〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make choice of fit opportunities for recreation And thus with what perspicuous brevity these various serious subjects would affoard I have unfolded the latitude of this evil which is here called the lust of the flesh To winde up this discourse in few words How great a predominancy this lust of the flesh hath in the world the gluttonies drunkenness and uncleane practices of the most do sadly proclaime Seneca complained that the men of his time were Inter vinum oleum occupati altogether taken up with wine and oyle I would to God such were only to be found among Pagans but alas these swarme in the Christian world nay which is yet more sad in the Reformed Protestant Church of England Oh that Papists and Sectaries had not too just cause to say A great part of the English Protestants are uncleane adulterous gluttonous epicures quaffing drunkards riotous gamesters so that whilest they profess the purest faith they leade the most debauched lives For these Bastard Sons doth their Mother the Church mourne and suffer at this day and yet as if all her sufferings were not worth their pitty they still renew and multiply these sins to the dishonour of her profession and the prolongation of her miseries Indeed according to that known Proverb Venter non habet aures The belly hath not ears voluptuous persons are deafe to divine instructions and as St Hierome truly speaking of these sins Eò deponere est difficilus quò eis uti est dulcius they are therefore very difficult to leave because so sweet to enjoy so that as Solomon observeth of the Adulterer in particular it is too true of all those sorts of sinners they are hardly and therefore rarely reclaimed but yet I will not wholly despaire even of their conversion however for others prevention I shall propose these following considerations The lust of the flesh is defiling debasing destroying and consequently not only to be abandoned but abborred 1. It is defiling True it is as our Saviour saith That which goeth in at the mouth the Object of these lusts doth not defile a man but it is as true that which cometh from the heart the lust after these Objects doth defile Indeed all sin is of a polluting nature but especially these and therefore one of these lusts in a pecular manner is called impuriâ—y and uncleanness The gross acts of these sins defile the body and the very lust after them defileth the soul 2. It is debasing Indeed nothing is more naturall then a desirâ— after these Objects but yet nothing is more unnaturall then the inordinate lust after them and what a shame is it that the grace of God should not teach us to deny these lusts which the light of nature teacheth Heathens It is observed that of all living Creatures Man hath the narrowest Wombe and the straitest Throate as if nature would thereby teach us to be the most abstemious The truth is the lust of the flesh is not only unchristian because contrary to the precept and practice of our Lord and Master but inhumane because opposite to the dictates of â—eason so that we may truly affirme men by the fulfilling of this lust become like the beast that perisheth whilest gluttony transformeth them into Tygars drunknness into Swine uncleanness into Goats sloth into Dormouses and laziness into Asses nay shall I adde they are worse then the Beasts for whereas these Creatures cannot be made to eate or drinke more then their naturall appetite requireth and observe their usuall times of conjunction voluptuous men regard neither season nor measure in the satiating of their lusts Add to all this 3. It is destroying And here I might enlarge in severall respects this lust of the flesh being that which destroyeth the credit the state the body yea without sincere repentance the soul of him that indulgeth to it Solomon saith of the Adulterer and it is as true of the Glutton and Drunkard A wound and dishonour shall be get and his reproach shall not be wiped away sensuall lusts whilest they please the flesh blot the name and though the execution of them content the sinners taste and touch they make him to stinke in the nostrils of God and Man Again the Wiseman warning the young man not to lust after the whorish woman in his heart saith That by meanes of an whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread and elsewhere in one Verse he tels us That the Drunkard and the Glutton shall come to poverty and Drousiness shall cloath a man with rags The full cup makes an empty purse and the fat dish a lean bag a soft bed a thin shop and the costly Mistris a thredbare servant yet again Solomon saith of the Adulteress she hunts for the precious life it is no less true of banquâ—tings drinkings revellings and such like It is not seldome seen that men by satisfying these carnall lusts endanger their lives ruine their healths and hasten their ends Finally The Wiseman saith of the unclean sinner that he destroyeth his own soul and it is verified of the rest The Gluttons table is a snare as well to his soul as his body the Drunkards cup spoileth him of grace as well as wit the Gamester staketh his soul as well as his state and the Sluggard by consulting his bodies temporall ease hazardeth his souls eternall rest And now my Brethren if upon all these accounts you are at last willing to bid farewell to this lust of the flesh remember what is hinted in the begining of this discourse namely that it is a fire and therefore you will do well to take the same course in subduing this lust which men do in putting out a fire More particularly take notice of these foure directions 1. Extinguish it whilest but a sparke least when a flame it become too powerfull resist the very beginning since if you give the least way to you will be entangled by it Verecunda peccati initia sensuall desires at first are modest but if consented to and delighted in are more and more craving yea at last commanding Indeed Sensim sine sensu by little and little insensibly this lust gets ground of us therefore let us be watchfull betimes to espye and prevent it 2. Substract the fewell which feeds and increaseth it Sâ— Peters counsell is Abstaine from fleshly lusts which is best done by taking away that which foments them what St Paul saith of the legall Ceremonies touch not taste not handle not that I may fitly apply to sensuall lusts take heed of the occasions inducing to them Eradenda sunt pravae cupidinis alimenta if you would not have lust to fatten do not feed it Not to launch out into those many particulars which might be reckoned up in this kinde beware especially of evill company It is Solomons advice Be not amongst wine bibbers amongst riotous eateâ—s of flesh The way not to be of
Christ his Church and Gospel and to their own and others Souls and to the peace and welfare of these and as they will answer the neglect to c. at their peril By Richard Baxter A Prospect of Eternity or mans everlasting condition opened and applied By John Wells Minister of Olâ—ves Jâ—wry London Ovids Festivals The Arcadian Princess By Rich. Brathwait Esq Truths manifest The Golden mean or some serious considerations for a more full and frequent administration of though not free admission unto the Sacrament of the Lords Supper By Stephen Geere Minister of Abinger in Surrey In large twelves Bâ—ccace's Tales or the Quintessence of Wit Mirth Eloquence and conversation framed in ten days out of an hundred curious Pieces by seven Honourable Ladies and three Noble Gentlemen preserved to posterity by the renowned John Boccacio the first refiner of the Italian prose A Pattern of patiencâ— in the example of holy Job being a Paraphrase on the whole Book as an expedient to sweeten the miseries of these never enough to bee lamented times The Abridgement of Christian Divinity By Wolleb englished and enlarged by Alexander Rosse The Vanity of the Creature By Edward Reynolds In small twelves A Call to the unconverted to turn and live and to accept of Mercy whilst mercy may be had as ever they will finde mercy in the day of their extremity from the living God By Rich. Baxter Souls solace The summe of all By Chibbal Helvius Colloquies Protestants practice or the Compleat Christian being the true and perfect way to the Celestial Canaan necessary for the bringing up of Youth and establishing the Old Christians in the faith of the Gospel By a reverend Father of the Church of England A method and instruction for the Art of Divine Meditation together with instances of the several kinds of solemn meditation By Tho. White There is now in the Press a Practical Commentary on the whole seventeenth Chapter of St. John by Master George Newton of Taunton in Somersetshire Errata PAge 7. Line 1â— r. the p. 23. l. 1. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 26. l 24. r. the p. 35. l. 27. blot out is that p. 39. l. 10. blot out en l. 28. r. considerat p. 90. l. 35. r. intimate p. 155. l. 17. after offended r. at p. 182. l. 20. r. tas los p. 202. l. 26. after genuine a and add My p. 201. b. l. 21. ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 22 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 26. r. differentem 20â— l. â—â— after Christ r. saith p. 219. l. 33. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 223 l. 32. r ding p. 228. l. 35. r. that they p. 237. l. 36. for the r. a p. 242. l. 24. r. unprofitable p. 244. l. 15. r. reputemus p. 258 l. â— r. most l. 9. r. grown p. 259. l 18. r. in which respect p. 260. l. 20. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 261. l. 22. for which r. wit 264. l. 4. bloâ— out to 266. l. 31. r. non 2â—1 l. 8. after that r. your 287. l. 30. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 290. l. 2. r. single 292. l. 7. r. assists 301. l. 33 blot out on 304 l. 24. after by r. this 307. l. â— r. adverb 310. l. 18. r. no less 320. l 8. r. heart 324. l. 12. for should r. shall 330. l. 7. for if r. of 332. l. 13. r. ois l. 14. r sensual 336. l. 17. r. up those trees 339. l. 8. blot out it is 345. l. 8. r. teachers 371. l. 10. blot out as 391 l. 29 for to r. of 39â— l. 34. r. she 398. l. 18. for â— r. â— 400. l. 6. â— for â— 414. l. â—â— in s not 416. l. 35. r. left for 426. l. 31 make a after one and blot out the after out 4â—3 l. â— r. rationis l. 2. blot out ra l. 9. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 440. l. 12. r. then 442. l. 14. r. controversy 446. l. 28. r. Spanish 465. l. 18. r. looketh l. 27. r. affect 466. l. 9. r. pater non l. 14. r. arbitrio 569. l. 1â— r. even 582. l. 19. for type r. title 600. l. 21. r. Marcion 622. l. 4. for a make a 631 l. 7. after sin in s and 637. l. 36. r. os 644. l. 27. r. which they 655. l. 34. r. ma. 657. l. 33. after Saints insert as 671. l. 18. r. is 673. l. 13. r. what Take notice that the Pages 201 204 205 are double the latter of which have a b. annexed to them in the Table As also that the figures 545 54â— c. to the end of that sheetâ— should be 481 482 c to 489. Ep. 2. v. 1 Hieron Ep. ad Demetri Id. ibid. Ambros Ep. ad Deâ—etri Id. ibid. Ep. 2. v. 5. Vers 3 6 10 16 19 2â— 24 Oecum in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coloss 1. 9 10. Theoph. ibid. Psal 119. 100. Joh. 7. 19. Greg. Naz. Orat. 29. Audiendo praecepta Dei illuminati non sunt faciendo illuâ—ati sunt Greg. Hom. in Evang. 23. id ibid. Ezek. â— 8. Quid per manus nisi activa vita quid per pennas nisi contemplativa signatur Greg. in Ezek. Hom. 3. id ibid. Ad monet non â—tiosam esse Dei notitiam c. Calv. in Loc. John 17. 3. Beza in Loc. Rev. 4. 11. Luk. 1. 75. Exod. 1. 8. Hos 2. 8. Mat. 7. 23. Ovid. Agnoscendo eum Tirin Joh. 10. 4. Mal. 1. 6. Isa 53. 11. Rom. 5. 1. 2 Tim. 1. 12. Rom. 10. 14. Hier. contra Lucifer Fulgent contr Arrian Heb. 11. 1. Joh. 6. 69. Greg. M. in Evang. hom 22. l. 2. Isa 53. 1. Rom. 10. 16. 16. 26. James 2 25 John 1. 10. Col. 2. 6. Sciendi seu cognoscendi sermo in Scripturâ divinâ praecipuè non semper notitiam manifestat nisi experimentum alicujus rei habere c. Didym in loc Eccl. 8. 5. 1 Cor. 5. 21. Phil. 3. 10. Oecumen in loc Job 22. 22. Aret. in Rom. 7. 12. Isai 1. 16. 1 Pet. 2. 24. Rom. 12. 7. Matth. 25. 30. Luk. 16. 3. Vide Chrisost hom de virtut vit Gal. 6. 2. Mat. 5. 6 7. Prov. 3. 1. Psal 119. 11. Joh. 14. 21. Vide Aug. ibid. Psal 119. 4 5. Vers 94. Phil. 2. 8. Vide Beza ib. Aug. in Joh. 14. 2 Tim. 4. 5. Rev. 3. 10. Vide Zanch. in Loc. 1 Cor. 13. 6. Act. 9. 5 6. Psal 9. 9. 11. Quem qui non cognoscit licet viderit caecus audiat surdus loquatur elinquis Lact. de vero cultu l. 6. c. 9. John 17. 3. Fer. in loc Gualt ibid. Zanch. in loc Tit. 1. 16. Aret. in loc Isai 58. 1 2. Hos 8. 1 2. Mat. 7. 22 23. Calvin in loc Acts 26. 18. 2 Thes 2. 12. Lor. in loc Rom. 2. 20. Vide Menoch in loc Vide Zanch. in loc Psal 119. 66 111 10. Greg. in Ezek. hom 22. l. 2. Jer. 22. 16. Hos 4. 2. 1 Sam. 2. 12. Jer. 2. 8 4 22.
THE First general EPISTLE OF St. JOHN THE APOSTLE Unfolded Applied The Second PART In Thirty and seven Lectures on the Second Chapter from the third to the last Verse Delivered in St. Dionys BACK-CHURCH By NATH HARDY Minister of the Gospel and Preacher to that Parish LONDON Printed for Joseph Cranford and are to bee sold at his shop at the Castle and Lion in St. Pauls Church-yard 1659. To the Right Honourable Lady Christian Countesse Dowager of Devonshire Madam I Finde this Holy Apostle directing his Second Epistle to an Elect Lady whereby hee conferr'd no small Honour upon her I am bold to dedicate this Second Part of my weak Labours on his first Epistle to your Ladyship as esteeming it and that justly a great Honour to mee St. John dignifieth the Person to whom hee wrote with the Title of a Lady it seemeth hee was of another spirit than our Levelling Quakers who denying a Civil difference of Superiour and Inferiour refuse to give those Respects both in Gestures and Titles which are due to some above others And as he calleth her a Lady in reference to her external Quality so an Elect Lady in regard of her choice internal qualifications as being to use St. Hieromes Language concerning a prime Lady in Rome Non minus sanctitate quam genere Nobilis no lesse good than great An Amiable sight it is when these two entwine each other Piety in a mean one is like a Mine of Gold in the earth Nobility in a bad one is like a blazing Comet in the Aire But Piety in a Noble person is like a bright star in the Heavens Honour without Vertue is as a Cloud without water Vertue without Honour is as a Room without Hangings But Vertue and Honour is as a Golden Apple in a Silver Picture or rather as a Pretious Diamond in a Golden Ring Both these were conspicuous in St. Johns Elect Lady and I may no less truely say are met together in you Should I give the World a true account of those Intellectual Moral and Spiritual endowments which God hath conferred upon your Honour I easily beleeve what St. Hierome saith in reference to a Noble Lady Si quacunque virtutibus ejus congrua dixero adulari putabor I shall bee censured as a Flatterer Besides to speak St. Ambrose his phrase in an Epistle to the same Lady I am justly fearful Nâ— verecundiae tuae onerosa foret etiam vera laudatio lest I should offend your Ladyships Modesty by expressing a Character of your worth though never so consonant to truth I foresee also how needlesse any Enconium will bee of your Merit The Lives of great persons being as Cities built upon an Hill generally obvious I am withall sufficiently sensible what an arrogance it is ut tuis praedicationibus ingenium meum par esse praesumam as the same Father in the same Epistle elegantly that I should think my rude pensil fit to draw the Lineaments of your better part upon all which considerations I have resolved against that common custome of a Panaegyrick Onely after St. Johns pattern I beseech you Madam that you would abound yet more in all vertue so as the light of your good works may shine more and more to the perfect day To this end Let those excellent counsels which are given by him in this Chapter and though I cannot say fully yet I dare say faithfully expounded by mee in this Book bee firmly engraven upon your Noble Breast Account it your Highest Honour with Mary to sit as it wete at Christs feet not onely that you may hear but keep his Commandements and to make good your Christian profession by treading in his footsteps and walking as he walked By imploying as you do this Worlds goods for Pious Hospitable and charitable uses let it appear that you have learned to Love your Brother and not to love this world Go not forth to those Antichristian Lying Teachers who by Heresy and Schisme are gone out of the Church of England that according to the Motto of your Honours Armes Cavendo tutus your pretious soul may bee still safe from errour by bewaring them and their poysonous doctrins Finally As you know so abide in him whom you have beleeved and let those truths which you have heard from the beginning and hitherto embraced abide in you to the end of your life I must not Right Honourable conclude this Epistle without fulfilling the chief End of its Dedication namely to confesse my Obligation and professe my gratitude to your Ladyship for those kinde aspects and benigne influences which in these black and cloudy daies the bright beams of your goodness have vouchsafed as to many of my Reverend Brethren so in particular to my self the unworthiest of them all I have nothing more to adde but my Devotions That the great God would accumulate upon your own person with all that are descended from and related to you the blessings of Life Health and Wealth of Love Grace and Peace of Joy blisse and Glory is and shall bee the uncessant Prayer of Madam Your Honours greatly Obliged and Humbly devoted Servant NATHANAEL HARDY To the Reader THis Epistle which I have undertaken by divine assistance to unfold is as it were a goodly Fabrick consisting of five Rooms being divided into so many Chapters Among those this Second is the most spatious and specious by reason of which this Volume is swelled far bigger than the former I need not tell thee how well worthy this Room is of thy most serious view Thus much I dare assure thee the more often thou lookest into it the better thou wilt like it At the entrance into it is as it were the Effigies of Christ as an Advocate for thy Consolation and a pattern for thy Imitation Towards the further end is the portraiture of Antichrist with all his cursed crew spitting fire out of their mouths against the Holy Jesus denying him to bee the Christ against whom the Apostle giveth a seasonable Caveat On the right hand hang the lovely Pictures of those Virgin graces Knowledge Obedience Love of God and of our Neighbour and perseverance in the faith On the left hand are represented those mis-shapen Monsters of Malice and Envy in hating our brother of worldly love with all her Brats the lust of the flesh the lust of the eies and the Pride of Life Finally there are in it several partitions one for Fathers another for young men and a third for Children for Men for Christians of all ages and sorts These following discourses are as so many windows to let in light to this Room whereby thou mayest the better view it and whatever is contained in it I have not made use of painted glass which though it may adorn obscureth but rather that which is plain and clear as affecting not the ostentation of my own wit in high language but thy edification by significant expressions I have
more do we plead for the Baptizing of Infants Is it not because as Origen and Austin assure us it is a practice which the Church received from the Apostles and so an Apostolicall tradition which the more plainly appeareth because in St Cyprians time though there was a Controversie about Baptizing Infants upon the Eight day yet the thing it self is supposed as a practice then in use and though we do not read totidem verbis in the Scripture that the Apostle Baptized Infants yet it is very probable when as St Paul cald the Children of a believing Parent holy if he do not by the very phrase intend as the Learned Dr Hammond not improbably conceiveth yet that he did allow Baptism to those Children and where we read that whole Families were Baptized the Children might be among the number In one word It is the glory of the Church of England that her Doctrines are exactly consonant to Universall and Primitive antiquity nor do we desire any other rule to examine them by then this which here is laid down by our Apostle The old Commandment is the word which we have heard from the beginning 2. To let this go That which is chiefly to be considered is the Minor of the Syllogisme That the Commandment of love was from the beginning Now that which would here be enquired into is whence this beginning taketh its date Indeed haec vox pro materiâ substratâ varié accipi potest this word beginning may admit of a several reference and I find no less then four several expositions of it here all of which are not repugnant to but consistent with each other from the beginning of their conversion of Christian Religion of the Mosaical administration and of the Creation 1. Some Interpreters render the sence of the words thus from the beginning that is from the time you became Christians and first gave up your names to Christ and were called to the faith according to which sence our Apostle seemeth to assert that one of the first lessons of Christianity is love St Paul speaketh of milk for babes and meat for strong men intimating that there are some Commandments and Doctrines which are only fit for grown Christians but this Commandment of love as it is meat for the strongest so it is milk for babes 2. Others give this construction of the words from the beginning that is From the beginning of the Gospels Publication ever since the Faith of Christ was made known to the world Soon after Christian Religion was revealed there were many who endeavoured to bring in other Gospels but this Commandement which St John wrote of was as old as Christianity and what he delivered to them he received from Christ himself In that Sermon of Christ which is first mentioned by the first of the Evangelists St Matthew this Precept of love is expressed and in the last Sermon that ever he preached this lesson of love is commended to them and being taught by Christ himself it must needs be from the beginning of Christianity 3. Many take the date of this beginning a great deal higher even as high as Moses That which you Israelites had of old in the writings of Moses delivered to you So that we now give no other Commandement in charge to you then that which God cmmanded Moses and the Prophets to preach It is the exposition which I most incline to For since it is not improbable as hath been already suggested that those to whom this Apostle wrote were if not only yet principally the Jews and the design of St John by these words being to prove that what he wrote was no new but an old Commandement it is improbable that he would prove it by a date of not much above sixty years nor would it especially to the Jews have been any conviction of the antiquity of his Doctrine that it was from the beginning of Christian Religion when as in their opinion Christs Religion was a new Doctrine Upon this ground it seemeth a more rationall construction to referre this beginning to Moses and our Apostle could not use a more prevailing Argument to the Jews then by letting them know that the command he gave them was as old as Moses and before enjoyned by him There is only one Objection to be Answered that if this from the beginning be taken so far of how doth the Apostle say not only which you had but which you heard whereas this beginning was many hundred years before they were But the learned Grotius hath framed a fit Answer to my hand interpreting vos by majores vestri you that is your Ancestours according as it is to be taken where it is said whom you slew and did not Moses give you the Law That then which according to this construction is here asserted is that the Commandment of Love was from the beginning of Moses and required in the Law as well as in the Gospell This is that which in some sence is granted by all even the Socinians but so as that they assert something to be added to it by Christ and that upon that account it is called in the next Verse a new Comandment In what sence this Epithete of new belongs to it shall be by and by discovered In the mean time that which the Orthodox assert and I shall endeavour to make good is That the Evangelicall command of Love was from the beginning of the Law and so nothing new enjoyned by Christ which was not before by Moses To this end Be pleased to know that the command of Love may be considred either Extensivè or Intensivè Extensively in regare of the Object or Intensively in respect of the Act. In both these respects say the Socinians Christ hath added to the Law for whereas say they the Law requireth the Jews only to love their Countrymen their Friends the Gospell requireth us to love our enemies and so the extent of the Object is larger And whereas the Law required only of the Jews an Active Love the Gospell requireth a Passive so far as to lay down our lives for the Brethren The chief ground on which they build the former is that of our Saviour You have heard that it hath been said thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy but I say to you love your Enemies and the foundation which they lay of the latter is that the Law commanded only to love their Neighbours as themselves but the Gospell To love one another as Christ loved us which is in effect to love others better then our selves by laying down our lives for them which is more then the Law required To enervate both these Arguments and establish the truth of the Orthodox Assertion Be pleased to know 1. That Neighbour which is set down as the Object of Love in Moses his Law includeth Enemy as well as Friend To clear this I shall propose a double demand
latter daies fo abundanly discovered by many learned pens as that I shall not need to inlarge onely give mee leave in a few words to let you see how vast a difference there is between our going out from them and the going out of these Hereticks from the Apostles 1 These Antichrists in going out from the Apostles and their followers went out from the whole Christian Church that had been planted by them in several parts whereas wee in going out from the Roman go out onely from a particular Church I well know the Papists proudly arrogate to themselves the title of Catholike but without the least show of reason nay it is with as great absurdity as if a man should say a part nay a less part is the whole The number of Christians being far greater which renounceth than that which imbraceth the Popish Doctrin 2 These Antichrists in going out from the Apostles went out from those Ecclesiastical governours to whom they owed subjection but wee owe no obedience to the Bishop of Rome and therefore have justly cast off his yoak Indeed hee most presumptuously assumeth to himself the title of Universal Bishop and maketh himself the Vicar of Christ upon the account that hee is the successor of St. Peter But as it is no way to bee evinced from Scripture that S. Peter had any more power communicated to him than what the other Apostles had so neither can any reason bee given why this power if granted to S. Peter should bee derived to his successor at Rome rather than at Antioch nay why it should not have devolved from him to the Apostle S. John who out-lived him and so to his successors that this universal power therefore belongs not to him of right is manifest and it is no less clear that defacto it was never exercised by any Roman Bishop for more than six hundred years after Christ Boniface the third being the first who obtained of that wicked Emperor Phocas the title of Universal Bishop And whereas the Pope claimeth a peculiar right to our obedience upon the score of having planted Christianity amongst us and having had a concession of it from some Kings To the former it is answered that this Island was converted to the faith of Christ long before Augustines preaching to the Saxons either by Joseph of Arimathea or Simon Zelotes as our Annals tell us and secondly that though Augustine whom the Pope sent over had been the means of our conversion yet that is no argument for our subjection to the Pope for by the same reason all the Nations converted by S. Paul and his ministry are in all ages obliged to bee subject to that chair where S. Paul sate at the time of his sending out or going himself to convert them which as it hath no truth in it self so would it bee very prejudicial to S. Peters Pastor-ship To the latter it is returned that either this power of that concession was so originally vested in our Kings that they might lawfully grant it to whom they pleased and then as one King conceded it another may recall it or else if it were not then was the grant invalid being but a robbery in the giver can devolve no right to the receiver By all which it appeareth that we have made no schism in with-holding obedience from the Pope 3 Chiefly these Antichrists in going out from the Apostolical went out from a pure Church in which there neither wanted sound doctrin nor good discipline but wee in going out from the Papists go out from a Church degenerated and polluted with damnable heresies To clear this know 1 That when any Church or number of Christians are grown so corrupt a body and so far infected that wee canno communicate with it without manifest sin wee not onely may but ought to go out from them Indeed it is necessaâ—y both by vertue of that precept which calls upon Gods people to â—ome out from Babylon and likewise as a means of preservation from that contagion wee otherwise must needs receive so that it is as needful to separate from such a Church in order to the souls safety as it is for a man to go out of an infected house or abstaiâ— from a Lepers company in order to his bodily health 2 That the Church of Rome at that time when we went out from her was and still continueth a very corrupt Church Many of her Doctrines directly contrary to the Scriptures not heard of in the primitive Church yet imposed as articles of faith Her Woâ—ship superstitious Ridiculous Incongruous to right Reason Apostolical Practice yea Dâ—vine precept and yet pressed as necessary to bee performed by which means it is that they put upon us the sad dilemma of going from their communion or going against the clear light of Divine Truth shining from Gods Word upon our consciences in which respect wee justly say they not wee have made the separation and so the schism lyeth at their door To shut it up what S. Austin said to the Donatists wee say to the Romanists Tollatur paries erroris simul sumus let the partition wall of imposing unreasonable opinions and practices upon us bee taken away and wee are ready to unite with them wee divide not from them as they are a part of but so fâ—r as they are divided from the Catholike Church wee have done our part in reforming our selves and it is their fault that upon this followeth a breach of communion with them who will not reform They not wee are gone out from the Ancient Primitive and Apostolical Church in which respect they are justly termed Antichristian nor do we any further go out from them than in those things wherein they are gone forth from the Apostles When Jeroboam with others of the children of Israel revolted from their Lawful King and Gods instituted worship some of the Pâ—iests Lâ—vits and others left their habitation and went to Judah that they might serve God and their King surely not those who went but those who stayed were the Rebels and the Schismaticks thus are the Romanists guilty for leaving the footsteps of the Apostles not wee for leaving theirs to follow the Apostles Finally wee still hold communion with them in votis earnestly desiring that those just causes they have given of our Non-communion with them by their Popes usurpation of Supremacy and infallibility by their superstitious innovations both in matters of Doctrine and practice may bee removed and to this end that a general Council might bee lawfully called and freely act to whose determination wee are willing to submit and therefore can acquit our selves from Schism in the sight of God and man But whilst the Papists unjustly revile the Church of England I am sure shee hath had cause of weeping over the multitudes of those who in this Apostatizing age have gone out from her how justly may shee take up a complaint in Gods owne language Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth
I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me They that have been baptized in her Font educated by her Pastors and sucked what knowledge and grace they have if yet they may be said to have any from her breasts have now forsaken her yea are risen up against her Viper-like eating out her bowels Oh what sad breaches have been made in the Doctrine and Disciplins of the Church by those wilde beasts Socinians Familists Anabaptists Quakers and such like who being made to goe out of the field have trampled down the hedge endeavouring to lay all waste And now I would to God that all Sectaries would at length sadly consider these two things how causelesse yea how cursed this their departure from the Church of England is 1 How causelesse their going out is were easie to make appear by an induction of the several particulars which are alledged as pretences such as are Infants Baptisme Episcopal Ordination and Jurisdiction Administration of the Lords Supper to all baptized persons of age not convicted of any scandalous offences which they call mixt Communion as also those harmlesse yea useful because significant Ceremonies which our Church retained all which though by them declaimed against as Popish will be found upon due inqniry some of them Apostolical all of them ancient institutions and practices of the Catholick Christian Church though yet should wee grant some of them to bee pollutions and spots in our Church it would only inferre a lawful desire and endeavour of reformation not warrant a Schismatical separation since no corruptions in any Church can give allowance of going out of it unlesle they be such as strike at the very foundation of Christian Doctrine and Worship It may perhaps bee here pleaded that as wee forsook the communion of the Roman Church because we apprehended it guilty of such erroneous Doctrines and practices with which wee could not communicate without sin so doe the Sectaries upon the same apprehension of the like in our Church forsake ours and therefore if their separation from us bee causelesse ours from the Papists may seeme to be as unjust But to this we return that neither have we given them the like cause as the Church of Rome gave us not have they the like rational conviction as wee had Wee impose nothing to be beleeved in Doctrine as necessary to Salvation which wee doe not demonstrate to have been the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles and the Catholick Church and so ought to bee beleeved wee require nothing to be done in matter of practice which is not of ancient usage in the Christian Church and in its owne nature is at least indifferent and so may bee done without sin and therefore it is not a just conviction but at best a deceiving perswasion at worst a wilfulresolution which causeth their separation and so it is in truth causelesse 2. Adde to this that other consideration namely how cursed it is which is evident in several respects 1 Of Christ and his Spirit who is hereby grieved It is very observable that they who are said in this verse to goe out from the Apostles are called in the verse before Antichrists whilst wee goe from Christs Church wee goe against Christ and by rending from his Body wee grieve his Spirit and therefore St. Ambrose calls Schism a sin against the Holy Ghost 2 Of the Church which is hereby weakned the taking of any stones out of the building lesseneth the strength of the whole fabrick if one Souldier break his rank the whole company is disordered by it thus doe they who goe out of the Church ruire the Church it self interrupting her unity which is at once her strength and beauty upon this account it is well observed that whereas other sins are contra sngulos against particular persons this of Schisme is contra universos against a generality so that as much as community is above a person so much is Schisme above other sins yea as much as a sacred is better than a civil command so much this sin is worse than that of Sedition 3 Of others in as much as by this means 1 Those that are malicious enemies against the Church have their mouthes opened to calumniate her and all that are strangers without the Church are hindred from coming in to her Clemens Alexandrinus repeateth the saying of one to this purpose who cryed out You Christians have so many Sects let my soul bee with the Philosophers 2 Those who are within the Church in as much as some to wit the weak are stagger'd and ready to question which is the true Church nay whether there be any Church at all and others to wit the strong are sadded whilst for these divisions of Ruben are great searchings of heart 4. Lastly of themselves who by their back-sliding separation hasten upon themselves perdition a branch plucked from the root must needs wither a member â—â—â— off from the body dyes and those that leave the Church perish Nos tentat Dâ—abolus ut lupus ovem a grege saith St. Cyprian As the Wolf tempts the sheep from the Fold so doth the Devil men from the Church and why this but that he may worry and devour them Discedentes â—â— Ecclesiâ— saith Ireneus de fonte Spiritus sancti non pâ—tant They that leave the garden of the Church cannot drink of the fountain of the Spirit What became of those who were out of the Ark when the â—loud came they must needs perish in the waters no lesse miserable is their condition who goe out of the Church Yea which renders their condition so much the more desperate is that they who once goe out of the Church doe seldome return to it That of the Poet Quis peccandi sibi finem possuit is as true â—rrandi both sin and errours are boundlesse in this respect among others the wandring as of Sinners so Hereticks is like that of a lost sheep which strayeth from pasture to pasture but never of it self goeth back to the fold the path of errour is a going down hill in which men goe nay run from errour to errour till at last they fall into the pit of destruction And now my Brethren think I beseech you that the Church of England bespeaketh you this day in those words of our Saviour upon a like occasion Will you also goe away nor can we return a better answer than that which St. Peter in behalf of himself and the rest gave to Christ Whither shall wee goe thou hast the words of eternal life in this Church is the Orthodox dispensation of the Gospel the faithful administration of the Sacraments and the Primitive Apostolical Discipline established and therefore whither shall we goe Here it is that Christ feedeth his Flock in green pastures by still waters why should we be as they that turn aside Oh let us pitty the seduced multitude who have left Churches for Conventicles judicious preaching for ignorant