Thus lie the Words and thus lie they in their own order to be handled and first for the Physician that Shepheard and Bishop of our Sculs as St. Peter calls him GOD. 1 Ep. 2.25 There are two waies especially by which miserable man doth dishonour his Maker and rob him of his Glory The one is by taking from the other is by adding to the Sacred Deity Of the first are those Irreligiosi who strike at the Divine Majesty and either acknowledge none or such an One as by disâ—bling Him they mâ—ke none Of the second are those Superstitiosi who such is their Holiness acknowledge a God yet afford him for which they shall never receive th nke certain Coadjutors this same Deos populares or Miâ—orum gentium Angels or Saint or Stocks or what they most fancy and unto these in all Necessities do these miserable wretches address themselves Of the first sort was Diagoras and he flatly denies a God secondly Protagoras and he is doubtful and makes a question whether there be a God thirdly I add unto these both another as bad as both David's Fool Dixit insipiens in corde Psal 14. and 88. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God This is some religious outside of which God help the World is too full in these daies who together with his Dog comes to the Church and perchance dares stare the Preacher in the face He will tell you there is a God and a Religion after which that God is to be worshipped and perchance he shall talk and tumble out as much Divinity as may win him the Name and Reputation of a Zealous Gentleman but Dixit in corde all this while He can distinguish of Quota pars to rob the Church And as the Jews could plead a Law to put Christ to death Joh. 19.7 We have a Law and by our law he ought to die so can he find Law to manacle those hands which reach to him the Blessed Sacrament and find a Law to dishonour those the Sacred Writ pronounced worthy of double Honour 1 Tim. 5. As much will he do by Fatherless or Widows or ought else accounting whatsoever his pretences be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 6. His Gain is his Godliness and his Revenues his Religion After this Fellow comes there in another and he Confesseth and with halting Agripâ—a is half-perswaded of the matter His heart tells him there is a God But what Eliâ—haz casteth in Jobs teeth Epicure-like he proposeth to himself That God walking in the circle of Heaven cannot through the thick Clouds see our misdoings And therefore after his Master Ennius he concludeth Ego Deûm esse genus semper dixi dicam coelitum sed eos non curare Either for their Greatness they may not or for their Goodness they will not behold the things that are done here beneath upon the Earth His Gods are Gods upon the Mountains not in the Valleys Gods in Heaven and not in Earth Gods only somewhere and therefore no where Gods so confined to places and Cases as he is yet to seek for his Religion And therefore with the Samaritans 2 Kings 17. He dares be of any or of all Religions yet Lions taught them a lesson how to fear God and that roaring Lion 1 Pet. 5.8 will teach him when 't is too late to acknowledge Gods Providence In a word to him and all the rest I say no more but what Michaiah sometime did to Zidchiah The day is at hand and you shall see in that day when you shall go from Chamber to Chamber to hide you when you shall say to the Mountains fall on us and to the Hills cover us You shall see there is a GOD who beholdeth all that is done here beneath upon the Earth Bern. You shall see there is a GOD too great to be terrified too wise to be deceived too Just to be corrupted when your selves against your selves shall be forced to confess Verily there is a Reward for the Righteous doubtless there is a God that judgeth the Earth Now after Irreligion steps forth Superstition who believeth a God and a Righteous God yet with Jacobs How should it hath not yet learnt to put away those Deos alienos those strange Gods other Gods no gods which He and his Father worshipped He hath found out for every Town and every Trade and every Sickness and every Any thing a god proper and peculiar to that purpose he would employ him in St. Gallus shall keep his Geese St. Wendolin his Sheep St. Eulogie his Horses St. Anthony his Piggs One is good for the Tooth-ach another for the Plague One is for the Mariner another for the Tanner c. In a word He hath his Angelos Tutelares and his Sanctos Tutelares and nothing makes me more wonder then that so many dear Friends will after all this suffer his poor Soul to fry in Purgatory Well I say no more but with the Apostle 1 Cor. 8. Though there be that are called Gods whether in Heaven or in Earth as there be many Gods and many Lords yet unto us there is but one GOD which is the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him But every man hath not knowledge the Publican had and therefore doth he invocate God alone GOD be merciful to me a sinner And indeed thus must He thus must all do whether we regard his Mercy or his Justice the favours he hath bestowed on us or the punishments he may inflict upon us This made David somewhere cry out Tibi soli peccavi 't is in that penitential Psalm of his after his Murder and Adultery Against Thee onely have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight Bathsheba is dishonoured Vriah is murthered Davids posterity disgraced the whole Realm endangered yet Tibi soli Against Thee onely have I sinned O my God though my Sins be never so many never so bloudy never so hellish never so execrable yet Tibi soli peccavi The Sin against Thee alone is more than all the rest more many waies more infinitely I have offended Thee my God my good and gracious God I have offended Thee who mightest justly expect much of me to whom thou hast given much Thy eyes cannot behold Vanity and lo thou spiest out all my waies I could blear others Eyes Thine I cannot For thou O Lord knowest the very Thoughts of my heart long before Thou hast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Thou art Oculus ille insopitus Thy Eyes will neither slumber nor sleep but every Creature is manifest in thy sight Heb. 4. and all things are naked and open unto thy Eies with whom we have to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod And therefore Deus quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereby intimating that Fear and Reverence due to so infinite a Majesty of whom the Prophet David somewhere saith
therefore Christ proposeth a Parable that we should always pray Luke 18. Prayers are Arma Christianorum as Tertullian And I fear those weapons have been too often wanting in our Armies I am sure they were the weapons the best weapons in Moses days And you may see what made Joshua conquer Amalek and what put life into the Camp whiles Moses Cruce and Prece prevails with God Exod. 17.11 12. And the Apostle doth perchance allude to this 1 Tim. 2. when he requires men to pray Lifting up pure hands every where much more when we expose our lives to the Casualties of War When the Hoste goeth forth against thine Enemies then keep thee from every wicked thing Deut. 23.9 then especially then or never When Judah is in Captivity or danger then pour out thy soul in Prayer to God and then especially then or never Audi Domine the second thing observable To whom Moses doth direct his Prayer Hear Lord not hear Abraham hear Isaak or if those Patriarchs were then in Limbo as our Neighbours tell us yet methinks they should have another conceit of Enoch whom God took away Gen. 5. nay translated him that he should not see death Heb. 11.5 And yet 't is not Hear Enoch but Hear Lord. Vnto thee will I direct my prayer Psal 5. Whom have I in Heaven but thee Psal 73.25 To him therefore to him let us make our Addresses in all our Troubles for He calls He commands Venite ad me And doubtless that of Isai Chap. 63. is sound Divinity in the New Testament also Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel knows us not And those Saint-Servants may remember what Tertullian upbraided the Heathen withal in his days Vos Irreligiosi qui eam that is health and help Quaeritis ubi non est petitis à quibus dari non potest praeterito eo in cujus potestate est God is a Jealous God and will not have his Honour given to another Now as 't is Hear Lord so 't is Hear Lord the voyce of Judah Moses the Magistrate or if you will Moses the Priest For Moses and Aaron among his Priests Psal 99.6 Moses prayeth for Judah that 's not enough Judah must pray for himself also whether it be Judah the Warriour or Judah the Law-giver Psal 60. In War in Peace Judahs Prayer must be heard Hear Lord the voyce of Judah St. Peter bid Simon Magus repent and pray to God Acts 8. But what saith Simon pray ye to the Lord for me 'T is true Abrahams Prayer is heard for Abimeleck Moses is heard for Pharaâ—h Micha is perswaded of Gods favour for getting a Priest into his house Obed-Edom thrives for giving harbour to the Ark And the Shunamites Cost bestowed upon Elisha was not in vain 'T is true Oratio Justi oratio efficax multum valet as St. James said The fervent Prayer of a righteous man availeth much But Pray ye to the Lord for me is not enough Your own Repentance must make way for the Priests Prayers and your Prayers must go along with Theirs Judah's voyce must be heard as well as Moses's Prayer His heart is not enough God requires his voyce also I hate those Pharisaical Long-prayers and those cryed-up Bablers of the times so much say I of our Hypocritical Zealots whose House-reading is Roaring and their loud Prayers give Alarums to their sleeping Neighbours and what they do is to be known of men Intra in Conclave saith our Saviour Matth. 6. When thou prayest retire thee to thy Closet and shut the Door c. That 's for thy private Prayers but in the Church do the Works of the Church If thou be of the Congregation bear a part with the Congregation Let thy tongue tell me thy hearts awake I know Hannah prayed with the heart her lips only moved her voyce was not heard Her Sex perchance required that Modesty And she well knew the place she prayed in But surely the Godly cannot always contain themselves They will they must break out Tears and Desires will seek for vent Concalvit cor meum intra me saith David Psal 39. Mine heart was hoâ— within me the fire kindled and at the last I spake with my tongue And in this posture shall you most while find the Saints in their Prayers Moses cries to the Lord Exod. 8. Samuel crieâ— to the Lord 1 Sam. 7. Thus the Israelites thus David almost every where Clamavi ad Dominum In the 142 Psalm 2. v. I poured out my Complaints before him so we read The Tremelâ—ian reads it I poured out my Meditations before him not Quicquid in Buccam venerit not those sudden Raptures and ex tempore-long-winded-prayers of our New-gifted Pharisees But I poured out my Meditations I durst not offer any indigested unpremeditate-Prayers I Conclude this part Non vox sed votum The Heart as 't is the principal part of the body and seat of life so is it the principal part and life of our Prayers wherefore the heart must in no case be away But as our Saviour said upon another occasion These things ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone Heart and Tongue let both in Gods name go together Give him both that made both So will God hear the voyce of Judah The Second part followeth And bring him unto his people or as the Tremellian reads it Reduce bring him back Bring him home again unto his People Who hath not read the misery of Kings and Princes in all Ages Their Captivities Banishments and unthought-of Deaths How many have attended the triumphant Chariots at Rome Or who hath not heard of Bajazets Cage or Sapor's Foot-stool Many have gone forth but vestigia nulla retrorsum They wanted this Blessing of Judah God brought them not back unto their People But I shall keep my self to Israel and Judah those great Examples of Gods Justice and Mercy The Rebellious Israelites did a long time prosper at length losing their Religion they lost withal Gods Favour and their dearest Country They were totally Conquered made Captives and A never to Return did seal up their sorrows They left the Commandments of their God and their God left them He was angry very angry with Israel so that the Lord removed them out of his sight 2 Kings 17.18 They lost not only their Power and their Country but their Name also None left but the Tribe of Judah only in the same place And Moses's Blessing did not depart from Judah Still a Duc and a Reduc followed him God brings out David from the Philistins and Joash out of the Temple Manasseh is carried into Babylon yet God brought him back again 2 Chron. 33. And Jehoiachin after 37 years Captivity comes out of Prison to a Throne Still God rememembred Judah Afterwards follow those Indulgencies of Cyrus and Darius Judahs full Restorement They to their Country and one of their own to govern them Moses's Prayer still takes place Judah was brought back unto his People We have
Necessity But doubtless they shall feel no pain Nescio an habeant Regni honorem But he cannot say They shall enter into Heaven Thus far Ambrose and 't is well he will conclude with Nescio He cannot tell But the common Opinion of the Papists is peremptory That all Infants dying without Baptism are shut out of Heaven into a Limbus an imagined place of theirs where they shall feel no pain at all no poenam sensus but poenam damni No Torments but the Torment of Loss which they all say is the greatest to be deprived of that visio beatifica the sight of God The farther opening of the Text will open a way to answer all their Arguments unless it be those from Authority Now that the Fathers should be so violent in this matter we shall not wonder if we consider The frailty of men and how far the heat of Opposition doth oft times transport us How have we seen Authority idolized by some and submitted to with blind Obedience whiles others cry down all Magistracy and Superiority as unlawful unsufferable in Christian Societies Some in some Cases do patronize perjury Jura perjura c. Others condemn all Oaths as simply unlawful though before a Magistrate and for the testifying of the truth In the Observation of the Lords Day because Some require a Jewish Rigor and such a strictness as cannot sute with Christianity Others let loose the Reins to all Intemperance and Profaneness And thus have we gone from a Superstitious Lenten-fasting to feasting on the Passion Friday From praying over the Graves of the Dead to cry down all Decency in Christian Burials Sic trahit in vitium Culpae fuga God help I can be too copious in this Theme And therefore to return to the Fathers They were men also Vigilantius undervalued Virginity and Hierom to cross him speaks disgracefully of holy Wedlock The Manichâ—es take away all Free-will from Man in Morals in Naturals Many of the Fathers in heat of opposition cry it up too fast Pelagius held the Baptism of Infants a thing needless useless The Fathers again and against him so far urge the Necessity thereof That they exclude all Infants dying unbaptized from the hope of Heaven But will the Scripture say as much They say it will and the Master-Argument is this of my Text. Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit that is Except a Man be baptized he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God You heard before what Answer most of our Side made unto this place That nothing less is here intended than the Sacrament of Baptism But we have granted it And yet the Universal Negative shall not hold Universally You have such another place 2 Thess 3.10 Except a Man will work he must not eat And shall an Infant then be kept from Meat because Impotency disables them to work Again 't is said in sixth of John Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you And must all perish who do not partake of that other Sacrament of the Supper q v. Aug. contra 2. Epist Pelagii l. 4. c. 4. in Ps 64. l. 1. de peccat Merit c. 20. Cypr. de lap c. Indeed the Fathers some of them were sometime of this Opinion And therefore did they moysten some little portion of the Bread and so imparted it unto the Little ones Stillantur quaedam de Sacramentis This Opinion is long since exploded And Except ye Eat must suffer an Exception And why not here as well Except a man be born of water r lib. 4. dist 4. â— The Master of the Sentences understands it of those who may and do contemn to be baptized And the whole Schools except many They tell us The Baptism of Blood will suffice a Martyr They tell us Votum sufficit in Adultis If they come to years of Discretion the Desire of Baptism will suffice Now then if the words of my Text be not so General as to exclude All absolutely that dye unbaptized why shall poor Innocent Babes be here excluded If some may be received into bliss without Baptism Why should any Man tye the Mercies of God to second Causes in the case of Innocents Absit ut Vniversi parvuli pereant c. Innocent 3. Decret l. 3. tit 42. c. 3. They are the words of Innocent the Third in favour of Innocents God forbid that all those poor Souls those harmless Babes which daily dye should perish everlastingly but God hath allotted out some means to bring them also to Salvation Where though he understand the Means or Remedy to be Baptism yet I may sâ—y the same of other Ways if Baptism cannot be had God forbid That all those should perish those New-born Babes to whom that Sacrament is wanting they are not wanting to the Sacrament Epist 77. Bernard tells us there were other Remedies in elder times To Abraham and his Seed was given the Sacrament of Circumcision The Gentiles many of them were saved by faith and sacrifices And for their little Ones Solam profuisse imo suffecisse parentum fidem 'T was enough and enough to be born of faithful Parents The faith of the Parents did suffice for the Children And this saith he endured till the time of Baptism An verò ultra penes Deum est non meum definire But yet he concludes with the rest That Infants dying without Baptism go not to Heaven But I would ask him The Faith of others shall suffice the Infants which are baptized and why not those which born within the League or Covenant did die without it when not the Contempt of the Sacrament but the Article of Necessity excludes the Mystery Augustine himself will tell us That in others the Visible Sacrament is then supplyed invisibly De Baptis cont Donat. l. 4. c. 22. Epist. 77. nd Hugâ—n vict And why not here Me thinks in Bernards words it stands well with the gratious Mercies of the Almighty That where age alone hath denyed faith of their own there Grace should accept the supply of faith from another I farther add what all Men grant That Baptisme came in place of Circumcision Now Davids Child dyed without Circumcision yet could the Prophet comfort himself with that Heavenly Resolution I shall go to him 2 Sam. 12.23 Besides the Little Children slain by Herod some of them as 't is granted by Bellarmin and others in all probability not eight daies old and therefore by the Law not Circumcised yet are these Little Ones enrolled by their Church into the Alb of Saints Again That Circumcision was not simply and absolutely necessary which had yet as absolute a Command as this of Baptisme those forty years will testifie in which it was omitted in the Wilderness Jos 5 5. Gen. 17.14 Besides Jeremy and John Baptist were both sanctified in their Mothers womb And who then durst cut them off from the hope of Heaven
if they had missed the cutting of their Fore-skin And so likewise in the New Testament many are said to receive the Holy Ghost before they received Baptisme Wherefore as St. Peter said of some of them Act. 10. Can any man forbid Water I may say Could any man forbid Heaven if they had died without Water If any say Vid. Dom. Soto in 4. Sent. dist 5. q. unic art 2. The Votum or desire might suffice them because they were Adulti and come to years of discretion Let them know here could be no Votum because no knowledge And ignoti nulla Cupido In Comment in 2 Pet. 3. habet Sixt. Senens bib lib 6. Annot 340. Ambrosius Catharinus is more favourable to Infants He thinks they shall live in that New Earth which shall be at the end of the World in all pomp and jollity and shall there praise God for ever Thus do our Adversaries pass their Judgment on holy Innocents and that Rule of their Aquinas is forgotten Deus non alligavit gratiam suam Sacramentis Gods hands are not bound nor hath he tyed his Mercies or confined them to the Sacraments The Conclusion of this point is That Baptisme is the ordinary appointed Means for our Salvation And therefore neglect it not Yet hath God his special favour and his extraordinary Grace saving oft times saving without Means where the Means cannot be had Vid. Mortons Apol. not 6. c. 41. p. 121. jos Angl. par 1. q. 1. de Bapt. art ult con 3. And many learned Papists as Cajetan Gerson Gabriel are of our Opinion vid. Dom. Soto in 4. Sent. dist 5. q. 1. art 2. ubi de Aliis Part 5. The Benefits obtained by Baptism and how they are conveyed unto us Vide Chemnit exam Concil Trident part 2. p. 20. Many Schoolmen attributing too much to the outward Signs tell us That Grace is given in them and by them not only Instrumentally but either Effectivè or Dispositivè by an inherent vertue in the Elements You heard of some in elder times Vid Danaeum in Aug. de haeres in fin who did wholy slight this Sacrament The Socinians have done as much in our daies And some have done but little better whilst they make the Sacraments distinctive only nought but bare Signs or Notes of our Profession whereby from Jews Turks Pagans we may be discerned But we acknowledge Power in these holy Mysteries and that they are not meerly significative but exhibitive also Offering and conferring Grace Sed ex Institutione promissione c. Not of themselves but by the mercies of God in Christ they carry and conveigh the blessings of our Redemption and seal unto us those Promises which God hath made and Christ hath purchased with his precious blood Thus Augustine Tract 80. in Joh. How and whence comes this power to the Water that touching the Body it doth cleanse the Soul The Word the Word sa th he is cause of all not because spoken but because believed And thus Cyril of the Pool Bethesda Joh. 5. Tom. 1. in Evang Joh. l. 6. c. 14. That it did cure Diseases not by its own Nature for then it should have alwaies done it but only at the coming of the Angel 'T is so saith he in Baptisme where not the Water but the Water sanctified by the Holy Spirit doth wash away sins In Nazianz tom 1. Orat 6. de Sp. Sanct. ipse Nazianz in funere Caesarii fratris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. To these I add Elias Cretens in Nazianz. He tells us How the Water doth renew us unto Regeneration but the Grace and Blessing cometh from above And thus have you the fruit the benefit of Baptisme 'T is Opus Spiritus Sancti 'T is a work of the Holy Spirit Enough were said and say no more but it doth offer and confer Grace wash away sins and cleanse and sanctifie Ephes 5.26 'T is Janua Ecclesia Janua Coeli The Door through which we pass into the Church Militant and from thence into the Church Triumphant 'T is our New Birth our Second Birth There is a double Birth From the first Adam as Sinners from the second Adam as Saints By the first we are liable to Death by the second we have a right to Glory In the first we come crying with that of the Apostle Quis me liberabit Wretched Men that we are who shall deliver us In the second we come with Gratias in our mouths Thanks be to the Lord who hath so graciously bestowed upon us that worthy Name that good Name by which we are called James 2.7 Christians Christians All saving Graces all our Comfort all our Hopes are comprised within that Name Our next care must be to walk worthy that Name We must be New Creatures 2 Cor. 5. for as the Apostle said of Circumcision Gal. 6. we may say of Baptisme Baptisme or no Baptisme all is one unless we become New Creatures 'T was one of Jovinians Errours August de Haeres cap. 82. That the vertue of Baptisme could not be lost Homines non posse peccare Men could not sin Ergo Men could not perish And we in our Catechisme say That we are made Members of Christ and Children of God But rotten Members must be cut off and disobedient Children must be disinherited If you will hold of the head you must hold with the Head Do what he commands you Do as you have seen him do John 13. Are ye Christians Live like Christians Remember what John Baptist told the People when they came to his Baptisme Luke 3. The People all of them must be Charitable The Tax-gatherers and Excize-Men must be no Exactors The Souldiers must be content with their Wages and do violence to no man And all this under the Law And doth our Christianity require less No sure New Men New Manners And he that said Discite à me Math. 11.29 sends us elsewhere to School amongst those Little Children Learn of them Math. 18 3. Except ye be converted and become as Little Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of God And so Peter in the first Epistle second Chapter and second Verse As New born Babes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 desire the sincere Milk of the Word I so do you Sermons Sermons All for Sermons And that 's well done but that 's not all Look what follows and what went before First lay aside all malice guile hypocrisie envy and the like the very sins the reigning sins of those times Be Children in Malice 1 Cor. 14. And as the same Apostle elsewhere 1 Thess 4.6 Let no man oppress and circumvent his Brother No Oppressing that 's for the Gentlemen No Circumventing that 's for the Chapmen Here be Children here be Innocent This is the way Ambulate in ea the ready way to Heaven I spake but now of a double-birth Lo here 's a Third The last day will be our best day