bad They both grow alike 5 The Time and Term of the flourishing estate of the wicked It is but until the Harvest And this until is both a Note of Determination and Termination Till then It doth not end before Till then it doth not continue after 6. The true and proper reason of the being growth and continuance of the Wicked And that is Christ's sufferance and toleration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suffer both to grow together until the harvest I shall take them up as they lay in order And first of the first 1. The first Proposition The different nature of good and bad resembled by Wheat and Tares The purblind world judgeth all things amisse and observes no inequality or disparity among the sons of men Homo homini quid praestat stulto intelligens quid interest say they with him in the comedie What difference in point of excellency betwixt one man and another But if we consult with the Oracle of God that resolves us to the contrary The righteous is more Excellent then his neighbour Prov. 12.26 And iâ— there be any creature of greater transcendency then the rest it seems to illustrate their dignity by way of similitude and comparison As being the Lillie among Flower The Dove among Fowls Gold among Meâ—tals And wheat among grain both for the worth and weight of it A fit Emblem of the Faithful who are the chief and choice of men even as Wheat beareth the greatest price and value among grain And the worth of the faithful appears in their weight in in regard of their stedfastness and stability their constancy and continuance which are no way moved much less removed with the gusts and blasts of temptation Even as Wheat which is a ponderous and a heavy substance is not carried away with the force and violence of the wind (d) Cyprian de unit Eccles Sect. 8. Nemo putet bonos de Ecclesia posse discedere Triticum non rap t ventus saith St. Cyprian But as for the ungodly they are as Tares or blasted Ears Tares for their emptiness whose heart is utterly destitute of grace and goodness even as blasted Eares have no inward pith nor substance no food nor foison in them and Tares be for their lightness (e) Avoleâ—t quantum volent Paleae levis fidei quocunque afflatu tentationum eo purior massa frumenti in horrea domini reponetur Tertul. de Praeser adver Haeret. Inanes Paleae Cypr. ibid. Paleae levis fidei as Tertullian stileth them and so subject to fly away being hurried to and fro with every puff of wind The Southern wind of favour and preferment which blowes upon them with a gentle and pleasing blast and though in it self it be but an evil wind yet in their opinion it blows them to good The blustering and boisterous North winds of trial and persecution Each of these winds whether it blows from the North or South doth easily carry away these light and empty Tares out of the Church And those our Saviour he sets forth under the similitude of Tares or blasted Eares in the Parable of the Text. And that in opposition to the Wheat thereby importing their unprofitable and worthless nature Such is the difference betwixt good and bad as betwixt Wheat and Tares 2. The impurity and imperfection of the visible Church The second Proposition consisting of good and bad even as the same field contains both Wheat and Tares The name of the Church is no univocal word wherein there is an agreement both of Name and Nature but an aequivocal voice where things of a most different nature communicate in the same name I speak not this of the Jesuites who in respect of their execrable doctrine of their mental reservations and aequivocations are fitly stiled aequivocal Christians But of the external members of the visible Church the greater part whereof are only commended by the titular profession of Christianity as an empty sign and shadow and yet want the thing signified and are utterly destitute of the substance And as the name of the Church is no univocal but aequivocal voice so the Church it self is no Homogeneal but an Heterogeneal body not like unto the similar parts of men Blood Spirits or the like each portion whereof is suitable and agreeable to the whole But resembling the organical parts as a Leg or Arm which consists of Skin Flesh Bones and Marrow And these far different from each other There are three several places in the world Heaven Hell and Earth In Heaven above there are none but perfectly good the blessed society of Saints and Angels In Hell beneath none but irrecoverably wicked the cursed crue of damned spirits But the visible Church upon Earth is a middle place and state betwixt both a confused mixture and medley both of good and bad like unto Noahs Ark wherein were cooped up both clean and unclean beasts A wide drag-net that closes not only profitable fish but worthless weeds and beggery A common Inne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a receptacle for all commers A great House which affords vessels of gold and silver and some other of wood and earth 2 Tim. 2.20 A Barn or threshing Floor where corn and chaff lie covered in the same heap Mot. 3.12 And here in the Text A vast and open Field that brings forth Wheat and Tares And as it was said of Hantbals Army Colluvies omnium gentium So is the visible Church a promiscuous Company and Congregation a rabble and a rapsody of all sorts corrupt Hereticks who deprave the verity of the faith supercilious and factious Schismaticks that deprive and destrâ—y the unity of the Church disguised and masked Hypocrits meer Scepticks in their opinion Hybrides in their profession Amphibia in their conversation like unto those flying fishes in America that live sometimes in the water and sometimes in the air and are ill accepted in both places the ravenous fishes being ready to devour them below and the Sea fowls continually beating them above And last of all men openly profane and vicious (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat Epist ad Magnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat ibid. Ignatius reduces the several sorts of men in the visible Church to two Heads and observes the same difference among men that is to be found in coyn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof some is true and sound such as can endure the Touch the other is false and counterfeit Holy men are God's coyn that bear his image and superscrip ion But as for proâ—â—ne and wicked men they are adulterate deceitful and corrupt â—oyn that are minted and stamped by the Divel It is St. Chrysoâ—â—omes observation upon the 23. of Saint Matthâ—w that there is somewhat bred and born in every creature that wasts and consumes the substance The soundest Timber engenders worms the finest Garments give life to Moths The most wholesome Herbs bring forth small flies that fret them in pieces Neither fares it otherwise
rendered in the Passive Act. 2.40 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be ye saved And the Apostle Saint Paul puts the matter out of question Eph. 2.8 By Grace ye are saved through Faith (e) Hoc est opus Dei ut credatis in eum quem misit ille Joh 6.29 Non dixit hoc est opus vestrum sed hoc est opus Dei ut credatis in illum quem misit ille ut qui gloriatur in Domino glorietur Aug. in Joh. Tract 25. not of your selves it is the gift of God This was the common opinion of the Heathen that there was a principle of vertue implanted in mans nature without going out of himself and borrowing ability from another (f) Deorum munus est quod vivimus nostrum quod faelicem Senec. That we live is the gift of God fancte vivimus Turpe est fatigare Deos Quid votis opus est Fac te Epist 31. that we live well is of our selves And to what end should we trouble and tire God with the importunity of our prayers Fac te saelicem Thou mayst be happy if thou wilt * Eum ut faceret homines liberos jecisse sacrilegos August de Cicer De civit Dei Lib. 5. Thus while they made men free they made them sacrilegious And there is much of the sume rank blood that runs in the veins of professing Christians the Pelagian and the Papist and if we compare the words of the Text with those that follow they will soon stop the mouth of both The Pelagian challenging Saint Pauls precept even at the first syllable Work out as a pregnant proof of the liberty of the Will And the Papist concluding the merit of Works from the working out of our salvation And yet both cunningly suppress what Saint Paul subjoins and immediately inferrs For it is God that works to will He doth not give power alone and leaves the will to elicite its own Act but works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where then is the Free will of the Pelagian And to do how then can the Papist evince their Works to be meritorious Let no man then put asunder these two parcels of Scripture whom St. Paul yea God himself hath thus joined together And as our Saviour speaks in another case Joh. 5.17 My Father works hitherto and I work so Gods working and mans working his efficiency and our concurrence and co-operation must both go hand in hand for though it be God that works the Will yet are not we stocks and stones that have no Will at all and albeit it be he that works the deed (g) Totum ex Deo non tamen dormientis non quasi ut non conemur non quasi ut non velimus Aug. de verb. Apost serm 15. Non quasi ut dormientes non quasi ut non conemur yet not that we should snort after the manner of sleepers (h) Qui fecit te sine te non justiâ—â—cat te sine te Ibid. and no way second it with our endeavours That God who made us without us will not save us without us but we likewise must work out Secondly Necessity in the work the Act of working imports the necessity of the duty for the attaining of salvation as the end It is the speech of Eliphaz in Job 5.7 Man is born to trouble as sparks flie upward that is naturally and of their own accord And many men by nature are of an unquiet and restless disposition like unto Quick-silver that hath a principle of motion but not of rest Or as a Mill if no grist be cast into it it then grinds it self There is no earthly commodity that can be procured or purchased without the price of labour No penny can be expected at night unless men take pains in the vineyard and bear the burden and heat of the day Nor will the penny of eternal life be afforded upon other terms and conditions no salvation without working It is not enough to desire it and to let fall Balaams wish Num. 23.10 Let me die the death of the righteous and my last end be like his Yea it is altogether unreasonable and preposterous to bestow an hankering and faint velleity upon the end without the lawful use of the means Nor must we say of the water of Life as David sometime spake of the water of the well of Bethlem 2 Sam. 23.15.16 O that one would give me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlem which is by the gate But as the three mighty men brake through the Host of the Philistines and drew water and took it and brought it to David Even so we must not long and linger after Davids example O that some would give me to drink of the water of Life but we must break through all opposition and intervening difficulties that obstruct and block up the way and hinder us in the undertaking For as in nature the concupiscible and irascible faculties are both joyned and twisted together like to several threds of the same cord and cable in the inferiour and sensitive part of the soul So must the desire of the ultimate end be enforced and seconded with the use of the most propoitionate and proper means in the working out of our salvation God hath three several places in the World saith Saint Basil 1. Heaven that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods Store-house or Treasure the place of reward and recompence 2. Hell that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods Gaole or Prison where men are fast bound in chains of darkness 3. Earth a middle place betwixt both and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods Work-house for the working out of our salvation The necessity whereof is commended unto us under a threefold consideration First To evidence the truth of our profession to evidence and exemplifie the truth of our profession by the effects and fruits of it for as Faith justifies the person in the sight of God so do Works justifie our Faith in the eyes of men And hence it is that as Saint Pauls former Epistles contain confirm at large our entire justification by faith alone against the legal and Jewish Justitiary so the later Epistles of Saint James Peter and John precisely press and earnestly urge the exercise of Works and new obedience against the carnal Gospeller and loose Libertine as is well observed by Chemnitius It was a scornful Sarcasme that was cast upon the professors and profession of Christianity by him who was a second Elymas full of all subtilty and mischief that enemy of all righteousness Julian the Apostate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Gregory Nazianzen reports it You Christians have nothing else at your tongues end nothing in your mouths and hearts but Faith Faith Believe and then all is well And the selfe same charge and challenge that stale frump and jeer is renewed by our Adversaries of the Church of Rome the Papists who stick not to proclame us to the world with
with the Church of God upon Earth that conceives and carries in her womb full sore against her will Pharisaical and formal Hypocrits licentious and lewd livers and at last brings them forth viper like to the destruction of the mother This cannot seem strange to any that intentively considers the frame fashion of the (g) In omni conditione optimis miara sunt pessima Hieron ad Rust. world There is a refuse generation an Heterogencal company an unequal and unsound mixture even in the Church and cannot be avoided (h) Nazianz. Orat 21. in Laud. Athanas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith â—reg Nazianzen The Church is God's yineyard and pleasant plant yet it hath some briars and brambles that grow upon it A cursed Cam in Noah's posterity A scoffing Ishmael in Abraham's family And Judas the Traytour a Divel as our Saviour stiles him A Divel incarnate as it was said of John the 22. and that not in Hell which is his proper place but in Heaven upon Earth the Church of God the School of Christ's disciples For though the Church be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a company of men call'd out of the world yet is this calling different in the nature and diversified in the effects There are some that are called both outwardly and inwardly by the Ministery of the word and by the attractive power and energie of the Spirit which draâ—s men that they may run after it as the Spouse pruyeth Cant. 1.3 And there are others that are eah'd outwardly onely by the sound of the Gospel which though it is the power of God unto salvation yet it doth borrow his force and efficacy from the concomitance and assistance of the Spirit The former of these are not onely invited to the participation of God's saving grace but convicted and perswaded in their judgements and inclined to obedience Whom when God prevents with his gracious tall Seek ye my face they forthwith Ecca back again his voice thy face Lord will I seek Psal 27.8 The latter are indeed invited on God's part to come unto the Heavenly Marriage yet do they not answer it in an obediential manner but pretend and plead excuses with them in the Gospel and will not come at his call If their it be the call of God that affords both name and nature to the Church which being a divine action works differently according to the different disposition of the receivers no marvel there is such a diversity and contrariety among the members There is not a Pomegrunate wherein there are not some rotten grains Nor a Church here on Earth which is not in some part putrified and corrupted Nullum corpus sine suis excrementis It is the censure of Gretser the Jesuite of his order Never was there a Body without his Excrements Nor is it more true of the Natural Grets de stud Jesuit abstrac cap. 5. then of the Body of Christianity And in vain did the Donarists of old with the Anabaptists and Brownists of later Times project this Platform to themselves An airy a speculative a Notional and not a National Church which as it was devised by the strength of fancy and meer imagination so it never had any other being and existence but in their own Brains A Platonical kind of Church like unto Plato's Common-wealth wherein Plato alone was said to live A Church like unto Xenophon's Cyrus described not as he was but as he should be A Church that is pure and sound in all the parts where there are no notorious offenders no dissolute or disordered persons within the pale What is this but to dream of impossibilities to expect a perfection in the place of imperfection To hope for Heaven here upon Earth To look for a field without tares and to take away the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very subject of the Text (i) Numquid in agro diciâ—â—â—â—st quid paâ—â—is ad tâ—â—ticum quaudo eâ— dem radice pertantur numquid in area ubi pariter triturantur sed utique in Horreo quid paleis ad Triticum August co â—â— Epist Parmen Lib. 13. cap. 3. The Third Proposition It is the priviledge of Heaven as of God s Granary to receive whent onely without chaff In the Field they grow together In the Floor they are threshed together and the separation is not made till they come to the Granary which leads me to the third and next point in order The confused mixture and cohabitation of good and bad in the visible Church They are both together The Church and people of God as it is a soclety that is call'd out of the world in respect of the Spiritual state and condition so is it resident and abiding in the world in regard of the natural place And Christ prayed not for the translation but the proservation of his disciples I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world but that thou keep them from evil John 17.15 The world is in the Church and the Church is in the world which is both a fragrant Rose with sharp prickles for the inward corruption of its own nature (k) August in Psal 99. And a beautiful Liâ—ie among the Thorns for the outward and circumstant wickedness of the place Like a liâ—ie among thorns so is my love among the daughters Cant. 2.2 Non dixit in medio alienarum sed in medio Piliarum saith Saint Augustine Christ's love dwels not in the midst of strangers but amongst the daughters And the fâ—rce and reason of the resemblance consists in these three particulars First the Church of Christ which is his love is a Liâ—ie for the excellency both of sweetness and comeliness in the colour and figure of it 2. The Daughters are children of the same Mother the Church though they have not the same God for their Father They are as Thorns 1. For their malignity whose property is to prick and draw blood 2. Thorns for their sterility and larrenness bearing no fruit of worth and hindering fruit in others 3. And Thorâ—â—s too for their end to be cast into the fire 3. And as the Lilly grows among thorns so is Christ's love his Church seated amidst these daughters counterfeit and false professors That speech of God call it a promise or a threatning as you please as it was meerly temporal in respect of the Israelires so it is eternal and immutable as it concerns the universal Church the Israel of God Wherefore I said also I will not cast them out before you but they shall be as Thorns in your sides Judg. 2.3 God permits and suffers his Lillie the Church to be invironed and Hem'd in with Thorns First for the exercise of their faith and patience the quickning of their obedience provoking and pricking them on to good works even as the Jews wore Thorns in their phylacteries and fringes of their garments to admonish them of the custody and keeping of the Law And Secondly for the reformation and conversion of
are not to be received or exercised among Christians it is their own tenet and it may be occasioned and furthered from the defaults and defects of the Ministers and their opinion well accords and suites with their practice one while chusing Knipperdoling for their Consul and not long after advancing him to the high office of a Hangman But as tyranny which is an extremity of government is far better then an headlesse Anarchy Even so it is to be preferred of the two (t) Praestat illie esse ubi omnia licent quam ubi nihil to live under irregular rulers then utterly to be destitute God himself determines it by his own testimony I gave them a King in mine anger but took him away in my wrath Hos 13.11 a wicked King such as Saul was may be given in Gods anger but is taken away in his wrath which is the fierceness and fury of it and it is a greater judgment to be without a Governour then to have one that is ungodly and unworthy Two means of reformation Two wayes there are to redresse errours and rectifie abuses 1. By a total abolition The one by a total abolition not onely of the corruption but of the thing it self thus Moses stampt the molten â—alf and Hezekiah brake the brasen Serpent and did grind it into powder taking away all mention and memorial 2. The other by separating the pretious from the vile and removal of the abuse By separation as in the cleansing of the leprous houses which were scraped and pared and some stones if need required were pulled out yet the Pile and frame continued entire and undemolisht This is the most soveraign means as being freest from violence and disorder and needs must it be so when God himself is pleased to make choice of it thy silver is become drosse so he tells the Jewes v. 22. the places of their Governours were as pure as silver but the unequal managing and execution impure drosse and will God consume and melt both promiscuously in the fiery trial as if there were no difference no his word which is as silver fined seven times in the furnace affirms the contrary I will purely take away thy drosse and purge out all thy tin v. 25. and then as the wise man speaks take away the drosse from the silver and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer Prov. 25.4 The Emperour Domitian therefore took a wrong course in banishing all promoters out of Italy and Pope Nicholas the third erred for all his infallibility in thrusting all practisers at law out of Rome for that as he said they lived upon the blood of the poor people who were soon recalled by Pope Martin his successour because they brought grist to his Mill. Since then as St. Paul speaks of the law so it may be said of the profession the law is good if a man use it lawfully 1 Tim. 1.8 and as Bodin well reasons the case there are no other means to decide controversies (u) Bodin de Republ. Seâ— Lege aut Armis and the sound of the Laws cannot be heard amidst the clashing of Arms and neighing of Horses The calling it self must still be retained and maintained in due honour And if at any time there be need of censure it must not be a rigid removal or an utter extirpation but only as God here promises in the Text A restoring the Iudges as at the first and the Councellors as at the beginning Secondly The act of Gods restoring relates to mens persons It may be by some pecuniary mulct The second reference to their persons by a just displacing or degrading them from the dignity of their office which with such indignity they had administred or at least correct them with some milder chastisement not utterly consume or destroy their persons Extrema primo nemo tentavit loco they are only desperate diseases that must have desperate cures He were an unskilful Physician and cruel Chyrurgion that cared not to deprive the body of life being only ulcevous and diseased or delighted in applying corrosives and causticks when gentle lenitives would serve the turn in bruising or breaking bones being dislocated and out of joint which he should rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word borrowed from the practice of that Art set them in their place and socket and as St. Paul renders it Gal. 6.1 Restore them in the spirit of meekness It is (x) Colum. de re Rustic Columella's advice touching Landlords not to exact forfeitures and to warn their Tenants out for every lesser breach of Covenant for that Summum jus est summa crix and the extremity of the Law is a lawless extremity A good caveat for greater Lords then they that they enforce not matters in the strictest rigour and cause not the Law to be written in blood like unto those of Draco and were therefore surnamed (y) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not the Laws of men but of Draco And are there not many like that Athenian Law-giver that draw the very life blood from those Laws that were first written in ink And whilest they press the breasts of the Laws too hard as Volusian complains touching the Scriptures they bring forth blood that strangles in stead of milk that nourisheth and so make the Law a killing Letter God forbade his people to eat the blood of brute beasts for that vita in sanguine The life is in the blood How much more heinous yea barbarous is it for men in place to glut and gorge their cruelty with their own flesh and blood after the manner of the Horse-leech The Heathen man cries out against his Rulers for that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 devourers of rewards What would he have said and done had they been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and fed upon their own kind It is Saint Gregories observation from the benediction of God upon Noah and his posterity The fear and dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and every foul of the heaven and upon all that moveth upon the earth and upon all the fishes of the sea Gen. 9.2 (z) Gregor in loc That at first men were Governours of beasts alone and not of men but now is the order quite inverted they are Governours of men and not of beasts and must not convert the dreadful seat of Justice into a Shambles or a Slaughter-house For man is a noble creature his life dear and precious be their manners never so debaucht and dissolute their crime heinous and horrible yet still they continue men and call and claim some pity and compassion for the common interest of humanity And there must be a reflexion from the Magistrate of the eye of pity and compassion upon the offender whilest he darts forth the flaming eye of jealousie and fierce indignation upon the danger of the example Physitians will not take away a few drops of blood from the body natural but
away amongst the people Hence it is that ignorance and irreverence is advanced and cryed up and the gravity of religion and learning decried and despised The necessary helps and handmaids of Arts and Sciences Tongues and Languages are thought by some to be the mark of the beast and to name the Universities sive 〈◊〉 sive joeo which was the decree of Paul the third accounted the brand and badge of heresie But though Israel play the harlot yet let not Judah sin though ignorance be canonized as a Popish Saint in the Romish Rubrick and Calendar though ignorance be adored and worshipped as the mother of their devotion and her children ask her blessing yet let wisdome be justified of her children let as many as pretend to sobriety of mind and ingenuity and modesty of spirit account learning and the nurseries of learning I mean the Universities as worthy of double honour And let me herein applaud and magnifie the happiness of their condition to whom I now speak who are all Prophets or Prophets sons and live here as in another Naioth the school of the Prophets yea let me freely bespeak you in the word of Christ to his disciples Mat. 13.16 17. Blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear For verily I say unto you that many Prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see and have not seen them and to hear those things which you hear and have not heard them And so I pass to the third Proposition 3. The third Conclusion Those things that are separate and set apart to publick worship and thereby consecrated to God they must not be alieuated in the property and perverted to prophane and common use There were several things that had the shamp and print of holiness under the law Holiness stampt upon sundry things under the law like unto the high Priests Mitre with this inscription Holinesse unto the Lord. 1. The holy plaee There was an holy place when ye shall see the abomination of desolation stand the holy place Mat. 24.15 it is the sanctuary or Holy of Holies 2. An holy time There was an holy time if thou turn away thy foot from doing thy pleasure on my holy day Isa 58.13 and that was the Sabbath 3. An holy person There was an holy person let thy Thummim and thy Vrim be with thy holy one Deut. 33.8 and that was the Priest 4. An holy part or portion There was an holy part or portion which was separated and set apart as the maintenance of the holy person which passeth under the name of the hallowed things Deut. 26.13 The time will no way permit and suffer me to glance at all these I shall only touch upon the Churches patrimony the Ministers portion which God himself is pleased to phrase A double ground of the holiness Tithes and Offerings There is a double ground or reason of their holiness 1. Humane donation or dedication 2. Divine claim and challenge 1. 1. Humane donation or dedication The first ground of their holiness is Humane Donation or Dedication of men devout and pious in their generations who bequeathed them to God by way of legacy or inheritance in their last will and Testament and certainly it was as lawful for them to make God their Heir or Legatee as any of the sons of men and being such he is not to be defeated of his legacy or disseissed of his inheritance For as the Apostle tells us Gal. 3.15 though it be but a mans testament yet if it be confirmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no man disanuls or adds thereunto and if he adds not noiâ—â—â—oz then can he take it quite away 〈◊〉 second ground for the holiness of the Churches patrimony is divine claim and challenge whereby he separates and reserves it to his own worship and service For God is the high and mighty possessor of Heaven and Earth the Lord Paramount of the whole world who as he commands the seventh part of our time so doth he require the tenth of our substance as his own peculiar all the tithe of the land whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree is the Lords it is holy unto the Lord Levit. 27.30 and being such is not to be alimated invito domino without the consent of the owner And if the question be here moved whether a thing that is dedicated through ignorance or superstition may not be altered in the use and converted to another and that a better end the example here in the Text may serve as an answer to this query For the Censers of Korah and Dathan even by Gods appointment must be imployed for a covering of the Altar and that because though erroneously yet they offered them before the Lord therefore they are hallowed Add hereunto the joint attestation of the heathen and that drawn from those common principles and apprehensions which like unto so many seeds and sparkles are naturally sown and raked up in the hands of children (k) Plato Philib Semel deo dicatum non est ad usus humanos ulterius transferendum 6. Decret de Regul juris Si facta ades sit licet collapsa sit jam religio tamen ejus occupavit solum Plin. 2. Epist Lib. 10. Epist 74.75 Nos dicimus quod pueri solent quae recte data sunt eripere non licet saith the Heathen Plato Do but ask children and they will acknowledge this much and subscribe unto it as an undeniable and undoubted truth Those things that are well given are not to be devoyed into another hand or diverted from their main end For though there may be an alienation from the particular end intention of the Donors wherein through ignorance they erred yet from the general and ultimate end and that is the maintenance of God's worship they may not they must not be alienated And herein a special Caution is to be had that we transfer them not to our proper use or translate them to our private benefit and advantage flying upon the spoil after Saul 's example and too too nimbly fingering the wedge of gold and Babylonish garment which was the sin of Achan The reason is rendered by great Saint Augustine (l) August Epist 154. ad Publicol Vt appareat nos pietate ista desstruere non avaritiâ That it may be evident and apparent unto all that we have altered the property out of zeal to God and his glory not for filthy lucre sake and the love of Bulaam 's wages the wages of iniquity That we have not acted his part and pleaded the cause of religion as he did the cause of the poor Quorsum haec perditio to what purpose is all this wast why was not the ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor This he said not that he cared for the poor but because he was a Thief and had the bag
persevers John 8.32 If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed and in truth For howsoever that which is false and (t) Nemo personam diu sustinere potest cito in raturam suam recidu â—â— quibus veritas non subest Seneca counterfeit alters and changes at every turn yet Truth is uniform and like it self or rather like unto him whose name is I am Exod. 3.14 I am the Lord and change not Mal. 3.6 And may fitly apply and take up the Motto of that Renowned Queen Semper eadem as being one and the same for ever Secondly The name of Christian as a diminutive in respect of Christ The name of Christian as a diminutive in respect of Christ shewes a disparity shewes a disparitiy betwixt Christ and Christians For though therebe a conformitie and resemblance yet is it not a similitude of equality but of proportion and that joyned with an infinite disparity and disproportion in three respects 1. A threesold disparity betwixt Christ and Christians A Disparity of Nature 2. A Disparity of Power 3. A Disparity of Grace First There is a disparity of nature Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and man in one Person A disparity of nature But as for the highest and best of Christians he is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer bare man The Popes Parasites indeed hold him forth unto the world as a Petty God a mortal or rather an immortal God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And whereas Christ is God manifested in the flesh God and Man making up the same Hypostasy the Pope is (u) Nec Deus nec homo Papa Gratian. neither God nor Man in the Canon Law and so a professed Antichrist in his nature Secondly There is a disparity of power betwixt Christ and Christians A disparity of power All power is given unto me in Heaven and Earth Matth. 28.18 there is no mortal man may assume the like without blasphemous arrogance and presumption And yet he who hath the name of Blasphemy written in his forehead and exalts himself not onely above all that is called God but above God himself He it is who wears a three-fold crown and challenges a three-fold power unto himself in Heaven Earth and Purgatory where Christ hath no Authority Thirdly there is a disparity of Grace betwixt Christ and Christians Disparity of grace Christ was full of Grace 1 John 1.14 Christians are full too but with a vast and wide difference the fulnesse of Christ is Plenitudo Fontis the fulness of a Fountain that is both Repletive and filling of his own person and is known by the name of Plentifulness And diffusive and communicative of it self to us and passes under the name of bountifulness Of whose fulness we all receive grace for grace Joh. 1.16 The fulness of a Christian is Plenitudo vasis The fulness of a scant and narrow vessel Christ had the spirit dealt out unto him Not by measure Joh. 3.34 A Christian likewise hath it dealt out unto him but it is only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A measure of Faith Rom. 12.3 In all which there is an infinite disparity and disproportion betwixt Christ and Christians insomuch as John the Baptist who had not a greater born of women was very shie and jealous of usurping his name who will not give his glory unto another And he confessed and denied not but confessed I am not the Christ Joh. 1.20 And doubtless the Jesuites have a great deal to answer for their grand Sacriledge and robbery in this respect who not content with the common name of Christians stile themselves Jesuites from Jesus by way of eminency and perfection as if they meant to make him but dimidiatum Mediatorem a half Mediator and themselves coparceners and parcel Saviours in the work of our redemption but they who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity must take heed and beware of the Jesuites Qui cum Jesu itis non itis cum Jesuitis The second general part of the Text concerns the manner of our conversion and that by way of perswasion so Agrippa bespeaks Saint Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou perswadest The second part of the Text. There are two strong Forts and Holds in mans nature The manner of our conversion Perswades Two strong holds in mans nature and those reared and raised up in the prime powers and faculties 1. In the mind and understanding 2. In the will and affections First in the mind there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imaginations and thoughts In the mind and understanding and these are cast down by the conviction of the judgement Secondly in the will there are corrupt lusts and sinful habits In the Will and Affections and God casts down and casts out these by the perswasion of the heart God perswades men to become Christians he doth not necessitate and compel them whether they will or no. No man can come unto me unless the Father draw him Joh. 6.44 And yet this atraction to Christ is not by force and violence as a Bear is drawn to the stake but as a sheep is drawn to a green bough allured by delight and pleasure This is a kind of drawing Trahit sna quemque voluptas Those whom Christ draws he draws (x) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostom Si Poetae dicere licuit trahit sua quemque voluptas non necessitas sed voluptas non obligatio sed delectatio quanto fortius nos dicere debemus trahi hominem ad Christum Ramum viridem ostendis ovi trahis illam Nuces puero demonstrantur trahitur quod currit trahitur Amando trahitur sine laesione corporis trahitur cordis vinculo trahitur August Tract 26. in Evang. secund Johan willingly with cords of a man and bonds of love Hos 11.4 Christ breaks not into the heart by a spiritual Burglary but he opens the doors of the heart as he did the doors of the house where his Disciples were assembled after his Resurrection He comes into the heart as he did to the house 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 20.19 Which being shut before he caused them to flie open He speaks to these doors of the heart in a powerful and effectual manner Lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of glory shall come in Psal 24.7 The conversion of a sinner is not only facilitated but effected by perswasion of the heart God perswades Japhet to dwell in the Tents of Shem Gen. 9.27 God allures his Church and speaks comfortably to her Hos 2.14 He beseeches men in the mouth of his Ministers 2 Cor. 5.20 This is most connatural unto the will which is far more easily led then drawn Apud Reges etiam quae pro sunt ita tamen ut delectent suadend a sunt Seneca And it is verified of it what the Heathen man hath
Thesauro suo providet nec sinit obrepere indignos Tertul. de Foenitent cap. 6. sufficient Grace dispensed and dealt out unto all men for their salvation There may be indeed a sufficiency of outward means but not of inward grace And there may be a sufficiency of grace to render them inexcusable but not to effectuate their conversion And therefore that School distinction of Gratia sufficiens Efficax seems not every way accurate enough The several members whereof which in a just division should be opposite are coincident with each other and that grace which is of it self sufficient must needs be of force and efficacy For as it is a part of the sufficiency of God that he is entire and every way absolute in his nature and altogether independent in his Actions upon the creature so it cannot but be essential to sufficient grace not to borrow of any other to want nothing for the accomplishment of the effect I deny not but that there may be a sufficiency in nature which is not ever attended accompanied with force and efficacy Thus a soveraign plaister may be sufficient to cure a putrid rotten sore And a medicinal Potion may be sufficient to recover a desperate disease And yet the indisposition frowardness and impatience of the Patient in plucking off the plaister assoon as it is applied or his peremptory refusal to drink of it may frustrate and void the vertue of it But where there is a sufficiency of grace there must of necessity be a concurring efficacy in removing all obstacles and impediments out of the way in mastering and overcoming the contumacy and obstinacy of the tough heart of man in making opposition and resistance For if it be in the power (k) It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Rom. 9.16 Non potest effectus misericordiae Dei esse in hominis potestate ut frustra illius misereatur si homo nosit Aug. l 1. ad Simpl. Quest 11. and liberty of the will either to imbrace or reject those offers and tenders of grace as it pleases Then that grace is not sufficient of it self which for the compassing of its own act is wholly dependent and beholding to another For sufficient grace may be considered either in regard of 1. Efficacy 2. Or the Effect The sufficiency and efficacy of grace are inseparable companions yet that grace which is sufficient of it selfe doth not always take effect And in this sense Christ died sufficiently but not effectually for all men in that they are not redeemed and ransomed from the cruel bondage of sin and Satan and actually partake not of the benefit If then grace both sufficient and efficacious be afforded unto all if to Pagans and Insidels much more to those that live in the bosom of the Church and enjoy the publick Ministry How comes it to pass that Agrippa S. Pauls Auditor Who taught as one having authority whose word was lively and mighty in operation What is the reason that Agrippa who was so sufficiently and efficaciously instructed was not converted by it but mangre this sufficient and effectual grace which they so earnestly plead for is still drawn aside with the bias of his corrupt lusts and makes open profession in the Text Almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian Secondly The second Corollary we may from Agrippa's example deduce this corollary and conclusion That the conversion of Agrippa's Princes and Potentates of the earth the Great and Mighty men of the world who are advanced to the highest pitch of remporal felicity is exceeding hard and difficult Why else should our blessed Saviour express himself in so high a strain of a vehement asseveration and lay it down for a dogmatical and a positive Truth Mat. 19.23 Verily I say unto you That rich men shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Not that the salvation of great ones is impossible or altogether desperate For even a Lazarus August Epist 89. â— 4. a poor man sate in Abrahams bosom who was rich as an Antient observes out of the Parable Rich and poor have both access to Heaven alike And yet nevertheless that of Saint Paul is an undoubted truth 1. Cor. 1.26 Not many wise men after the flosh not many mighty not many noble are called Men of this rank and quality are great strangers rare guests in Gods Kingdom wonderful dainties and delicates and as old Bishop Latimer was wont to term them They are Venison at Gods Table And hence it was that Luther dropt down that speech upon occasion of the death of Elizabeth Queen of Denmark a religious and gracious Princess (l) Scilicet Christus etiam aliquando voluit Reginam in coelum vebere Lutherus de Elizabetha Regina Dan. Tom. 2. Epist pag. 311. True indeed and so it is That Christ will sometimes take up a Queen into his Heavenly Kingdom Sometimes but very seldom This may be the reason of that resolute and definitive speech of Pope Marcellus the second of that name (m) Non video quomodo qui locum hunc altissimum tenent salvari possint Onophr in Marcel A double reason why the salvation of A grippa's proves so hard and difficult I see not how many that sit in the Popish Chair can be saved And that which he spake of the Popedom may after a sort be verified of all earthly Dignities and Promotious This is a cragged and a thorny way to Heaven more beset with difficulties then that of others There is a double cause and reason of it 1. The painted face of worldly glory 2. The ugly vizard of worldly shame First worldly glory is a Syren a Circe a common Strumpet which with her painted face and whorish looks catcheth men by the eye-lids infatuates and inchants their judgements inveigles and intangles their affections The painted face of worldly glory And so far doth it prevail in the seducing of them that unless Religion comes accompanied with a large Retinue of respect and reputation honours and preferments as so many Hand-maids to attend upon her and to bear up her Train they conceive it no meet match or mate for them and altogether unworthy their choice and acceptation witness the wavering example of that Heathen Consul of whom Saint Hierom makes mention who in private and pleasant conference was wont to impart his mind to Pope Damasus (n) Facito me Romanae urbis Episcopum ero protinus Christianus Hieron Epist 1. Do but make me Bishop of Rome and I will forthwith turn Christian That which he chiefly respected was the outside pomp and glory of Religion and unless he might be assured to better his state by the exchange he was at a point for his resolution To live and die a Heathen Secondly the ugly vizard of worldly shame is as great a Remora to mens conversion The ugly vizard of worldly shame as the painted face of worldly glory
Thus saith the Lord The Heaven is my Throne and the earth is my footstool Isa 65.1 And therefore it was advisedly and religiously answered by a profound Christian to an inquisitive and busy-headed Philosopher who overcuriously demanded touching the place of the Godhead Dic tu prius O Philosophe ubi non sit Tell us first O Philosopher where God is not Such was his resolution This the purblind Heathen discerned by the glimmering and dim light of nature And Heraclitus one of that rank thus invited his friends that came to visit him in his Stove with this assurance perswasion (a) Arist de Histor Arimal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Historian reports of the Antient Germans that they consecrated to their false and fained Gods (b) Tacit. Hist Lucos nemora Groves and shady places As supposing they could not be comprehended and included within the precincts and compass of any Habitation And yet God who is all center without circumference and knows no limitation of his nature power or presence makes choice nevertheless by way of appropriation to himself My House of a peculiar place and dwelling God challenges a house 1. Such was the Tabernacle for a time which was ambulatory in the Wildernesse unsetled in the land of Canaan The Tabernacle 2. So was the Temple afterward which was sixed at Hierusalem There kept he his fire and chimney as Ezekiel phraseth it The Temple at Hierusalem And dwelt as a Honsholder in his Mansion or proper Tenement And hereunto was annexed that solemn promise Psal 132.14 This is my rest for ever That is for many successions and generations There being Aeternitas Absoluta and Periodica And Aevum oftimes passes in Scripture language for Eternity which determined and expired with the coming of Christ who laid the foundation of another world by the publishing of the Gospel And thus was the Temple God's rest for ever Here did he dwell for he had a delight therein 3. And God dwels in our Temples and Churches where his name is publickly called upon and Religious Rites and Ceremonies duly celebrated and administred Our Temples and Churches yet with a difference and distinction The Temple at Hierusalem was not Locus ut locus The difference between them A bare and naked place But Locus ut sic A place in such a respect as the Schoolmen speak As being Medium divini cultus Scotus in Senten The place that God had chosen above all other to put his name there particularly allotted and appointed for divine Worship and honoured with many choice priviledges and special promises of audience and benediction whereunto they were to direct and turn their faces though far distant and removed from it in a forrain and strange Country even in their private devotions and supplications This was a lively Type and representation of the Body of Christ as himself is pleased to stile it Destroy this Temple John 2.19 In all which respects the Jewish Temple was God's House 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so called by way of Excellency But as for our Christian Temples and Churches they are consecrated to God's sacred worship and service and so made holy though not with an inherent holiness as Bellarmine presses it too far For how should timber and stones be capable not only of a spiritual quality but of saving grace which like unto the Leprosie must needs cleave unto the Walls yet do they partake of an adherent and relative holiness in regard of their use and end so long as they continue dedicate and must not at any time be perverted to profane and common Offices no not when the Assembly is dissolved which nevertheless can no way match and parallel either in outward glory or inward dignity and preheminence but must of necessity give place to that same special place Locus ut sic The Temple at Hierusalem For whereas the Temple sanctified the Congregation and meeting to the Jews our Temples are sanctified by vertue of the Assembly and Congregation Neither is the promise simply entailed to the place but to the persons and performances The joint participation of the Word and Sacraments the united devotion of the People the force of whose prayers prove like a great thunder-clap as Saint Hierom resembles it Or as the roaring of the enraged Sea so Saint Basil phraseth it To these I say doth the promise appertain Matth. 18.20 Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Which occasioned that common by word among the Jews (c) Dâ—usius Apotheg p. 20. Vbi duo sunt qui de Lege colloquuntur ibi Divinitas est inter eos as the Learned Drusius relates it So then both the Jewish Temple and the Christian Churches are but material Temples And God dwels not in Temples made with hands Acts 7.48 Both which I must passe over as Samuel did the seven Sons of Ishai These are not they which the Lord hath chosen It is the mystical and living Temple which God prefers as he did sometimes little David and wherein he principally resides The mysticall and living Temple And it is well observed by judicious Cameron that the word (d) Ecclesia hic non locum in quo convenitur sed caetum significat Cam. in 1. ad Carincap 11.18 et 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is never taken Topically nor doth the Church signifie throughout the New Testament any certain place but either an Ecclesiastical assembly and meeting or the spiritual society of the faithful The Church of the living God And to them alone St. Paul applies the words in the text For the Temple of God is Holy which ye are And he speaks not to stones but men These These are Gods Temples not only in their spiritual and better part their soul that same Divinae particula aurae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A sprig and branch of the Divinity it self pluckt of as it were from the tree of Life But even in the outward frame and constitution of their Bodies St. Paul affirms no lesse 1 Cor. 6.19 Know ye not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you Which bodies of ours though far different from the material Temples as being of a more excellent and Divine nature yet do they represent and resemble them by way of Analogy and proportion For as Salomons Temple was severed parted in Atrium populi the tabernacle of the Congregation the Sanctuary and the Sanctum sanctorum the Holy of Holies whereunto the Prophet Jeremiah alludes as some conceive in a threesold rehearsal and repetition The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord Jer. 7.4 In an apish imitation whereof the Heathenish Temples consisted of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Porch A Body and a Quire Even so the outward parts of the Bodies
of the Saints the hands and arms are the Court and Porch of this Temple The legs are so many Marble Pillars that support and bear it up the eyes in the forehead the supreme and highest place like windows that transmit and convey light And as for the inward cells of the Brain and Heart they are as the Sanctuary and Body of the Temple But the soul with the several powers and faculties the understanding Will Affections this is the Sanctum Sanctorum the most Holy of all other For as there is and ought to be a correspondence betwixt the nature of God and the manner of his service so must there be likewise an agreement betwixt it and the place God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth John 4.24 And as he is worshipped in Spirit for the manner so will he also be worshipped in spirit the for the place in the spirits souls of Believers Though God dwels in the Body yet chiefly in the Soul this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by way of excellency Gods Temple And thus are we at last come into Gods Temple by many degrees and steps as they ascended into that of Solomon Or as they climb up some long ladder by several staves which rise each higher then the other and like unto Jacobs ladder the foot whereof stood upon the ground so doth the material Temple but the top thereof which is the mystical reacheth unto Heaven Ingrediturque solo et caput inter nubila condit That is the spirit and soul of man (e) Arist de Anima Lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher teacheth Hierusalem which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above the mother of us all The Congregation of the first born whose names are written in Heaven And in two respects is the Church assimilated and compared to a Temple The Church a Temple in two respects 1. Ratione structurae et aedificationis 2. Ratione usus et inhabitationis First The Church is Gods Temple in regard of the structure or the building Ratione structurae et aedificationis For every house is built of some man but he that buildeth all things is God Heb. 3.4 God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Architect of heaven earth he likewise frames and fashions his Church which is as it were a Heaven here on Earth And as the soul in the Body doth Fabricare sibi domiclium so God who is the soul of the Church prepares and formes his own dwelling Nor shall we need over-curiously to enquire touching the manner of the workmanship Qui vectes quae ferramenta What tools and instruments God had to effect it which were the several Queries of the Epicure in Tully concerning the Creation of the world For as in the Creation Dixit et fact a sunt He spake the word and it was done he commanded and it was created So God doth but speak the word in the mouth of his Ministers there is but a Dixit on Gods part and forthwith there followes a factum est without more adoe There is neither noise of axe nor sound of hammer to be heard in the building of this Temple no more nay far less then in that sumptuous and stately Temple of Hierusalem The foundation of which Temple is not the Church The foundation of this Temple Not the Church that being the Temple it self This were to confound the building with the foundation and how should the Church be accounted the Pillar and ground of faith which relies and rests upon it or if the text seems to favour it and imports as much in express terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 3.15 yet is it onely Columna forensis like unto the Pillars of of the Heathen whereunto their solemn Laws and constitutions were publickly affixed and so made manifest and legible to the people It is not Columna architectonica that supports and bears up the weight of the frame Not St. Peter Nor is St. Peter the Pillar of the Church which he no more sustaines then ever St. Christopher carried Christ whom nevertheless the Romish faction injuriously honour as the great Atlas of the universal Church firmely leaning upon the strength of his shoulders and though St. Peter bestiled a pillar yet is that title given in common to the rest Galations the second Chapter and the nine verse And when Iames Cophas and Iohn who seemed to be pillars And it as worth the observing that St. Paul purposely inverts the order Iames Cophas and Iohn placeing James and not Cophas in the forefront least he should have seemed thereby to have conferred the Primacy upon him and made Peter Metropolitan over his Brethren Nor doth he join the Sons of Zebedee hand in hand who were surnamed Bonaerges and accompanied Christ in his transfiguration but ranks Saint Peter in the midst that he might no way be suspected to ascribe unto them the like authority and jurisdiction Let Peter then continue his name yet is he Petrus non Petra the chief corner Stone and Rock of our Salvation Christ builds not upon Saint Peter but builds Saint Peter upon himself (f) August in Mat. 16.18 Super me aedifieabo te non me super te as Augustine upon the place And let him for ever enjoy his title of Cephas and be deservedly honoured as a choice stone yet is he not the chief coâ—ner stone or the foundation of the building But Christ is the foundation of the Church two ways For other foundations can no man lay then that is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 A Doctrinal Foundation Respectu doctâ—inae reveâ—atae The supernatural and divine Truth of the Scriptures wherewith he inspired the Church in all Ages by the ministry of his messengers and in the fulness of Time instructed it by word of mouth Respectu doctrinae revelatae immediately in his own Person as being the Eternal Wisdom and Essential Word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who was sent from the bosom of the Father 1. A personal foundation Respectu gratiae salutiferae which by the satisfaction and merits Respectu gratiae salutiserae whereby he trod the wine-press alone he hath effectually purchased procured And herein it far exceeds and altogether differs from earthy foundations which are in imo laid low and deep within the ground but Christ is Fundamentum in summo the uppermost part of that new Hierusalem which commeth down from Heaven 2. Descend we therefore from the foundation to the walls the society and company of the faithful The people of God are the walls of the Temple all of them disposed and couched together as so many lively stones in a mystical and spiritual Temple This is that elegant strain and metaphos wherewith Saint Peter seems to be much affected and delighted to whom ye come as unto a living stone disallowed of by men but chosen of God
Church is one though every way inferiour to the former The first Temple of God is his glorious Majesty altogether infinite and incomprehensihle who as he is void of all bounds and limits in his nature so he is not included within any lists and terms of place His glorious Majesty Thus God dwelt in himself from all eternity In se apud se habitabat It was the answer of an Antient to those smattering Questionists Et apud se est Dens Pet. Lomb. dist 17. ere August and curious Inquisitors who would needs pry into the place of Gods abode ere this visible world was created The second Temple of God is the humane nature of Christ The humane nature of Christ which being hypostatically united to the Godhead it was the seat of the Deity in a most peculiar manner Being replenished with Divine Grace from his first conception as Solomons Temple was filled with a cloud at the dedication and that far above the capacity of the creature Full of Grace and Truth saith Saint John 1 Joh. 14. Of Truth which is the perfection of the understanding Of Grace which is the excellency and beauty of the Will Nor was he only full of habitual grace but of the Divinity it self For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the God-head bodily Col. 2.9 There is not a word in the Text but is dogmatically full and very significant and emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The very fulness of the God-head in the utmost latitude dwelt in Christ as in a sacred Temple And that personally and essentially not only in regard of the inward gifts and endowments which are imparted and dealt out unto us in measure and proportion This was not only Templum Domini but Templum Dominus as (l) August in Evang. John Augustine distinguished of old betwixt Panem Domini Panem Dominum Christ was both the Temple of the Lord and the Lord of the Temple The third Temple of God is the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a living and a walking Temple The Church and from hence it takes its name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of Gods habitation for though God be every where per divinitatis praesentiam and the whole world be his great presence chamber yet is the Church his privy chamber his withdrawing room where he most frequently converseth Walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks as Christ describes himself Revelations 2.1 abiding onely in the faithful per inhabitationis gratiam as in the place of his habitation And albeit every good creature be in God as in the conserving cause In whom we live and move and have our being which is nothing else then a (m) Id ipsum quod sumus nihil aliud est quam in uno Deo subsistentia Calvin Iust l. 1. subsistence in God and our preservation is but one continued (n) Quamdiu creatura est tamdiu creatur Durand in Senten Creation yet nevertheless God is not in every creature though every creature be in God as in the proper seat and mansion This Christ appropriates to his Disciples by special promise Iohn 14.16 And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is of singular force and denotes (o) Mirâ—â—r in scriptura singularem babet significationem notat enim constantiam penitissimam adhaesionem ejus rei quae dicitur mancre Camer Myr. Evang. in Joh. 14.16 constancy and continuance In which respect the Jews of old called the spirit of God by the name Shechina that is a Mansion or an habitation This is an inseparable priviledge of the Temple as Saint Paul quotes the Text 2 Cor. 6.11 For ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell among them walk there and if we stick not to credit the testimony of Antiquity God dwels no less virtually in the Church then in the Throne of the highest Heaven a devout soul is another heaven upon earth even that heaven which is mentioned in the Preface of the Lords Prayer Our Father which art in Heaven that is in the Saints And herein consists the difference betwixt Physical places (p) Anima beata est eaelum Bernard Pater Noster qui est in coelis id est in Sanctis August and this which is Metaphorical those contain and preserve the body but here the inhabitant includes and upholds the dwelling And as other Temples prove Sanctuaries to such as repair for refuge so is God an Asylum to his Church and a Sanctuary to his Temple And so have we compleatly dispatched and finished the several branches of the Allegory and the doctrinal part of the Proposition Which being thus premised we may from hence infer a threefold Corollary and Conclusion A threefold Corollary 1. The Dignity Of the Church 2. The Duty Of the Church 3. The Danger Of the Church All arising from the consideration of a Temple First we may take notice of the Churches Dignity and that in a double consideration The Churches Dignity in a double consideration 1. Simply and absolutely in it self as being the Temple the mystical Temple of God 2. Comparatively and relatively in reference to the material First then observe the absolute Excellency of the Church Simply and absolutely in it self as being Gods Temple For if as the Heathen Philosopher Menedemus some time spake Those stones were happier then the rest which served for their Altars Surely these Stones in this goe farre beyond them who are deputed to a higher employment to be the receptacle and habitation of the Spirit The entertainment of some Worthy and Noble Guest doth as it were enhaunce the honour of the dwelling Yea the presence of a dead Corps whose Ashes and Memory are for ever sacred and precious doth after a sort honour the Urne and dignifies the Grave that contains it O te beatum cespitem tanto Hospite Calvini Epitaphium Beza O cui invidere cuncta possint marmora As Beza warbled it most sweetly in a funeral Elegie and Epitaph of renowned Calvin What is it then for a poor Christian to harbour the living God not as a stranger or sojourner but a perpetual Residentiary Not to receive Angels into his house with righteous Lot But the holy spirit into his heart There to enjoy the constant presence in the powerful motions and excitations the soveraign and happy effects 1. As an Instructer This is the way walk ye in it Isa 30.21 2. As a Guide As many as are led by the spirit Rom. 8.14 3. As a Coadjâ—tor and Fellow-helper Likewise the spirit helpeth our infirmities Rom 8.26 4. As a Comforter But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost he will teach you all things John 14.26 The Comforter by way of Excellency above all other The Comforter by way of Propriety in opposition to all other And to have the
the Temple of God with Idols like unto that silly Hermit that seriously mediated a firm League of Friendship betwixt God and the Divel Promiscuously blending both Religions together Like unto bastard feathers imped in with the royal feathers of the Eagle (*) Metuendum est in postrema mundi aetate hunc errorem grassaturum quod ant nihil sunt religiones aut differant tantum vocabulis Melanet â—ostil de Baptisme Christi Extenuating and mincing the differences of both sides as if they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a needless question of words and names as Gallio spake of the Jewish yea a brainsick quarrel betwixt stomach and discretion Ask you these men their judgement in the controverted points They will tell you out of St. Paul Idolum nihil est The Idolatry of the Church of Rome is little or none at all Transubstantiation is now become a question onelâ— de modo It is not faith that justifies alone but works Nor is the Pope any longer that stigmatical Antichrist pointed out as it were with the singer And were it not for the absolute supremacy and jurisdiction of the Pope over Princes the asserting and maintaining whereof is crimen laesae Majestatis High treason no lesse then capital Who could bring a Quare impedit against these aequi vivocal Protestants for proving downright and professed Catholicâ—s These are the men that would set up a Bridge betwixt Rome and England for the passage of each to other A Bridge over the Sea as Xerxes once assayed in the Hellespont But all in vain For as Abraham replied upon the request of the rich man in the Parable Luke 16.26 so may it be answered the Romish party Besides all this betwixt you and us there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great gulf set so that they that would go from hence to you cannot neither can they come from thence to us And whether we regard (c) No peace with Rome B. Hall Sect. 2. the indisposition of the parties the difficulty of the means or the quality of the controversies this reconciliation and atonement of both sides together is an attempt impossible And if either Authority or Learning may bear sway then let the judgement of a late Reverend Bishop determine and umpire the question (d) King on Jonas Lect. 7. pag. 101. It hath been a favourable compromission of men more partial then wise that the questions betwixt Rome and the Reformed Churches might easily be accorded I find it not And I will be bold to say as Tully sometimes of the Stoicks and Academicks (e) Non de terminei sed de tota possessio ne contentio Acad. quest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianz. vita that the contention betwixt us is not for bounds but for the whole possession and inheritance Whether God or Man Grace or Nature the bloud of Christ or the merits of Saints written verities or unwritten vanities shall take place We have Altar against Altar Lyturgy against Lyturgy prayers against prayers doctrine against doctrine potentate against potentate Pope against Prince religion against religion subjection against subjection faith against faith so diametrally opposed As the Northern and Southern Poles shall sooner meet together then our opinions standing as they doe can be reconciled Thus far that worthy Bishop How long then halt we betwixt two opinions If the Lord be God let us follow him If Baal be God follow him was Elias counsel to the neutral Israelites 1 Kings 18.21 Are we happily rescued and set at liberty from that Egyptian thraldom whereof Reverend Grosthead prophecied a little before his Death (f) Non liberabitur Ecclesia ab Aegyptiaca servitute nisi in ore gladii cruentandi Grostheadus Episc Line That the Church should not be redeemed out of the Egyptian bondage but by the mouth of the bloudy sword Then let us not turn back again no not in heart and affection to the fleshpots of Egypt any more but as God enjoineth the Prophet Jeremy Jer. 15.19 Let them return to thee but do not thou return to them Are the walls of Jerico battered down in this Kingdom by the strong hand of two puissant and mighty Princes then cursed be they that go about with untempered mortar to build them up It hath been the complaint of old In nomine Domini incipit omne malum And it is still censoriously observed by some that there seldom happens any notable alteration in Religion but some of the Clergy are the Antesignani the very Ensign-bearers and chiefest leaders So that the Church may now complain with the Tree in the Fable that she hath been torn asunder with those wedges that were hewen out of her own bowels Pudet haes opprobria dici Et dici potuisse non potuisse refelli Let not us above all other leave our station and flie from our colours the open badge of a coward or a Traitour Let not us be carried about with every wind of doctrine like fans and weathercocks nor shift our sayls after the example of the common Mariner That is change our Tenets altogether or refine and pare away our opinions as the inconstant wind turns and flickers the wind of authority countenance and preferment Far be it from us to give place to the common Adversary by subjection for an hour Or to make merchandise of the least iota or tittle of the truth of the Gospel which as Luther gathers from these words Matth. 5.18 (g) Vnus apex plus valet quam coelum terra Luther Is of more worth then Heaven or Earth Each drop whereof we must esteem more precious then a drop of bloud Ever remembring and imitating that generous resolution of that stout Champion of Christ Saint Basil who when he was sollicited by the Deputy of Valens the Emperour to turn Arrian the difference consisting onely in a Letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 returned unto him that couragious Answer (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil apud Theodor. lib. 4. cap. 19. That they who were nourished up with the word of God would not exchange or bate so much as a syllable or letter of that Faith wherewith Christ had entrusted them It were indeed earnestly to be wished That the Apostles Rule might passe for currant among all Nations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such another Pillar of the Christian faith was Gregory Nazianz. who when he offered to leave the City of Constantinople all the People cried out as one man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianz. vitâ— Ephes 4.5 So should we willingly embrace and easily observe the foregoing Precept ver 3. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the bond of peace Peace is like the bond of the Faggot which preserves it intire and whole But where the unity of the Spirit is divided and rent in two how can the bond of peace be kept inviolate For as Jehu answered King Jehoram
Christianity And these are the brethren Not to baulk the Metaphor in the Text which layes close couched in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is borrowed and taken up from the course of War that directs and points out unto us a three-fold Analogy or resemblance The First betwixt dissolute Christians and extravagant and stragling souldiers both these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without rank and station unru y or disordered The Second betwixt the exercise of brotherly admonition and martial discipline 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Text restore and put their mind in order by admonition The Third betwixt private Christians and fellow souldiers whose duty it is to correct each roving companion that will not know his place or colours and to reduce them into order The words are three in number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will take and pick them out one by one like so many kernels of a Pomegranate without quartering or dividing of the skin marvel not that I give the first place of handling to that which is last and begin with those who had need to be first dealt with and these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the unruly A double Quaery A double Quaere or inquiry may be moved concerning the subject of the Text. An sit Quid sit 1. An sit Were it not a taking away of the subject to make proposition of the first and a calling of that in question which which is no way questionable or controversal St. Paul here argues ex suppositis et concessis and it had been utterly superfluous to enforce and presse the duty of admonition had there not been some guilty and obnoxius unto censure certainly had St. Paul erected a holy inquisition and set Officers a work to make an exact search and scrutiny into the manners of Thessalonians they would have give in a verdict like unto Ezekiols roul written without and within as full of corruptions and offences as that was full of Lamentations and woes at least they would have returned some disordered I may say of them as Christ advertised his Disciples concerning the poor these dissolute and unruly persons ye have them and shall have them alwaies with you There must be such and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Paul tells the Corinthians even in the visible Church of Christ that being vox aequivoca and totum heterogeneum an equivocal word and heterogeneal body whose name though common to all yet are the several parts every way different in the nature Many are in the Church that are not of the Church as corrupt humors in the body that are no formal members and it is not local (e) Non Hierosolymis fuisse sed Hierosolymisbene vixisse laudandum est Hieronym residence nor outward conformity but the vital participation of inward sanctity that ranks men in the number of sound Christians And being such they are not absolutely priviledg'd exempted from Ataxy or disorder Be the choice never so good there will be some rascal Deer within the pale of the Church And though it be Acies ordinata an uniform and well marshalled army there cannot want 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are unruly and disordered So then the question An sit is out of question and taking leave of that we passe to the Quid sit and search more narrowly into the property of their nature 2. Quid sit Disorder is a defect or privation and privations are best differenced and discerned in reference to their proper forms and habits (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot Straightness is Index sui obliqui and such is the friendship even among contraries though at formal enmity and opposition in their nature that they afford a more distinct and evident knowledge mutually to each other if compared and ranked together Order in the full extent and latitude containes these two Branches First Order contains in it two Things The publick Discipline and Government of the Church wherein there are several 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sundry steps and staies above each other a diversity of degrees and functions There is nothing more unequal in Ecclesiastical Polity then parity and equality That being the breader of (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot confusion and not of order which is made up of parity and imparity wisely allotting and appointing the power of jurisdiction and correction to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as command in chief and sit at the Helm and regular obedience to inferiors and they that are refractory in this kind are branded by Saint Paul with the black character of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is his injunction to the Thessalonians 2 Thess 3.6 To withdraw themselves from every brother that walketh inordinately and not after the Instructions which ye have received of us Both these are connected and coupled together and the latter is an Exegesis or explication of the former so that to despise government or wilfully to reject the just commands of Authority must needs argue a man inordinate There are Praecepta Patris and Decreta Matris Divine Precepts and Ecclesiastical constitutions The Pharisaical Papists make the Word of God of no effect through their Traditions And as if they were an illegitimate and spurious issue bastards and no sons acknowledge none but their Mother The giddy Novelists on the other side so seem to reverence the self-sufficiency of the Scriptures that withall they cry down the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church though no whit repugnant thereunto And while they vainly boast as the Jews of old that they have one God for their Father they no way observe and respect the Church as their natural and lawful Mother But as Paul speaks in another case 1 Cor. 11.11 Neither is the man without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord No more is the Father without the Mother nor the Mother without the Father God and the Church are both essentially required to the generation and must be reverently and religiously regarded though in a far different manner of such as are true born Christians And as Saint Cyprian hath long since determined (h) Non potest Deum habere patrem qui Ecclesiam non habet matrem Cyprianus de unit Eccles They cannot have God for their Father in Heaven who will not receive the Church for their Mother here in Earth Secondly Order fitly sets forth composedness of manners and integrity of life where men of a vicious disposition and a lewd behaviour are justly stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as passing all bounds of order Not to stray beyond the proper signification of the word which is ofttimes the best Interpreter Nomina notamina names being so many lively expressions and notations yea compendious Definitions of the several natures thereby deciphered and included in them as the shell contains the kernel Order though a branch of our Latin Tongue yet is it a sprig that sprouts from a