saint Matthew records the words All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth our blessed Saviour had all the power of heaven and earth given to him from the Father both as he was the Son of God and as he was the Son of man as he was the Son of God so this power was given him by eternal generation as he was the Son of man so the same power was given him by free donation partly at his first conception by vertue of his union with the God-head but more fully after his resurrection for the merit of his death and passion So that though he exercised this power in his life time by choosing Apostles and instituting the Holy Sacraments yet after he was risen again he exercised the same much more eminently in a threesold respect Quoad modum quoad statum quoad usum First because he was possessed of it after a more excellent manner as having merited it by his death Secondly because he was possessed of it in a more excellent state as now being past all fear and danger of dying Thirdly because he was possessed of it for a more excellent end as being how to use it not for the conversion of one people but of all the world as it follows Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Go ye therefore relying upon my authority which is founded upon all power both in heaven and in earth whereas any authority that can forbid you to go is founded only upon the power in earth And teach all Nations This the Apostles could not do no more then they could continue to the end of the world in their own persons Therefore our Saviour Christ speaks these words to their Successors as well as to them And so this Precept was given to make good that Promise Mat. 24. 14. The Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all Nations and then shall
remarkable circumstances we shall then see how properly our blessed Saviour was called the Lamb of God First the Paschal Lamb was one of the flock Exod. 12. 5. So Christ was one of us and dwelt among us Saint John 1. 14. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us This consideration That the word was made flesh as it may inflame our devotions because our Saviour is in our own flesh to pitty us and to relieve us so it must cool and allay our distempers That he is in that same flesh which we so easily suffer in our selves to be excessively passionate and either distracted by sinful factions or distempered by sinful affections So that now what sins I commit in the flesh I commit not only against that flesh which in my self goes creeping and growling on the earth but also against that flesh which in my Saviour is exalted into heaven and there sitteth at the right hand of God This is the Apostles most pathetical argument against all the sins of uncleanness and should be mine in the like case or temptation Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an Harlot God forbid 1 Cor. 6. 15. as if he had said I must abandon abhor all uncleannesses of the flesh in that thereby I shall sin against mine own body How much more in that thereby I shall sin against my Saviours body Secondly the Paschal Lamb was without blemish so Christ was without sin the only spot and blemish of the soul In peccato sunt reatus macula saith the School All sin as it brings a guiltiness with it so it leaves a spot and blemish after it Our Saviour Christ was without this spot and we must labour to be without it likewise by being made conformable to him So should we rightly understand the hidden mysterie of predestination more by our practise then we can possibly by our speculations or disputes if every one of us would really endeavour to fulfill that part of it To be conformed to the image of his Son Rom. 8. 29. For whom he did fore-know he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son The great quarrel of Christendom at this day is about conformity that all Churches will not be conformed to one And yet even that conformity if it were brought to pass would not could not put an end to other differences But here is such a conformity that would soon end all quarrels whatsoever if men would make it their study and business to conform themselves to the image of the Son of God If men would seriously endeavour a conformity with Christ by holiness meekness patience obedience vertues so much out of our use that they are almost out of our knowledge but quite out of our remembrance they would never be Non-conformists in any lawful thing nor require conformity in any that is unlawful much less would they brand one another as reprobates but every one would strive to make his own Election sure Hope well of anothers so we should all forth with prove unerring students unblamable proficients in that grand controverted Doctrine of Predestination if we did but truly follow the meekness of this Lamb. Thirdly the Paschal Lamb was slain as a memorial of the Jews deliverance from the bondage of Egypt So was Christs death our deliverance from the bondage of sin and Satan Let me then stand fast in that spiritual liberty wherewith Christ hath made me free and be no less afraid of returning to my former sins then the Israelites were of returning to their former bondage alwaies remembring that dreadful sentence in the Apostle who in that he had fallen himself was the more careful to keep others from a relapse the latter end is worse with them then the beginning 2 Pet. 2. 20. Fourthly the blood of the Paschal Lamb sprinkled on the door posts made the destroying Angel pass over the Israelites when he smote the Egyptians So the blood of Christ sprinkled upon our souls preserveth us from the destroying Angel A mercy to be remembred with an everlasting thankfulness and to be commemorated with an everlasting thanksgiving for this is a part of the new song in heaven Rev. 5. 9. Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God with thy blood What was the ground of their thanksgiving in heaven must be the ground of our supplication on earth that we lose not the benefit of this blood which is the price of our Redemption that neither through the infirmities of the flesh nor the anguishes of the Spirit nor the backslidings of the world nor the temptations of the Devil we be drawn or driven from faith in the blood of our dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ And accordingly we must take care that we be not driven or drawn from the outward profession and exercise of this faith least we come by degrees to be driven or drawn from the inward settlement and assurance of it Fifthly the Paschal Lamb was to be eaten with bitter herbs and without leaven so Christ is to be received with repentance and without malice or hypocrisie which is the most common but the most unsavoury leaven of the soul for a small parcell of either of these will infect and corrupt all our best Religious performances even as a little leaven leaventh the whole lump Accordingly the Apostle is most industrious to chase this leaven out of our hearts when he biddeth us to keep the feast not with old leaeven that is the leaven of hypocrisie when we pretend to be new men but are not Nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth 1 Cor. 5. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in azymis sinceritatis veritatis for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sincerity is a righteous judgement against the sophistications or delusions of malice and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truth is a righteous practise for there is a moral as well as a Metaphysical truth against the prevarications of Hypocrisie They generally go both together hypocrisie in the tongue and malice in the heart fair pretences and foul intentions The hypocrite being most commonly malicious as having the Devil in his heart and the malicious needing the hypocrite to disguise his malice by seeming to be an Angel in his tongue But what ever the leaven be whether these or any other infectious sins our care must be first to find it and then to cleanse it wherein it will not be amiss if we follow the great scrupulosity of the Jews who to the intent that not so much as the suspition of leaven should be amongst them at their feast of the Passeover did first cleanse their ordinary vessels of it then searched every cranny or chink of their houses after it then burnt all they found then execrated or cursed all that might possibly be left behind which they could
heaven and earth and all things in them above them and below them did so fully set forth the power of God as did this condescention that God was made man saith the same Father He looked upon it as an act of great power That God had emptied himself then that he had filled all the world CAP. III. Christ admired in his Satisfaction SECT I. The necessity of Christs satisfaction for that he was the only sacrifice to expiate sin NExt those Hereticks that oppose Christ in his person they are in the saddest condition who seek to oppose him in his Satisfaction for as the one overthroweth the foundation so the other hindereth the edification of the Christian Faith both acting the wicked parts of Sanballet and Geshem whiles true Christians with Nehemiah are labouring to build up the Temple of God For if there needed no satisfaction for sin why was the eternal Son of God offered up as a sacrifice for our sins And if we be indeed pattakers of his satisfaction what madness is it for us to rely upon our own Let the first question be seriously pondered there will be no Pelagian to deny original sin for fear he find not cause enough for the death of Christ if there were no sin of mans nature to be expiated Let the second question be seriously pondered there will be no Pharisee to maintain personal righteousness for fear he make not a right use of Christs death in that he thinks he hath not so great need as others of that his expiation Alexander Hales who was reputed and called the irrefragable Doctor is opposed by Aquinas his greatest admirer and by Bonaventure his choicest Schollar for teaching that Christ should have come into the world though with flesh not capable of suffering â—arne tamen impassibili if so be that Adam had not sinned The Angelical and Seraphical Doctors thought it unreasonable that Christ should come in the flesh not to suffer and shall not we think it irreligious to extenuate the vertue of his sufferings Sure we are that the whole creation of men and Angels are not able to satisfie the justice of God for one sin because there is no proportion betwixt their Satisfaction and his Justice for the one is finite the other is infinite And as sure we ought to be That God did not give us his Son to satisfie for our sins that we should question the necessity much less that we should undervalue the efficacy of his satisfaction For all other sacrifices were but Types of this great sacrifice which in the end of the world appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself Heb. 9. 26. Judah desired to be a bondman for Benjamin but he was his brother Saint Paul said He could wish himself accursed for the people of the Jews but they were also his brethren and his kinsmen But our Saviour Christ was contented to be made both a bondman and a Curse for us whiles we were yet his enemies His bondage was our freedom His Curse was our blessing but let not his love be our enmity for though he came to save us whiles we were his enemies yet he will not save us if we continue so O thou art my Priest to bring me unto God and my sacrifice to reconcile me to him make me to present my self body and soul as a living sacrifice unto thee that thou maist at the last day present me both in soul and body without spot and blemish unto thy heavenly Father in thine eternal and everlasting kingdom that though thou wilt then cease to be my Priest yet thou maist never cease to be my King SECT II. The commemoration of Christs sacrifice enjoyned not the repetition of it and that the Ordination of Ministers for administring the Sacraments not of Priests for the offering of Sacrifice is most agreeable with the institution of Christ and the constitution of a true Christian Church WE cannot consider Christ as a sacrifice but we must consider that sacrifice as a full expiation of and satisfaction for all our sins and consequently we must look upon it as such a sacrifice as may only be remembred but not repeated For other sacrifices shewed their own insufficiency by their often repetition they were offered year by year continually because they could not make the Commers thereunto perfect Heb. 10. 1. But this sacrifice is proved to have been sufficient because it is not again to be repeated So saith the Apostle ver 10. We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all to say there is more offering were to say there is less Sanctification to say his body is more offered were to say that our souls are less Sanctified ver 11. And every Priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins¿ This saepe in the Sacrifice is nunquam in the Satisfaction because there is an oftentimes in the offering there is a Never in the taking away of sins ver 12. But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sate down on the right hand of God This man hath so fully expiated all sin by one sacrifice that it is as absurd to think he may be sacrificed again as to confound his state of exaltatation with his state of humiliation or to think he may be brought again to his cross now he is sate down at the right hand of God And indeed our blessed Saviour himself in that he saith Do this in remembrance of me doth evidently call for the commemoration of his sacrifice upon the cross till his coming again for as long as he shall be out of sight He may not be out of mind whiles he cannot be seen he must be remembred But he that cals only for a commemoration doth in effect dissallow of a Repetition So that the burning of the blessed Sacrament into a sacrifice properly so called is neither sound divinity as they teach it nor sound devotion as they use it who by pretending to repeat and renew the corporal Sacrifice of Christ do in effect according to the Apostles rule bring it under the suspicion or at least leave it under the imputation of insufficiency for what is done once sufficiently as to all intents and purposes is in vain desired to be done again yet we deny not that Christ is offered in the holy Eucharist but we say he is offered mystically not corporally We deny not that he is also there Sacrificed but we say it is by way of Commemoration and representation not by way of renovation or repetition when Christ was corporally offered and sacrificed he himself alone was the Priest who was the Offering and the Sacrifice But he is still mystically offered and sacrificed by those Priests or Ministers who are obliged to continue the representation of his corporal offering and sacrifice though not the repetition of it Accordingly it is much to be observed that such as was
those our gifts and sacrifices Why doth this particle Therefore begin the Prayers at the Mass but only to shew as saith the Ritualist that the Angels and Saints in heaven have begun and that we men on earth do but only continue and as it were conclude this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God And why then should we otherwise continue or conclude then they have begun it Will they join with us in this our new worship or is that not a new worship meerly of our own inventing wherein they cannot will not join with us Since they glorifie God only in Christ how shall we venter to glorifie him in any other unless we will perswade God to accept one manner of glorifying him whiles it is our duty and another manner of glorifying him when it shall be our reward and so make grace not the inchoation but as it were the contradiction of glory or unless we will perswade our selves that it is not best practising such Songs on earth as we know we shall sing in heaven but such as we know we shall not sing there if so be our singing them here do not indeed keep us from coming thither and from singing there nor is this a causeless fear For he that in the case of his worship hath proclaimed himself a jealous God hath in effect told us that in that same case it is the best and surest way for every man to have his fears and jealousies Those holy prayers and praises which are offered up to God through Christ Jesus we are sure do glorifie him and consequently we cannot but fear that those which are offered up unto him through any other Mediator or Intercessor do not cannot tend to his glory Nor is it either just or safe to appeal to the practise of Gods Church at any time much less in the corruptest times against the Precept of Gods Word For we cannot be assured that any Church is his Church but from his word and we are sure that we have indeed the determination of a most infallible Doctor if we can truly say that we have the determination of his spirit in his holy Word For as what prayers go from man to God by our Saviour Christ are undoubtedly true worship so what precepts come from God to man by him are unquestionably true Doctrine Wherefore since See thou do it not I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren thaet have the testimony of Jesus worship God is one of his precepts and that twice repeated almost in the very same words Rev. 19. 9. 22. 9. How shall we dare to do it and not think to make his Doctrine as well as our own worship both alike questionable Saint Augustine gives us such a definition of a Mediator as will quite exclude all but one and that is our blessed Saviour Qui pro omnibus interpellat pro quo nullus is verus est Mediator ac Intercessor noster lib. 2. contra Parmen cap. 8. He that intercedeth for all and none intercedeth for him is our true Mediator and Intercessor Mark how he makes Mediator and Intercessor both one though some of late would make a great difference betwixt them by that new distinction of Mediator redemptionis intercessionis saying that Christ alone is a Mediator of Redemption but Saints and Angels may also with him be Mediators of Intercession A distinction not known in Aquinas his daies who concludes positively that to be a Mediator betwixt God and man is proper only to Christ and proves his position by Saint Pauls words There is one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. He did not think of eluding this text by saying Mediator est duplex redemptionis intercessionis A Mediator is twofold of Redemption and of Intercession for that had been to say Vnus est duplex one is two a singular is a plural for there cannot be the ground of a distinction unless there be two and therefore a singular subject cannot be distinguished but by making one two or a singular a plural and the Apostle having said Vnus Mediator declared the subject of his proposition so numerical and singular that it could not be capable of a distinction For it is not possible to make of one subject numerically the same two specifically distinct And it is evident that a Mediator meerly of intercession and not of redemption is not a Mediator in the Apostles account for he proves that Christ only is a Mediator for all because he gave himself a ransom for all ver 6. How then can any be a Mediator to intercede for me who hath not been a Redeemer to ransom me or why should I go to them for Intercession to whom I cannot go for Reconciliation Doth not the blood of Christ speak better things then the blood of Abel to my soul and why should I then not wholly pant and gasp after his blood Is it not folly in me to leave the better and take the worse Nay is it not impiety in me to neglect the Son of God and go a gadding after the sons of men To neglect the Mediator God hath given me and to set up others of my own makeing Can I bestow any of my hope in praying to Saints and Angels and none of my Faith and Charity go along with it or have I too much of these excellent vertues in my soul that I could take or translate some part of them from my God were they indeed to be fixed on any creature Can I devote my self too much to a true Invocation or will not a false Invocation set up a false Religion and a false Religion calumniate the truth and endanger the benefit of my redemption Well then Tutior Sanior pars must needs be my rule in a matter that so nearly concerns my Saviours honour and mine own salvation and I will leave the Saints out of my prayers because it is both safer and sounder so to do For all the world cannot object against me for going to God only by his Son but I must object against my self for going to God by the best of his servants in conjunction with much more in derogation to his Son Wherefore I must resolve to let the Saints stand in my Calander but not let them come into my Liturgie for fear I should either exclude my Saviour out of his own office of Intercession or at least exclude my self and my prayers out of the blessing of his Communion For this I am sure of He will not join with me in my prayers which I make to any but only to his Father and it is dangerous for me to pray without his Intercession if not damnable for me to pray out of his Communion Wherefore though others be careless in this point who pretend to a perfection if not to a supererogation of righteousness yet I have work enough to pray against my sins dare not willingly admit a sin into my
life which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ I doubt not but the Church might for her liberty have changed more of those Collects then she thought fit to change but infinitely bless God that she valued her Christian charity above her Christian liberty so that she hath never at all changed but for the better not desiring to depart from other Christians but only to come nearer to our Saviour Christ And truly when the Contest was once broached between the Church and the Scriptures in point of authority the most unhappy Contest that ever was broached among Christians for some Church men by laying aside the Authority of Christ did in effect teach other men to lay aside the authority of the Church I say when this unhappy Contest was once broached between the Church and the Scriptures in point of Authority it was high time for our Church to cleave to the Scriptures that she might profess her desire and intention of remaining truly Christian wherein she did but follow Saint Peters own example saying Lord to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life John 6 68. For surely our blessed Saviour did not bring down with him the words of eternal life to carry them back again to heaven but to leave them here on Earth and where hath he left them if not in the holy Scriptures Wherefore since Christ himself alledged the Scriptures to confirme the Apostles in their faith who yet believed because they had seen him with their their own eyes John 20. 29 How shall any Christian Church deny the People to read the Scripture c. and not hinder the confimation of their faith in Christ For when the Church hath done all that she can to make true believers she must confess that their faith doth not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God 1 Cor. 2. 5. and that the word of God is the chiefest instrument of his Power according to that of the holy Apostle For the word of God is quick and powerfull and sharper then any two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4. 12. In which words the Spirit of God setteth forth the excellency of the word of God from its nature and from its effects from its nature that it is quick and powerfull neither a dull nor a dead letter but quick in motion and powerfull in operation from its effects that it pierceth that it devideth that it discerneth the thoughts and intents of the Heart Piercing the thoughts by entring into the botom of our hearts to make us sound and sincere Christians against Hypocrisie Dividing the thoughts by separating good from evil Truth from falshood in our Religion to make us Orthodox Christians against Heresie and discerning the thoughts by shewing us the first truth and the chiefest good in our religion to make us firm and constant Christians against Apostasie For that man never yet discovered Christ in his Religion who could be perswaded to fall away from it He was at the best but a divider of the truth from falshood He was not a Discerner of the first Truth in that Truth which he professed for then he would have been immovable in his Profession Wherefore if you would indeed perswade or rather tempt me for t is properly a temptation which induceth to evil to leave the Scriptures that I may cleave to the Church you must first be able to shew so much in behalf of the Church as is here said in behalf of the Scriptures or you were as good perswade and tempt me to quit my reason that I may get Religion or to cease to be a man that I may begin to be a Christian SECT II. The Apparition to above five hundered at once cleared And Christ considered in his Instructions before he ascended That these Instructions are more particularly to be observed as more directly conducing to the Constitution and the Conservation of his Church Those Instructions briefly explained as they are set down Mat. 28. 19 20. THE proper work of a Christian is to consider and contemplate his Saviour Christ in all his sayings and in all his doings for never any speak like him who was the eternal word of God never any did like him who was the eternal son of God but more particularly in those which come neerest his Ascention for all those his sayings and doings do more immediately and directly concern the Constitution and the conservation of his Church it pleasing the blessed Redeemer and lover of Souls to give his special directions and instructions to his holy Apostles when he was even now to be taken away from them that so he might leave behind him in their minds the stronger impressions of his all-saving Truth and the greater assurance and perswasions of his everlasting love Wherefore though no one word that ever our blessed Saviour was pleased to speak either concerning his love towards us or our duty towards him should be let fall to the ground without our observation because he was so much our friend yet the words that he spake last of all should most diligently be received most carefully retained and most conscionally regarded because they were the words not only of a loving but also of a parting friend and by consequent such words as should both represent him and comfort us during his absence though never so long and keep him in our remembrance till his coming again when he will undoubtedly exact a severe account both of the Ministers of the people how they have observed those words For this cause though our blessed Saviour did after the day of his Resurrection make five more apparitions before his Ascension as that after eight dayes when S. Thomas was now with the rest of the Apostles Joh. 20. 26. And that to his Disciples who went a fishing Joh. 21. 4. And that to his eleven disciples on the mountain in Galilee Mat. 28. 16. And those two spoken of by S. Paul which are not at all mentioned by the Evangelists the one to above five hundred brethren at once the other to S. James alone 1 Cor. 15. 6 7. Yet I will omit all these because the words he spake to his Apostles were spoken on the very day of his Resurrection as well as at the time of his Ascension Only I cannot but wish that Beza had spared his Criticism upon S. Pauls words 1 Cor. 15. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod si vero scriptum erat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Quinquaginta Non certè mirum est quingentos hic fratres commemorari quum postea coacto universo coetu numerentur duntaxat centum viginti Act. 1. 15. What if it were at first written by the numeral letter◠which signifies fifty and that fifty come after to be made five hundred for we see that all the
Sedere est judicantis stare vero pugnantis adjuvantis Stephanus ergo in labore certaminis positus stantem vidit quem adjutorem â—abuit sed tunc post ascensionem Marcus sedere describit qua post Ascensionis gloriam inde in â—iâ—e videbitur To sit belongs to one that judgeth to stand to one that helpeth Therefore Saint Stephen saw Christ standing when he needed his help though Saint Mark described him as sitting because after he was ascended he looked on him as ready to judge the quick and dead God grant all the persecuted Ministers and servants of Christ so to see their master standing as ready to help them nay indeed so they do see him or they could not contentedly undergo their persecutions Quo propiùs mortem accedunt martyres eo propiùs Christum intuentes in coelum assurgunt saith the same Beza in his short notes upon the place The Martyrs the nearer they approach to death the nearer they behold Christ and when they seem to fall lowest they do indeed rise highest when their head is nearest earth even upon the block their heart is nearest heaven when we most see their destruction they most see their own salvation we look on their destroyers standing over them ready to dispatch them but they look on their Saviour standing over their destroyers even at the right hand of God ready to receive them Most heavenly is that contemplation of Tertullian lib. de resur carn Quemadmodum nobis arrhabonem Spiritus reliquit ita à nobis arrhabonem carnis accepit vexiâ— in coelum pignus totius summae illuc quandoque redigendae Securi igitur estote caro sanguis usurpâstis enim coelum regnum in Christo Our blessed Saviour as he gave unto us the earnest of his Spirit so he took of us the earnest of our flesh and carried that with him into heaven as a pledge that all the rest should follow after it Be secure then O flesh and blood for ye have already ascended into heaven and do even now in Christ your head possess and enjoy the Kingdom of God CAP. III. Christ considered after he was ascended as sitting on the hand of God SECT I. What is meant by the right hand of God and by Christs sitting there SAint Augustine in his hundred and fifteenth Sermon de tempore ascribes this part of the Apostles Creed concerning Christs ascending into heaven and sitting on the right hand of God to Saint Bartholomew and the antient Fathers do generally make them both but one Article or at least joyn them so together as if they were bur one Wherein they speak much after the dialect of Saint Peter 1 Pet. 3. 22. Who is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God But I have rather chosen to treat of them severally because though we should allow them to be but one article of our Faith yet they are two several mysteries of our Religion and indeed the one an effect and consequent of the other and therefore not the same with it For our blessed Saviour first ascended in his humane body and afterwards in that same humane body sate at the right hand of God But here we must be sure to observe Origens caution Ne tibi describas sensibiles sessiones duas cathedras sedentes super â—as humano Schemate Patrem Filium take heed you phansie not to your self any visible sitting as if there were two chairs in heaven the one for the Father to sit in the other for the Son to sit by him Nor may we think that God hath such a right hand for Christ to sit on as Solomon had for his mother Bathsheba 1 King 2. 19 He caused a seat to be set for the Kings Mother and she sate on his right hand We must have no such earthly and fleshly thoughts of the place and much less of the God of spirits but by the right hand of God We must understand the power and majesty and glory of the God head So Saint Basil in lib. desp S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The right hand of God doth not signifie any relation of place but equality of power So Saint Athanasius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when you hear of Gods right hâ—nd you must thereby undeastand the glory honour and worship of God and nothing else is meant by Christs sitting at the right hand of God but his being in the same glory with the Father Excellently Damascence lib. 4. de orth fide cap. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was the more willing to transcribe the whole words because this piece of Damascen is scarce to be met with but in Colledge Libraries and is not like to be there very long if some men may have their wills who gaping after Colledge lands would force the poor Scholars to sell their books to buy bread but the meaning of them is this We say that Christ sitteth on the right hand of his father corporally or locally in his humane body But we do not say that the right hand of his Father is local or corporal confined to any place or situation for how can he that is uncircumscrîbed and unconfined have such a right hand But we call the right hand of the Father the glory honour of the Godhead in the which Christ as the Son of God was Copartner with his Father before all ages being coessential with him But now also as the Son of man in his humane flesh or body is he possessed of the same glory his humane nature being glorified together with his Divine nature and worshipped in the same person by all the Saints and Angels in heaven SECT II. That Christ as man sitteth on the right hand of God IT is not to be denyed but that our Saviour Christ doth as he is a man sit at the right hand of God For he doth sit there in his humane nature whether we take his sitting at the right hand of God for his resting in eternal blessedness after all the travails and labours of his sufferings as Saint Augustine doth in Expos Symb. or for being assumed and associated into the glory of the Divinity as Damascen expounds it For as in his Divine nature he sate at the right hand of God from all eternity being in the same power and glory and blessedness with him so also after his ascension he carried up his humane nature to sit there having taken the nature of man as into the unity so also into the glory and blessedness of his person and in it administring the Kingdom of his father as head of the Church both Militant and Triumphant King of Saints and governour of all things in heaven and in earth For so himself hath told us Mat. 28. 18. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth Go therefore and teach all nations baptizng them or rather Go therefore and Disciple all nations baptizing them that is make them my Disciples by baptizing them in the
69. super Cantic Si sensero aperiri mihi sensum ut intelligâ—m Scripturas aut uberiores desursum influere animo meditationum imbres non ambigo sponsum adesse Verbi siquidem hae copiae sunt de plenitudine ejus ista accipimus If I perceive my understanding opened to understand the Scripture or the influence and distillation of heavenly meditations upon my soul I cannot doubt but the Bridegroom is at hand for these are the armies that the word doth march withall and it is from his fulness that my soul is thus filled The second proof of our communion with Christ is this that we continue and abide in his love and this is a consequent of the former as it is said ver 10. If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love No keeping of his commandments no abiding in his love Wherefore the Solifidian is in a dangerous condition who seeks not to joyn obedience to his faith For he abides not in the love of Christ and how then can he expect that Christ should interpose his death and passion betwixt the judgement of God and his sinful soul since that interposition is clearly the greatest effect that can be of Christs love Greater love hath no man then this that a man lay down his life for his friends John 15. 13. Our blessed Saviour dyed for his enemies but none shall have the benefit of his death in the day of Judgement but only his friends and none are his friends but they that abide in his love and none abide in his love but they that keep his commandments if not by their righteousness yet at least by their repentance The third proof of our communion with Christ is this that his joy remaineth in us ver 11. These things have I spoken unto you sc the things that belong to your abiding in me that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full Lord what a mercy is it that thy joy doth come unto us much more that it doth remain in us And from whence coâ—â—â—h thy joy but from the testimony of thy Holy Spirit that thou hast reconciled us unto the Father and from the testimony of our own consciences that we do not abide in any sin to hinder the comfort and hazard the fruit of that reconciliation This is the very joy of the Holy Ghost a joy not heard of but amongst Christian a joy not found but amongst good Christians who have the Spirit of Christ witnessing with their spirits that they are the children of God and if children then heirs heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ if so be that they suffer with him that they may be also glorified together Rom. 8. 16 17. T is not all the losses of the earth can discourage those who are the heirs of heaven t is not all the sufferings of this world can dismay those who have the joy of the next world because they know they can be losers and sufferers only for a time but they are sure they shall have gain and glory for ever SECT II. That our communion with Christ is as our participation of Christ exteral or internal The one may be the communion of hypocrites the other only of good Christians The way to be a good Christian in a bad Church NO man can hope to be wise without wisdom righteous without righteousness holy without holiness true without truth or to see without light or to live without life And therefore no man can hope to be wise righteous holy true or to see or to live without Christ for he of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification 1 Cor. 1. 30. and he alone is the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world John 1. 9. and he alone is the truth and the life John 14. 6. Therefore we must have Communion with him or we cannot have wisdom righteousness sanctification truth light or life from him But how can we have communion with Christ since He is in heaven and we are on earth I answer as we can partake of him so we can communicate with him For participation and communion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are in Saint Pauls language equipollent one and the same thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quae participatio quae communio are set down as terms convertible 2 Cor. 6. 14. So far therefore as we participate of Christ so far forth we communicate with Christ If we participate of him only externally whether in his Word or in his Sacraments we communicate with him only externally If we participate of him internally we communicate also with him internally according to that excellent determination of that irrefragable Doctor upon this question An mali pertineant ad unionem capitis cum corpore Ecclesiae whether wicked men belong to that Union of the Church wherein Christ as head is united with the body which question he determines in the negative saying thus Mali quidem sunt in unitate Ecclesiae dummodo habent fidem rectam ut zizania cum tritico Mat. 13. sed non sunt in unitate corporis Ecclesiae sunt ergo de Ecclesia sed non de corpore Ecclesiae nam ut in corpore humano est unio membrorum duplex sc materialis per nervos formalis per vitam sic in corpore Ecclesiae est duplex unio membrorum una quasi materialis quae est per fidem alia formalis quae est per charitatem Alâ—n. par 3. qu. 12. m. 2. ar 3. Wicked men are in the Unity of the Church as long as they profess the true faith as the tares are with the wheat Mat. 13. But they are not in the unity of the body of the Church therefore they are of the Church but not of the body of the Church For as in the body of a man there is a twofold Union of the members to wit a material union by nerves ligaments and a formal union by spirit and life so in the body of the Church there is a twofold union of the members the one as it were a material union in the outward profession of the same Christian Faith the other a formal union in the inward affection and love of that Faith which they profess And hence is that distinction of Aquinas for Stapleton and the later writers have it from him Quidam sunt de Ecclesiae numero tantum quidam merito numero Some men are members of the Christian Church only in their number or in their persons some also in their merit or in their Dispositions some men partake of the Word and Sacraments only with their ears and with their mouths but others partake of them also with their hearts as it is said of the blessed Virgin-mother She kept all these sayings in her heart Luke 2. 51. the one we may say are Christs external the other his internal communicants And the Apostle in the same place useth three other
the word for the word of God is quick and powerful sharper then any two edgedsword peircing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discoverer of the thoughts and intents of the heart ver 12. All which force and activity cannot be from the dead letter which constitutes the word but from the quick spirit which accompanies and enlivens it But their faith was and our faith is wanting to the Spirit of God which brings us all under that sharp reproof of our blessed Saviour O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Luke 24. 25. For if we be not slow to believe yet generally we believe by an historical faith proceeding from the conviction of the understanding meerly through the evidence of truth as the Devils believe and tremble not by a justifying faith proceeding from the conversion of the will through the love of truth And hence it is that though the cheif corner stone be rightly laid in all Christian Churches all alike confessing Christ to be the eternal Son of God and the Mediator betwixt God and man for if any deny this they are neither to be thought nor to be called Christians yet the building is not rightly raised in many Churches the reason is because there be many mockers in these last times who walk after their own ungodly lusts separating themselves sensual not having the Spirit as Saint Jude admonisheth But in no wise building up themselves in their most holy faith or praying in the Holy Ghost or keeping themselves in the love of God as Saint Jude adviseth No wonder if such a faith as this came far short of its proper object Christ with all the blessings and mercies of God since indeed it comes far short of it self For a faith that maketh men not build up but pull down the practice of religion and pray not in Gods Holy Spirit but in their own perverse spirits and keep themselves not in the love of God and consequently of his Church but in the love of their own self-interests and advantages such a faith or rather such a phansie or fiction and faction as this is and must be called comes far short of faith and therefore cannot but come far short of Christ the proper object of faith Saint Paul tells us of another kind of faith which to them under the Law was the evidence of things not seen and must be so to us under the Gospel saying these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth Heb. 11. 13. They died in that faith in the which we ought to live and dye though the object of it be more clearly revealed to us then it was to them a faith which is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen A faith knowing by evidence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they did see the promises a faith approving by adherence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were perswaded of them A faith applying by affection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they embraced them and lastly a faith working and persevering by profession practice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they confessed the same promises not only in their words but also in their deeds in their life and conversation accounting themselves strangers and Pilgrims on earth when they considered those heavenly promises And that made them like Pilgrims earnestly to long after their own country and not do or desire any thing for love of earth which might hinder or delay their passage to heaven So that a faith thus seeing thus applying thus approving thus confessing the promises of salvation by Christ is the faith which our Apostle defineth to be the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen that is to say a faith that now maketh Christ present with the soul by the communion of his grace and will hereafter make the soul present with Christ in the communion of his glory Oh for such a faith to bring my Saviour into my soul and to keep him there till faith it self be no longer faith but be turned into vision A faith that engageth the whole man in all his powers and faculties both of soul and body For only such a faith as taketh up the whole man in his understanding will affections actions can take a right and lay a fast hold on Christ such a faith though it cannot miraculously now open the heavens as it did once to Saint Stephen yet it can and will pierce the heavens and there see the son of man standing on the right hand of God ready to defend us on earth and as ready to receive us into heaven Whence we may very well conclude that this communion of good Christians with Christ or of the body with the head though at so great a distance is in the thing it self most real and substantial though in the manner it be only spiritual and mystical Christ and his Church nay every true member of his Church are as substantially united together as man and wife Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church Ephes 5. 25. that is to say his wife And therefore as no distance can keep the man and his wife from being one flesh so neither Christ and his Church from being one spirit He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. And to put us out of doubt that we whilst we live here on earth if we live unto him are thus joyned unto him Saint John saith plainly Hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given us 1 John 3. 24. There cannot be a more substantial union then is of the soul with the body because the soul abideth in the body and the same union is of Christ with the soul because he abideth in the soul and as we know the soul abideth in the body by the spirit or breath which it giveth to the body so we know that Christ abideth in the soul by the spirit which he giveth to the soul Yet is this union of Christ with his body not carnal but spiritual not to be discerned by the strength of the outer but of the inner man such an union as Saint Paul describeth to all but wisheth only to good Christians for though he might wish the Son of righteousness to shine upon a dunghill yet he might not wish him to be joyned to it that God would grant you to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith Ephes 3. 16 17 Here is a most real and substantial union and communion betwixt Christ and good Christians for the spirit strengtheneth them and Christ dwelleth in them but t is only spiritual for the spirit strengtheneth their inner man and mystical for Christ dwelleth
the Jews in their own Moral Law whilst we establish not our own righteousness but submit our selves to the rightâ—â—usness of God acknowledging that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth Rom. 10. 4. but by no means for unrighteousness that is for the acceptance of our obedience but not for the abolition of it Thus we Christians still keep communion with the Jews in all Moral duties and as for Ceremonials the Jews themselves cannot deny but they are bound to alter their own communion For the abolition of all ceremonial or typical worship was foretold to them even at the first institution of it by Moses himself saying And the Lord said I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him Deut. 18. 18 19. And as this abolition of the Ceremonial worship was foretold to the Jews at the first institution so was it also believed by them at the first reception thereof For hence alone was it that they found no fault with their Prophets after Moses though they found them dispensing with the Law of Moses nay plainly acting against it in the exercise of their typical or ceremonial worship as for example neither they of Hierusalem nor of Samaria quarrelled with Eliah for gathering Israel together to offer sacrifice upon Mount Carmel 1 King 18. 19. Though Moses had flatly commanded That all should bring their offerings to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation Levit. 17. 2 3 4. Here it is plain the Ceremonial worship was changed without any quarrel at all in that backsliding and therefore quarrelsome and contentious age of the Church of the Jews which could scarce have been had they not received that same worship with some belief of its future change and had not their Prophets confirmed them in that belief foreshewing as it were by particular changes introduced by them the universal change that should one day be introduced by the Messiah their last and greatest Prophet And this general change wrought by our Saviour Christ is so proved to us Christians that we cannot so much as doubt it and much less deny it For those very words of Moses that foreshewed the change A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall you hear in all things are quoted by Saint Peter as fulfilled in Christ Acts 3. 22. And again he saith v. 24. That all the Prophets from Samuel and those that follow after which words justifie the Jews division of the Prophets into the former and latter Prophets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and put the latter Prophets in as good credit as the former against the Samaritanes and as many have spoken have likewise foretold of these dayes All the Prophets like so many lines from the circumference in the centre meet together in Christ so that the written word of God not only is the undoubted and therefore should be the undeniable ground of all Religion but also of the very Christian Religion nor may we endeavour to prove the establishment of the Christian Religion by unwritten Traditions no more then the Apostles did prove the change of the Jewish Religion by them They alledged the written word for the introduction we for the establishment of our Christian Religion The old Testament so exactly agreeing with the new and both old and new so exactly agreeing and corresponding in Christ that there can be no doubt left of the truth of Christianity Hence Saint Paul will have us make so sure of our Religion that though an Angel from heaven should preach another Gospel we should not be ready to believe but to accurse him Gal. 1 8. And Saint John saith the same in effect If there come any to you and bring not this doctrine sc that whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God receive him not into your house neither bid him God speed 2 John 9 10. Si quis venit ad vos If any come unto you t is all one whether the substantive be an Angel or a man for that divinity was not yet in fashion Si Papa erraret praecipiendo vitia vel prohibendo virtutes teneretur Ecclesia credere vitia esse bona virtutes malas nisi velit contra conscientiam peccare Bellar. lib. 4. de Pontif. cap. 5. That if the Pope should err by commanding sins and forbidding vertues The Church were bound to believe that sins were good and vertues were evil unless she would sin against her conscience Op. Ac ne forte contra conscientiam agat tenetur credere bonum esse quod ille praecipit malum quod ille prohibet And least the Church should do any thing against her conscience she is bound to believe that to be good which the Pope commandeth and that to be evil which he forbiddeth A strange assertion as if God had put all his Divine Truths whether speculative or practical for if the one the other also under the possibility of mans lawfull contradiction and all our consciences under the power of his controul nor is there any remedy for this mischeivous consequence by translating this pretended Infallibility from his person to his chair nor from his chair to his Church for we may justly suppose or rather must necessarily believe that Saint Johns words are as well to be understood and interpreted of a whole Church as of single man since there is the same reason of both for a Church is but a congregation of men and false doctrine hath no less of falsity though it hath less of excuse in a Church then in any particular man But we must more then believe this Truth if it be possible That the Gospel is to sway our faith above and against all authorities to the contrary whatsoever by the force of Saint Pauls reason For if not the authority of the Church triumphant then surely not of the Church militant may be allowed to weaken our faith in the doctrine or in the Gospel of Christ If not an Angel from heaven then sure not a man upon the earth And great pity it is but greater shame that the faction and humour of some men should endeavour to shake not only the dictates of nature in putting vertue and vice under mans determination but also the very foundation of supernatural Truth the written Word of God thereby thinking the more to establish the pillar of supernatural truth the Church of God whereas indeed they do the more shake that too For we are all most sure that the Scriptures came incorrupt from the mouth of God and therefore if there be now any corruptions in them they are of mans not of Gods creating And
is the signification of its name derived from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies joy and exaltation or our English word Glee That as the resurrection of Christ was the greatest joy that ever came to earth whose very dust by this new breathing of God the Son is the second time become a living body never to die again so the place wherein it was demonstrated and the time wherein it was celebrated should be to mankind both of them remembrancers of everlasting joy This was enough then to make all the world go to Hierusalem and Hierusalem it self to go to Galilee that they might be joyful spectators of this great blessing and more blessed partakers of this great joy accordingly providing their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their songs and hymns of triumph in honour of our blessed Saviour who had thus overcame death to open unto us the gate of everlasting life and let us in to an immortal Communion with himself the first-born of the dead and with his holy Angels the first-born of the living This is that communion the holy Apostle recommendeth to our desires and much more to our delights when he saith Ye are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the Heavenly Hierusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels To the general assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Iesus the Mediator of the New Covenant Heb. 12. 22 23 24. As many words so many excellencies of our Christian communion which is inchoate here in earth and shall be consummate hereafter in heaven but I will reduce them all to three heads the proper place the company and the author of this Communion 1. The proper Place is the Church of God here specified by three most honourable titles or compellations Mount Sion The City of the living God The heavenly Hierusalem three such titles as will make every sober much more every Religious man in love with the Churches communion as he would be in love with the stedfastness of Mount Sion which cannot be removed with the holiness of the City of God which cannot be defiled and with the happiness of the heavenly Hierusalem which above all things is to be desired for without doubt this Christian communion with the Church of Christ is the safest and the plainest way to stedfastness to holiness and to happiness 2. The company and that is so good that we cannot hope for better in heaven for it consists of Angels and of the first-born in Christ whose names are written in heaven and of God the Maker Preserver and Rewarder of these and the Judge of all that hate and oppose them with all these do we actually communicate in Christs Church whiles we are here on earth with Angels as the assistants with good men as the members and with God as the president of this communion nay indeed we actually communicate with more then these for also with the spirits of just men made perfect so that if any just man go from hence out of our company yet he goes not out of our communion for we follow after him to heaven in our affections though we still continue and remain here on earth in our persons 3. The author of this Communion and he is no other then the eternal Son of God the hope of men and the joy of Angels the support of earth and the beauty of heaven even Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant who by his eternal Priesthood offering up himself hath fully expiated and taken away the sins of the whole world and by his own death hath ratified and confirmed that Testament in which he hath given us the Inheritance of heaven 'T is of his fulness we have all received grace for grace It is of his fulness we shall all receive glory for glory It is the sprinkling of his blood which washeth away our sins contracted from our earthly parents and which will present our souls without sin before our heavenly Father so that we have great necessity earnestly to desire and constantly to embrace his Communion by whom alone we can hope to attain the sanctification of our souls here and the salvation of our souls hereafter CAP. III. Of Christian Communion in its sincerity SECT I. The sincerity of Christian Communion consists in this that it gives all to Christ Those Christians justified that do so in their Festivals the Sabbatarians questioned for not so doing The Apostles new method of teaching Christian Divinity by interlining of prayers and praises that Christ might be the more glorified and the Christian Religion the less adulterated IN other communions every one is like Diotrephes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ready to challenge if not to engross the preheminence to himself But in the true Christian communion all are willing to give the preheminence wholly unto Christ And they have great reason so to do and greater Religion in so doing for they do but give unto him what they have received from him that like as they have the preheminence among other men in being members of his body so he may have the preheminence among them in being acknowledged for their Head For his humiliation was very great in stooping down so low as to be joyned to them and by the Apostles express rule Phil. 2. His exaltation is to be correspondent to his humiliation Saint Chrysostom thus expresseth his humiliation in that He descended to this communion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he who was above and above all things was pleased to joyn himself with those below that so he might be their Head It was the Psalmists admiration Who is like unto the Lord our God that hath his dwelling so high and yet humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and earth Psalm 113. 5. It must be our astonishment that he humbleth himself not to behold but to guide and manage them that he humbleth himself not to look but to come down to heaven to be the head of Angels not to look but to come down to earth to be the head of men Three great steps of humility in stepping down to this It was one great step for him to look down to heaven Another great step to look down to earth but the third was far greater then both to come down to earth that he might there incorporate himself with men in one body and so become their Head and inspirit men with himself as it were in one soul that they might become his members Wherefore our enquiry concerning this must needs begin in admiration that our admiration may the better end in thanksgiving according to Saint Pauls example who after his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the depth of the riches concludes with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whom be glory for ever Amen Nay indeed according to Saint Pauls Doctrine for so he expresly saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That in all things he might be first or that in all things he might have the preheminence Col. 1. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith his most faithful interpreter Saint Chrysostom The first in heaven as the beginning the first in earth as Head of the Church the first under the earth as the first born from the dead Thus hath God ordained that our Saviour Christ should have the preheminence in all things and in all places from whence we must conclude that the same is the duty and ought to be the work of all that profess godliness even to give all honour and glory to this Son of man whom the King of Kings is pleased to honour And in this respect those Christians like Mary have chosen the better part though the other like Martha trouble themselves and all the world besides about many unnecessary things who carefully observe all those anniversary Festivals which have been instituted entirely for the honour of Christ and consequently observe our weekly festival rather as a Lords day then as a Sabbath For these sit quietly and orderly at Jesus his feet hearing his Word and place him at their head promoting his honour according to the Apostles example and advice To God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ for ever Rom. 16. 27. They look upon this festival as instituted for Gods glory and think it neither safe nor fit for Christians to glorifie God through Moses but through Christ And therefore desire to honour him not by a Sabbath but by a Lords day for that the Sabbath was a type of Christs rest in the grave who rested there only that whole day as it were to bury it with himself but the Lords day is an undoubted memorial of his resurrection So that the one carries in its name if not in its nature a false protestation concerning the Christian faith and may possibly in time make us turn Jews The other carries in its name and nature a true profession of our faith and can only help to make and to keep us good Christians as immediately directing our thoughts and our thankfulness to our Saviour Christ which alone is the way to make us true Evangelical professors this being the summe of the whole Gospel That he was delivered for our offences and rose again for our Iustification Rom. 4 26. And it is plain that the whole Gospel doth so directly tend to the Article of Christs resurrection that Saint Paul saith expresly it can neither be rightly preached nor professed without it If Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith also is vain 1 Cor. 15. 14. It nearly concerns all Christian Ministers to abandon those tenents which may either directly or indirectly make vain their own preaching or the peoples faith And it is to be feared the Sabbatarian Doctrine may tend to this for it is to be avowed that the turning those solemn festivals out of the Church which peculiarly commemorate the Incarnation Nativity Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and teach us to bless God for the same that the Sabbath may be set up as Lady paramount and Queen Regent to controule and confine all our publick worship can in no case make for the honour of Christ and therefore not for the truth of Christianity For Saint Paul saith expresly that in all things he must have the preheminence and if in all things then surely both in duties and in daies and if in duties then much more in daies for if the worship be not acceptable to God but in him then sure the day cannot be acceptable but for him T is proper for the Jew to keep a Sabbath who thinks himself still bound to worship God through Moses but t is proper for the Christian to keep a Lords day who knows himself bound to worship and glorifie God only through Christ Jesus the Lord of glory And Saint Paul readeth this Lecture to the Jews themselves and much more to us Christians in those words to the Hebrews Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen Heb. 13. 20 21. Where he briefly declares the summe not only of that whole Epistle but also of the whole Christian Faith and that by way of benediction to shew we cannot have the blessing of Christians unless we have the faith of Christians And that faith teacheth us to believe and confess 1. That God is reconciled to us Now the God of peace 2. That our Saviour Christ alone hath wrought for us and offereth to us this reconciliation as our King our Lord Jesus as our Prophet the great Shepherd and as our Priest through the blood of the everlasting Covenant 3. That he hath given us sufficient proof of his great work that he is brought again from the dead 4. That he is ready to give us the superabundant fruits of all by making us perfect in every good work to do his will working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight In all these inestimable and undeserved mercies it is Christ alone that is all in all wherefore it follows in the next words through Christ Jesus and consequently he in himself and the Father in him is to be glorified for all as it is said To whom be glory for ever and ever Amen God is the God of peace to us men in that he brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus so that we cannot rightly glorifie him for the reconciliation unless we glorifie him for the resurrection And for this cause happily it was that the Church did antiently interpose Halleluiah in the midst of those sentences of the Text which she chose for her publick service in celebrating the memory of Christs resurrection not to interrupt the words or sense of the Scriptures but rather to explain them teaching us that good Christians should not read or hear any part of the Text without thinking of Christ and that they should not think of Christ without praising God in him and for him and that praising God in and for their Saviour Christ they can never be zealous enough in their praises nor rejoyce too much in his salvation Therefore they intermingled Hallelujah not only in the Hymns of the Text where it might be thought a natural appendix but also in the Doctrines of it where at first sight it might seem altogether an unnecessary addition As for example thus they recite that Hymn of the Psalmist He brought forth his people with joy Halleluiah and his chosen with gladness Psalm 105. ver 42. And thus also that doctrine of Saint Peter As new born babes Halleluiah desire the sincere milk of the Word 1 Pet. 2. 2. Where
bind If we break one of those bonds asunder how shall we be held by the other If we cast away Religion what do we talk of communion it is more just to call it a conspiracy If we cast away communion what do we pretend Religion it is more just to call it an apostacy Let both Religion and Communion be truely for the honour of Christ or let neither be called Christian For indeed this is the only true touchstone whereby we may try which Churches are the dross of Christendom and which are the gold of it they who most labour to glorifie Christ are the best Christians according that short but pithy prayer of the Latine Church Et quia tuum est quod credimus tuum sit omne quod vivimus Orat. in Sabbato quatuor temporum quadragesimae And because that all our Faith is from thee grant that all our Life may be for thee and to thee All our faith is from Christ all our life must be to Christ or we shall live infidels though in belief Christians Therefore they who most labour to glorifie Christ both by their Faith and by their life are undoubtedly the best Christians They who most labour to glorifie him as King to be ruled by his government as Prophet to be guided by his Word as Priest to be reconciled by his satisfaction they are clearly the best Christians and they who are defective in any of these as they less glorifie Christ so have they less the purity and truth of Christianity Great is the preeminence of Christians above other men that they know Christ but greater is their preeminence above other Christians that they glorifie him agreeably to their knowledge such are truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The faithful in Saint Chrysostomes sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christians are called the Faithful not only for trusting in God but also for being trusted by him in that they have been entrusted with those mysteries of Christ which not the Angels themselves did know before them They were accordingly best take heed they do not betray that trust which they did not could not deserve and they will certainly betray it if once they seek to take the preeminence to themselves and not give it to their Saviour We may not judge some of the antient Churches for so doing because they were swallowed up by an Earth-quake soon after they had received Christianity as Coloss Laodicea and Hâ—erapolis in the reign of Nero saith Orasius But we most look carefully to our selves that we may not do so who dayly hear many amongst us saying We are of Paul others we are of Cephas others we are of Apollos meerly to divide the Church and others saying We are of Christ meerly to contemn it For they intend not to advance our Saviour but to debase his Ministers not to come neerer Christ but only to run further from his Church I say we must look carefully to our selves leâ—t some such dreadful Earthquake swallow us up also who have provoked heaven wearied earth and therefore may justly go down quick into hell or lest we be swallowed up by the Earth without an Earth quake as were Corah Dathan and Abiram who were the first notorious authors of divisions in the people of God and themselves perished by a strange division for saith the Text The ground clave asunder that was under them Numb 16. 31. And the ground is still cleaving asunder under us in so much that it is to be feared That the Earth the sons of the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filii terrae as the Text calls them Psalm 49. 2. the lowest and meanest of the people will at last quite swallow up both Moses and Aaron that is all authority and preeminence both Civil and Ecclesiastical This we are sure of the only way for the Kings and Potentates of this world to keep their own authority is by it to defend and maintain the authority of Christ who is the blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords 1 Tim. 6. 15. nor is it just they should look to have any preeminence without and much less against him whose proper right it is in all things to have the preeminence Col. 1. 18. Therefore give glory to the Lord your God before he cause darkness in despite of all your new lights and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains and while ye look for light he turn it into the shadow of death and make it gross darkness But if ye will not hear it my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride and mine eye shall weep sore and run down with tears because the Lords flock is carried away captive Jer. 13. 16 17. Carried away captive from the communion of the Lord to the divisions and distractions of his enemies A captivity beyond that of Babylon because of a confusion beyond that of Babel for there only tongues but here minds and spirits also are confounded O sweet Jesus restore again to thy communion those that have departed from it retain and confirm those that still abide and continue in it Thou blessed Mediator betwixt God and Angels and men and by that thy mediation the blessed author to the Angels of union to men of reunion to both Angels and men of communion with the everliving God be pleased so to joyn all Christians in one communion here on earth that thou mayst joyn them all in one communion hereafter in heaven even that eternal and most blessed communion wherein thou our Head now livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost one God world without end Amen Deo Trin-uni gloria THE IVSTIFICATION OF THE Church of England According to the true principles of Christian Religion and Communion consisting of three Chapters The first Chapter sheweth that the Church of England is Gods Trustee for the Christian Religion as to the people of this Nation The second Chapter sheweth that the same Church of England hath carefully discharged that Trust as a most Christian or most Catholick Church The third Chapter sheweth that the Communion of the said Church of England is conscionably embraced and reteined by all the people of that Nation but unconscionably declined or deserted by any of them I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the Grace of Christ unto another Gospel which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the Gospel of Christ Gal. 1. 6 7. I would they were even cut off which trouble you Gal. 5. 12. LONDON Printed Anno Domini 1658. The Preface to the Iudicious and unprejudicate Reader I Hope it will not be said I seek to justifie a Church which is not for the truth and righteousness whereby it was a Church are the same they ever were or that I seek to justifie a Church which ought not to be for no man can shew a better truth and righteousness whereby to make a better Church Till
not justly be condemned by another Church much less opposed or deserted by her own state For that such a Church is without doubt Gods Trustee and hath not been faulty in the discharge of her Trust and may not be hindred or molested in dischaging it SECT VIII The Trust of particular Churches is immediately from God himself both in regard of the Magistrate and of the Minister That Trust much stood upon in the Primitive times and ought to be so still because it is founded on the holy Scriptures And that this Doctrine concerning the Trust of particular Churches doth not canton or disjoynt the Catholick Church T IS no hard matter to prove That particular Churches are Gods immediate Trustees though they have but a limited Trust For else will follow the greatest absurdity that can be imagined and much greater that may be granted viz. That God hath left the blood of his Son the dictates of his Spirit the honour of his name exposed to all the contempts and prophanations and corruptions of perverse and ignorant and wicked men if he hath not entrusted them all with some such persons who are bound to see them neither prophaned nor contemned nor corrupted And who were those his Trustees at first but only his Apostles and who have they been ever since but their Successors Bishops and Ministers Take heed unto the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers Acts 20. 28. O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy Trust 1 Tim. 6. 20. The Minister whether Bishop or Priest is immediately intrusted with the care of souls and with those truths and administrations which directly concern the soul For the civil Magistrate though he be Christian yet is not capable of discharging the spiritual part of this Trust being not called of God as was Aaron to do the office of a Priest though he be called of God as was Moses to have power and dominion over Priests For in that he is governour of the State he is also governour of the Church which is in and within the State and in that he is governour of the Church he must needs have his share in the Trust of the Church concerning Religion as far as Religion is liable to the government of the State sc to be ordered protected and defended by it For as God at first used the extraordinary power of miracles to maintain his word and Sacraments and to strike the opposers and profaners of them either with death or with other corporal punishments as S. Paul saith of the Corinthians For this cause many are weakly and sick among you and many sleep 1 Cor. 11. 30. sc because of your profaning the blessed Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ So in process of time he was pleased to use the ordinary power of the Civil Magistrate for the same purposes never leaving himself without witness having given a directive and spiritual power to the Ministery a coactive and external power to the Magistracy for the suppressing of wickedness and vice and for the promoting of true Religion and Virtue Therefore both Magistracy and Ministery have the immediate Trust of Religion and God hath commanded both to assist hath allowed neither to oppose the other in the execution of his Trust Both are obliged to see there be a right exercise of Religion the one to perform it the other to countenance and protect it And both have their Trust immediately from God and this is that which I call the Trust of particular Churches nor is it to be imagined That if God had given the Trust of all Churches to some general Vicar of his who derived his power immediately from him and was to derive the same to others but that he would have given some notice of this universal Trustee that others might not invade this Trust without his leave much less manage it without his Authority yet this he was willing to plead for who said Petrus Paulo dedit licentiam praedicandi Gl. in Grat. Dist 11. cap. 11. that Saint Peter gave Saint Paul a licence to preach and that Authoritate Domini by Gods own command who said Acts 13. Sepatate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereto I have called them He will needs bring Saint Peter from Jerusalem to Antioch of purpose to lay his hands on Saint Paul though the Holy-Ghost reckons up these particular men who were bid do that work and reckons not Saint Peter among them nay though Saint Paul himself plainly tels us that he had Preached full three years before he once saw Saint Peter Gal. 1. 17 18. and then was fain to go up to Jerusalem not to Antioch to see him and only to see him not to receive commission or Instruction from him So Saint Chrysostome upon the words Gal. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He wanted Peter for nothing but being equal in honour with him that I may say no more now yet he went up to him as to his Superiour and his Ancient And he tell us this of purpose saith he that we should not think the ensuing reprehension proceeded either out of hatred or envy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it is plain he loved the man and respected him more then any other of the Apostles for he saith Other of the Apostles saw I none Yet he did but go to see him not to learn of him much less to receive spiritual power from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I did but see him I did not learn of him saith the same Saint Chrysostome And indeed it is scarce imaginable that Saint Paul was rapt up into the third Heaven the proper dwelling place of God to hear unspeakable words to be Tongue-tied on earth by any man so as not to be able to preach without his License Nay on the contrary it is clearly evident from the Holy Scriptures and from all Antiquity that not only Saint Paul but also all the other Apostles did Preach the Gospel found Churches ordain Bishops excommunicate offenders without any delegation from Saint Peter only by their own immediate Authority And it is also evident that they all derived their Authority to their several Churches after them and that those several Churches did very much insist upon that authority which they could not lawfully have done had it not been derived to them by the Apostles Thus Saint Cyprian pleads for his Church of Carthage Ne quisquam se Episcopum Episcoporum constituat aut tyrannico terrore ad obsequendi necessitatem collegas suos adigat quando habeat omnis Episcopus pro licentia libertatis potestatis suae arbitrium proprium tanquam judicari ab alio non possit quà m nec ipse possit alterum judicare Neither let any man make himself a Bishop of Bishops nor by his tyrannical threats seek to compell his collegues to be his Vassals since every Bishop hath his own native liberty and power to determine for himself as one that may neither Iudge his fellow-Bishop
yet thou oughtest to dread his infinite Majesty How much more now that he is in heaven above thee so high as to overlook thee to over-top thee to over power thee Thus the reason is enforced from Gods Majesty Again were he on earth with thee yet thou oughtest to consider and admire his transcendent purity for he is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity of purer ears then to hear it of purer heart then to regard it and consequently of purer hands then not to punish it How much more now that he is in heaven the proper place of purities of pure persons of pure actions and of pure affections and thou on earth where persons and actions and affections are all unclean and impure Thus the reason is enforced from Gods purity If thou art not afraid because of his Majesty yet thou mayst be ashamed because of his purity that the word either of thy mind or of thy mouth should be injudicious or indeliberate for that is not agreeable with the purity of reason and much less with the purity of Religion Therefore let thy words be few such as have been weighed in the ballance of the sanctury before they be presented in it as an offering to that holy One whose holiness doth not only inhabit the sanctuary but also doth sanctifie it And this reason doth our Saviour himself intimate unto us not only from the shortness of his own most holy prayer but also from the introduction of it Our Father which art in heaven as if he had said God is in heaven thou art on earth therefore let thy words be few Surely this Text which was given of purpose to prevent vanities in Divine service according to the judgement of our Church as appears by the contents had need be blâ—…ed out of Gods word and out of mans heart that the world may contentedly give up Liturgy to Enthusiasm that is proper and deliberate prayers fit to engage holy affections and to express holy desires for extravagant and extemporary effusions such as are commonly improper but alwayes indeliberate if not in regard of the Minister yet surely in regard of the people who yet notwithstanding ought no more to take the truth and goodness of their Religion upon the Ministers word then to rely for the practice of it upon his righteousness or to expect the reward of it from his salvation SECT XII Set forms and conceived prayers compared together That set forms do better remedy all inconvâ—niences and more establish the conscience are not guilty of wil-worship nor of quenching the spirit nor of superstitious fromalities and that it is less dangerous if not more Christian to discountenance the gift then the spirit of prayer HE that considers the great distance of God and man the excellencies of his makers glory the miseries of his own infirmity the impertinencies and alienations of his thoughts which may as well put him out in his own as put him by in his Churches prayers the multiplicity of his imperfections the treacherousness of his memory the slowness of his apprehension the dulness of his affections will heartily bless God for providing him premeditated forms as a remedy and will carefully watch himself lest he should turn his remedy into a disease by adding to all the rest the deadness of his own heart So that all those inconveniences art not only better prevented but also better remedied by set forms then by conceived prayers Mens phansies may be elevated by extemporary effusions but their consciences are best edified by known Prayers and t is not for us to invite men to serve God with their phansies but with their consciences By the manifestation of the truth commending our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God saith Saint Paul 2 Cor. 4. 2. not by the pretence of Revelations commending our selves to every mans curiosity in the sight of the World That 's the ready way to bring men first to weak imaginations then to strong delusions first to beleive any thing then to believe a lye first to receive matters of Religion without judgement then to receive matters of irreligion against conscience But let us hear both parties speak for themselves against one another They say our set forms float in generalities we say their no forms rove in uncertainties both must confess that generalities in matters of Christianity may concern all Christians but uncertainties may concern none at all They say we are guilty of wil-worship in making set forms of prayer without order of the Text we say that we have Gods own express order for set forms 1. by several dictates of the Text partieularly Luk. 11. 1. Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his Disciples and t is not be doubted but he taught his Disciples to pray by a set form as teaching either their eyes or their ears but not being able to teach their hearts by several forms in the Text particularly the Psalms of which the Divine Areopagite hath said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5. S. Dionys lib. de Eccl. Hier. cap. 3. The most holy writings of the Divine hymns do wholly aim at this that they may celebrate all the holy words and all the holy works of God and shall we think they do not teach and require Gods Church after their example to celebrate the same words and works 3. By the general drift and scope of the Text For God having given us a written word for the rule of our Religion hath by the same reason enjoyned us a written word for the practice of it since there is as great a necessity that we should have a certainty of practice as a certainty of knowledge in things belonging to our salvation so that our Enthusiasts ought to appeal to unknown traditions for the rule of their Religion before they ought to obtrude unknown imaginations for the practice of it However let all the world judge whether wil-worship can possibly be in using a Religion of Gods and not rather of mans making They say we quench the spirit but we know we inflame him because approved and known prayers do most warm judicious affections and we doubt not but the spirit assisteth a man in his Judgement or reason which he hath only as a man rather then in his phansie or apprehension which he hath common with a beast For as the spirit assisteth Angels by revelation because they know by intuition so he assisteth men by deliberation because they know by Reason and by discourse They say we are given to superstitious formalities because we desire a set form of Prayer we advise them not to be given to irreligious blasphemies in casting reproaches upon formed prayers which were at first of Gods own making in his holy Word and are still of his making not of ours if they be agreeable to his Word For all truth whosoever speaketh it is from the Spirit of Truth and therefore to blaspheme the Truth is to blaspheme the Spirit And the question will
wil-worship and superstition That the general equity of the Levtical Law as far as it was not Typical is still in force concerning the solemnities of Religion and that approves Anniversary as well as weekly Festivals Sect. 4. Of the antient contention about the observation of Easter That the Apostles zeal more about duties then about days doth not overthrow the observing of particular days in the service of God And that those days ought to be observed by Preaching Praying Administring the Sacraments and also by Alms-deeds so that false administration sc of the Holy Eucharist in one kind and false devotions and false doctrine and sordid illiberality in not relieving the poor are all alike profanations of a Festival Sect. 5. The practice of the Primitive Christians in observing the Feast of Easter and that there was no superstition in that practice Sect. 6. That the Lords day which is observed weekly is to be observed in memory of our Saviours Resurrection And hath a double sanctification one by relation to its duty which is publickly to serve God and to give him thanks for our redemption by Christ and is the Principal The other by institution as consecrated to this duty and is the less principal That the Antisabbatarian Doctrine which advanceth duties above days is not only of Christs but also of Moses his own teaching and makes most for the true observation of the Sabbath which yet is more properly called the Lords day then the Sabbath Sect. 7. That Sunday hath a better Title to holiness and unchangeableness as the Lords Day then as the Sabbath And that the Lords Day and the Lords labourers or Ministers are both to continue to the worlds end by virtue of Gods command in general and of Christs determination and institution in particular Sect. 8. That Sunday as the Lords Day is most truly a Christian Festival and ought to be most religiously observed and so ought also other Festivals instituted in honour of Christ as being likewise our Christian Sabbaths Sect. 9. The fourth Commandment was not given to limit the First and therefore excludes not other Festivals shewing our true love of Christ but rather commands them The true manner of observing any Christian Festival particularly Easter is to account and make it a day of observations by observing our selves and our Saviour Our selves what we have been what we are what we desire to be Our Saviour what he was in his humiliation what he is in his exaltation what he will be in his Retribution Sect. 10. That the end of this and of all other Christian Festivals is our spiritual Communion with Christ and therefore they ought to be celebrated more with spiritual then with carnal joys that though our carnal joys are greater in their proportion yet our spiritual joys are greater in their foundation Sect. 11. A zealous observation of this Christian Festival proceedeth from the true love of our Redeemer and thankfulness for our redemption A set form of praise fittest to express that thankfulness CAA. 2. That God is to be adored only in Christ Hath four Sections Sect. 1. THat no man whilst he is in the state of sin cares to come neer God and that Adam after his sin could not have adored God rightly if Christ had not been revealed to him as the propitiation for his sins Sect. 2. That no Religion adoreth God rightly which adoreth him not in Christ and of the excellencies of the Christian Religion That no other Religion teacheth such conformable truths to right reason declareth an expiation for sin promiseth so great a reward sheweth so pure a worship or so innocent a conversation Sect. 3. The reason why God cannot be rightly adored but only by Christians is because he cannot be truly known and loved but only by those who know and love him in Christ The true way to gain that knowledge and to shew and keep that love is universal obedience both to his affirmative and negative precepts without which there can be no saving knowledge of God That the Christians do know and worship God in Christ cleerly and substantially and that the Jews did so know and worship him in Types and Figures so that the Jewish and the Christian Religion differ not in substance but only in degrees of perfection Sect. 4. That those Christians who adore God by any other Mediator then by Christ alone do not rightly adore him And that those who do rightly adore him ought not to be discouraged in their Religion and much less be deterred from it Christ glorified in his Ascension Hath a Prooem and three Chapters The Proeem That our blessed Saviours Ascension is not so truly observed by our Commemoration as by our imitation and the manner how to consider the history of his Ascension The first Chapter is Christ considered before his Ascension The second Chapter is Christ considered whilst he was Ascending The third Chapter is Christ considered after he was Ascended CAP. 1. Christ considered before his Ascension Hath three Sections Sect. 1. Christ considered in his Apparitions before he ascended as to Mary Magdalen and to Saint Peter c. The wrong use that hath been made the right use that may be made of those Apparitions Sect. 2. The Apparition to above five hundred at once cleared And Christ considered in his instructions before he Ascended That those instructions are more particularly to be observed as more directly conducing to the Constitution and the conservation of his Church Those instructions briefly explained as they are set down Mat. 28. 19 20. Sect. 3. That the words which our Saviour Christ spake to his Apostles before he ascended may be reduced to these three heads Words of instruction consolation benediction That the effect of them all is registred in the Text not left to unwritten Tradition That the Apostles though thus instructed comforted and blessed yet preached not the Gospel till the coming of the Holy Ghost upon them whereby they had not only ability but also authority or Mission and Commission in a full degree CAP. 2. Christ considered whilst he was ascending Hath three Sections Sect. 1. THat the words used to express Christs ascension did manifest his twofold claim or title to heaven the one by inheritance as God the other by merit or purchase as man And that Christ in his ascension wrought a twofold miracle one in the conquest of Earth the other in the conquest of Heaven and what comfort and benefit redounds to us Christians from these Titles and these Miracles Sect. 2. The time of Christs ascension particularly named in the Text and the observation of that Day is founded upon the practise of the Apostles which in the exercise of Religion is to be embraced as precept why the Apostles left not many precepts concerning circumstances of worship to the Christian Church The place of the ascension was Bethany in Mount Olivet and what considerations arise from thence Sect. 3. The persons before whom our Saviour Christ ascended
and the Decalogue righteously taken into our Liturgie but unrighteously omitted by Innovators who vainly obtrude Variety to mens consciences instead of Certainty Sect. 11. The Gift of Prayer examined That it is not a Gift of sanctifying Grace That Prayer as a Duty is above Prayer as a Gift That the Spirit of Prayer is often without the Gift of Prayer and yet the Gift of Prayer is not perfect without the Spirit of it Those Christians who have attained the Gift of Prayer most compleatly that is joyntly with the Spirit of it are not thereby qualified to be the mouths of the Congregations Those Ministers who have not attained that Gift are not for that reason to be despised as not sufficiently qualified for the Ministry And those Ministers who have attained it may not for the exercising thereof be allowed to reject set forms of Prayer in their Congregations because set forms in publick are more for the Ministers and the Peoples good more for Gods glory and more agrecable with Gods command Sect. 12. Set forms and conceived Prayers compared together That set forms do better remedy all inconveniences and more establish the conscience Are not guilty of will-worship nor of quenching the Spirit nor of superstitious formalities and that it is less dangerous if not more Christian to discountenance the Gift then the Spirit of Prayer Sect. 13. That forms of publick Prayer are not to be disliked because they cannot or at least do not particularly provide either Deprecations against private mens occasional miseries or thanksgivings for their occasional mercies yet our Church not defective in occasionals though chiefly furnished with eternals The danger of contemning Religious forms of Prayer and gadding after conceived Prayers Sect. 14. The third and last part of the Churches Trust concerning Religion is touching the holy Sacraments wherein our Church is not faulty either in the number or in the administration of Them as exactly following our Saviours Institution Nor in the manner of Administring as following it with reverence CAP. 3. That the Communion of the Church of England is conscionably embraced and reteined by all the People of this Nation and not rejected much less renounced by any of them but against the rules of conscience Sect. 1. EVery particular man ought to labour to be of such a Communion as he is sure is truly Christian both in Doctrine and in Devotion The Rule whereby to choose such a Communion the Proofs whereby to maintain it Sect. 2. That the Communion of the Church of England is truly Christian in Doctrine free from Hereâ—ie and from the necessary cause thereof a false ground or foundation of faith That is Believeing upon the Authority of men instead of God Sect. 3. That the Communion of the Church of England is truly Christian in Devotion free from impiety either by corrupt Invocation or Adoration Sect. 4. That the Communion of the Church of England obligeth those in conscience who are members of that Church to retein â—â— and not to reject it much less to renounce it by no less then five Commandments of the Decalogue Errata PAge 7. line 4. read Menologie p. 26. l. 35. r. fatlest p. 34. l. 19. r Tria p. 39. l. 4. r. brightness p. 47. l. 3. r. ut p. 56. l. 28. r. They p. 60. l. 20. r. It is p. 61. l. 11. 12. r. likeness p. 66. l. 22. r. protension p. 77. l. 26. r. This p. 78. l. 28. dele not p. 82. l. 17. r. as p. 100. l. 23. r. He p. 101. l. 16. r. greater p. 105. l. 3. r. Turning p. 106. l. r. r. their p. 116. l. 32. dele that p. 120. l. 14. r. without p. 126. l. 36. r. Nor p. 148. l. 14. r. bring p. 150. l. 14. r. of p. 169. l. 1. r. we p. 178. l. 2. r. fully p. 178. l. 15. r. take p. 180 l. 1. r. iniquities p. 182. l. 32. r. affective p. 198. l. 22. r. before p. 208. l. 17. 1. Quid p. 208. l. 18. r. Nam p. 292. in the Contents l. 6. r. Them p. 319. l. 5. r. comely p. 345. l. 3. r. sound p. 415. l. 31. r. Then p. 449. l. 1. r. persection ibid. l. 31. r. such a division p. 549. l. 19. â— beats p. 634. l. 14. r. certainty p. 656. l. 30. r. unpremeditated p. 674. l. 5. r. Obsecration p. 680. l. 4. r. bind ibid. l. 5. r. hands Christ wellcomed in his Nativity CAP. I. The Motives of Christs welcome from God and from his Church both Triumphant and Militant SECT I. Christs image repairs the loss of Gods image in man The Churches desire that Christ should be formed in us and that Christs humiliation is the Christians exaltation IN the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost one God everlasting Blessed be the Holy and undivided Trinity world without end Amen I had once the image of God the Father in my creation and I soon lost it wherefore I now desire to have the image of God the Son in my Redemption which I may never lose O thou eternal Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son vouchsafe to breath in my soul this breath of life that I may live eternally O thou who didst form the eternal Son of God in the womb of a pure Virgin be pleased also to form him in my impure and sinful heart That Christ being formed in me I may not be an Abortive to the life and light of righteousness Thy holy Apostle travelled as in birth till Christ was formed in the Galatians so doth thy holy Church travail as in birth til Christ be formed in me Oh then let the end of her travail be the beginning of my rest that my Saviour being formed in me I may be fitted and prepared for his salvation He once condescended to be made man for me Oh that he will now give me the benefit of that condescention and be made man in me That I may put on the Lord Jesus Christ even as he hath put on me That as he dwelleth in my flesh by a personal union so he may also dwell in my Spirit by a powerful Communion That as by dwelling in my flesh he emptied himself so by dwelling in my Spirit he may fill me For Christs emptiness is the Christians fulness He that filled Heaven and Earth from the beginning of the Creation did in the declining Age of Time Empty himself that he might fill us Them he filled with his Majesty but us with his Mercy And if his emptiness was our fulness what is his fulness but our glory If his fall was our rising what is his resurrection but our salvation If the humiliation of Christ was the riches of the world how much more his exaltation If he enriched us by his Poverty how much more will he enrich us by his Glory The Apostle can mention nothing but fulness when he treats of Christ emptiness Gal. 4. 4 5. SECT II. Christs
behold him as my Judge For if I be ashamed of him in his infirmity how shall he not be ashamed of me in his glory Therefore I dare not be ashamed of this day least I should seem to be ashamed of him also no nor of his prayer least I should seem to be ashamed of his words since himself hath said Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son ef man be ashamed when â—e cometh in the glory of his Father with the Holy Angel Mar. 8. 38. SECT XI The first Christmas-day was kept by the Holy Angels therefore no will-worship in keeping Christmas but rather a necessity to keep it from Heb. 1. 6. The Kingdom of Christ as Creator and as Redeemer IN keeping of Christmas the Church militant follows the example of the Church Triumphant for the First Christmas-Day that was ever kept on Earth was kept by the Holy Angels that came of purpose from Heaven to keep it Luk. 2. 13 14 And suddenly there was with the Angel A multitude of the Heavenly Host Praising God and saying Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth Peace good will towards men Shall that be accounted Superstition in men which was undoubted Religion in the Angels or can we be called will-worshippers for doing no more then they did unless you will first call them so Let will-worship go in Epiphanius his language for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for wilful and for superfluous worship for what it hath of mans will or wilfulness it cannot but have of superfluity But let us take heed of calling that will-worship for which there is a Precedent in the Text and so great a reason for that Precedent for it is most certain that the blessed Angels in Heaven had great reason to joy for the incarnation of Christ since he was the Repairer of their ruine in their fellows and the confirmer of their â—â—ay or standing in themselves whence Alensis tels us plainly that the Angels joy and bliss was greater after the incarnation of Christ then it had been before For though the substantial Joy of the Angels consist in the contemplation of the Divinity yet their accidental joy consists in the contemplation of the Humanity of our blessed Saviour as it is united to his Divinity Accrevit igitur gaudium Angelorum licet non quod substantiam tamen quantum ad multitudinem quia pluribus modis habent modò gaudium in beatitudine quà m ante Incarnationem Par. 3. q. 12. Therefore the Joy of the Angels is increased by the Nativity of Christ though not in its substance yet in its Variety for that now they rejoyce more several wayes then before for whereas before the Incarnation they rejoyced to see God in God now since it They rejoyce to see God in man And we find that they did sing and triumph that they might express their joy surely not to teach us Christians who in that we are men have much greater cause of joy from thence then the Angels could have I say surely not to teach us men a lesson of silence and of fullenss But if we will not regard Precedent yet we must regard Precept And the Angels seem to have a Precept to worship our Saviour Christ at his Nativity For the Apostles words seem to look towards a Precept Heb. 1. 6. When he bringeth in the first begotten into the world He saith And let all the Angels of God worship him I know this Text chiefly aims at the Proof of Christs Divinity but if the Holy Spirit thought he had sufficiently proved the first-begotten of the Father though brought into the world in the form of a servant to be no less then God when he had said And let all the Angels of God worship him It is evident they do what is in them to invalidate this Proof who at the very time that he was thus brought into the world do cry out as loud as they can let not the the sons of men worship him But where doth the Holy Ghost say this Epiphanius in his Ancorate plainly cites Moses's song for this Text which is in Deut. 32. where v. 42. The Greek interpretation hath these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let all the Angels of God worship him but with some various lections to make the Interpretation disputable at least if not questionable However since no such thing is to be found in the Hebrew and we are not assured that the Holy Ghost spake in Greek by the Septuagint supposing their Translation hath been preserved incorruptible we may not ascribe this Greek Translation to the saying of the Holy Ghost we must therefore appeal to the Hebrew Original which we are sure came immediately from Gods holy Spirit and then we shall find this Injunction Worship him all ye Angels of God in Psal 97. 7. And indeed the whole Argument of that Psalm is nothing else but a Prophecy of the Kingdom of Christ and an exhortation both to Angels and men Joyfully to celebrate the magnificence and thankfully to acknowledge the power of his Kingdom For the Kingdom of Christ may be considered either as he is Creator Eternal God with the Father and the Holy Ghost and so the Jews themselves will not deny him to be their King or As Redeemer God and man in one Person and and so the Jews do stiffly deny his Kingdom and we Christians had need beware least we may seem to encourage or at least to confirm and Harden them in that Denial SECT XII We must embrace all opportunities of glorifying Christ that we may not be thought to desert either our Saviour or our selves whiles we are defective in our Devotions either for want of Preparation before which hath hitherto made us so bad Christians in so good a Church or of Affection in them which will keep us from being good Christians or of Thankfulness after them which wil keep us from worthily magnifying the name of Christ THe best course I know to prevent the hardening either of our own or of others Hearts is to take all the opportunities that are offered us of glorifying our blessed Saviour for he that is willing to neglect an opportunity can scarce be zealously inclined to lay hold of another time he that will not Honour Christ on his own Day will scarce pick out another Day to honour him though he may pretend to keep Christmass all the year or if he be indeed zealously inclined to honour Christ yet other Christians cannot be easily inclined to think him so and Jews must necessarily think him not so And though we ought not to judge them also that are without 1 Cor. 5. 12. yet we ought not to offend them and much less them that are within for this is the way to cause God to judge us we will therefore take that for granted which cannot be denied that we have all great need to imploy very much and cannot imploy
my hands accept of any offering SECT XIII A new song for the coming of Christ God the Father Son and Holy Ghost carefully observed the time of our Saviours coming into the world therefore it can be no true piece of Reformation for men not to observe it THE Church had a new song put into her mouth meerly for the knowledge of the great mercy of her Saviours Nativity How much more then for the enjoyment of it He hath put a new song in my mouth saith the Psalmist even a Thanksgiving to our God Psalm 40. 3. And Saint Paul tells us wherefore this new song was put into his mouth in that he applyes this very Psalm to the coming of our Saviour Christ Heb. 10. 5 c. Wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me which words are quoted out of this same very Psalm and point as directly at Christs coming into the flesh as that finger of the Baptist did point at him after he was come when he said Behold the Lamb of God which finger for that very cause as some would perswade us could not be burnt with the rest of his body Gentiles ossa collegerant cumbusserant sed digitus ille quo Dominum ad Jordanum venientem monstravit dicens ecce agnus Dei non potuit comburi Durandus in rationali lib. 7. de decollatione S. Johannis This was indeed a sufficient cause why a New song should be put in the mouth even of the sweet singer of Israel To shew that great was his Thanksgiving yet greater his Thankfulness for this inestimable and undeserved mercy as it appears Psalm 40. 6 7. O Lord my God great are thy wonderous works which thou hast done like as be also thy thoughts which are to us-ward If I would declare them and speak of them they should be more then I am able to express And all these wonderous works and thoughts are summed up together by the Apostle in this saying when he cometh into the world as indeed they were consummated and compleated by Christ himself in his coming when he cometh into the world he saith And yet the words were said above five hundred years before he came It seems God the Son was so long before observing the time of his own coming into the world surely not that the sons of men should labour to forget and resolve not to observe it And God the Father did the like Heb. 1. 6. When he bringeth in the first begotten into the world he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him Pointing as it were at the very day of Christs Nativity or coming into the world yet some men perswade themselves they do enough if they believe his going out of the world and think only upon his Death and Passion And God the Holy Ghost did the same as being the Pen-man and Interpreter of these Texts and the Applyer of them to our blessed Saviour For he it was that spake both by the Prophets and by the Apostles God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost did look and point very punctually at Christs coming into the world Telling the Angels of it that they might worship him and the Angels accordingly sing a most heavenly Hymn of Thanksgiving at his Birth not only in heaven for their own Joy and Exultation for which they are alwaies singing to him there but also on the earth or at least very near it so near as that the Shepherds did both hear and see them singing for our comfort and imitation And therefore it cannot justly be accounted a Piece of Reformation to teach men to look away as far as they can from that time wherein the Church doth celebrate the memorial of Christs coming as if God who had bid the Angels worship him had bid men not worship him which is surely a strain of very bad Logick and of far worse Divinity SECT XIV Everlasting Thankfulness is due to God for this Everlasting Mercy THE Psalmist teacheth us a Lesson of everlasting Thankfulness for this everlasting Mercy as appears Psalm 72. The chief argument of the Psalm is Christ as is proved in the 8. and 9. verses from the extent of his Dominion far beyond Solomons even to the worlds end and much more in the 10. and 11. verses from the excellency of his Person That All Kings should fall down before him And particularly That the Kings of Arabia and Saba should bring him gifts which was literally fulfilled in the Presents of the wise men Mat. 2. who by the Antients were both called and reputed Kings And the Conclusion that is inferred from these Premises is Thanksgiving The argument of the Psalm is everlasting mercy even the mercy of God to man in Christ and the Conclusion of it is everlasting Thankfulness for so it follows ver 18. 19. Blessed be the Lord God even the God of Israel which only doth wonderous things and this wonderous thing above all the rest That the Son of God was made the Son of man that we who were by nature the children of wrath might be made the Sons of God there 's the Thankfulness And blessed be the name of his Majesty for ever and all the earth shall be filled with his Majesty Amen Amen There 's the everlasting Thankfulness Heaven was from the first instant of its creation filled with his Majesty but now the earth was also filled with it And if heaven and earth are both filled with his Majesty what shall we say if our sinful souls be empty For if we be not filled with his Majesty How shall we come to be filled with his Mercy SECT XV. Time not perfect in Gods account from our Creation but from our Redemption The Jews not destroyed and Time not Vntimed meerly in relation to the coming of Christ Time still continued for the world to make a right use of his coming No other Time perfect in Gods account but that wherein he gives his Son and no other Time should be perfect in our account but that wherein we receive him GOD accounted that only the Perfection of Time wherein he wrought the work of our Redemption as if all that had passed before that from the beginning of the Creation had been but an imperfect Time He had no rest in the Creation till he made man He had no rest after it till he Redeemed him Divinely Saint Ambrose in his Hexameron and not the less Divinely because he took it out of Saint Basil for the Latine Fathers borrowed of the Greek-Fathers as later Divines have since borrowed from them Fecit Deus coelum non lego quod requieverit fecit solem lunam stellas nec ibi lego quod requieverit sed lego quod fecerit Hominem tunc requieverit habens câ—i Peccata dimitteret God made Heaven and I do not read that he did rest He made the Earth and I do not read that
teach and redeem us The title of the chief corner stone blasphemously applyed to the Pope Christ was not an Apostle one sent from God but an Exapostle one sent out of God I must needs confess that being in this Eden of God in this Paradise contemplating the tree of life I am unwilling to divert my eyes from that tree and much more my heart from that contemplation but am desious to perswade my self that I see the Prophet Isaiahs vision turned into action and God acting it in heaven no less then the Prophet acting it on earth Isa 6. 8. Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send or who will go for us then I said here am I send me For God the Father did as it were consult with himself saying whom shall I send and God the Son did forthwith answer him Here am I send me For as there was faciamus hominem Gen. 1. 26. God consulting and deliberating with his Son his eternal wisdom and with his Spirit his eternal power about our creation so there was redimamus hominem God consulting and deliberating with his Son his eternal righteousness and with his spirit his eternal love about our redemption For Gods goodness is as infinite as himself and that hath made him impart to man not only his goodness but also himself Hence that saying of the sublime Areopagite quod ipse Deus propter amorem est exstasin passus That love made God as it were go out of himself For great love is never without some kind of exstasie and therefore as it makes man go out of himself and be not where he lives but where he loves so it also made God the Son as it were go out of himself and come and be in man whom he had loved with an eternal love Thus hath love brought God from God to be in man and thus should it also bring man from man to be in God For this is the end of that blessed Mysterie and more blessed mercy which we commemorate when we celebrate the incarnation of the Son of God he was made of us that we might be new made by him he made one flesh with us that we should be one spirit with him Saint Peter accounted it a great mercy that God had sent his Angel to deliver him from the hand of Herod Act. 12. 11. How much more ought we to account it a great mercy that he hath sent his only Son to deliver us from the power of sin and Satan which persued us much more fiercely and would have wounded us much more desperately He considers his deliverance ver 12. and shall not we especially since the Apostle hath shewed us the way how to enlarge this consideration Heb. 1. 1 2. God who at sundry times and in divers maaners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son It was a great mercy that he spake to the Fathers by holy men a greater that he spake to them by the holy Angels for that was one of the divers manners of his speaking But the greatest mercy of all was that he hath spoken to us by his son and the reason is intimated in the following words for in time past was the beginning the inchoation of his love when he spake by his Prophets and Angels but in these last dayes hath been the accomplishment and consummation of it when he spake to us by his Son Before he had made the world and upheld all things by the word of his power but now he hath redeemed the world and having purged our sins upholds it by the hand of his mercy For till our sins were purged it was only the power of God upheld the world that he might purge it But now our sins are purged t is the mercy of God upholds the world that he may save it This is the only reason Saint Peter gives us why the last day that shall destroy all things by fire is so long in coming 2 Pet. 3. 9. The Lord is not slack but is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance The same mercy that made him hasten his first coming makes him delay his second And was it not a mercy not only beyond our expression but also beyond our admiration that the Son of God who was the brightness of his glory should become the brightness of his enemies and the glory of his people Yet so saith Saint Luke 2. 32. to be a light to lighten the Gentiles there he was the Bridegroom of his enemies and to be the glory of thy people Israel there he was the glory of his own people It was a mercy that we could never deserve and therefore must ever acknowledge that God was pleased to send his Apostles to teach us his saving truth and to shew the way of salvation for they were the pillars of the Church Gal. 2. 9. But infinitely greater was the mercy that he pleased to send his own Son to teach the Apostles for he is the cheif corner stone 1 Pet. 2. 5. For it is observable that Saint Peter himself was content to be accounted a pillar of the Church and leaves it only for Christ to be called the chief corner stone And therefore that Preface of Bellarmine which he once made in the Roman Schools Praefatio habita in gymnasio Romano and hath since prefixed before the third general controversie of his first Tome which is de summo Pontifice had need of all the waters of Tiber to wash it from gross flattery if not from detestable blasphemy since he is pleased therein to wrest those words of the Prophet Isaiah Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tryed stone a precious corner stone a sure foundation and to apply them to Saint Peters Successor which Saint Peter durst not apply unto himself but leaves them only for Christ the eternal Son of God We cannot too much prize the voice of the Apostles as for example Saint Pauls Epistles cannot be in too great esteem which saith Saint Hierom bring him every day more glory as Christ more converts But the voice of the eternal word calling to Saint Paul from heaven Act. 9. 4 5. and in him to us who can ever hear with sufficient care and attention who can embrace with sufficient reverence and estimation who can follow with sufficient alacrity and devotion Saint Paul was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one sent from God and yet how greatly doth he magnifie that office in every one of his Epistles but our Saviour Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one sent out of God to man for so saith Paul Gal. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God sent forth his son that is God sent him not only from himself as he sent the Apostles but also out of himself as he sent none but only his beloved Son SECT VIII The Mother of Christ so
a woman as still a Virgin The Praise of the seventy Interpreters Christs love to us that he would be made the son of a woman whereby he hath exalted men above Angels a mercy not to be forgotten till there be no man left to remember it That the Jews corrupted not the Text proved from the prophesies concerning Christ GReat was the love of the Son of God towards man that he would be sent forth from his Father yet much greater if greater can be that he would be sent forth after so mean a manner as to be made the Son of man And yet even in this meaness was no less then a miracle For our blessed Saviour was so made the Son of man as that he was not made the Son of a woman but of a pure Virgin and therefore Saint Paul saying that he was made of a woman Gal. 4. 4. doth call the blessed Virgin-mother a woman only to declare her sex not to dispute much less to disparage her Virginity for she was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 semper Virgo alwayes a Virgin before in and after the birth of Christ in the judgement of the Catholick Church which reputed Helvidius an Heretick for concluding otherwise from some slight Grammatical notions whereby he did rather blaspheme the Text then understand it whiles he let the itch of his Criticism as too too many in these latter times have done overspread and infect his Divinity Accordingly Saint Chrysostom justly finds fault with Aquila and Theodosius for rendring the words of Isaiah 7. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Behold a young woman shall conceive and he confutes them by the Authority of the Septuagint which saith he are to be preferred before all other Interpreters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys hom 5. in Mat. For their antiquity for their number and for their consent and they interpret the words thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son But Justine Martyr hath sufficiently cleared this doubt to Trypho the Jew and I have not to do with Jews that I should need insist on this controversie but with Christians for such we are in our belief and had need labour to approve our selves to be such likewise in our practice for fear our practice should else subvert and ruine our belief For he that hath said I will shew thee my faith by my works Jam. 2. 18. hath thereby assured us that contrary works do at least shew if they do not make a contrary faith For which cause they are certainly much to be pittied who scoff and mock at our most Christianlike commemoration of this great Mysterie and greater mercy of the Incarnation of the Son of God for though the Angels were thought worthy of the Mysterie and desired more and more to look into it 1 Pet. 1. 12. yet it was man only that had the blessing of the mercy so saith the Apostle to the Hebrews Heb. 2. 16. For verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham Hence it is the priviledge of men equally with Angels to be called the Sons of God but above them if we consider the reason why they may be so called For as the Sons of God is spoken of the Angels Job 1. 6. so the Sons of God is spoken of men Genesis 6. 2. And Saint Ambrose expounding those words thus Viderunt Angeli Dei for he did not read but only expound them so which if our late Criticks had observed concerning the rest of the Fathers they would have found less various lections but more various Expositions of the text I say Saint Ambrose expounding those words of Gen. 6. 2. thus Viderunt Angeli Dei did not meant by his Angeli the spiritual and heavenly substances saith Vellosillo in his Theological Problems but holy and religious men of the Progeny of Seth who because they persisted and persevered in the true Religion and worship of God when all the rest of the world fell away from it by a damnable Apostacy were by the Holy-Ghost honoured with the glorious title of the Sons of God and Saint Ambrose for that same reason calls them Angels O that we would consider how far we have degenerated of late from being Angels in this sense when for want of constancy in Gods undoubted and everlasting truth we may scarce justly be reputed or called men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But holy men were indeed called the sons of God not only because they were holy which gave the Angels that same title but also because they were men did carry about them that nature which the Son of God was determined to take upon himself so that in the title it self the sons of God men are equal with the Angels But in the reason of that title the son of God made man they are above them And for this cause it is that men are often called his brethren as Heb. 2. 17. It behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren because he is of the same flesh and blood with men but never was it said of Angels that they were brethren to the son of God O mercy of mercies the Son of God made lower then the Angels to exalt the sons of men above them This was the good Angels joy for us and sheweth how much more it should be our own joy for our selves They have still joy in heaven for our conversion Luke 15. 10. but they had once joy in earth also for our redemption Earth the place of sorrow because of sin till Christ came on it and then the place of joy because he came to take away the sin and with the sin the sorrow This made earth at that time seem heaven to the Angels and that made them leave of looking on God in God that they might look on God in men leave of praising God in heaven that they might praise him in Earth Luke 2. 13. Lord keep us men from ceasing to praise thee for this mercy of mercies here on earth least we keep our selves from beginning to praise thee for it hereafter in heaven for this mercy God made man is a mercy not be forgotten till there be no man left upon earth to remember it But if it should be forgotten upon earth through our perversness or profaness yet sure we are it will never be forgotten in heaven where this very same son of man now sitteth on the right hand of God and shall at the last day come in the same flesh to judg us in the which we now acknowledge his coming to save us Lord grant that we may so praise thee in this day of salvation that we may not be condemned of thee in that day of Judgement It is an excellent argument that Bellarmine useth amongst others to prove that the Jews never corrupted the Hebrew Text because they still in their Bibles retain all the prophecies concerning Christ insomuch that they are far more powerfully
to man in teaching him how to rejoyce for his Redemption Hymns expressing that joy may be only to the honour of God and directed to him The evil spirit silenced at the coming of Christ but the mouth of the good Spirit was opened THere is no man but naturally desires joy and delight as a remedy against his labours naturaliter appetit delectationes medicinas contra labores sensuum motuum saith Aquinas The reason why the natural man looks so much after his delights is because he looks upon them as medicines to heal his sicknesses or as remedies against the continual labours of his sense and of his motion And for this reason the spiritual man ought much more to look after his spiritual delights because he is much more under the labours of sense and motion then is the natural man for there is no sense so irksom as the sense of Gods wrath and of mans unworthiness and no motion so toilsom as that which seeks to climb up from earth to heaven and this is the sense this is the motion of the spiritual man he is continually feeling the burden of flesh and much more of sin upon his soul there 's his sense He is continually panting and â—ighing after God for rest there 's his motion In so great a labour both of his sense and of his motion how should he be able to subsist if it were not for the comfort of spiritual delight which proceeds only from Gods Holy Spirit For delight cannot be but from some good that is convenient and present and known to be so Ad delectationem duo requiruntur conjunctio boni convenientis cognitio hujus conjunctionis saith the same Aquinas A man cannot have delight without two things first the conjunction or acquisition of some convenient good then the knowledge of that conjunction so is it in this case The Redemption of our souls from death is undoubtedly both a convenient and a present good and yet few men have true joy and delight from it because few apprehend it as actually present Wherefore it is the singular gift and love of God the Holy Ghost to any man to give him the true knowledge of his Saviour that he may give him the true joy of his salvation For this indeed is the joy in the Holy Ghost and comes only from him It is he that teacheth the Church Militant to sing a new song on earth for her joy in Christ it is he that teacheth the Church Triumphant to sing a new song in heaven for the same joy O sing unto the Lord a new song saith the Psalmist Psal 98. and that Psalm is nothing else but a song of Joy and Thanksgiving for the Redemption of mankind by Jesus Christ there 's the new song on earth and again Rev. 5. 9. They sung a new song saying Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood there 's the new song in heaven to express the joy of the same Redemption For the Holy Spirit teacheth them to practise this new song in earth who are to sing their part of it in heaven For those men are not like to come to Abrahams bosom who are not Abrahams sons and those men are not yet Abrahams sons who have not his faith and do not his works Now this was the Faith of Abraham to see the day of Christ and this was his work to joy in that sight John 8. 56. Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exultavit gestivit He rejoyced and he desired to express his joy His desire encreased his joy and his joy inflamed his desire He did see it a far off by faith the eye of his soul and he desired to see it nearer by sense with the eye of his body the joy of the one did not hinder but advance the joy of the other for if the heart of them must rejoice that seeke the Lord Psal 105. 3. then much more must the heart of them rejoce that have found him Accordingly good Christians do indeede shew no other then Abrahams faith by desiring to looke on Christ and no other then Abrahams worke by rejoycing in that vision which we may well suppose was the cause that the Latine Church antiently used and still useth some such peculiar hymns before the nativity of Christ as it is hard to determine whether they have more of desire in them to see his day comming or of joy to see it come our Calander still retains the memory of the first of those hymns which was O sapientia on the 17 of December but the hymns themselves in the Latine Church hold out till Christmas eve I will give you a short scheme of them 1. O Sapientia veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae O Thou who art the eternal wisdom of God come and Teach us the way of true wisedom 2. O Adonai veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento O thou who art the Lord of might come and redeem us by thy mighty hand 3. O radix Jesse veni ad liberandum nos O thou root of Jesse come and deliver us 4. O Clavis David veni educ vinctum de domo carceris O thou Key of David come and open the prison doors and let out the Prisoners 5. O oriens splendor lucis aeternae veni illumina sedentes in tenebris umbrâ mortis O thou Day-spring of eternal light come and enlighten us who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death 6. O Rex gentium salva hominem quem de limo formasti O thou who art the King of the Nations come and save man whom thou hast formed of the dust of the earth 7. O Emanuel veni ad salvandum nos Domine Deus noster O thou who art God with us be also a God to us and save us O Lord our God These greater and more solemn hymns called Antiphone majores were at first made only in the honour of Christ though in process of time after the Invocation of Saints had crept into the Church there were two more added to them O Thoma Didyme and O virgo Virginum as Hugo testifieth in his Commentary upon the 38. Psalm which now the office it self of the blessed Virgin blusheth at and taketh no notice of at all and it were to be wished it had left out other prayers to the Blsseed Virgin which are as grosly superstitious as were those Hymns For they that believe Christ to be God must confess him to be a jealous God and that he hath said I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another Isa 42. 8. and what is his glory but that of Prayer and of Praise Accordingly it is observable that at the time of his coming in the flesh the Oracles of Jupiter Apollo Hecate were
sin shall not have dominion over you were not the reason of that a much greater comfort for ye are not under the Law but under Grace For they that groan under the oppression of Tyrants must needs be most glad to be delivered from their unjust and unmerciful dominion and here is that deliverance for sin which is a greater tyrant over the soul then any monster of men can be over the body shall not have dominion over you but they that have once been under the dominion of tyrants cannot be sure they are delivered out of their hands till they see themselves actually under the righteous and merciful dominion of their own rightful Governours And we may accordingly see that such is our deliverance from the dominion of sin in that it is said in the next words for ye are not under the law but under Grace the spirit of Grace now reigns in you and therefore will not let sin raign any longer in you nor the Law reign any longer over you as it is the strength of sin to provoke it or the judge of sinners to condemn and to torment them For if we lay not some such restriction upon the Apostles words we shall never be able to prove it is a mercy not to be under the Law which is gloriously magnified by the Spirit of God as that which giveth both holiness and wisdom Psal 19. 17. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul there is the holiness The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple there is the wisdom we must therefore say that the Law had a threefold use to restrain to condemn and to instruct to restrain sin to condemn the sinner and to instruct in righteousness The power the Law had to condemn sinners and to wrack our consciences before Gods judgement-seat is taken away by Christ so that they who truly lay hold on the Merit of Christ are not thus under the Law as condemning them And thus not to be under the Law is an invaluable mercy because the Law worketh wrath Rom. 4. 15. in shewing Gods wrath against sinners and us as sinners subject to that wrath But the power the Law had of restraining from sin and of instructing in righteousness still remains uncontroled of God and should be undoubted and undisputed of men for he that gave to the Jew an inheritance on earth to have his Law kept as t is said Psal 105. 43 44. And gave them the Lands of the heathen and they took the labours of the people in possession that they might keep his statutes and observe his Laws hath not promised to the Christian an inheritance in heaven to have his Law broken Therefore the Law must still restrain us from sin and direct us in righteousness only with this difference The power it hath of restraining us from sin grows less and less every day in the regenerate and can remain no longer then this life because sin it self in them shall remain no longer But the power the Law hath to instruct and direct in righteousness grows dayly more and more and is as immortal as righteousness it self and can never be abolished neither in this life nor in the life everlasting for it is easier for heaven and earth to pass then one tittle of the Law to fail Luke 16. 17. Nay the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise 2 Pet. 3. 10. But this power of the Law shall not pass away for it follows ver 13. that in the new heavens dwelleth righteousness And if righteousness dwell there then also the Law which is the rule thereof for it is not possible that any creature should have its own will but only the will of God for the rule of righteousness on which will it must as necessarily depend for its doing as for its being since nothing can be independent in its working which is not independent in its being and he only is independent in his being who is wholly in and of and for himself that is God blessed for ever who is the efficient and final cause of all things the efficient cause by whom the final cause for whom they are and were created In a word the regulating power of the Law cannot be abolished for that shall still remain in heaven the restraining power of the Law is not abolished but only changed in that true faith makes us more obedient for love then the Law for fear and the condemning power of the Law shall never be abolished for it shall still reign over the damned souls in hell and breed the worm of conscience that dyeth not And yet t is this condemning power of the Law that we are chiefly redeemed from not that the power of condemning is taken from the Law but that we are taken from its condemnation so saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus He saith not There is no condemnation from the Law but he said there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ because they that are in Christ do in him fulfil the Law and so cannot be under the condemnation of it For though they perform not that legal obedience which is able to satisfie Gods Justice yet they perform that Evangelical obedience which is undoubtedly acceptable to his mercy Their obedience though not worth acceptance in it self yet is very well accepted in Christ and that makes them that are in Christ so exceedingly strive to shew themselves dutiful and obedient because no other are made the Sons of God in Christ but only those who are made obedient to him by his Spirit And they truly are under grace because they truly are under Christ the fountain of grace for grace and truth came by Jesus Christ John 1. 17. Gratia dupliciter dicitur uno modo ipsa voluntas Dei gratis aliquid dantis alio modo ipsum gratuitum donum Dei saith Aquinas 3a 2. 10. cap. Grace hath two significations First it is taken for the love of God Secondly it is taken for the gift of that love and accordingly he that is under Grace is partaker of both these both of Gods love and of Gods free gift proceeding from that love And the latter is the infallible demonstration of the former the gift is the demonstration of the love For grace as it is the love of God is the cause of no Religious operations in the soul but as it is the gift of Gods love and therefore this phrase ye are under grace doth not bid us look up to Gods decree but look down upon our own souls to see if we can find there such Religious habits as may cause those Religious operations which are the undoubted evidences and effects of the gift of grace and therefore the undoubted evidences because the undoubted effect of it For grace as it is the gift of God in the soul works not immediately by it self or by its own essence but by virtuous
renounced his Communion since it is evident that no man can renounce his Prayer but must also by consequence renounce his Communion But let Saint Cyprian speak to this argument that we may be sure to have a good spokesman who in his Book de Oratione Dominica saith thus Qui facit vivere docuit orare ut dum prece Oratione quam filius docuit apud Patrem loquimur facilius audiamur He that made us to live taught us to pray that speaking to the Father in the words of his Son we might be sure not to speak in vain Again Que enim potest esse magis Spiritalis oratio quà m quae vere à Christ◠nobis data est à quo nobis Spiritus Sanctus missus est What Prayer can be more spiritual then that which he gave us who hath also given us the holy Spirit Lastly Oremus itaque fratres dilectissimi sicut Magister Deus docuit Let us pray my beloved brethren as God our master hath taught us Agnosca◠Pater Filii sui verba cum precem facimus qui habitat intus in pectore ipse sit in voce Let God the Father see his own Sons words in our Prayers and let him also that dwelleth in our hearts be also in our tongues Here is such a threefold cord as is not to be broken an argument drawn from God the Father Son and Holy-Ghost why we should often say Our Father as becomes dutiful children That God the Father may own and hear us God the Son may pray with us and God the Holy-Ghost may accompany and assist us in our Prayers SECT IX Whether a man that is not assured of his adoption in Christ can truly and rightly by virtue of his Baptism only the outward seal of adoption say to God Our Father or can lawfully and laudably use the Lords Prayer That the assurance of our adoption is according to the assurance of our conjunction with our Saviour Christ THere is nothing that so much prevails with God to give us his grace as our frequent and fervent praying and nothing that so much calls upon us to make a right use of Grace when t is given as our serious consideration and devout use of the Lords most holy Prayer for he that doth cordially say to God Our Father will not easily forget the duty and obedience that belongeth to a son according to that truly Theological observation of Saint Chrysostome in his nineteenth Sermon upon the Epistle to the Romans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When in our own Prayers we say to God Our Father we do not only call to mind his great grace and goodness but also our own obligation to virtue and righteousness that we may not do any thing unworthy of so honourable a descent or alliance For though the title of Father belong to God by virtue of the creation in which respect we profess to believe in God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth yet in the Lords most holy Prayer it is understood of him only as he is our Father by adoption having made us that were his enemies sons in his eternal Son and called us first to be heires of his promises and at last to be heirs of his Kingdom So that in saying to God Our Father we do implicitely and virtually give him thanks for our happy estate through his eternal Son that though by nature we were the children of wrath yet by him we are made the children of God that though in our selves we were enemies yet in our Saviour we are made sons and we do beseech him to confirm in us this assurance we are his children by framing us daily more and more to the Image of his only begotten Son whilst he filleth our souls with heavenly affections and our lives with a heavenly conversation such as may shew all manner of dutifulness to our Father and all manner of love to our brethren This happy estate we acknowledge he conveyed unto us in our Baptism when he made us Christians that is to say members of Christ children of God and inheriters of the Kingdom of heaven as our own Church teacheth us or when we put on Christ Gal. 3. 27. or when God sanctified and cleansed us with the washing of water by the word Ephes 5. 26. when he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. as Saint Paul teacheth the Church that is to say yet in plainer terms when God first made us his sons and gave us the priviledge of calling him Father For they that have not been baptized into Christ have no right to say unto God Our Father for whence should they have it being born the children of wrath and not yet incorporated into Christ to be made the children of God Wherefore it was not lawful heretofore for the Catechumeni or such as were not yet baptized to say the Lords Prayer as not being yet exempted from the dominion and power of the Devil and consequently not reckoned or reputed amongst Gods children whence that memorable saying of Saint Ambrose lib. 5. de Sacram. cap. 4. Primus Sermo quanta sit gratia O homo faciem tuam non audebas ad coelum attollere subito accepisti gratiam Christi ex malo servo factus es bonus filius The first word of this Prayer sc our Father how much grace and favour doth it import Thou didst not dare lift up thine eyes to heaven and thou didst suddenly receive the grace of Christ thy sins were forgiven thee and of a bad servant thou becamest a good son Ergo attolle oculos ad Patrem qui te per lavacrum genuit ad Patrem qui te per filium redemit dic Pater noster Therefore now being baptized lift up thine eyes to thy Father who hath regenerated thee by Baptism who hath redeemed thee by his Son and say Our Father concluding he had no right to say so before he was baptized and doubtless the Text which saith The Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the Counsel of God against themselves being not baptized with the Baptism of John Luke 7. 30. doth much more declare that those Christians do reject the counsel of God against themselves who will not be baptized with the Baptism of Christ Ergo Baptismus consilium Dei est Quanta est gratia ubi est concilium Dei Audi ergo nam ut in hoc seculo nexus Diaboli solveretur inventum est quomodo homo vivus moreretur vivus resurgeret saith the same Saint Ambrose lib. 2. de Sacramentis cap. 6. Therefore is Baptism the counsel of God And how great is the Grace of God where we have the counsel of God Hear it therefore For God that he might destroy in man the power of the Devil that is sin whiles he is yet in this world hath in his counsel appointed Baptism whereby being yet alive he might both dye and rise again dye unto sin and
differ They agree saith he in four particulars 1. That each article is a mysterie 2. That each article is made known to us only by Divine revelation 3. That neither article can be sufficiently explained in this life 4. That either article cals for our Faith to believe it not for our understanding to scan it And they differ saith he in these two particulars 1. That in the Trinity there is one substance and three Persons but in Christ three substances the soul the body and the Divinity but one person 2. That in the Trinity there is another and another person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Father is one person the Son another the Holy Ghost a third but not another and another thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Father Son and Holy Ghost are but one God But in Christ there is another and another thing to wit the Divine nature and the humane but not another and another person for these two natures of God and man make but one Christ Accordingly the same Greek Father tells us most excellently lib. 3. cap. 7. that though Christ was twice born yet he was but once a son he had indeed two Nativities as well as two Natures one from his Father which was eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above cause reason time and Nature the other temporal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for our sakes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after our manner as to the time of his birth from the time he was conceived but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above our manner as to the way both of his birth and conception yet notwithstanding these two different Nativities as well as two different Natures we must say that Christ was but one Son or but once a Son for to say that he was twice a Son or two Sons were to say that he had two subsistences and consequently was two persons wherefore the Council of Ephesus did justly decree that the blessed Virgin should be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Mother of God because the Manhood which our Saviour took from her had no other personal subsistence but only in the Son of God I will not here insist upon those four words which in all probability made the four first general Councils to be received as four new Gospels The council of Nice defining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that our Saviour Christ was truly God against the Arrians The Council of Constantinople defining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was perfectly man against the Apollinarians The Council of Ephesus defining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was indivisibly God and man in one person against the Nestorians and The Council of Chalcedon defining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was distinctly and inconfusedly God and man in two natures against the Eutychians To which four words all the Doctrine concerning the Person of Christ may be reduced and by which all the heresies that oppose that Doctrine may be refuted Nor will I insist upon the Creed of the Council of Chalcedon which alone hath set down five words to shew the manner of the union of God and man in one Christ that it was 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without conversion of one into the other 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without confusion of the one with the other 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without alteration or change of the one by the other 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without division of the one from the other 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without distance of the one from the other for it is sufficient for my purpose to declare that in the person of Christ was such an union of the two several natures of God man as was without conversion of one into the other for God was not turned into man nor man into God without confusion of the one with the other for the God-head was not confounded with the manhood nor the man-hood with the God-head and without division of the one from the others for God is not to be separated from man nor man from God In so much that we may boldly and truly say and therefore boldly because truly that this Jesus Christ in our humane flesh is the second Person of the most holy blessed and glorious Trinity not that our flesh is coessentially or consubstantially of the Trinity but that it is hypostatically or personally of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeks distinguish not in for or of it self by virtue of its own essence but in for and of the Son of God with whom it is personally united so that in one Christ we may contemplate and must confess all the beauty and loveliness both of heaven and earth The beauty of heaven is God The beauty of earth is man the beauty of heaven and earth together is this God-Man CAP. II. Christ admired in his Propitiation SECT I. The manner of knowing Divine truths what it ought to be and the great benefit of knowing Christ in his Propitiation He that will read the Scripture to the benefit of his soul must have Christ crucified in his thoughts THough in speculatives the bare act of knowledge makes a man learned yet not so in practicks there the cheifest thing that advanceth our learning is the manner of knowing And Christianity being chiefly a practical Science t is not the bare knowledge of Christ but the manner of knowing him that makes a man a well grounded Christian Hence Saint Paul saith to the Ephesians But ye have not so learned Christ Ephes 4. 20 that is so as not to practice him he looks not only after their knowledge of Christ but also after their manner of knowing him which he would have to be such as might work upon their lives and conversations Accordingly he adviseth the Colossians that as they had received Christ Jesus the Lord so they would walk in him for that was their only way to be rooted and built up in Christ and stablished in the faith abounding therein with thanksgiving Col. 2. 6 7. Excellently Saint Bernard like a very good Divine and a far better Christian Sermon 36. in Cant. Modus sciendi est ut scias quo ordine quo studio quo fine quaeque nosse operteat quo ordine ut id prius quod maturius ad salutem quo studio ut id ardentius quod vehementius ad amorem quo fine ut non ad inanem gloriam aut curiositatem aut aliud quid simile sed tantum ad â—dificationem tuam vel proximi The manner of knowing Divine truths is this that we know them in a right order with a right zeal and for a right end The right order is to know that first which first procureth salvation The right zeal is to desire to know that most which most enflameth our affections And the right end is to use all our knowledge to edification and in these three respects the knowledge of Christ in his Propitiation doth challenge our best endeavours that we may gain
their profit but t is by a false Arithmetick an Arithmetick that is only in their own fansie by which they cast up that which is not and so must needs be out in their account For they cast up for the time to come making that a part of their reckoning and by that their life longer in their fansie then t is truely in it self or in Gods appointment which is so unimaginable folly that it causeth the Son of God to thwart his own instructions and though he much dislike the language of thou fool Matth. 5. 22. Yet here he useth it saying verse 20. Thou fool this night thy soul shsll be required of thee Thus are our carnal joys great in their proportion not so in their foundation but contrarywise our spiritual joys are greater in their foundation then in their proportion which shews that even the best of us do so live in the flesh as to live too much after it contrary to that profession which should be ours as well as Saint Pauls for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh 2 Cor. 10. 3. Hence it is that the cause or foundation of our joy in Christ is infinitely greater then the measure and proportion of it But yet the man after Gods own heart the Prophet David sets it out to the full He was a man after our hearts in his carnal failings but a man after Gods heart in his unfeigned repentance which caused his spiritual rejoycings And his spiritual joy was so great that he cals for company to rejoyce wirh him saying Rejoyce in the Lord O ye righteous for it becommeth well the just to be thankful Psal 33. 1. As if he had said since ye are truly righteous and just being made righteous by his propitiation and just by his satisfaction it becommeth you well to rejoyce in him that you may be thankful for this transcendent salvation So let me be just so let me be joyful SECT XI A zealous observation of this Christian Festival proceedeth from the true love of our Redeemer and thankfulness for our Redemption A set form of Praise fittest to express that thankfulness IT were a fowl shame for Christians who are most obliged to serve God to be least devoted to his service and therefore we must beware of shewing less zeal in our moral then the Jews shewed in their ceremonial worship When they celebrated their Passeover they did sing some Psalms of Repentance as a lamentation for the sinner other Psalms of thanksgiving as a triumph and rejoycing for the righteous Canebant quaedam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quaedam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Scal. lib. 6. de emend temp They did sing some Psalms for propitiation some for thanksgiving And this was their hymn for thanksgiving Blessed art thou O Lord our God King of heaven and earth who hast sanctified us by thy Commandments and hast commanded us in this manner to bless and praise thee which hymn of theirs holy Zachary seems to have imitated but withal to have amplified in his Benedictus Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people that we being delivered from the fear of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the daies of our life A main ground of his blessing God is this That God hath enabled his people to bless and praise him Which invaluable mercy the Greek Church alwaies thought worthy of a particular thanksgiving saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we give unto thee humble and hearty thanks that thou hast given us this Liturgie this good form of serving thee That thou hast called us to this duty of publick thanksgiving That thou hast vouchsafed us this great honour who are dust and ashes and greater mercy who are sinful dust and ashes to bless and praise thee and to call upon thy holy name And they have this reward of their thankfulness that in the middst of the greatest and bitterest enemies of the Christian Religion they do still enjoy their Liturgy groaning indeed under the bondage and oppression of their bodies but infinitely rejoycing in the liberty of their souls the Turks themselves thinking it too inhumane a tyrannie to bring that people into bondage both of body and of soul And as for the Jews they would have laughed at any man that should have offered them whimsies instead of certainties and would sooner have let their bread be taken out of their mouthes then this their hymn of blessing and praising God So great so fervent so constant was their zeal for that which they knew to be true godliness This I say was the general thanksgiving of the Iews at all their great Feasts to the which they added those particular forms of thanksgiving that most properly concerned the occasion And this was their spiritual manner of feasting God himself suggesting no less in that he commanded them to take their Lamb the tenth day of the moneth which was not to be slain till the fourteenth for why was the Lamb to be taken so long before hand but only that their souls might feed on the goodness of God before their bodies feasted on the Lamb And the Jewish Authors tell us that during those four daies the Lamb was tyed to their bed-posts that not only eating and drinking as Saint Paul requires of us 1 Cor. 10 31. but also sleeping and waking they might glorifie their God And so will we too if we have the true love and zeal of godliness saying with those three holy men for the same cause that they did even our deliverance from the fiery furnace not of temporary but of everlasting burnings O ye servant of the Lord bless ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever O ye spirits and souls of the righteous bless ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever O ye holy and humble men of heart bless ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever So that unless we will profess that we serve our selves not our God that we are men whose spirits and souls are unrighteous and that we are unholy and proud of heart we must bless the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever This is the zeal we should bring with us to this and all other our Christian Festivals as the Prophet requireth saying If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own waies nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words Isa 58. 13. which text in Kimchies gloss is to be interpreted of the Sabbath in general for saith he the feast of expiation was strictly to be observed as a Sabbath though it was placed on the 10. day of September which might fall on any day of the week And he proveth a strict observation from the words themselves wherein are both a negative
ascended And to this purpose we may not unfitly reduce all the words which he spake from his Resurrection till his Ascension to these three heads verba instructionis verba consolationis verba benedictionis words of instruction words of consolation and words of benediction or words of grace mercy and peace For like as Saint Paul said to Saint Timothy whom he called his own son in the Faith Grace Mercy and Peace so did God from the beginning speak to his Apostles and so doth he still speak to all those whom he accepteth as his sons though unworthy to be his servants the words of grace by instruction the words of mercy by consolation and the words of peace by benediction Saint Luke saith our Saviour was full forty dayes with his Apostles after his Resurrection speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Act. 1. 3. He had so fervent a desire of teaching them and in them us the right way of salvation that he differred to enter into his own glory which he had so dearly earned by his sufferings till he had fully instructed and confirmed them in that way He was willing to leave the impression of heaven in their hearts before he was willing to take possession of it in his own body Oh that we did imitate our Master in this his unspeakable charity for though it be above our expression yet may it in some sort come under our imitation by truly desiring and zealously promoting one anothers Salvation This would be indeed to shew not to speak our selves Christians This would be indeed not Verbally but Really to put on the Lord Jesus Christ He was unwilling to leave his Apostles before he had given them all manner of Instructions both how to teach and how to govern his Church the one that he might keep all after-ages from heresie the other that he might keep them from schism Oh that all Christians would accordingly consider what a grievous sin it is not to hearken to Christs own Teaching not to obey Christs own Government And what a Severe account he will call them to when he shall come again as Judge of quick and dead for being hereticks against his doctrine put afterwards in writing in his word or for being Schismaticks against his discipline put immediately in practice in his Church For if he kept himself forty dayes from heaven to settle his Church how shall any that is called a Christian think the best way thither is to unsettle it Our blessed Saviour gave instructions and not only so least we should think any thing of Religion to be arbitrary but he also gave commands That we should know and acknowledge all matters of Religion to be necessary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After he had given commandments unto the Apostles Acts 1. 2. But where are these commands Are they or any of them devolved down unto us only by unwritten Tradition we dare not say so for that were to make the holy Apostles so regardless of Christs instructions as to care to teach them only to those men who had the happiness to live in their dayes since verbal Tradition is as changable as the breath that derives it whereas what is spoken of Abel is much more to be verified of Saint Peter or Saint John God testifying of his gifts and by it that is by his faith he being dead yet speaketh Heb. 11. 4. Nay more yet Preacheth for the reading of the law of Moses is called Preaching Acts 15. 21. For Moses of old time hath in every City them that preach him being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath day and if reading in the Law of Moses was Preaching who dares deny it to be so in the Law of Christ Therefore the books of the New Testament do certainly contain the Instructions and commands which Christ gave to his Apostles by word of mouth during those forty dayes he abode with them And we need go no farther then the written word to know our Saviours mind for it is therein taught us either by Precept or by Promise or by Precedent And consequently what we find not there written for our instruction in one of these three wayes that we must not ascribe either to his dictating or to their Preaching unless we will impute gross forgetfullness to the Registers of Christ as not remembring all things necessary when as our Saviour himself promised them such a Comforter as should bring all things to their remembrance Joh. 14. 26. or supine negligence to the Pen-men of the Holy-Ghost as not writing what was necessary to be remembred For if the words which Job spake concerning Christ were to be engraven with an yron pen lead in a rock for ever Joh. 19. 24. then much more were those words to be so engraven which Christ himself spake to his Apostles words ingraven in a rock with an yron pen are lasting but they are not so legible unless they be also drawn over or coloured with lead to make them conspicuous So Salomon Iarchi glosseth this Text he would have the Characters of his Letters engraven with yron to make a deep impression but after that he would have those same Characters coloured or died with lead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dare litteris aspectum nigrum ut cognoscantur That their black tincture might make them the more legible And without doubt our blessed Saviour took such a course that the main effect of his words should be so engraven as to be both lasting and legible to the worlds end when himself hath said that heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away Mat. 24. 35. and amongst the rest sure not his last words Saint Luke records this for one of them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the father Acts 1. 4. And this word doth our Saviour Christ still speak to every good Christian saying unto him depart not from Jerusalem though it were in truth what some have made it reputed by their false clamours prophane unclean impure Ierusalem For you may not hope to fare better then Christ and his Apostles whereever you stay and you are sure not to fare worse then they did though you stay in Jerusalem Jerusalem the City of God had been turned into Sodom a cage of unclean birds for its impurity into an Aceldama a field of blood for its cruelty yet here is such a promise annexed to it as makes Christs Disciples willing to bear with the impurities and to bear the cruelties For it is an Elisha promise which signifieth My God saveth And no wonder then if it hath the power of reviving the Soul as Elisha's bones did revive a dead body And when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood upon his feet 2 Kings 13. 21. So if the soul be let down never so low into the pit of destruction yet if it touch this Elisha this promise of My God saveth with
a true and lively faith it will make the man revive and stand again upon his feet And those men who are so ready to depart from our Jerusalem for every petty dislike of the high Priests and Elders in it though the dislikes be rather phansied then found do shew that they are not so well instructed in the faith as to know the promise of the Father or not so well grounded in hope and rooted in charity as to wait for that promise according to the appointment of the Son He bids all tarry in Jerusalem that look after his promises and therefore doth not allow any to call Jerusalem Babel much less to make it so that either themselves or others may have a pretence to go out of it But what was this particular promise of the Father to the Apostles it was the promise of sending the Holy-Ghost to enable them to be his wtnesses unto the uttermost parts of the Earth A promise which much concerns carnal men to look after that they may have the spirit of God A promise which much concerns spiritual men that they may have him more Both must tarry in Jerusalem in the unity of the Church for the mercy is not without the promise and the promise is not without Jerusalem Depart not from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the father till therefore the carnal man shall need no spirit who hath none at all and till the spiritual man shall need no more spirit who cannot have too much both must pray for the peace of Jerusalem labour for the peace of the Church in their prayers and in their practises neither may recede from the Apostles nor from their Successors to whom was made the promise of the Holy-Ghost And it is worth our notice that though the Apostles had fourty dayes conversation with Christ and were fully instructed in the knowledge of Christianity yet they did not presently go and preach the Gospel Nay Christ himself bad them not go till they had received Commission from the Holy Ghost So that there are two things required to constitute a true Preacher of the Gospel Ability and Authority or Mission and Commission He must first be enabled to preach by conversing with Christ in his holy Word Then besides his Ability he must also have Authority or Commission from the Holy Ghost though not immediately by an extraordinary yet mediately by an ordinary calling or he hath not leave from Christ to preach the Gospel For so it is said Acts 1. 8. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me Without this coming of the Holy Ghost men may be witnesses to themselves but they cannot be witnesses unto Christ because he hath not enabled or not authorized them For which cause it is that in the Ordination of a Minister the Bishop pronounceth those words of our Saviour the first Bishop that ever pronounced them Receive ye the Holy Ghost thereby giving him a Commission to be one of Christs witnesses unto the people For this promise of being baptized with the holy Ghost to be Christs witnesses did certainly belong to the Apostles not as members but only as ministers of Christs Church those words he spake to them only as his Ministers though other words he spake to them as his Members Receive ye the Holy Ghost are words both of consecration and of benediction words of consecration as they set a man apart for Gods service words of benediction as they enable and authorize a man to serve him if not as a member yet doubtless as a minister if not by Gratia gratum faciens yet by Gratia gratis data as the School distinguisheth if not by gifts and graces that tend to his own regeneration yet surely by gifts and graces that tend to others edification And as it is said The Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it so we may say The Lord blessed his Apostles and hallowed them for his hallowing was and is a blessing And as our Saviour Christ is said to have blessed the bread and the wine when he consecrated them to be his own body and blood So he also blessed the Apostles when he consecrated them to be his own peculiar servants thereby shewing That there cannot be a greater blessing then to serve him And accordingly we must look on those words whereby he consecrated his Apostles as words of his Episcopal benediction no less then of his Episcopal consecration Wherefore the Ministers of the Gospel rightly ordained are no less blessed then they are hallowed in their callings whatever they may be or may be thought in their persons and may comfortably make this answer to their Revilers and Persecutors Though they curse yet bless thou and let thy servants rejoyce Psal 109. 27. or rather Thou hast blessed and therefore we must and will rejoice though they curse us For he that loved the wages of unrighâ—â—ousness could not with-hold from the world this word of truth and righteousness He hath blessed and I cannot reverse it Numb 23. 20. so that unconscionable men by reviling their Ministers whom God hath blessed do in effect revile though they cannot reverse Gods undoubted blessing and though by so doing they may hinder themselves yet surely they cannot hinder their Ministers from being the blessed of the Lord For Saul in the midst of his Apostacie and falling from God when he was even now ready to butcher Abimelech and all the Priests yet gave his Testimony to this Truth saying unto Samuel Blessed art thou of the Lord for so it is in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benedictus 〈…〉 Domino Blsseed art thou of or to the Lord or as Targumâ—enders â—enders it Blessed art thou before the Lord Though they be as a cursed thing in the eyes of men yet they are Blessed before the Lord Let the world vilifie them as it pleaseth yet doubtless God hath magnified them in that he hath blessed them and commanded them to bless in his name And bless they must though they be more and more cursed of those whom they bless for being Gods Ministers they must speak no other but Gods word and his words are the words of blessing The words of God in themselves are the words of Majesty and Verity calling for our fear and reverence because words of Majesty for our attention and diligence because words of Verity and consequently calling for some of our reverence and attention to those who are entrusted with them and licensed to say Harken to the word of God The Prophet Isaiah said Hear O Heavens and give ear O earth for the Lord hath spoken Isa 1. 2. Where we find an undenyable connexion in the position Gods speaking and our hearing but a more undenyable confutation in the supposition if he should speak and we not hear For his words are words of Majesty able to bow down the highest heavens and words of Verity able to quicken the dullest
earth Such are the words of God in themselves but to us blessed be his condescention and goodness they are the words of Grace Mercy and Peace The words of Grace by instructing of Mercy by promising of Peace by blessing And this word of blessing is so much his delight that he chose it for his very last word here on earth and whiles he was speaking this word he was parted from them and carried up to heaven Luke 24. 51. The word of blessing is certainly the word of Peace There being no Peace in any condition or kind of life but meerly from Gods blessing Therefore in every thing we go about we should first look after Gods blessing then after our own peace and contentment for he doth justly punish us with the loss both of his blessing and our own peace when we look for the peace either before or without his blessing expecting contentment and satisfaction in such a thing as he will not or in such a way as he cannot bless Whiles he blessed them he was parted from them and carried up into heaven The last word in his mouth was blessing and must be the last in ours if we hope to part from earth as he did and be carried up into heaven Therefore let every word that comes from us be blessing for fear it should be our last word He that went up to heaven with blessing will not take us up thither without it Saint Peter could not forget that Christ parted from him and the rest of the Apostles blessing them and takes what care he can that cursing and railing should not make one man and much less one Church part from another and both part from the eternal Son of God Love as Brethren saith he to those of the despersion that is to several Nations much more to those of the same Church and Nation be pittiful be courteous not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing but contrariwise blessing knowing that ye are thereunto called that ye should inherit a blessing 1 Pet. 3. 8. 9. Where we see that railing is opposed to blessing which opposition must teach us that not only blasphemies against God but also revilings and reproaches against men especially those who have a peculiar stamp of God upon them as our Teachers and our Governors are in the guilt and consequently under the condemnation of cursings And though this sin be now the common road of men upon earth who blazen their own righteousness chiefly by others pretended sins yet it can never be the right way to heaven And we must forsake it as we will stick to our calling and to our inheritance knowing that we are thereunto called that we should inherit a blessing So that if we part not with this sin of rayling it will either part us from our calling or part both us and our calling from our inheritance it will either make us to be no Christians or such Christians as not to inherit a blessing But what was this blessing which our Saviour at parting bestowed upon his Apostles for we have yet only spoken of that which was on the very day of his Resurrection Joh. 20. 19. May we not give a fair guess at it from that curse or malediction since commonly used by his pretended Vicar General Indignationem omnipotentis Dei Apostolorum ejus Petri Pauli sentiat in aeternum May we not here put Indulgentiam for Indignationem and avow that it came from our Saviours own mouth by unwritten Tradition If ever Tradition will help out the Text let it be now that we may not lose our Saviours last word and his best word both together But Tradition cannot help us and sure we are from the Text That our Saviour never taught his Apostles to join themselves in Commission with his Father creatures with their Creator either to bless or curse although not only they but also their Successors can rightly do both in his name and by his power We have here only a probable conjecture That the benediction which Christ gave to his Apostles was the same in effect which the Apostles afterwards gave unto the Church in his name as having received it from his own mouth Grace unto you and peace be multiplyed saith Saint Peter Grace be with you mercy and peace saith Saint John It seems grace and mercy were reserved till Christs ascention for we find only Peace be unto you after his Resurrection and Saint John hints a reason of it for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified John 7. 39. upon which ground we may not unreasonably build this Position That Grace and mercy were reserved for Benedictions after his Ascention or till the giving of the Holy Ghost But seeing we cannot tell certainly the exact word of Benediction which Christ left to his Apostles when he parted from them we shall do well to lay hold on that which we are sure came from his own mouth whiles he was yet with them even that recorded Luke 11. 28. Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it that is keep it in their memories and in their consciences and in their conversations Keep it in their memories that it may sink into their consciences and keep it in their consciences that it may break forth into their lives and conversations Let us be sure to lay hold on this and we shall be sure not to want his last blessing though perchance we may not know it till we come to enjoy both it and him CAP. II. Christ considered whiles he was Ascending SECT I. That the words used to express Christs Ascension did manifest his twofold claim or title to heaven the one by Inheritance as God the other by merit or purchase as man And that Christ in his Ascension wrought a twofold Miracle one in the conquest of earth the other in the conquest of heaven And what comfort and benefit redounds to us Christians from these titles and these miracles THE considerations that are most remarkable in our blessed Saviours Ascension are best discovered from the words that are used to express it In the Apostles Creed the word for He Ascended is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He went up borrowed from Saint Paul Ephes 4. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he ascended up on high But the word used by Saint Luke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was carried up Luke 24. 51. He was carried up into heaven But Saint Mark yet useth a third word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was received up Mark 16. 19. He was received up into heaven This twofold expression he went up and He was carried or received up shews our Saviours twofold title or claim to heaven if we consider Christ in his two several natures For as God he claimed heaven for his Inheritance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He went up as unto his own As man he claimed it as his reward and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was carried up
or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was received up as unto that which he had so fully merited and deserved Again the same twofold expression shews a twofold miracle if we consider Christ in the unity of his person as those two natures of God and man made but one Christ the first miracle was the conquest over earth in his body which was taught to ascend upwards contrary to the nature of Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He went up in that body The second miracle was the conquest over heaven in his soul which for his singular piety was taught in some sort to descend downwards contrary to the nature of heaven in that the light clouds were made to come down that they might minister to his Ascension So that these must be our considerations of our blessed Saviour from the act and manner of his Ascending his twofold Title in claiming heaven and his twofold miracle in possessing it his first title to heaven was as the Son of God for so he claimed heaven by inheritance and the word used in the Apostles Creed intimates that claim or title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he went up sc to take possession of his own he went by his own power to enter upon his own right claiming heaven as his natural inheritance because he was the Son of God And this right of his Saint Paul exactly describes Heb. 1. 2 3. Where he saith God hath appointed his son heir of all things by whom also he made the world who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high In which words the Apostle teacheth us to say to the son of God what the Son taught us to say unto the Father For thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory For he fully setteth forth unto us the Kingdom of Christ both as Redeemer and as Creator As Redeemer when he saith God appointed him heir of all things in which respect Christ himself saith All things are delivered unto me of my father Mat. 11. 27. and all power is given unto me Mat. 28. 18. and the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand John 3. 35. And he setteth forth unto us the Kingdom of Christ as Creator when he saith By whom also he made the worlds for in that respect our Saviour had all power in heaven and in earth without its being given or delivered unto him as he was the eternal Son of God coequal with his Father Which his coequality the Apostle expresseth from three particulars First in that he was the brightness of his glory that is the natural brightness of his glory by necessary generation not by voluntary communication even as the Sun naturally begets brightness and not voluntarily upon choice or deliberation Secondly In that he was the express Image or character of his person not only representing his essential glory as God of which representation it is said No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him John 1. 18. but also representing his personal glory as father because the person of the Father is wholly and fully expressed in the person of the Son as in a lively Image or Character thereof in which respect Christ himself saith If ye had known me ye should have known my Father also and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him John 14. 7. and again he that hath seen me hath seen the Father ver 9. Thirdly In that he upheld all things by the word of his power to wit by the same word by which he had made them ver 2. All this being said t is no wonder if it follow immediately after that he sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high as taking that place in the nature of man which was his proper right as the Son of God But what comfort is this to us who are born the Sons of wrath and so have title only to the place of wrath and vengeance as to our inheritance T is true we have no title from our selves save only to hell such a title as we care not to claim though we labour to make good But we have also a title of inheritance to heaven from our blessed Saviour as saith the Apostle And if children then heirs heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ Rom. 8. 17. For the Son by adoption is admitted to the inheritance as if he were a Son by nature And we being adopted in Christ cannot be denyed to have a title to his Inheritance But we were best take heed that we abuse not this title or at least mistake it not as some do who cry Abba Father and are no sons or who are so the Sons of God as not led by the Spirit of God or so led by the Spirit of God as not doing the works of the Spirit but of the flesh being guilty of hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murders such horrid murders as have out-faced heaven and amazed the earth and will not believe the Apostle though he tell it before and after though he say it and say it again that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5. 21. Let the man after Gods own heart both ask and answer this question for us Psalm 24. ver 3 4. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall rise up in his holy place Even he that hath clean hands not defiled with blood and a pure heart not corrupted with Faction or Sedition and that hath not lift up his mind to vanity by taking fancie for faith or vain imaginations for holy inspirations nor sworn to deceive his neighbour convenanting for spoil and robbery to be not only impiously but also blasphemously guilty of theft He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation For such a man as hath clean hands and a pure heart is led by the Spirit of God and with his pure heart thinks the thoughts with his clean hands doth the works of the Spirit This man is heir to an inheritance in heaven because he is the Son of God and he is the Son of God because he is led not by his own private Spirit but by the Spirit of God for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God Rom. 8. 14. He that saith as many doth in effect say no more they are and none but they are the Sons of God who are led by the Spirit of God He that lifts up his mind to vanity cannot lift up his mind to heaven he that hath sworn to deceive his neighbour is sure to deceive himself he that hath no share in the righteousness may not look
to have a share in the blessing And therefore Aben Ezra's gloss is not to be rejected who observes the same word used in the reward and in the work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall receive the blessing because he did not lift up his soul to receive the vanity The Lord shall lift him up by true sanctification because he did not lift up himself by pride and presumption For no man more truly lifts up his soul to vanity nor more truly labours in vain then he that thinks to go to heaven only by the strength of his own perswasion since it is not possible for him to receive the blessing who cares not to receive the righteousness For these two are joyned together he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation not the blessing of salvation without the righteousness thereof For it must be a real not an imaginary ascension whereby we get up to heaven the soul that will be there must be lifted up by devotion not by opinion For the Righteousness of salvation is not opinionative but affective and active not in conceit but in practice Take heed of a mock-Ascension into heaven which will make that be truly spoken of thee which those mistaken novices did falsly put upon Eliah Lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley 2 King 2. 16. It was their fond fear concerning Eliah it ought to be the just fear concerning thy self For if thou lay hold of the Spirit of adoption only to cry Abba Father but not to become a dutiful Son or to confine thy dutifulness to observe only those of thy Fathers commands that suit with thine own humour and advantage which is the lame and limping godliness of this hypocritical age wherein men cry up their duty towards God meerly to beat down their duty towards their neighbour If thou thus lay hold of the spirit of adoption others may justly fear concerning thee and thou oughtest to fear concerning thy self Lest peradventure the spirit of the Lord for so thou thinkest it take thee up and cast thee down again upon some mountain or into some valley For indeed the Spirit of the Lord being thus mistaken or thus misapplied doth so take men up as to cast them down again first upon the mountain of presumption then into the valley of despair Secondly our Saviour claimed heaven by the right of his desert even as his just recompence and reward And that claim or title of his is intimated in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was carried or received up into heaven as having before merited to be carried or received up thither so saith Saint Paul he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him Phil. 2. 8 9. Our blessed Saviour was obedient in doing before he was obedient in suffering He first had a most perfect active and then a most perfect passive obedience He was first obedient He was first obedient unto the life and after that obedient unto the death He was zealous in doing the work of God and that made him patient in suffering the will of God yet here is no mention made of his active but only of his passive obedience and no mention made of his obedience without respect to his humility How then shall any Christian forego his humility to stand upon the merit of his obedience when our Saviour Christ himself whose obedience alone is or can be meritorious with God was exalted no less from being humble then for being obedient Surely to teach us how we may soonest have comfort from this his title to heaven nay after some sort be sharers in it claiming heaven as a reward but of our Saviours not of our own righteousness or rather as a reward of his righteousness but made ours So Saint Bernard most Divinely comforted himself against all the accusations of Satan at Gods Judgement seat Fateor non sum dignus ego nec propriis possum meritis regnum obtinere coelorum Caeterùm duplici jure illud obtinens Dominus meus haeredita te Sc. Patris merito passionis altero ipse contentus alterum mihi donat ex cujus dono jure illud mihi vendicans non confundor I confess that 〈…〉 â—t worthy nor can I hope to obtain heaven by mine own merits But my Lord having obtained the same by a double right the one by the inheritance ef his Father the other by the merit of his passion being himself contented only with one of them hath given the other unto me by whose gift I do now claim it as my right and am not to be confounded in my claim Which we might very well take for a great miracle wrought upon us men by our Saviours ascending in our flesh and so entitling that flesh to heaven were it not for those other miracles which neerly concern our Saviour Christ in his own person For we have a twofold miracle intimated in these same words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he went up though in his body of flesh there 's one miracle his conquest over earth in his humane body For earth was now taught to ascend upwards contrary to its own nature which of it self so descends downwards as to press to the Center nay actually to possess it Earth in it self moves furthest from heaven but in the body of Christ earth moved towards heaven nay earth went up into heaven And the reason is given by Saint Paul Phil. 3. 21. Who shall change our vile body that it may be like his glorious body The body of Christ after his resurrection was more peculiarly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a glorious body Saint Paul gives us this distinction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A vile body and a glorious body Our body is a vile body dejected and debased by the sinfulness the grossness the weakness the sluggishness of the flesh our Saviours body was never thus a vile body in the state of his humiliation because he knew no sin yet was it subject to all infirmities or he could not have dyed for sinners And therefore we may truly say that his body in the state of his exaltation was made a glorious body and invested with four conditions or qualities quite contrary to these of our bodies called by the School impassibilitas claritas subtilitas agilitas and by Saint Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 15. 42 43. to whom we are primarily beholding for this part of School Divinity which unfoldeth the conditions of a glorified body And the same Apostle comforteth us that after the Resurrection our vile body shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body and consequently be made first impassible and incorrupt without sinfulness for where is no sin there is no corruption there can be no suffering Secondly Clear and transparent without grossness
's the strength of perswasion And to speak of all thy works in the gates of the daughter of Sion there 's the strength of affection first in the exercise of devotion to speak Secondly in the extent of it of all thy works Thirdly in the profession of it in the gates Fourthly in the integrity or purity of it in the gates of the daughter of Sion What pitty is it that we who out-pass others in the purity of our devotions should come far short of them in the profession extension and exercise of the same That we who are in the daughter of Sion should come short of those who we say are under the Whore of Babylon For this second miracle in Christs ascension The conquest over heaven in his Soul must needs make us conclude concerning our selves that we cannot possess heaven till we have first conquered it Man in his composition is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little world but in his affection he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great world A conqueror over heaven and earth over neither by himself but over both by his Saviour In all these things we are more then conquerours through him that loved us Rom. 8. 37. and we may see who it was that loved us from ver 35. who shall seperate us from the love of Christ It was he that loved us it is by him that we are more then Conquerours Let me fight the good fight of faith that I may have my Saviours love and though all the Nimrods and mischiefs of this wicked world prevail against me yet none of them shall conquer me SECT II. The time of Christs ascention is particularly named in the Text and the observation of that day is founded upon the practice of the Apostles which in the exercise of Religion is to be embraced as Precept And why the Apostles left not many precepts concerning the circumstances of worship to the Christian Church The place of the Ascention was Bethany in Mount Olivet and what considerations arise from thence LOgicians do tell us that it is the property of verbs to be adsignificant as saith the great scholler of nature and greater master of Art Aristotle in his book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verbum est quod adsignificat tempus It is the property of a verb not only to express the thing it self which is to be significant but also to declare the chief circumstances of time and place and person which is to be adsignificant And for this reason it will not be improper to consider in these three verbs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He went he was carried he was received up not only the substance or act of our Saviours Ascention but also the chief circumstances of it to wit the time in which the place from which and the persons before whom he was pleased to ascend into heaven As for the time in which it was exactly the fourtieth day after his resurrection being seen of them fourty dayes saith the Text Acts 1. 3. which doubtless is not set down superfluously and therefore ought to be observed carefully I may justly add conscientiously For though duties and not dayes yet duties upon their own dayes call for a most religious observation God himself having said in express terms to the Jews and consequently by the rule of general equity to the Christians since the reason of his saying is rather moral then typical The man that is clean and is not in a journey and forbeareth to keep the Passeover even the same soul shall be cut off from his people because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season that man shall bear his sins Num. 9. 13. Whence we may safely conclude not as Jews but as Christians that t is not safe but sinfull meerly out of peevishness or willfullness to neglect the appointed seasons of serving God for such a grievous punishment as being cut off from Gods people would not be threatned but for a grieveous sin such as begins in the contempt of God and ends in the scandal of men Therefore duties are to be most strictly observed upon their own dayes Thus the resurrection is most solemnly to be celebrated on its own day the first day of the week and the Ascention on its own day the fift day of the week for the fourtieth day after a Sunday can be no other then thirsday So that either the fourtieth day after the resurrection of Christ is lawfully consecrated to celebrate his ascention and by consequent is the day appointed for that duty or this particular circumstance was unnecessarily set down in the text and as unlawfully observed by the Apostles who turning from the mount Olivet came into Jerusalem and went up into their upper room when they durst not assemble together in the Temple and prayed there immediately upon their return even on the very same day of Christs Ascension and did not think fit to put off their solemn meeting till the next Sabbath or till the next Lords day after it Wherefore it is reasonably concluded by Judicious men that Apostolical practice is to us Christians what Mosaical precept was to the Jews concerning the observation of dayes places and persons for religious assemblies and therefore our Lords day is as indispensable as was their Sabbath our Churches as inviolable as their Temple and Synagogues our orders of Ministers as unchangeable as their orders of Priests for Apostolical Practice in these circumstances or adjuncts of Religion doth oblige us Christians to conformity as Mosaical precept did the Jewes to obedience I say Comformity because time place person were all essential parts of their ceremonial and typical but cannot be so of our moral worship and therefore obedience was necessary for them but comformity is enough for us So that a willfull neglect and much more a scornfull contempt of any rite observed by the Apostles cannot but be impious in it self dangerous to us and scandalous to our brethren And as this is judiciously concluded by some learned men so it must be couragiously resolved by all good men not to fear superstition in that which the Apostles practised when their practice is declared in the text since all circumstances adjuncts of Religion are derived to us Christians rather by practice then by precept as not being of the Substance of our Religion And indeed they could not well be derived otherwise because types and ceremonies were utterly to be abolished to the Jews and therefore ceremonies though without types could not but with offence to the Jews be particularly prescribed to the Christians consequently were to be left unto them only in example and practice as matter of decency and order which are capable of dispensation not set down in the text by way of command or imposition as matter of Substance which hath alwayes a rigour of Justice and should alwayes have a readiness of obedience both alike indispensable Nay yet more
Apostolical practice recorded in the Text was therefore imbraced by the Catholike Church as if it had been Precept for the time and place and persons of Religious worship because that Practice in all these respects was founded upon the precepts of the old Testament not as they were typical and figurative but as they were solemn and positive and did no less concern the Christian in the publike exercise of his moral then they did concern the Jew in the publike exercise of his ceremonial Worship For publike worship requires the same publike adjuncts of time place and person no less in the Christians then it did in the Jews Religion And therefore we cannot deny but all those precepts in the old Testament that were given about those publike adjuncts do still remain in force as to that intent of the publike exercise of Religion unless we will deny that Christians are obliged to the exercise of Gods publike worship we must then still have our set dayes as Sabbaths our set places as Churches our set Persons as Ministers for the solemn publike worship of God And consequently they who go about to abolish any of these adjuncts or circumstances of publike worship do in effect go about to expunge the fourth commandment out of the Decalogue which was written with Gods own finger as well as the rest commandeth the solemn benediction consecration and conservation of all those adjuncts of time place person as conducing to the Publike service of God and exercise of Religion And as for times and persons they have been since in many respects determined by Apostolical Practice and particularly the Day of our Saviours Ascension seems to have been Annually observed by them as the day of his Resurrection was observed weekly since we find that Festival universally received by the Catholike Church and the Fathers made many admirable Sermons or Homilies upon it long before superstition had infected or Popery had invaded the Church of Christ in so much as Saint Augustine tells us plainly that the feast of the Ascension was observed in the Catholike Church even from the Apostles times Sure we are those primitive Christians well understood that God did not intend to confine but to enlarge his own worship by the fourth Commandment to wit to make that exercise of Religion solemn and publike in the fourth which was private in the other three Commandments not to make that to be only on one day which was before commanded to be all the week For he that saith Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart supposeth that as no day thou canst be without thy heart so no day thy heart may be without his love And therefore when we have a publike day set apart to make this our love publikely known if we do wilfully neglect the same we are grievous transgressors and downright plain Sabbath-breakers though not on the Sabbath day and consequently twice sinners in one contempt or profanation for omitting the substance of the duty and for contemning the circumstance of the day Another circumstance in our blessed Saviours Ascension is the place from which he was received up and that was not Hierusalem but Bethany For although the Apostles had been with him in Galilee many dayes where he conversed with them after the first day of his Resurrection yet now they were again returned back to Hierusalem waiting there for the promise of the Father as they had been commanded Act. 1. 4. And he led them out from thence as far as Bethany Luk 24. 50. before he was pleased to ascend into heaven partly because he would not have the people see but rather believe the Mysterie of his Ascension and partly because he would not expose his Apostles to the outrages of those who though they had seen it yet were resolved not to believe but to persecute the true believers And yet in that he led his Apostles out to Bethany he shewed them what was the right use they were to make of this worlds afflictions or persecutions even to have their conversation with him in heaven For Bethany is by interpretation the house of sorrow or affliction and our blessed Saviour Ascending to heaven from thence hath shewed us that then do we make a right use of of our afflictions on earth when they do make our souls ascend up to heaven This is to turn Bethany into Bethel the house of sorrow into the house of God But the place from which our blessed Saviour ascended into heaven is called Mount Olivet Act. 1. 12. And indeed these two were but one and the same place for Bethany stood upon Mount Olivet Christ ascended from a Mount and from this Mount Olivet He ascended from a Mount to shew it was not an easie step from earth to heaven there must be three ladders joyned together to accomplish this ascent scala mentis scala voluntatis scala vitae one ladder of the mind by contemplation another ladder of the will by affection a third ladder of the life by action All three have several rongs or degrees as Jacobs ladder had and God is only at the top Again he ascended from this Mount Olivet where he begun his passion by sweating blood Luk. 22. to shew us the necessity of passive obedience if we desire to go to heaven Moses his Mount Sinai which teacheth the rule of active obedience will not serve the turn we must also go up to Christs Mount Olivet and there learn his passive obedience that by suffering with him we may also reign with him for he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross and therefore God highly exalted him Phil. 2. Can you drink of his cup without fear it may overcome your weak Stomack since the fear of it made him offer up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears Heb. 5. 7. If you can then may you find some pretence though little cause to take that for granted to you which the sons of Zebedee only requested for themselves to sit with him in his Kingdom But if your frailty and humility bid you fear you may stick at the dregs in drinking of his cup much more should your frailty and modesty bid you blush that you are so exceeding unworthy of comming to his Kingdom and of sitting in it together with him that so you may not turn your own Churchwarden to appoint your own place in heaven but may wholly relie upon him for your place upon whom you must relie for your worthiness SECT III. The persons before whom our Saviour Christ ascended were 1. Angels 2. Men yet men only not Angels appointed by him as witnesses of his ascension though not all men And that the disturbers of these witnesses that is of the orders of Christs Ministers in his Church do sin against this article of Christs ascension which however is it self and puts all true believers above all disturbances THE persons before whom or in whose
presence our blessed Saviour was received up into heaven will afford us several considerations for they were of two different kinds Angels and men The one were Citizens of heaven in their Pilgrimage to earth the other were inhabitants of earth in their Pilgrimage to heaven He was taken up before some Angels that were newly come down from heaven and before some men that were in their journey thither none is accounted by him a fit witness of his ascension into heaven but such a one as is already there either by the excellency of his condition or by the purity of his affection either an Angel or an Apostle The Angels are mentioned Act. 1. 10. Behold two men stood by them in white apparel that is Two Angels in the shape and appearance of men They had been witnesses of his humiliation to their astonishment and were now of his exaltation to their joy He is going up and they are coming down He seems to carry away Heaven from his Apostles they seem to bring it back again God never leaves his servants destitute of all comfort If not Christ yet an Angel is still with them till at last comes the Comforter himself Nor did our blessed Saviour account a bare promise of the Comforter to be enough but here he also gives a pledge of that promise Those Ministring spirits being as it were so many harbingers sent before hand to be speak and provide lodging for God the Holy-Ghost against his comming and so many sureties or pledges that he would now very shortly come Yet our blessed Saviour appointed not Angels for witnesses of his ascension to the world lest the Divels which can transform themselves into Angels of light might also have been witnesses of the same without his appointment not to the confirmation but the utter depravation and subversion of the true Christian Faith Therefore hath God flatly bound us up to be guided and governed only by those things which his Apostles have preached unto us that our faith should be wholly grounded and fixed upon certainties so that though an Angel from heaven should preach any other Gospel we should not hear him but curse him Gal. 1. 8. But Aquinas in 3. 64 7. upon this question Vtrum Angeli possint Sacramenta Ministrare whether Angels may administer the Sacraments concludes they may not upon such demonstrative reasons which will also prove that they may not preach the Gospel one of his reasons is this Tota virtus Sacramentorum à passione Christi derivatur cui in naturâ conformantur homines non autem Angeli ideo ad homines pertinet dispensare Sacramenta non autem ad Angelos All the vertue of the Sacraments is derived from the passion of Christ who took not on him the nature of Angels but of man and therefore it belongs to men not to Angels to be the Ministers of the Sacraments We may say the same concerning the word for the Word and Sacraments were both ordained by the same Author and for the same end and are both under the same trust That Christ became man to the intent that he might himself preach the Gospel and therefore would nor make use of any but of men to preach it after him That like as the Son of God had priviledged the nature of man not of Angels by taking it into the Unity of his person so he might priviledge the persons of men not of Angels by taking them into the society of his office The other of his reasons is indeed above all reason because it is founded upon Gods Authority and therefore serves him for an Argument to be opposed against all the contrary objections Sed contra est quod dicitur Heb. 5. Omnis pontifex ex hominibus assumptus pro hominibus constituitur in his que sunt ad Deum sed Angeli boni vel mali non sunt ex hominibus ergo ipsi non constituuntur ministri in his quae sunt ad Deum 1. in Sacramentis The Apostle saith That every high Priest is taken from men and is ordained for men in things pertaining to God but Angels are not taken from men Therefore they are not ordained Ministers for men in things pertaining to God doubtless the word and Sacraments are things pertaining to God the argument concerns the whole discharge of a Priests office That an Angel may discharge no part of it For the Apostles intent is to clear the Priest-hood of Christ against all objections of the Jews and accordingly he proves out of their own Law that God had absolutely circumscribed and limited the Priest-hood in three respects 1. In regard of the person of the Priest for that none could be a Priest who was not a man because none else was fit to intercede for men none else would have compassion of men 2. In regard of the office of the Priesthood which was to reconcile the sinners and expiate the sin 3. In regard of the outward calling to that office for no man might take that honour to himself but he that was called of God as was Aaron Accordingly our Saviour Christ was pleased to be made man that he might be capable of being our high Priest to intercede for us and to have compassion on us And he did actually undertake this office of the Priest-hood in reconciling sinners and in expiating sin nor did he undertake this office without being thereunto called of God as was Aaron From this Argument we may deduce these two conclusions 1. That Angels cannot be Priests nor discharge those duties which belong only to Priests as Preaching the word and ministring the Sacraments because they are not men and every Priest is to be taken from among men 2. That all men may not be Priests to discharge these same duties but only those who are called of God as was Aaron that is who are set apart by an outward calling for that discharge And they that are not so called and yet will needs be either Preaching the Gospel or Ministring the Sacraments do affront our Saviour Christ in his Priest-hood opposing him in his office rejecting him in his example and contemning him in his Authority For as an Angel may not do the office of a Priest propter impedimentum personae for the impediment of his person because he is not a man not taken from among men So that man who is not called of God as was Aaron may not do the office of a Priest propter impedimentum causae for the impediment of the cause or office it self because he is not ordained for men in things pertaining to God and unless God ordain him sure God will not accept him Let him meddle only with things pertaining to men let him not meddle with things pertaining to God For he that struck Vzzah dead for rashly going to uphold his Ark when it was shaken 2 Sam. 6. 7. because not having Commission to touch it he had profaned it with his touch hath plainly shewed how much he hateth
must needs be controverted to the worlds end unless it could be proved that not only Christ but also the blessed Virgin doth indeed sit at the right hand of God being joyned with Christ in the government of his Kingdom which is altogether impossible for that Christ himself sits there in his humane nature only by vertue of the personal union to and with the eternal Son of God whose property alone it is to sit at the right hand of his Father For though the Holy Ghost be also equal with the Father in the same power and glory and therefore together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified yet he is not said to sit at his right hand that 's a phrase spoken peculiarly of the Son in whom the Divine nature was as it were ecclipsed for a while in the state of his humiliation and in whom the humane nature now shineth most gloriously in the state of exaltation And besides for that the Son alone doth administer the Kingdom of the Father immediately from the Father but the Holy Ghost administreth the same Kingdom not only from the Father but also from the Son For although God the Father Son and Holy Ghost do equally govern the Church both militant and triumphant that is do equally administer one and the same Kingdom in heaven and earth yet the Father administreth it of himself not by himself for he is of none as in being so in working The Son administreth the same Kingdom by himself not of himself for as his being so his working is of the Father The holy Ghost administreth the same Kingdom by himself not of himself for he is of the â—ather and of the Son so that God the Father administreth his Kingdom immediately by God the Son who is next him in order and mediately by God the Holy Ghost who so administreth from the Father as also from the Son and therefore is not said to sit at the right hand of the Father because he hath the administration of the Kingdom of God not of the Father alone but of the Father and of the Son whereas the Son hath it immediately and only of the Father So that our blessed Saviour did administer the Kingdom of his Father from all eternity as God But now since his Ascension he doth also administer the same as God in man or as God manifest in the flesh And it is his property alone to sit at the right hand of God because it is his property alone to govern all things in heaven and in earth immediately from the Father Laus Deo will reflect directly on him no less then on the Father and the Holy Ghost for the blessed administration of his Kingdom but Virginique Matri Mariae may securely be left out and is blasphemously and idolatrously put in since the blessed Virgin her self must needs think it robbery to be equal with her Son when her Son thinks it no robbery to be equal with God And certainly if the Fathers in the first Council of Constantinople thought it enough to prove the Holy Ghost coequal with the Father and the Son by saying Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified Then we cannot but think it too much that the blessed Virgin is worshipped and glorified with all three persons of the Trinity as if she were to be thought coequal with Father Son and Holy Ghost But perchance Bellarmine was resolved to gratifie the present practise of his Church with a doxology answerable to that Antiphona Gaude Maria Virgo cunctas haereses sola interemisti in universo mundo Rejoyce O Virgin Mary thou alone hast taken away all heresies in the universal world And he having made it his work to confute all for hereticks who were not of his own gan gives thanks to the blessed Virgin as if by her help he had perfected this great confutation whereas without doubt it is no more in the power of any creature to take away a heresie then it is to change the heart or will of the heritick nor is it in the power of all the Jesuites in the world to prove us poor protestants guilty of heresie because we dare not be guilty of blasphemy nor of Idolatry For it is blasphemy to ascribe that perfection and it is Idolatry to give that honour to the creature which is proper only to the Creator And t is a wonder that Baronius who is pleased to say that our Church of England is wholly drowned in heresie would not impute the cause of that mischeif to our rejecting this and the like Hymns or prayers to the blessed Virgin and say she would not take away our heresies because we had taken away her worship for this reason had certainly been more ingenuous in one of that perswasion then to tell us that we were therefore given over to our delusions because we denyed to pay the Peter pence For that is his observation in his Annals Anno Christi 740. That Ina King of the West Saxons appointed every house in his Dominions to pay a penny to Saint Peter every year that his subjects knowing Saint Peter to be their Lord should more zealously addict themselves to his service and call upon him in their necessities â—t annui census pensitatione cognosceret se subditum S. Petro quem scientes omnes Dominum esse suum propensiori studio colerent in opportunitatibus invocarent But that when this yearly revenue did cease to be payed the Church of England was swallowed up by an inundation of heresies Vbi cessavit pendi vectigal istud utcunque mali redemptum haeresum alluvione Anglicana Ecclesia absorbetur whereas if the mony were paid upon that reason of Invocating Saint Peter it could not be excused from heresie to have continued that payment However this reason is more for the Penny then for the Pater noster and sure the Church of England had more heresies whilst it paid the Peter pence then it hath had ever since unless we look upon these few late years wherein the poor woman cloathed with the Sun hath been distressed by a great red Dragon and forced to flee into the wilderness Rev. 12. But Gods truth is never the worse for being persecuted and Gods faithfull servants will not fall from his truth because of persecution For they know they serve a Master who himself hath said My Kingdom is not of this world John 18. 36. and therefore they who profess themselves subjects of his Kingdom will not change with the world For though our Saviours Kingdom be not of this world yet hath he subjects on earth as well as in hâ—…en And therefore in his Ascension whereby he took possession of his Kingdom he provided for them both For those on earth by the diffusion of his grace called by the Apostle Receiving gifts for men for those in heaven by the diffusion of his glory expressed by this phrase And sate on the right hand of God By
the diffusion of his glory he hath prepared a mansion for us with him by the diffusion of his grace he hath prepared a mansion in us for himself O the immortal comfort of a good Christian and the more immortal glory of the Christian Religion shew me a comfort like to the comfort of a good Christian who is already in his head ascended into heaven shew me a glory like to the glory of the Christian Religion which hath him alone for its author for its head who sitteth on the right hand of God Ask the Jew he will tell you he left his Prophet upon Mount Nebo Ask the Turk he will tell you his Pcophet was left at Meca Ask other Religions they will tell you they know not what is become of their Prophets It is only the Christian Religion that can say it had such a Prophet as now sitteth at the right hand of God A Prophet who taught not a religion without righteousness as is the Religion of Turks and Heathens nor a Religion with Righteousness but which could not make men righteous as was the Religion of the Jews But a Religion with Righteousness to shew it self righteous and a righteousness with Religion to make us so For the law which was the rule of righteousness came by Moses but grace which maketh righteous came only by Jesus Christ John 1. 17. By this He still dwelleth in us even now that he is farthest from us which is so invaluable a blessing that it cannot be valued till it be enjoyed and when it is enjoyed it is found invaluable For the soul of man cannot but have a wretched dwelling in the body and a more wretched dwelling out of it unless Christ have a dwelling in the soul It is the glory of men above Angels that Christ dweleth in their flesh It is the glory of good Christians above other men that Christ dwelleth in their spirits By his grace he dweleth with us and in us by our faith and love we dwell with him in him nor shall this dwelling ever be destroyed it shall only be enlarged when what is now of grace shall hereafter be of glory There is so inseparable an union betwixt Christ and the good Christian that as the Christian cannot be in the state of Grace without Christ so Christ not fully in the state of glory without him The head thinks himself not in honour whiles the members are in dishonour and therefore our head being ascended into heaven makes it his work to draw us the members of his mystical body thither after him For we are united unto Christ by a threefold cord that is not easily broken First by the tie of Election God having chosen us in him before the foundation of the world having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will Eph. 1. 4 5. Secondly by the tie of incarnation wherein he took our flesh unto himself Thirdly by the tie of Inspiration wherein he hath given his Spirit unto us All which have begot so inseparable an union betwixt the Son of God and the sons of men by a golden chain reaching from heaven to earth that Saint Paul speaks of the good Christians as of those who are already in glory with Christ And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2. 6. He looks on them not only as having jus ad rem but also as having jus in re not only as claiming but also as possessing their heavenly inheritance O that we would be so careful or could be so happy as not to abuse those mercies which we cannot deserve O that we would lift up our souls truly and entirely unto the Lord then would our hearts be where our treasure is at the right hand of God For we may not be in heaven by our perswasions whiles we are either in earth by our affections or in hell by our dispositions How can we see our Saviour at Gods right hand whiles Satan stands at ours making us to butcher his servants to deface his Sanctuary to discountenance his Religion to defile or despise his Ordinances to deceive his people to destroy his inheritance How can we believe him to be making intercession for us whiles we care not to make intercession for our selves or at least wise use such extravagant prayers wherein we cannot justly expect much less judiciously hope he should make intercession with us Be it the priviledge of faith to have an eye to be able to see Christ but of devotion to keep that eye alwaies open actually to behold and look upon him for which cause some have thought that prayer was the proper act of justifying faith men then most especially believing in Christ when they are praying to him So that to oppose or disturb the exercise of well-grounded and well-settled devotions under pretence of reforming them is to put out the eye of faith whiles we pretend to take off the film that it may see the clearer For the precious talent of faith must neither be wrapped up in a Napkin nor indiscreetly managed if we expect it should enrich our souls with heavenly and immortal comforts but must be diligently and discreetly imployed in judicious as well as in fervent pravers and praises to Almighty God that so we may fight the good fight of faith by defending and maintaining not only the truth of the Gospel but also our profession and practise of that truth Saint Paul requires both alike of his Scholar and in him of us 1. Tim. 6. 12. Fight the good fight of faith lay hold on eternal life whereunto thou art also called and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses Saint Timothy had not only embraced the Christian faith in general but had also in particular professed a good profession thereof before many witnesses and Saint Paul binds him as well as he had bound himself to make it good Else as many as had been witnesses of his profession must have been Judges and Condemners of his revolt And doubtless God having exalted our Saviour Christ at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principalitie and power and might and dominion Eph. 1. 20 21. hath sufficiently declared That we should so exalt and advance the Christian Religion whereby we seek to glorifie his Son in earth as the Father hath glorified him in heaven that neither principality nor power nor might nor dominion here on earth for those in heaven will not endeavour it should be able to remove us from the truth of Christ either in its belief or in its practise no more then they can remove Christ himself from sitting at the right hand of God And we most humbly beseech thee O blessed Saviour who hast conquered all things to conquer also our inconstancies that we may perfectly and without all doubt believe in thee and shew the sincerity of our faith by
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loqui ad Cor which is the Hebrew phrase for speaking comfortably other comforts go no farther then the ear then the outward man that his stock is increased his request granted his cause advanced t is only this comfort that enters into the heart and revives the inner man That the time of his warfare banishment and captivity is at an end because his sin is pardoned For here are two distinct times to be observed A time not accepted that 's of warfare banishment and captivity And a time accepted that 's of peace or reconciliation of restitution of liberty For Epiphanius his argumentation is not to be denied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the nature of relatives si fuit unus annus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ergo fuit alter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If Christ preached one year wherein he was accepted as Clemens Alexandrinus labours to prove out of Luke 4. 19. To preach the acceptable year of our Lord then it must needs be that he could not preach only but one year for there must also be another year wherein he was contradicted and no◠accepted His Logick is not to be questioned though his tenent be refused by the Learned Scaliger lib. 6. de emend temp who proves that Christ did preach upon the earth not only one year as Clemens nor two years as Epiphanius would have it but four full years So here the inference is unquestionable If there were a time of warfare of banishment of captivity before the pardon there must needs be a time of peace of restitution of liberty after it If that were a time of expulsion or rejection whiles we were enemies this is a time of acceptance or admission now we are Sons as saith Sant Paul behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6. 8. That was a day of damnation this is a day of salvation that a a time not accepted this a time accepted The time of the flesh and the time of the Spirit the time of sin and the time of Grace are two opposite times the time that sin reigns in us is a time of warfare banishment and captivity the time that the Spirit of Grace reigns in us is a time of restitution and of liberty First a time of peace and that a peace of heart John 14. 27. My peace I give unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid The peace that Christ gives us is a peace of heart a Peace that puts away all trouble and all fear All trouble least it should disturb our peace outwardly and all fear least it should disturb our peace inwardly which is the invincible reason Saint Augustin alledgeth to prove that the holy Angels are assured of their state of bliss because otherwise their fear would disturb their peace and consequently interrupt their blessedness And Aquinas affirms the Saints in heaven to be no less sure of the continuance of their bliss then of the bliss it self and therefore to be in some sort partakers of the divine eternity to which all is actually present nothing to come or else they could not have the full quietation of their wills without which Blessedness it self could be no blessedness 22. q. 18. art 2 3. Secondly the time of Grace is a time of restitution and that to our true Country even to heaven The Philosopher could point thither with his finger but the Christian points thither with his heart For that being once touched with the spirit of God alwayes moves and beats towards heaven as a needle touched with a loadstone moves alwayes towards the Pole For true Christians are so full of hope and their hope is so full of immortality that they are very well contented to resign this mortal life when God shall require it as those who know themselves to be but strangers and so journers hereon earth and that their Country where they are to expect a lasting a sure dwelling is only in heaven as saith Saint Paul in their behalf For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God eternal in the heavens wherefore in this we groan carnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven 2 Cor. 5. 1 2. This house of earth is but our tabernacle that of heaven is our dwelling In this we groan in that we shall rejoice This is to be dissolved as built by man that 's a building of God and therefore not capable of dissolution Thirdly the time of Grace is a time of liberty for Grace is the well-spring and fountain of liberty as sin is of thraldom For as sin is an aversion from God to serve our selves which is the greatest servitude so Grace is a conversion to God to serve him whose service is perfect freedom so that no man is so truly a slave as he that serves himself and none so truly free as he that serves his God Nemo liber nisi sapiens None is a free man but he that is a wise man may not be taken for a Paradox if we be not mistaken in the wisdom but think and say with the spirit of God Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding Job 28. 28. T is a heavenly contemplation of the Seraphical Doctors Tunc homo rectus est quum intellectus adaequatur summ◠veritati in cognoscendo voluntas confirmatur summa bonitati in diligendo virtus continuatur summae potestati in operando Et ex hoc homo non solùm rectus sed rector ipse Deo subditus ipsi alia Bonav Prol. in lib. 2. Sent. Man i◠then only well governed in himself and governour of all other things when he depends wholly upon God His dependance upon God in his understanding to know him the first truth In his will to desire him the chiefest good and in his power of action to follow and obey him the highest power makes him subject to God and all the world subject to him This is such a kind of liberty which the son of God only gives and the servants of God only enjoy See it in the Sons gift If the Son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed John 8. 38. See it in the servants receipt And I will walk at liberty for I seek thy precepts Psal 119. 45. They who are Gods servants are the only free-men for they are so his servants as that also they are his Sons For as the Soveraignty of his dominion claims them for Servants so the transcendency of his goodness accepts them for Sons and therefore gives unto them both the Liberty and the Patrimony of children SECT II. That Christ is generally communicated to all Christians by Baptisme wherein the Holy Ghost is given to regenerate and sanctifie them by taking away the imputation or guilt of original sin and making them the members of Christ
it a most disconsolate and doleful prayer yet it begins with praise I will magnifie thee O Lord for thou hast set me up and it ends with praise O my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever And it is the peculiar observation concerning the 88. Psalm nullâ consolatione clauditur saith Musculus that it hath in it no clause of comfort and consolation and yet even this Psalm hath in it some shaddow or dark representation of Abba Father in that it is said O Lord God of my salvation and O let my prayer enter into thy presence even as our blessed Saviour when he thought himself most forsaken of God yet even then laid hold on him by a true and lively Faith saying My God my God why hast thou forsaken me This we are sure It is the same Spirit of adoption that inditeth the most uncomfortable prayer and the most comfortable praise Only the prayer proceedeth from the great apprehension and constant necessity of our own manifold wants and imperfections even in our best condition But the praise proceedeth from the comfortable enjoyment of Gods undeserved goodness in mercies received and more comfortable assurance of his everlasting mercies in blessings promised So that the uncomfortableness of the prayer is from the testimony of our own spirits concerning our miseries and sorrows in our selves but the comfortableness of the praise is from the testimony of Gods Holy Spirit concerning the blessings and joys treasured up for us in our Redeemer Accordingly there is no gift or comfort of the Spirit which we can now pray for in our distresses which was not prayed for by the Psalmist in his greatest distress Psal 51. Renew a right spirit within me take not thy holy spirit from me stablish me with thy free spirit He prayeth for a right spirit against the perversness for an holy spirit against the profaness and uncleanness for a free spirit against the dulness and deadness of his heart And what can we say more of that spirit which teacheth us to cry Abba Father but that it is a right spirit to rectifie us when we are out of order but that it is an holy spirit to sanctifie us that we may be kept in order and that it is a free spirit to testifie unto us that being rectified and sanctified we shall doubtless be accepted as beloved in the beloved Accordingly Saint Hierom thus translateth the words Et spiritu principali confirma me and confirm or stablish me with thy principal spirit which in Saint Pauls phrase is the spirit of thy Son or the spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father So that we find these Psalms of David as necessary and as useful devotions for us Christians as they were for the Jews for that one and the same spirit cryed Abba Father in them which cryeth Abba Father in us Wherefore he so prayeth as that he also praiseth and so praiseth as that he also prayeth He praiseth for the joy of his Saviour he prayeth for the joy of his salvation Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui restore unto me the joy of thy salvation So restore it when it is lost as also preserve and increase it when it is restored This is a joy which all the delights of this world cannot give and therefore sure all the sorrows of this world cannot take away Although the figg tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the Olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Hab. 3. 17 18. The Prophets festival doth not depend upon the joy and mirth of the times his good chear doth not hang upon the fig-tree nor upon the vine it ariseth not out of the fields nor out of the flocks God may sequester all these from man or man may sequester them all from Gods Prophet yet still he will keep his solemn feast he will rejoyce in the Lord he will joy in the God of his salvation and the reason is because God will not and man cannot sequester the true Prophet from his God Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written For thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter nay in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us Rom. 8. 35. And as this joy of the good Christian is unsequestrable not to be taken from him so is it also unspeakable not to be expressed by him thus saith Saint Peter speaking of our blessed Saviour Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. You that love him from your soul cannot but rejoyce in him from your soul If your love of him be with all your soul with all your might with all your strength your joy in him will be so too you love him with all your might because he is your Saviour you rejoyce in him with all your might because of his salvation Who can sufficiently admire the goodness of God in giving the gift of faith unto men thereby in some sort to antedate the beatifical vision and to let us into heaven whiles we live here on earth For the Apostle describes to us such a faith as is to be known not by its pretences but by its power and that power is threefold A power of believing in Christ yet believing A power of loving Christ whom having not seen ye love A power of rejoycing in Christ in whom ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable Whosoever hath not this threefold power of believing of loving and of rejoycing in Christ hath not true Faith in Christ but a phansie in stead of Faith So inseparable are these three Sisters the three Theological vertues Faith Hope and Charity that whosoever hath one hath All whosoever doth believe doth also love whosoever doth love doth also rejoyce rejoyce in hope of the glory of God Rom. 5. 2. A joy not to be expressed to others by our speaking but by our doing not by our words but by our works It is fit they should see us offer the sacrifice of righteousness and from thence know that we put our trust in the Lord Psalm 4. 4. For we Christians also have an Altar Heb. 13. 10. and we have a two fold sacrifice to offer upon that Altar 1. A Sacrifice of thanksgiving let us offer the Sacrifice of praise to God continually v. 15. 2. A Sacrifice of Almsgiving to do good and to communicate forget not for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased ver 16. These our sacrifices as they do express our joy in Christ so they should also answer it
That of enemies they are made servants and of servants they are made sons Secondly That being made sons they have the Spirit of his Son Thirdly That having the Spirit of his Son they have also the mind and language of his Son crying Abba Father Having their hearts true to God by inward affection and their mouths true to their hearts by outward profession IT is fit that a foolish son should know his folly as well as his filiation his folly that he may return to himself to do his duty as well as his filiation that he may return unto his Father and beg for mercy Accordingly every good Christian being made the son of God and yet still abiding too much in the sins of other men should look with one eye upon himself to increase his humility and to quicken his obedience and repentance with the other eye upon his Saviour to strengthen his faith and to inflame his piety and devotion He must see his folly as well as his filiation that he may ascribe unto God the honour due unto his name and much more the honour due unto his nature in that he disinherits not a foolish Son besotted and bewitched with the vanities of the world and with his own sinful lusts and affections but first looks on him as wise in Christ his own eternal wisdom and then makes him so that he may not only accept him for a son but may also bring him to his inheritance For there is no doubt to be made but that the filiation will carry the inheritance if so be we take care that the folly do not destroy the filiation And accordingly we must still remember that we were by nature the children of wrath born enemies but made sons by the grace of adoption and take heed of returning to our own natural corruptions or of sinning against that grace whereby we have been adopted For in that we have been adopted into Gods family we have been put out of our own so the Greeks do expresly set forth the nature of adoption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be an adopted son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Suidas is to be put out of our own kindred out of our own stock And the Psalmist requires no less of us when he saith Hearken O daughter and consider incline thine ear forget also thine own people and thy fathers house so shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty for he is thy Lord God and worship thou him Psal 45. 11 12. Thou canst not be an adopted son of God unless thou forget thine own people and thy fathers house that is unless thou go out of the man that thou maist go in to God leave off to be an enemy that thou maist begin to be a son forsake thy self that thou maist cleave to thy Saviour For in thy self thou art a stranger nay an enemy in him only thou art a servant or rather a Son This consideration made Saint Paul say I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2. 20. As if he had said I am crucified with Christ in that I am dead unto sin for the thought that he hath nailed my sins to his Cross makes me willing to be crucified with him And yet I still truly live but not that old carnal man I was before but made a new creature so that indeed Christ liveth in me by his Spirit making me lead a new life And though I am still in this mortal body yet my life which I live is immortal for though my person be on earth yet my conversation is in heaven And the same truth which the Apostle here preached by his Example he did in another place preach also by his Doctrine saying And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness Rom. 8. 10. that is the outward man is mortified to the weakning and abolishing of sin but the inner man is renewed to the encreasing and establishing of righteousness And this is the proper work of the Spirit of adoption to change a man from being an enemy to be a servant and from being a servant to be a son which we may well look upon as the first priviledge of the Saints who are truly so that is Saints in Gods account though sinners in their own Saints not of their own calling but of Gods or Saints not of their own but of Gods making Their duty is to be his servants but their honour is to be his friends nay more his sons Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John 15. 14. They were before his enemies they are now his servants and friends They are to do whatsoever he commands them there 's their duty they are obliged as servants yet he saith unto them ye are my friends there 's their honour they are accepted as friends Great is their honour as his friends admitted to his counsels yet much greater is their honour as his sons admitted to his inheritance But this honour is meerly a priviledge not a prerogative t is such as they must thankfully receive not such as they may peremptorily demand for when ye have done all those things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do saith our blessed Saviour Luk. 17. 10. Christ looked upon his own obedience as duty and therefore will not have us look upon ours as supererogation We are unprofitable servants in our service and should be so in our account and are we then in Gods account accepted as friends nay beloved as sons Great was their priviledge who could say We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and build his house Ezra 5. 11. Sure they could not have said so much if they had pulled his house down But far greater is our priviledge who can say We are the sons of the God of heaven and earth and though we be despoiled of our inheritance in earth yet we cannot be deprived of our inheritance in heaven The prodigal son saith to his father I am no more worthy to be called thy Son make me as one of thy hired servants Luk. 15. 19. but each of us may now invert those words and say unto our Father I am no more worthy to be a hired servant and yet thou hast made me be called thy Son A consideration which is able to kindle a holy fire in the breast of every good Christian and enflame his soul with the love of Christ by whom alone of an enemy he is made a servant of a servant a friend of a friend a Son of a son an heir even an heir of God and joint heir with Christ Rom. 8. 17. For though men have son that are not heirs yet God hath no son which is not also an heir and
to devour his Pastor then to follow him one more ready to scatter and tear the flock then to associate and joyn with them I must take heed of being a Wolf towards my Brother If I desire to be a Sheep towards my Saviour Homo homini lupus Christo agâ—â—â— were a strange proverb and more strange Divinitâ— That he who is a Wolf to man should be a Lamb to Christ It was an evil Spirit that made Saul a Wolf to David 1 Sam. 19. 9. And the same evil spirit shewed him to be none of Gods sheep He watches to catch David but to lose himself and whiles he seeks to destroy Gods servant he doth indeed destroy his own soul This makes the spirit of God look upon him as a heathen not as an Israelite as appears from Psal 59. 5. Thou therefore O Lord God of hosts the God of Israel awake to visit all the heathen This Psalm was made upon that occasion that Saul had sent and watched Davids house to kill him and we must expound these words according to that occasion So Tremelius Ad visitandum omnes gentes ist as i. e. Copias Saulis quae eodem animo Davidem persequebantur quo gentes aliene à populo Dei facturae fuissent Awake to visit the heathen that is the Armies of Saul which did persecute David with as malicious a Spirit as the very heatheÌ„ who knew not God would have persecuted him Thou which laughest the heathen to scorn saith Isacides wilt also laugh those men to scorn And Ezra shews how he is able to do it saying that he is the Lord of hosts of the Armies of Angels that are above in heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no less then of the armies of Israel that are below on the earth God is not said to laugh any to scorn but only heathen as in this Psal ver 8. And in the second Psalm v. 4 or such as make themselves like heathen by raging as furiously as they against the Church of Christ and the ministers of his Gospel as appears Acts 4. where the Apostles being persecuted for preaching Christ make use of this very Psalm in their prayer Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things For such men whether they be Jews or Christians are no better then heathen in Gods account and accordingly he that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn the Lord shall have them in derision He laughs them to scorn because of their vain imaginations of opposition against Christ and much more because of their vain endeavours in opposing him and his laughing ends in their weeping and their weeping ends as their cruelty began in gnashing of teeth They gnashed on him with their teeth Acts 5. 54. there 's their sin which shewed them be men little better then Wolves and again there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 8. 12. there 's their punishment which will shew them to be men worse then nothing The first gnashing of teeth was from the fierceness the last shall be from the anguish of their hearts And the spirit of God seemeth to pray that it may be so saying and be not mercifull unto them that offend of malicious wickedness Psal 59. v. 5. So that we need not wonder why so many Christians now a dayes come not to the state of true Christianity which alone puts them in a capacity of mercy for the reason is plain t is because they sin out of malicious wickedness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be not mercifull to any wicked prevaricator Selah Tremelius renders the words thus Ne gratiam facias ullis perfidè agentibus iniquitatem summe He finds a new signification for Selah to shew he had found a new Selah for their sin that is a new hight or exaltation in the sin of those men who are praevaricatores iniquitatis who do not only continue but also prevaricate in their iniquity Qui Deum cultu honore Davidem prosequi simulantes perfidè ea perpetrabant quae sequuntur saith he who pretending to fear God and to honour David did perfidiously act all that follows in the Psalm against them both How are such men like to come to Salvation when the Son of God will not preach for it and the Spirit of God doth pray against it Be not mercifull unto them that offend of malicious wickedness Surely OLord mercy is thy delight no less then it is our desire It is above all thy works and shall it not much more be above all ours shall there be any sin which is properly our work of so vast an extent as to reach beyond thy mercy or of so loud a cry as to make thee stop thine ears against the prayer of a distressed sinner Oh no t is not iniquity but prevaricating in iniquity that makes man not care to pray T is not sin but impenitency in sin that makes God not hear his prayers Your iniquit es have separated betwixt you and your God Isa 59. 2. that is your multiplied your malicious sins committed wth a shameless face with a stiff neck with a high hand and with a hard heart which first fill your Souls with iniquity and then with impeniteney such iniquities as these whiles unrepented and t is like they will be unrepented whiles they would be unreproved do separate betwixt you and your God For froward thoughts separate from God there 's the separation of a perverse sinner from God the Father who is God of himself and again into a malicious soul wisdom will not enter there 's his Separation from God the Son who is the wisdom of the Father And lastly wisdom is a loving spirit there 's his separation from God the Holy Ghost who is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son the spirit of love Wisdom 1. 3 4 6. This is the reason why not Iscariot is annexed to that Judas who spake to our blessed Saviour and whom our Saviour Christ was pleased to answer God the Son did not answer such an Apostate such a Traitor as Iscariot was and God the Holy Ghost would not have us think that he did answer him he that once thought it better to be a Traitor then to be a Disciple doth now think it better not to be then to have been a traytor He that once was willing from an Apostle to become a Divel is now much more willing from a Divel to become nothing He then would not hear the voice of Christ and now he cannot hear it unless it be that voice which hath already filled his heart with the horror though it shall not till the last day fill his ears with the noise of it Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire Mat 25. 41. A voice that Christ hath reserved as a Judge for those who would not hear him as a Saviour A voice which he will utter to the goates on his left hand not to the sheep on his right hand Lord make me consider in
communicating of himself Praesens autem est in quantum praesentat seu praesentem facit beatitudinem quae est in ipso in habitu tantum ut in parvulis in affectu tantum ut in adultis in habitu effectu et intellectu ut in beatis saith that excellent Schoolman Alensis par 3. qu. 61. God is then present with the soul when he represents unto it his own blessedness either in habit or disposition as in children that know him not and yet love him or in desire or affection as to men that know him and love him or in a habit desire and comprehension as to the blessed souls that not only know and love but also enjoy him So that according to the degrees of Gods presence are also the degrees of his communion where his presence is incompleat and imperfect as in grace there his communion is so too where his presence is compleat and perfect as in glory there so also is his communion But it is best for us to examine the effects of our communion with God in the presence of his grace that so we the more may undoubtedly attain to a communion with him in the presence of his glory And these effects are excellently set down in few words by the Casuists saying Spirituale bonum Divinum consistit in amicitia inter Deum hominem ac per hoc in consentire conversari convivere colloqui cum Deo The blessing of the soul consists in this that a man hath friendship or communion with God and consequently that he lives for him by consent lives to him by conversation lives with him by cohabitation lives in him by contentation I will briefly explain them all that the good Christian may know his own happiness in that he is called to live in this communion by vertue whereof First he lives for God by consent Fiat volunt as tuaâ— Thy will be done is a petition twice sanctified unto us by our Saviours own lips in two several prayers One of them taught us by his Doctrine in the Mount Mat. 6. So that we cannot contemn his prayer but we must also contemn his Sermon The other taught us by his practice or example Mat. 26. 42. where he made but one speech yet three prayers he prayed the third time saying the same words ver 44 It was one and the same expression of his voice it was not one and the same elevation of his soul therefore he prayed the third time though he spake but his first words We place the gift of prayer in the volubility of our tongues our Saviour placed it in the groans of his heart He prayed thrice in the same words we use many words scarce pray at all It is the heart that pants it not the tongue that chants it out when we truly say Thy will be done Conformitas in volito formali must be in all our desires where in volito materiali cannot be Here was a conformity of our Saviours will with Gods will in what he desired formally in his intention though a seeming non-formity in what he desired materially in his expression And so it must ever be with us For we are most sure that in this case the Non Conformist cannot be a good Christian but the want of conformity is the want of Christianity The second effect of this communion is that the good Christian lives to God by conversation T is a pleasant contemplation of Aquinas that local distance is no impediment in the Angels conversing one with another or speaking one to the other because that is a meer intellectual operation In loquutione Angelorum nullum impedimentum praestat localis distantia quia est mere intellectualis operatio Aqu. 1. par qu. 107. art 4. But t is a much more comfortable assertion of the Apostle that the distance of heaven from earth cannot hinder the conversation of man with God for so much he plainly asserteth when he saith For our conversation is in heaven for whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ Phil. 3. 20. In which words the Apostle affordeth us three observations concerning the heavenly conversation of good Christians 1. that it is nothing else but a serious study and exercise of Christian piety in imitation of Christ to whom they are always lifting up their eyes and their hearts 2. that they only are true Christians who firmly and constantly exercise this piety for they only have true faith in Christ they only have a firm hope of immortality 3. that we have all two great Motives for this exercise the one is that Christ our Saviour on whom all our hopes rely and in whom all our joys are fixed is in heaven thefore what have we to do on earth The other is that the same Christ will at the last day come from heaven to judge us according to the works that we have done therefore if we will have a favourable judgement we must have an innocent conversation Conversation is but a frequent conversion and requires our often turning to God by our repentance as we often turn away from him by our sins The third effect of this communion is that he lives with God by cohabitation I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2. 20. Saint Paul by this losing his life did indeed save it had he kept his life in himself he might have lost it by a temporal a spiritual an eternal death for he would have been subject to the separation of his body from his soul of his soul from grace and of his soul and body from God But having lost his life in himself that he might keep it in his Saviour he keeps it for ever He keeps his natural life which else he could not but lose for his dissolution is not to him a death but only a change making good his We shall all be changed even before the last day for he had a change only when others had a death Our departure hence if looked upon as a change is our greatest consolation for it must needs be much for the better because our corruptible shall thereby put on incorruption our mortal shall put on immortality But if looked upon as a death must needs be our greatest horror and confusion for that can only tell us of the destroying not of the amending or bettering our present state and condition He keeps also his spiritual life so continuing as moreover improving it His soul being more knit and united with grace then before which is the spiritual life the union of the soul with grace for though we suppose it the same grace yet the soul must needs be united to it the more neerly and the more firmly the longer it abides in the communion of Christ the fountain of grace But we may well suppose the good Christian to grow
in their hearts And he dwelleth in their hearts by faith not a faith that commeth from their own Spirits but a faith that commeth from Gods Spirit A faith that cometh from our own spirits strengthneth only the outer man but a faith that cometh from Gods spirit strengthneth the inner man That faith is strong only in perswasion but this faith is strong in affection That faith is strong in phansie but this faith is strong in love even in that love which is the fulfilling of the Law loving the body for the heads sake loving the head for his own sake loving the Church for Christ and loving Christ for himself such a faith as this proceeding from the Spirit of God cannot but afford us a real communion with the Son of God and having a real communion with Christ as with our head we shall never delight in separations and divisions from the Church which is his body SECT IV. Christian communion beginneth with the Church but endeth with Christ both in the word and Sacraments and Prayers and that the Church is bound in all these to advance not to hinder our Communion with Christ either by denying the people the use of the Scriptures or by teaching them superstitious prayers as to Saints and Angels wherein Christ neither can nor will communicate with men The ready way to have communion with Christ is by peace and holiness and wherein that communion chiefly consisteth TRue Christian communion beginneth with the Church as with the body of Christ but endeth with Christ himself as with the head God hath joyned those two together let not man put them asunder Nor is it the intent of this discourse to divide this Christian communion into two several communions by reason determining or defining ratione ratiocinata because the body cannot subsist without the head but only by reason discussing or debating ratione ratiocinante because the head is different from the body And every good Christian is to take notice that though he may consider this communion severally yet he may not persue and embrace it so For he cannot have actual communion with Christ unless he have actual communion with his Church no more then he can have communion with the head unless he have also communion with the body yet may he not rest satisfied in his communion with the body the Church of Christ till they come thereby to have communion with the head even with Christ himself For our Christian communion is much like Jacobs ladder the lower part whereof was set upon the earth but the top of it reached up to heaven And behold the Lord stood above at the top of it Gen. 28. 12 13. So is our Christian communion The lower part of it is with the Church the body of Christ here on earth but the upper part or top of it is with Christ in heaven And we cannot say that our Christian communion is a true communion unless Christ be at the end of it as for example in hearing the word read and preached we at first communicate with the Church which speaketh to the outward man but we hear it not profitably to our salvation unless we at last communicate also with Christ speaking by his Spirit unto our souls or to the inward man Paedogogus est Jesus Our teacher is Jesus was thought by Clemens of Alexandria a fit subject both to fill and to name his books of Christian Institutions v. lib. 1. Paedag. cap. 9. For as the Church teacheth the people so also Christ teacheth them much more and the Churches paedagogy iâ— or should be to bring them unto Christ not to make them rest only upon their own teaching for soul-saving truths nor is this Doctrine any disparagement to the Church no more then Saint Pauls was to the Law when he said The Law was our School-Master to bring us unto Christ Gal. 3. 24. Nay indeed it is the greatest honour of the Church as it was of the Law that God is pleased to use her teaching as a means or instrument to bring us unto Christ That as the Church teacheth us by explaining saving truths to our understandings so Christ may teach us by imprinting the same truths in our wills and affections therefore the Church should above all things take heed of offering those truths in her explanations which she cannot believe nor wish that Christ should ratifie by his impressions such as are all those Doctrines which are the inventions of men and not the institutions of Christ And forasmuch as it cannot be denied that Christ teacheth more powerfully by his own word then by ours it is evident that the Holy Scriptures may not be denied to the people in their own tongue by that Church which will labour to advance their communion with Christ and as evident that the people are not bound to communicate with that Church which will not labour to advance this the highest and greatest part of their Christian communion Again in receiving the holy Eucharist we must not only communicate with the Priest exhibiting unto us the bread and wine but also and much rather with Christ himself exhibiting unto us his most precious body blood or we shall receive but half a Sacrament and enjoy but a half communion This is Saint Pauls Divinity The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ 1 Co. 10. 16. We bless the Cup and we break the bread therefore you must communicate with us which we could not say if we did refuse to do either for we could not desire you to relinquish your communion with Christs institution to follow ours But the Cup which we bless and the bread which we break is the communion of the blood and body of Christ therefore you must not communicate chiefly and much less only with us but also and much rather with Christ himself Lastly Thus is it also in our prayers we are bound in our praying to communicate not only with the Church as the body but also with Christ as the head and consequently the Church is bound to use no other prayers then such as may be agreeable with Christs communion and available by Christs intercession For if we pray out of his communion we cannot hope to obtain what we pray for by virtue of his intercession And this I conceive was one main reason why publick Liturgies were at first established in the Church that Christians might know before hand the terms of their communion and be assured in their own hearts that no other prayers should be offered unto them then such wherein Christ himself would joyn with them in intercession which assurance during the extraordinary effusions of the Spirit was grounded upon the infallibility of their persons who prayed but when it could no longer be grounded upon the infallibility of the persons that prayed then it was thought fit it should be
enjoyning duties shewing us that we cannot take any of either but we must take all And this is most evident in the present case for the fourth Commandment plâ—inly presupposeth all that is enjoyned in the three former commandments concerning holy duties or the whole substance of Religion both internal and external and then also farther addeth an obligation of consecrating time and other adjuncts for the publick exercise thereof that God may be the more solemnly glorified and men the more truely edified whilst the duties of Religion are all practised together in a full communion of Saints the Church Militant being obliged in this to imitate the Church Triumphant that it invite men on earth to glorifie God with one accord as the Angels do glorifie him in heaven And in this respect we may easily believe and readily confess the first Sabbath to have been both instituted and kept in Paradise for the Church was there founded and the Communion of Saints there first established That is the communion of holy men with the holy Angels and with themselves joyning together to sing Halleluiahs to God their blessed Creator which was indeed the principal end of their creation And accordingly men were at first enabled to the discharge of this great duty as well as the Angels having the right and acceptable forms of praising God imprinted in their hearts and when through transgression they had disabled themselves it pleased God of his infinite goodness to grant them as it were a new impression and to give them a second edition of those praises in his holy Scriptures which before had been written in their own hearts but were now very much slurred and defaced if not quite obliterated and blotted out This great and undeserved mercy of God those men either shamefully forget or ineffectually remember who cry up the Sabbath day but beat down the Sabbath Duty making little or no use of the written Word of God in their publick worship and making little or no account of those forms of praâ—er and praise which are either contained therein or agreeable thereto but setting up their own private gifts against that publick communion which should be in Gods house and service by virtue of this fourth Commandment discountenancing the exercise of Religion in known forms of heavenly prayers able to establish the heart and encouraging new-fangled devices which are only fit to busie and tickle the phansie By which ungodly practice for so it must be called though it pretend to the greatest measure of godliness they in effect throw the fourth Commandment out of the Church whilst they pretend to set it up over the Altar since not sitting still or keeping an outward rest but comming together that we may all labour inwardly in Hallowing the name of our Father which is in heaven is the cheif moral duty of the Sabbath For as in the promise of the fifth so in the precept of the fourth Commandment the Lawgivers expression containeth the least part of his intention and we may no more confine this precept in the duty then we may that promise in the reward Therefore as we would be loth to look no farther then the Land of Canaan for our inheritance so we should be wary how we assert that God looks no farther then the Sabbath day for our obedience Truth is it pleased God to train up the Jews in his fear by types and figures and as it were to wrap up heaven in earth spirituals in temporals morals in ceremonials substances in circumstances to them as well in his precepts as in his promises particularly in that precept which concerned his publick worship because that amongst the Jews was for the most part Ceremonial and figurative Wherefore if we desire rightly and fully to understand the fourth Commandment we must conceive it in so great a latitude as to comprize all those Commissions injunctions invitations and exhortations which we find in the Old and New Testament given either to Kings or Ministers or People concerning the ordering establishing reforming practicing professing or promoting the solemn publick worship of Almighty God which is in truth the principal end thereof unless we will say that all those moral duties are reducible to none of the ten commandments in the decalogue and consequently that all they were will-worshippers who either professed or promoted or practised them For as such duties of Religion are to be done publickly and solemnly by many together in one communion they are not reducible to any of the three first commandments which speak to single persons but only to the fourth which alone speaketh to whole families or to many persons joyned together in one community And therefore it is not amiss to say that Hallowed be thy name is that Petition which most directly prayes for Grace to perform the duty of the fourth Commandment since all other things are hallowed for his names sake God sanctifying times places persons and forms of prayers and praise unto us that he may sanctifie us unto himself nor is it amiss to say that the holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints is that Article of faith which most directly professeth to believe the truth of the fourth Commandment for it is only the Catholick Church the Communion of Saints which doth rightly hallow and praise Gods holy name The Hallowing of Gods most holy name belonging equally to the decalogue and to the Creed and to the Lords most holy prayer belonging to the decalogue as it is a duty to be performed belonging to the Creed as it is a truth to be believed and belonging to the Lords Prayer as it is a good to be desired as we are all bound to pray that we may perform this duty and believe this truth For Faith Hope and Charity are not to be separated from one another but do alike belong to supernatural Truths and to religious or moral duties because both truths and duties do equally call for our faith to know and believe them and for our hope to crave and desire them and for our Charity to love and embrace them But if we take the outward sanctification of a day for the principal morality of the Sabbath we shall scarce find a Petition in the Lords most holy and most perfect prayer relating to such a Duty nor an Article in the Apostles Creed relating to such a Truth and so we shall phansie to our selves such a morality as is without a good to be desired and without a truth to be believed for without doubt The Lords Prayer briefly containeth all the good we are bound to desire and the Apostles Creed briefly containeth all the Truths we are bound to believe as well as the Decalogue briefly containeth all the Duties we are bound to practise and perform Whereas on the other side if we look upon hallowing the name of God in our publick worship as upon the principal moral duty that is enjoyned in the fourth Commandment we shall find the Decalogue and the Creed and
the Lords prayer all joyntly agreeing together in this the one commanding it to be done the other believing it is done perfectly in heaven the third praying it may be done perfectly on earth And in this sense it is evident that keeping of the Sabbath is a moral duty not to end with time but to last to all eternity as becometh Righteousness which is immortal not temporary and that so intrinsecally and essentially that if it be not Immortal it cannot be righteousness Thus did Adam and Seth with his righteous posterity keep the Sabbath long before the Law was given by Moses to appoint the day as we read Gen. 4. 26. Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord which words clearly set forth the first exercise of publick worship in the first communion of Saints upon the earth so Junius upon the place Sensus est Adam Seth in cujus posteris mansura erat Ecclesia c. The meaning is that Adam and Seth in whose posterities the Church was to be continued observing that their families were in danger of being corrupted by the ungodly conversation of the wicked Cainites and consequently that the worship of God whereof they were the Ministers and therefore the Trustees was like speedily to decay did from that time assemble their children together into one congregation or into one body of a Church and by their preaching and their praying and their exercises of piety and Religion did labour to convert the wicked and to confirm the righteous from which their religious observations they did purchase to themselves the title or appellation of the Sons of God Nam prius quidem invocavit Adam sed in familia tunc verò invocarunt multi sed in ecclesiam velut in caulam recepti à mundi peccantis seducentis consortio For Adam had indeed before that called upon the name of the Lord in his own family But at that time many families called upon God together being gathered into the Church as into a fold and separating themselves from the sinners and seducers of the world Thus in effect saith Junius And we cannot but say that this was a moral duty suggested to them by the Law written in their hearts which teacheth men to enter into a society or communion to serve themselves and much more to serve their God Drusius goes yet further saying thus Eo tempore ritus certos colendi Deum institutos fuisse quos observarent filii Dei At that time were instituted some certain rites and ceremonies of worshipping God which the Sons of God were bound to observe But Aquinas had said the same long before him for after this objection how could Enos first begin to call upon the Name of the Lord for that were to say that the Church began not till his time he gives this answer Non incepit divinum cultum sed invenit aliquem modum singularem colendi velorandi Deum He did not first begin to worship God but found out a new way of solemnly worshipping him which new way Junius tells us was of assembling many families together whereas before for want of Communicants Adam had served God only in his own family But now that the Church was further enlarged and spread in several families it was necessary that all those families should assemble together to do their homage to their leige Lord and maker And the Chaldee Paraphrase did before him give the same exposition of that Text for though the words of that Paraphrase be different in Buxtorfs and Montanus his Hebrew Bibles which is very usual whilst the Hebrew Text in both is alwayes the same the Church not thinking her self bound to the same care in keeping of Translations as of the Originals yet the sense is not different but one and the same of either Paraphrase and that is this then began men to pray in the name of the Lord that is then they began to pray altogether in one congregation whereas before they had prayed only in several families So then this is the true keeping of the Sabbath to Hallow Gods most holy name for its own sake and to hallow the things conducting or belonging thereto for his names sake according to that command Be ye holy for I am holy which though found four several times in Leviticus Lev. 11. 44. 11. 45. Lev. 19. 2. Lev. 20. 7. yet is not a precept of the Levitical but of the Moral Law as Saint Peter plainly shews us alledging these very words as an invincible demonstration that it is our bounden duty to be holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be ye holy for I am holy 1 Pet. 1. 15 16. Where this is the force of the argumentation such as I am such must all they be who will have relation to me or communion with me but I am holy therefore must they be holy And this argumentation though it most properly belong to persons yet may it not be confined only to them but is also to be extended to things and Actions Person◠Res Actiones Persons Things and Actions must be all holy or they must not come into the beauty of holiness And if they be all holy they must come in thither and may not be kept or cast out thence ungodly profaning of dayes and Churches unworthy reviling or robbing of Ministers consecrated to the service of Almighty God unjust excommunicating of Orthodox Christians undeserved ejecting of Catholick rites of unblameable Liturgies are all sins against this fourth Commandment and so many breaches or violations of the Sabbath all of these directly opposing that communion of Saints which ought to be in the publick worship of God or the exercise of Religion and all of them grievously sinning against that command which came to Saint Peter in a voice from heaven before it came to us in the written word What God hath cleansed or purified that call not thou common or unclean Act. 10. 15. We generally do look upon the profanation of consecrated time as the breach of the Sabbath and we do well for so it is But we look not far enough for profanation is of as large an extent as consecration and we are to know that persons and Things and Actions are all alike consecrated to Gods publick worship by virtue of the fourth Commandment Thus saith the Psalmist Give thanks O Israel to God the Lord in the congregation Psalm 68. 26. Which are the words saith Sol. Jarchi that Miriam and the Damosels with her playing on the timbrels mentioned in the verse before had said in their song of praises to God at the drowning of the Egyptians so that in the judgement of this great Doctor blessing God in the congregations was a duty that belonged to Israel by the Law of nature for the Law of Moses was not then given when Miriam was supposed to say so Though it was also included in the positive Law concerning the Sabbath which we find set down in
true Christian communion that man may be edified and brought to the knowledge and enjoyment of his Redeemer And all those Texts in the Old and New Testament which concern the publick worship of God are so many interpretations of the twofold end of this commandment as for example in the Old Testament Psalm 95 which was made to be used in publick assemblies according to Aben Ezra's gloss commandeth singing to the Lord and worshipping of him there 's the exercise of Religion q. d. Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day and commandeth us to sing and worship there 's the establishment of communion q. d. Thou and thy son and thy daughter c. and gives this reason of those commands The Lord our maker q. d. For in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth So again Psalm 100. O be joyful in the Lord serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song there 's the Religion All ye lands or as it is in the Hebrew all the earth there 's the communion It is he that hath made us and not we our selves there 's the reason of both from our Creation For the Lord is gracious his mercy is everlasting c. there 's that reason further enlarged to us Christians from our redemption who are taught that God by his son both made the worlds and also purged our sins Heb. 1. 2 3. So again in the New Testament Mat. 18. 20. Where two or three are gathered together there 's the communion In my name there 's the Religion I am in the midst of them there 's the reason of both so Heb. 10. 22 23. Let us draw neer with a true heart let us hold fast the profession of our faith there 's the exercise of Religion for he is faithful that promised there 's the reason of that exercise And ver 24 25. Let us consider one another not forsaking the assembling of our selves together there 's the establishment of communion To provoke unto love and to good works there 's the reason of that establishment If we be sure of Christs name we cannot be too zealous of our gathering together if we be sure of the Religion we cannot be too zealous of the Communion but if we be not sure of the name which cannot well be without a set and known Liturgie every good Christian must be contented to say with Joshua I and my house will serve the Lord and mouâ—n that he cannot say with David I was glad when they said unto me we will go into the house of the Lord for it is more agreeable with the end of the fourth Commandment that men have the right Religion in their own houses without a publick visible communion then that they have a publick visible communion in Gods house without the right Religion They must first say Let us hold fast the profession of our faith and after that Let us consider one another not forsaking the assembling of our selves together For if the Assemblies have forsaken the faith it can be no sin to forsake the Assemblies since the end of the Commandment is without doubt above the letter of it the substance of worship above the adjunct of it or to speak in one word since Christian Religion doth challenge precedency before and preeminency above Christian communion So then without question the end of the Commandment is the first thing to be considered for if the end be rightly understood the letter will not easily be mistaken for the letter of the Law is subservient to the end of it and therefore may not have so scanty an interpretation as will not reach the end And such is that interpretation of the fourth Commandment which would have the letter mean no more then it mentions that is the bare circumstance of time and leaves men at liberty to do what they please with the other adjuncts of publick worship to wit the persons by whom and the places in which it is to be performed and regards not the end or reason of the command at all This was the fault which our blessed Saviour did find with the Scribes and Pharisees interpretations of the Law that they interpreted it not in its full extent or latitude and this made him so often in one Chapter use these words Ye have heard it hath been said of old But I say unto you c. not opposing his authority against the authority of God who gave the Law but against the authority of the Scribes and Pharisees who misinterpreted it As for example God had said thou shalt not kill they intepreted this Law only of the act of murder our Saviour interprets it also of the intent or occasion of it of hatred in the heart and of calumny in the tongue Again God had said thou shalt not commit adultery this the Scribes and Pharisees restrained to the act of fornication or adultery but our Saviour tells us plainly that God meant otherwise and forbad not only the act but also the inclination thereto lusting nay the occasion thereof looking on a woman to lust after her Mat. 5. 28. The like interpretation have some of late given of the fourth Commandment as if the day were all that God required whereas questionless he requireth also the other adjuncts of publick worship as much as the day and he requireth the worship it self much more For publick worship must first be publick in its substance then in its adjuncts first in its substance by having such prayers as are of publick concernment to all good Christians according to the pattern given us in the Mount that is to say in Gods most holy word wherein we find the Spirit of God himself the first author of Liturgie or of common prayer having taught us such prayers whose matter and form is common alike to all good men and taught them not only for our direction but also for our use as plainly appears by the Hebrew inscription on the ninty second Psalm A Psalm for the Sabbath because saith Jarchi and Ezra both they were to say that Psalm on the Sabbath And Musculus saith the same after them concinendus in Ecclesia die Sabbathi this Psalm was to be sung in the assemblies on the Sabbath Nay the Psalmist saith as much being nothing else but an invitation to praise the name of God for all his works most especially for the wonderful dispensations of his power in pulling down his enemies and of his mercy in relieving and upholding his servants So again Psalm 102. hath this inscription A prayer for the afflicted when he is over-whelmed and poureth out his complaint before the Lord which plainly sheweth that the Psalms were made to be used not only as publick but also as private devotions and consequently that set forms do not confine the Spirit of prayer because the Holy Ghost commandeth the use of this Psalm to the afflicted not for the hinderance but for the furtherance of his devotion not only as a prayer
Thus hath holy Zachary taught us to sing Blessed be the Lord God of Israel and hath given this reason of that song For he hath visited and redeemed his people Luke 1. 68. That we may assure our selves it is not superstition but good Religion agreeable with the end of the fourth Commandment which teacheth us to celebrate the memorials both of his Visitation that he came to visit us in great humility and of his redemption that he hath redeemed us in great mercy and will consummate that Redemption in greater glory nor may we think that the letter of this Commandment was to restrain the end of it or the Sabbath was to confine the publike worship of Christ no more then we may think that God gave the Law to restrain the Gospel or set up the practice of Judaism for a time to confine the practice of Christianity for ever we may not so put our necks under the yoke of Jewish bondage in the Circumstances and much less in the substance of our Religion The proportion of time allotted the Jew for his publike worship may admonish the Christian to give no less must not regulate him to give no more to God For Religion first brings men to God then binds them to God and that Religion which brings them neerest binds them fastest The Jews Religion brought and bound him to God as to the author of nature and called for much praise The Christians Religion brings and binds him to God as to the Author of Grace and calleth for more praise The Angels Religion brings and binds them to God as the author of glory and calleth for all Praises The Christians Religion though betwixt that of the Jews and that of the Angels yet comes neerer to that of the Angels and therefore may not look backwards to Nature but must look forwards to glory The Author of nature did bid the Jews first number dayes saying For in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it There the day called for the duty But the Author of Grace hath bid the Christian first number Duties teaching him to say I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 7. 25. Here the Duty calleth for the Day and bidding us think God will not let us be stiâ—ted to one day in seven for our thanksgivings For though nature be under the measure and government of Time yet Grace is only under the measure and government of Eternity Wherefore any day that tells me of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God in him shall tell me also of the Communion of the Holy Ghost to give thanks to God the Son for his Grace and to God the Father for his love nor dare I so undervalue the duty of thankfullness which I owe to my blessed Saviour for my redemption from sin and death as to tarry till the next Sabbath before I say I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord And this I am sure though men may deny me thus to keep the Sabbath on earth yet God will not deny me thus to keep the Sabbath in Heaven and the more they may hinder me thus to keep it in earth the more should my soul be filled with desires and longings to keep it so in Heaven SECT IV. The sincerity of Christian communion may be broken either causally by a false Religion or formally by an unjust separation Both breaches are abominable The care which the Primitive Christians used to avoid both by cleaving to the ancient Creeds and the Gloria Patri and also by their communicatory letters The reason of that care was that both Priest and People laboured only to serve Christ not to serve themselves of him The Touchstone to try all Churches is from advancing the glory of Christ both in their Religion and in their communion AS the Communion of Saints is commanded in the fourth Commandment which requires all men to communicate in those doctrines of faith and duties of life which God hath called them to profess and practise in and by his Church So the Religion of Saints is commanded in the three first Commandments which do teach the Doctrines and Duties of that communion For as God hath not left his people to make their own communion so neither hath he left his Church to make her own Religion He first saith Let all things be done then let all things be done decently and in order 1 Cor. 14. 40. He first provides the doctrines then regulates the Prophets or the Preachers first takes care for the order of Religion then takes care for the order of Communion He first taught his Church how to invocate and implore his mercy how to reverence and adore his Majesty how to acknowledge his Authority and glorifie his holy name in worship in word in Sacraments and after that how to order assemblies and publick meetings for these Invocations for these adorations for these acknowledgements or glorifications And hence it is that Christian Religion bids all men first look after Gods authority in his word then after Gods authority in his Church So that no Church can be obliged by the obedience which she oweth to the Christian Faith to communicate with that Church which absolutely refuseth to have the doctrines and duties of its communion regulated and ordered by the known and undoubted written word of God because every man ought first to choose his Religion whereby to have communion with Christ then the Profession or exercise of it whereby to have communion with Christs Church And by consequent for any company of men to advance themselves against the word is to incurre Saint Pauls censure If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to Godliness he is proud knowing nothing but dâ—ating about questions and strifes of words And those men which have incurred Saint Pauls censure cannot be acquitted from Saint Pauls sentence From such withdraw thy self 1 Tim. 6. 3 4 5. In such a case the breach of Christian communion is to be imputed to those who consent not to the words of Christ for if they break off from Christ it is no sin can be no shame in others to break off from them For the Apostle saith expresly from such withdraw thy self So that it is evident the breach of Christian Communion may be causal in a false Religion as well as formal in an unjust separation And all the world is not able to excuse the formal unless it be from the causal breach since no man can have a pretence to leave the Church unless it be to cleave to Christ to forsake the Christian communion unless it be to follow the Christian Religion Therefore where Religion is most sincerely kept there communion is most sinfully and most shamefully broken For if the Church hath indeed taught us the right Invocation
non eodem Anathemate inclusisse Arianos Quartodecimanos That the Nicene fathers did not include the Quartodecimans under the same Anathema with the Arrians And we may gather the reason of this from the Synodical Epistle of the Council of Sardice wherein it is accouted all one to be Anathema and to be separated from the Catholick Church or not to be reckoned among Christians For so those Fathers declare their sentence against the Arrian Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We have judged them not only to be unworthy of their Bishopricks but also of the communion of the faithful For they which do separate the son from the father are to be separated from the Catholick Church as unworthy of the name of Christians Therefore let them be to you as Anathema 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But why are they to be Anathema Because they have corrupted the word of truth say the same Fathers This being the Apostles command If any man preach any other Gospel unto you then that ye have received let him be Anathema or accursed Gal. 1. 9. Therefore be sure not to communicate with any of them for there is no communion of light with darkness but put them all far from you for there is no concord of Christ with Belial Thus far in effect those holy Fathers accursing only those whom God himself had accursed So doth the Council of Ephesus Anathematize Nestorius in this form 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Eph. par 2. Act. 1. The true Orthodox Faith doth accurse this man the holy Synod doth accurse him shewing plainly that if the true Faith had not excommunicated him they would not easily have denyed him their communion I will pass by the Acclamations of the Bishops in the Council of Chalcedon in the first action saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ himself hath deposed Dioscorus this is a just sentence this is a righteous Synod and their great exultations in the Nicene and Constantinopolitane Faith after the recital of those two Creeds in the second action of the same Council and I will hasten to some instances of after-ages to shew how tender the Primitive Christians were in rejecting others from their communion the first shall be of the fifth general Council which was not till the year of Christ five hundred and fifty And that Council at the end of its fourth collation hath these words Sancta Synodus dixit multitudo blasphemiarum quas contra magnum Deum Salvatorem nostrum Jesum Christum imo magis contra suam animam Theodorus Mopsuestenus evomuit justam ejus facit condemnationem The holy Synod avowed that the multitude of the blasphemies which Theodorus of Mopsuestia had belched or vomited out against the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ or rather against his own soul had made his condemnation just or necessary as if they had professed they did not come by their own authority to make him a Heretick but by the authority of Christ to declare him so My second instance shall be out of the sixth general Council which was against the Monothelites For there the Fathers at the end of the fifteenth action pronounce their sentence of excommunication against Polychronius the Monothelite in these words For as much as Polychronius the Monk hath persisted in his erroneous and wicked opinion even to his old age we have therefore put his soul under the curse denounced by Saint Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praedicto à Sancto Apostolo Paulo Anathemati jam hunc secundum animam subjecimus what curse that was the Council nameth not but we may suppose they meant that denounced in 2 Cor. 16. 22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha They looked upon this man as one that loved not the Lord Jesus Christ for in that he was a Monothelite and said there was but one will in Christ he did in effect deny his humane nature whilst he denyed his humane will as themselves profess in their seventeenth action That the Monothelites Tenent did by a new subdolous invention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 labour to overthrow the perfection of Christs humanity I say they looked upon this man as one that loved not the Lord Jesus Christ in that he opposed the perfection of his humane nature and consequently as one that had involved himself in that Anathema denounced by Saint Paul If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha This is the Anathema that truly strikes the soul which the Spirit of God denounceth against our Spirits for not cleaving stedfastly to the Son of God or for not loving our Lord Jesus Christ he that is thus bound in heaven can never think himself a freeman though he be not bound in earth He that is thus excommunicated by the sentence of the Law cannot but think himself in a very ill condition though happily he may be absolved by the sentence of his Judge So saith Saint Chrysostom upon the place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By this one word hath the Apostle frighted all the impenitent sinners of Corinth whether guilty of fornication or of scandal or of faction or of infidelity for some of them also denyed the resurrection he first shews them the greatness of their sin that they loved not the Lord Jesus Christ then the greatness of their punishment that they were Anathema Maranatha could not but tremble at the coming of that Lord whom they did not love Such men as are in truth excommunicated by God himself are most justly excommunicated by his Church and t is apparent that this Council looked upon the Monothelites as such for it follows afterwards at the end of the Sentence Anathema to Macarius Stephanus and Polychronius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The holy Trinity hath deposed these three miscreants I need not look after any more Instances since this Council was held full six hundred and eighty years after Christ This is enough to shew the Moderation of the Primitive Christians that they did not care to break communion with them in the Christian Faith who had not broken Communion with Christ and they did not think those had broken communion with Christ who professed the Christian Faith as it had been delivered in the Creeds of the four first general Councils indeed they thought the Constantinopolitans Creed alone a full and sufficient explication of the Christian faith so say the Fathers of this Council Action 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sufficiebat quidem ad perfectam Orthodoxae Fidei cognitionem atque confirmationem pium atque orthodoxum hoc divinae Gratiae Symbolum This pious and orthodox Creed of the Divine Grace was sufficient for the perfect knowledge and confirmation of the orthodox faith The Council of Chalcedon had given the same Judgement before concerning that Creed but in different words Action 5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sufficiebat quidem ad plenam cognitionem confirmationem pietatis hoc sapiens salutare
it or potentially in our spiritual vote and desire though we live never so far from them And it is to be noted in Gods Method that he first makes provision for the Truth of his worship in the three first then afterwards for the publike exercise of it in the fourth Commandment he first takes care that we be not faulty in the object of our worship saying Thou shalt have no other Gods but me then not in the outward manner of it either in deed or in word not in deed saying Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image thou shalt not how down to them nor worship them not in word saying Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain After this order taken for the truth of his worship both in the object and in the manner then he proceeds to command the publick exercise thereof saying Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day Certainly this Method was not in vain but to shew that as the Truth was to go before the exercise so the exercise was to follow the Truths of Religion And therefore wheresoever the Church did worship God according to the dictates of the three first commandments there every man was bound to be a communicant with the Church by vertue of the fourth and not only by vertue of the fifth Commandment For Christian communion as an act of Religion belongs to the first though as an act of obedience it belong to the second Table Therefore if another man saith Our Father which art in heaven how shall I not say with him Hallowed be thy name Doth it beseem me to be angry with the Lords most holy prayer for his sake that saith it as if what Christs lips had sanctified his lips could prophane for my devotion Or can I be angry with any of Christs words wheresoever I find them and not be guilty of anger against Christ and against Christianity Is the love of my God to be over-ruled by the hatred of my neighbour or may I indeed hate my God for my neighbours sake who am bound to love mine enemy for Gods sake The argument then will proceed à minori ad majus that if I may not in a true worship deny my communion to a stranger much less to a brother if not to a brother then much less to a mother If not to one single Minister much less to a whole Church which God hath entrusted with his own worship and with my soul For if I must look on that particular Minister whom God hath set over me as one that directeth me in his worship by his authority then much more must I so look upon my Church which God first set over that Minister before he set that Minister over me And if every particular Minister amongst us would as conscionably acknowledge and as couragiously vindicate his Churches Trust as he confidently assumes and diligently performs his own we should soon have much less faction in the Church and much more Religion in the people SECT V. The Prince as the supream governour of the particular Church in his own Dominions is Gods Trustee concerning the outward exercise of Religion not to manage or perform but to propagate and to protect it The antient Divines acknowledged this Trust and the antient Princes discharged it and Princes were bound so to do because it is their right by the Law of nature and because without the discharge of this Trust there can neither be the face nor the order of Religion among any People IT was the singular providence of God to commit the care and trust of man in matters of Religion only to men for since the devil can transform himself into an Angel of light if in this case we had been entrusted with the Angels we might have been deluded by the Devils But now having a more sure word of prophesie then can be any voice from heaven whosoever be the speaker or the messenger 2 Pet. 1. 19. there is no true Christian Church but may with confidence and must with courage say unto the people committed to her Trust as Saint Paul said to the Galatians Though we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you then that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed Gal. 1. 8. God hath not trusted Angels but men with preaching his Gospel nor hath he trusted men to preach a new Gospel but that only which the Apostles at first preached and what he hath given some men spiritual power to preach that he hath given other men temporal power to maintain The Priest is to preach it the Prince is to maintain it and the same God who in the affairs of the body hath given his Angels charge over men hath in the affairs of the soul given men charge over Angels for though an Angel from heaven should preach any other Gospel yet neither might the Priest publish it nor the Prince protect it It being a priviledge of men above Angels since the eternal truth took on him not the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham that as Angels are the guardians of men so men should be the guardians of Gods truth And happily in this regard we find two sorts of men especially in the holy Scriptures called Angels to wit Kings and Priests because God hath most especially trusted them with his truth T is sure this reason is given why the King is so called 2 Sam. 14. 17. For as an Angel of God so is my Lord the King to discern good and bad And t is very probable the same reason is meant though it be not given why the Priests are so called Revel 2. For we find the Angels of those several Churches strictly examined if not severely blamed for the neglect of this Trust God hath made Kings and Priests guardians of his truth as he hath made the Angels guardians of our persons that we should admire his infinite power whereby he is able and adore his infinite goodness whereby he is willing not only to send down from heaven his Ministring Spirits but also to raise up from earth his Ministring flesh to be our guardian Angels Nor can we now without unthankfulness to God injury to the Truth and injustice if not uncharitableness to our selves deny either King or Priest his part in this guardianship And God he knows we have great need of both It hath been the Devils cheifest policy to sow seeds of jealousie and dissension between these two Trustees that so he might make himself the greater harvest either by depraving the purity or by disturbing the peace of Religion In some Churches the Priest hath almost expelled the King in other Churches the King hath almost expelled the Priest The one extending his spirituals even to temporals the other extending his temporals even to spirituals neither but cometh short of his duty whiles both go beyond their Trust God make both truly to see the danger and the burden of their own
that written word was that all Christians might have the grounds of One Communion And the right way of edification for all Churches is certainly to lay their foundation upon these grounds which God hath given them that is to establish a set form of Doctrine whereby to maintain the Truth of Religion and a set form of devotion whereby to maintain the Peace of Communion 3. It is requisite that the publick worship of God should not relie upon the personal abilities of the Ministers in praying but should be performed by constant set forms of prayer in regard of the Ministers themselves that they be not led into temptation either through pride vilifying others or through vain glory magnifying themselves and that they be not led into sin particularly the sins of heresie and schism which are desperate sins in private men but damnable sins in Ministers yet must needs be incident to those who rely upon their own gifts in praying more then upon Gods or their Churches prayers For if their gift forsake them as who dares promise its certain continuance they may easily fall into an erroneous expression which rather then recant they may as stiffly maintain by perverse argumentation there 's the danger of heresie And if they abuse their gift they may easily fall into the humour and love of ostentation and so scorn to be regulated and confined by their Church upholding their abominable ostentation by a more abominable separation there 's the danger of schism Besides such men commonly refuse to tie themselves so precisely to any particular form of words though it be of their own making but they may sometimes add alwayes alter according as any emergen occasion offered or affection suggested shall require so that they can never truly say with the Psalmist Paratum cor meum Deus Paratum cor meum O God my heart is ready my heart is ready which yet the Psalmist thought twice worth his saying sc Psal 57. ver 7. Psal 108. ver 1. And much less can they say O God my tongue is ready my tongue is ready though that be the readiness they most labour for and most glory in for every new affection may unsettle their heart and every new phansie may unsettle their tongue so that either the heart must be false to its own preparation because it may be changed by a new affection or the tongue must be false to the heart because it may take a new expression I have a very good precedent though a bad occasion to put the gift of prayer in the lowest forms of Gods gifts that concern the exercise of Religion For Saint Paul in effect hath done it before me who put diversitie of tongues not only after the gift of healing but also after helps in government 1 Cor. 12. 28. or helps and governments that is lay-Elders and Deacons if some late glosses may be embraced and surely the gift of prayer must come under the gift of tongues as comprehended in it or come below the gift of tongues as outpassed by it so I may well put it below the Desk when Saint Paul according to them puts it below the poor mens Box And Saint Chrysostome gives this reason for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost hom 29. 32. in Corinth Because they thought so highly of themselves for the gift of tongues therefore Saint Paul alwayes nameth that in the last place after all the rest There is the same reason now why Saint Pauls Successors in the Ministry should do the like concerning the gift of prayer yet I would have laid my hand upon my mouth before I would have spoken so unkindly to or of my brethren were it not to make them lay their hands upon their hearts before they speak so confidently nay indeed so uncomely to Our Father For as it were better my tongue should cleave to the roof of my mouth then I should disparage the gift of prayer so it were better their tongues should cleave to the roofs of their mouths then they should abuse that gift either to ostentation or to faction or which is yet worse to Irreligion For by such abuse not only man is grosly deceived but also God is grievously dishonoured Doubtless he that bids both Priests and people keep their feet when they go to the house of God that they may be more ready to hear then to give the sacrifices of fools doth much more bid the Priests keep their hearts and their mouths that they may not tempt the people to give the fools sacrifice for want either of such affections or of such expressions as may truly be fit to be offered upon Gods Altar And this is plain from the ensuing words Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God Eccles 5. 1. 2. Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Al Tebahal gnal Pica ne feâ—tines super tuo ore Do not make haste upon your mouth Here may easily be much more haste then good speed For your mouth may make haste upon your heart uttering what is scarce yet suggested and you may make haste upon your mouth uttering what is scarce yet digested The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bahal is sometimes to be fearful sometimes to be hasty and thence signifies to make such haste as men use to make in frights when fear hath wholly surprized their wits And such a haste as goes without wit perchance without fear too for men who are audacious are seldom timorous is in a mans own house great imprudence but in Gods house t is moreover great impiety And let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God The better to keep us from the haste of the tongue he disswades us from the haste of the heart for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh therefore if the heart be fraught with hasty affections the tongue will soon be fraught with hasty expressions For he that will permit his heart to love without deliberation will also permit his mouth to speak without it since it is very easie for the heart to come into the mouth when once the assent is come into the heart Therefore he saith Let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing though utterance belongs properly to the mouth the reason is because if the heart hath once spoken it within the mouth will hardly refrain from speaking it without Accordingly the Psalmist when he prayed set a watch O Lord before my mouth and keep the door of â—y lips he did also pray Incline not mine heart to any evil thing Psal 141. 3 4. for there could be no watch set upon his mouth unless it were first set upon his heart And indeed here is such a reason alledged as is enough to set a watch both upon all our mouths and upon all our hearts in that it is said For God is in heaven thou upon earth therefore let thy words be few Were he on earth with thee
glory Thus Aristotle lib. 6. Eth. cap. ult ingeniously answereth their objection who would make Prudence to be above Sapience because Prudence commandeth Sapience and he answereth it by this distinction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illius causa praecipit non autem illi Prudence commands for Sapience but not over her we are willing to look upon Christs Church as upon the best Prudence in the world but withall we must look upon Christ himself as the only Sapience the only true and eternal wisdom and accordingly say That the Church commandeth for Christ but not over him He that commandeth over another is certainly his superiour but he that commandeth for another is not so but rather his inferiour As Physick commandeth or prescribeth for health and therefore in that regard is not superiour but inferiour to health being made subservient to its recovery or continuance And if we will not allow this distinction we must according to Aristotle affirm the state or Common-wealth to be above God himself for she prescribeth his worship and if we will allow it we may not deny the Church to be under him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle wherefore if it be absurd in the judgement of a heathen to allow the civil state a power eminent above or equal with the false Gods because she commandeth their worship Then much more ought it to be absurd in the judgement of a Christian to allow the Ecclesiastical State a power eminent above or equal with the true God meerly upon the ground and reason of the same command Yet on the other side as Prudence ought to prescribe for Sapience so the Church ought to prescribe for Christ And as he that neglecteth the particular prescriptions of Prudence is the further from attaining the general dictates of Sapience So he that neglecteth the particular directions of Christs Church is the farther from apprehending the General instructions of Christs Word I must then take both Christs Word and Christs Church for my guides in the choice of my Christian Communion His Word for my guide that I be not guilty of superstition His Church for my guide that I be not guilty of Faction And having taken these two guides either I shall meet with no objections from mine own conscience and it is no matter what I meet with from other mens tongues against my Religion or I shall meet with very good solutions to answer them As for example Let this be the Catechism concerning my Religion Quest 1. Vpon what authority do you profess your Religion Answ Upon the highest authority in heaven and in earth the authority of God and of his Church The authority of God for 't is consonant to his word as my Rule The authority of Gods Church for 't is consonant to her Practice as my Example Quest 2. Do you think that you are bound to ground your Religion upon this twofold authority Answ I do especially as to the publick exercise or profession of it For without the first I shall have superstition instead of Religion without the second I shall have faction instead of Communion Quest 3. How can you prove that your particular Church hath authority from God to order you in the outward exercise of Religion Answ By the same proofs of the Text which prove any Church whatsoever to have that authority For Christs commission to Saint Peter Feed my sheep John 20. 16. is by him derived unto other Pastors Feed the Flock of God which is among you 1 Pet. 5. 2. He saith not Feed that part of my flock which is among you to help or to assist me but Feed the Flock of God to honour and obey him And he saith the flock of God which is among you to shew that the flocks needed no more look abroad for their Pastors then the Pastors needed look abroad for their flocks since they were actually one among the other And yet if the words had been less punctual they had not been less prevalent For feed the flock of God must alike concern all Churches since no prophesie or command of the Scripture is of any private interpretation 2 Pet. 1. 20. and therefore this command must alike concern all Churches Quest 4. What need you look after the Authority of God in the choice or practice of your Religion is not his Church allotted you for your only guide Answ No it is not for my Religion though it be for my Communion For if I serve God with a blind obedience I cannot serve him with my conscience and that is no other then a blind obedience to serve him upon anothers not upon his own command They that would perswade me to this should make the ninth Article of the Apostles Creed the First and teach me to say I believe the holy Catholick Church before I say I believe in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost For all the world cannot deny but my belief in God is the only ground of all my Faith even as my love of God is the only ground of all my obedience And since all Religion consists in faith and obedience well I may look upon my Church as the conveyance but I must look upon God only as the Donor and Giver or the Author of my Religion SECT II. That the Communion of the Church of England is truly Christian in Doctrine free from Heresie and from the necessary cause thereof a false ground or foundation of Faith that is Believing upon the Authority of man instead of God I had little Reason and should have less Religion to be true to my Church if my Church were not true to my Saviour the eternal Truth Therefore I must needs acquit my Church from Heresie that I may keep my self from Apostasie For if she hath fallen away from Christ I might lawfully fall away from her at least internally by with-drawing my affection which ought to be fixed upon Gods Truth if not externally by with-drawing my person which ought not to disturb the Churches Peace Let me see then how my Church hath kept Gods Truth that I may learn how to keep my Church And herein I cannot but perswade my self that what our blessed Saviour once spake to those Jews which believed on him he still speaketh to us Christians who profess the same belief If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed And ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free John 8. 31 32. And by the rule of contraries If we continue not in his word then are we not his Disciples in deed but only in shew and we shall not know the Truth and the Truth shall not make us free Therefore no Church can boast of being his Disciple which doth not continue in his Word that she may continue in his Truth And in this respect I cannot but continue in my Church that I may continue both in his Word and in his Truth because I see she hath continued in both so that the Truth
yet can I not glorifie thy name as I ought nor remember thee as I would yea though with my soul I have desired thee in the night and with my spirit within me I seek thee early yet have I not so great desires in my soul as I have defects in my desires All the desire of my soul and of my spirit is too little for my God I have none to spare for any else and if I had yet might I not give it unless I had something greater then it to give unto my God This is the sin which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iniquitas judicata vel judicantis digna quae à judicibus puniatur An iniquity to be punished by the Judge for a man to give that honour to the creature which is due only to the Creator for it is in effect to deny the God that is above For I should have denyed the God that is above Iob 31. 28. The earnest longings of my soul to converse with God in the actions of holy Religion are the best preparative for my soul to converse with him in the fruition of a blessed immortality my Religion must reach him or his blessedness will not reach me T is not conversing with Saints or Angels can give my soul a true gust of eternal blessedness and much less a happy enjoyment of it I should be loth to mispend my time upon so barren so unfruitful a Religion and much less to hazard my eternity upon it The Heathen Philosopher Hierocles could say It was the work of wisdom To make a God out of a man as far as was possible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Christian Divine may not say less of Religion which is the only true wisdom T is its work to transform a man into God uniting the understanding to him by faith and contemplation uniting the will to him by charity and affection Thus saith the Apostle We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. In which words are briefly described both the work of Religion and the power of it The work of Religion is with open face to behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord for the soul cannot well fix its eye and much less its love upon any inferiour glory The Power of Religion is to change us into the same image of the Lord from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord for it is only the love and the spirit of the Lord which can change the soul from glory to glory the love of the Lord working that change formally the Spirit of the Lord working that change efficiently upon the soul from glory to glory that is from the glory of Religion to the glory of Fruition from the glory of Holiness to the glory of Happiness from the glory of knowing and loving God to the glory of possessing and enjoying him This being the work of Religion to behold the glory of the Lord I dare look on nothing as Religion which doth not that work This being the power of Religion to change the soul into that glory I dare not be of that Religion which hath not that power Let those that please behold the glory of the creature instead of the Creator they will not find it sufficient to content much less to change their souls I desire a Religion which may change me into the image of the Lord and sure I am that Religion must teach me to behold his face which will change me into his image for no other can have the assistance of his Spirit and therefore no other can have the power to work this change This is the great blessing I have received from God by this his now distressed Church That I have been called to the Verity of his Religion nor do I see how I can thankfully embrace and dutifully obey this Call but only by persisting in the Vnity of her Communion Such a Communion as joyns me with the Saints whether they be Angels or men in the manner of my worshipping not as joyns the Saints or Angels with God in the equality of worshp The Pater noster as it was used heretofore in the private devotions of English Papists allowed not this practice for therein this was the first Petition Hallowed be thy name among men on earth as it is among Angels in heaven The second this O Father let thy Kingdom come and reign among us men on earth as thou reignest among thy Angels in heaven The third this Make us to fulfill thy will here on earth as thy Angels do in heaven Now Prayer being the actual hallowing of Gods name the exercising of his Kingdom the fulfilling of his will must be directed only unto God unless we will plainly thwart these three Petitions and resolve to do these three Duties otherwise then the Angels do in heaven For without doubt they fix their contemplation only on God and place their Fruition only in him And so doth our Church in all her Prayers first teaching us to contemplate God as the first truth that we may pray with knowledge and understanding then to enjoy him as the chiefest good that we may pray with zeal and affection ex gr O God from whom all holy desires all good counsels and all just works do proceed there 's the contemplation of God to enlighten the understanding Give unto thy servants that Peace which this world cannot give that both our hearts may be set to obey thy Commandments and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness there 's the fruition of God to inflame the will and affections The soul cannot have this Fruition without having that contemplation and therefore they who teach and enjoyn Prayers to any but to God are in truth injurious to the very contentation and much more to the salvation of souls SECT IV. That the Communion of the Church of England obligeth those in conscience who are members of that Church to retain it and not to reject it much less to renounce it by no less then five Commandments of the Decalogue IT having been declared that the Communion of the Church of England is founded in the Truth of Religion It cannot be reasonably denyed but that even her enemies are bound to her internal and much more her sons are bound to her external Communion And that both are also bound in conscience because Religion will not be contented with a lesser obligation The Doctrine being from God which we profess and the Devotion being from God which we practise All Christians that live at never so great a distance from us are bound to believe our Doctrine and to love our Devotion and that 's enough to constitute an internal Communion But those Christians who live amongst us are also bound to profess our
in relation to the people to those who have a great number to countenance any insolency and as great a power to continue it and to say it in the name of God is to say that which if it doth not make the people tractable will certainly make them inexcusable And this Saint Paul saith so frequently that we are bound to look upon it as his common dialect and therefore as our own special duty I will instance only in that Text which as it allows the necessity of Ecclesiastical Discipline so it allayes the severity of it for these times though they most shew the want or necessity of Church government yet will they least endure the severity of the same And that Text is in the second Epistle to the Thessalonians the third Chapter 14. and 15. Verses And if any men obey not our word by this Epistle note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed yet count him not as an enemy but admonish him as a brother T is without all doubt and therefore should be without all dispute that these words were not written occasionally but âoctrinally and consequently contain in them such a precept as now at this time concerns us no less then it did at that time concern the Thessalonians And our Church is no less intrusted with this precept then theirs was and as much bound to execute this command of observing admonishing avoiding such as obey not the Apostles Word or Doctrine whether by his own Epistles or by the Churches Sermons Whether by his writing or by her speaking whether by his Hand or by her mouth What remains then if I obey not but wilfully persist in disobeying the Apostles Doctrine taught me by this Church which God hath set over me but that I look upon my self as one excommunicated by this Canon of the Holy Ghost and consequently as one whose sins are bound and retained in heaven though possibly not so much as taken notice of here on Earth And therefore I have great reason to fear that sentence which a Bishop of this Church hath recorded upon this very Text though now I see no visible Judge to pronounce it In nomine Dei c. In the name of the living God and of Jesus Christ before whom I stand and before whom all flesh shall appear by the authority of his word and by the power of the Holy Ghost I divide thee from the fellowship of the Gospel and declare that thou art no more a member of the body of Christ Thy name is put out of the book of life Thou hast no part in the life to come thou art not in Christ and Christ is departed from thee I deliver thee to Satan the Prince of darkness thy reward shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Thou shalt starve and wither and not abide The Grace of God is taken out of thy Heart The face of the Lord is against all them that do evil they shall not taste of his mercy Bishop Jewel in his Commentary on 2 Thes 3. This is a sentence that I have reason to fear if I be disobedient to the Doctrine and bid defiance to the worship of Almighty God which I have learned in this Church For rather then the Synagogue of Satan shall be confounded with the Church of God Christ himself will re-assume that Power which he hath given to his Ministers he will become the judge rather then obstinate sinners shall want the sentence of condemnation Nay it is to be feared that he is become the Judge already and hath moreover ratified his own sentence for surely men are divided from the fellowship of the Gospel Christ is departed from them and the grace of God is taken out of their hearts when they altogether delight in divisions and are as children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine nay carried away with all deceivableness of unrighteousnesness because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved And indeed men are first generally carried away by the deceivableness of unrighteousness and after that by the deceivableness of untruth The deceivableness of unrighteousness will not let them receive the love of the truth and then the deceivableness of untruth will not let them retein the Doctrine of it as it follows For this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lye that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes 2. 11 12. They first have pleasure in unrighteousness and will not believe the truth and from thence proceed to have pleasure in untruth that they may defend and maintain their unrighteousness First they will not give themselves to believe the truth then God gives them to belielieve a lye First they contemn those whom God hath sent then God sends them strong delusions First they believe not the truth because they have pleasure in their sins then they believe a lye that they may perish in their sins O the unspeakable mercy of God who hath given us this warning to day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts O the impartial Justice of God who hath given us this doom that if we hear not his voice to day we shall harden our hearts to morrow Let us consider how the Primitive Christians obeyed their spiritual guides and we shall never want the Method and much less lose the zeal of our obedience We will never let it be said that we have lived so many years to understand our Religion now mean to live the rest of our dayes to abandon it alwayes remembring that heavenly contemplation of the Angelical Doctor Ratio Aeternitatis consequitur Immutabilitatem sicut ratio temporis consequitur motum 1 par qu. 10. art 2. Eternity is founded upon unchangeableness as time is founded upon change Therefore we cannot lay a greater reproach upon Religion then to think or to shew it changeable as if it rather belonged to time then to eternity Secondly this obligation which binds us to our spiritual Pastors and Guides hath not lost its force of binding us because of the duty to which we are bound which is the publick practice of Religion A duty which we cannot perform without the direction of the Church for without that when we come together every one will have a Psalm a Doctrine a tongue a revelation an interpretation 1 Cor. 14 26. yet a duty which we cannot wilfully neglect without the danger if not the damnation of our souls For this comes neer that damnable sin of spiritual slothfulness which regards not Communion with God and he that regards not communion with God here how can he hope for the fruition of God hereafter T is the common course of men now to say are not Abana and Pharphar Rivers of Damascus better then all the Waters of Israel may I not wash in them aud be clean
God say of our Saviour Christ That he is Paracletus super Paracletum a Comforter beyond the Comforter For the Spirit of God is our Comforter to speak for us only in the day of mercy whiles we are speaking for our selves that we may be able to pray acceptably but is not our propitiation to make our persons or our prayers to be accepted But the Son of God is our Advocate to speak for us when we shall not be able to speak for our selves even in the day of Judgement when all flesh must keep silence before God according to that of holy Job for how should man be just with God if he should contend with him he cannot answer one of a thousand And he is also our Propitiation to make both our persons and our prayers accepted with God And it is impossible he should not prevail in making the intercession who hath already prevailed in making the atonement This is the inexpressible the inestimable comfort of a distressed sinner who bewaileth his sins and flieth to the Son of God for mercy that the same Jesus now is and will be at the last day his Advocate who hath already been his propitiation And this is a comfort that men and Devils cannot deny unto us and therefore we may not deny it to our selves For the sinner comes under accusation no longer then tell his sin is expiated but when that is fully done then he comes under absolution wherefore since my sins are expiated by my Saviour I will not fear that the Devils shall accuse me for I have an Advocate to answer their malice I will not doubt but God will absolve me for I have a propitiation to satisfie his justice So that by this means Elies question which otherwise is unanswerable may be fully and easily answered But if a man sin against God who shall intreat for him 1 Sam. 2. 25. for here is an Advocate that will intreat for us if we put our selves under his Patronage and Protection And surely it is concerning this Advocate that Saint Peter hath spoken Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you 1 Pet. 5. 7. All our care is or should be how to save our souls and therefore the first thing we should all do is to put our selves in such a condition that our blessed Saviour may take care of us that so we may securely cast all our care upon him Then will Saint Pauls Problem be turned into a Position Rom. 8. 33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us and that position will carry this sense Good Christians ought not to be afraid of condemnation since they have so many sure and certain arguments of Gods love and favour towards them for none can justly accuse them because God himself before whom the accusation must be made hath already absolved them and none will be able to condemn them because Christ who alone is to be the Judge dyed for them to deliver their souls from death or rather is risen from the dead to open to them the gate of everlasting life And he hath power to give them life for he is at the right hand of God and he hath a will and a desire to give it for he maketh intercession for us We may reduce all these benefits and mercies to those four heads which Alensis saith are the effects of our Saviours Passion Effectus Passionis Christi ponuntur quatuor Primus Justificatio à peccatis Secundus Reconciliatio ad Deum Tertius Religatio potestatis Diaboli Quartus Apertio januae Paradisi Par. 3. qu. 18. m. 6. There are four effects of our blessed Saviours Passion the first is our Justification from sin the second our Reconciliation with God the third is the restraining of the power of the Devil the fourth is the opening of the gate of heaven O my soul evermore give him hearty thanks for this Passion which hath purged thy sins that did both defile and oppress thee which hath satisfied and appeased thy God who was angry with thee which hath stopped the Devils mouth that he cannot claim thee which hath opened the gate of heaven that it will receive thee We now fully see the vertue of this Propitiation we are in the next place to consider the great goodness wisdom justice and power of God in finding it for us and giving it to us wherein we shall do best to follow his method who first put the Divinity of the Greek Church into a Methodical System and that was Damascene who lib. 3. de orth fide c. 1. saith That this giving of Christ to be made our Propitiation did in one and the same act shew the goodness the wisdom the justice and the power of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First the goodness of God in that the Creator did not despise the infirmity of his creature but did rather communicate therein and take it upon himself which should make us say with great devotion and greater thankfulness O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men Psalm 107. Words of thanksgiving which the Psalmist did not think they could repeat too often when he considered of mans temporal preservation and therefore sure we cannot repeat them often enough when we think of our eternal salvation and of the infinite goodness of our Saviour in purchasing and procuring it for us Secondly the wisdom of God That there was so miraculous a way found out to pay the price of our Redemption that he who was exalted in the highest and could not be humbled yet was so humbled to the lowest as not to lose any jot of his exaltation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thirdly the Justice of God that though man was his choicest workmanship and after his own image yet he would not pull him by violence from the Tyrant who had unjustly got Dominion over him but paid such a value for the redemption of his captive as was indeed above all valuation which had in effect been said many years before Damascene by Leo the great in one of his Christmass Sermons Serm. 2. de Nativ hanc potissimum consulendi viam elegit quà ad destruendum opus diaboli non virtute uteretur potentiae sed ratione Justitiae He followed that counsel whereby he might destroy the Devils work not by the strength of his power but by the reason of his Justice Fourthly the power of God for nothing could be an act of greater power then to make God become man according to that of Saint Basil in his homily upon the 44. Psalm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was the demonstration of the greatest power that God could be in the nature of man For not the constitution of