Exposition which are not inclinable to think that Moses was matched like Socrates nor that Circumcision could now in Eleazar be strange unto her having had Gersons her elder son before circumcised nor that any occasion of châ—ler could rise from a spectacle of such misery as doth naturally move Compassion and not Wrath nor that Zipporah was so impious as in the visible presence of Gods deserved Anger to storm at the Ordinance and Law of God not that the words of the History it self can inforce any such affection but do onely declare how after the act performed she touched the feet of Moses saying Sponsus tu mihi as sanguinum Thou art unto me an Husband of Blood which might be very well the one done and the other spoken even out of the slowing abundance of commiseration and love to signifie with hands laid under his feet That her tender affection towards him had caused her thus to forget Woman-hood to lay all Motherly affection aside and to redeem her Husband out of the hands of Death with effusion of Blood The sequel thereof take it which way you will is a plain Argument That God was satisfied with that she did as may appeal by his own Testimony declaring How there followed in the person of Moses present release of his grievous punishment upon her speedy discharge of that duty which by him neglected had offended God even as after execution of Justice by the hands of Phineas the Plague was immediately taken away which former impunity of sin had caused In which so manifest and plain cases not to make that a reason of the event which God himself hath set down as a reason were falsly to accuse whom he doth justifie and without any cause to traduce what we should allow yet seeing they which will have it a breach of the Law of God for her to circumcise in that necessity are not able to deny but Circumcision being in that very manner performed was to the innocent Childe which received it true Circumcision why should that defect whereby Circumcision was so little wealmed be to Baptism a deadly wound These Premises therefore remaining as hitherto they have been laid because the Commandment of our Saviour Christ which committeth joyntly to Publick Ministers both Doctrine and Baptism doth no more by linking them together import That the Nature of the Sacrament dependeth on the Ministers Authority and Power to Preach the Word then the force and vertue of the Word doth on Licence to give the Sacrament and considering that the Work of External Ministery in Baptism is onely a pre-eminence of honor which they that take to themselves and are not thereunto called as Aaron was do but themselves in their own persons by means of such usurpation Incur the just blame of disobedience to the Law of God father also in as much as it standeth with no reason That Errors grounded on a wrong interpretation of other Mens Deeds should make frustrate whatsoever is misconceived and that Baptism by Women should cease to be Baptism as oft as any Man will thereby gather That Children which die unbaptized are damned which opinion if the Act of Baptism administred in such manner did inforce it might be sufficient cause of disliking the same but none of defeating or making it altogether void Last of all whereas general and full consent of the godly-learned in all ages doth make for Validity of Baptism yea albeit administred in private and even by Women which kinde of Baptism in case of necessity divers Reformed Churches do both allow and defend some others which do not defend tolerate few in comparison and they without any just cause do utterly disannul and annihilate Surely howsoever through defect on either side the Sacrament may be without Fruit as well in some cases to him which receiveth as to him which giveth it yet no disability of either part can so far make it frustrate and without effect as to deprive it of the very Nature of true Baptism having all things else which the Ordinance of Christ requireth Whereupon we may consequently infer That the Administration of this Sacrament by private persons be it lawful or unlawful appeareth not as yet to be meerly void 63. All that are of the Race of Christ the Scripture nameth them Children of the Promise which God hath made The Promise of Eternal Life is the Seed of the Church of God And because there is no attainment of life but through the onely begotten Son of God nor by him otherwise then being such as the Creed Apostolick describeth it followeth That the Articles thereof are Principles necessary for all men to subscribe unto whom by Baptism the Church receiveth into Christs School All Points of Christian Doctrine are either demonstrable Conclusions or demonstrative Principles Conclusions having strong and invincible Proofs as well in the School of Jesus Christ as elswhere And Principles be Grounds which require no Proof in any kinde of Science because it sufficeth if either ther certainty be evident in it self or evident by the light of some higher knowledge and in it self such as no mans knowledge is ever able to overthrow Now the principles whereupon we do build our souls have their evidence where they had their original and as received from thence we adore them we hold them in reverend admiration we neither argue nor dispute about them we give unto them that assent which the Oracles of God require We are not therefore ashamed of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ because miscreants in scorn have upbraided us That the highest point of our Wisdom is Belief That which is true and neither can be disceined by Sense not concluded by meer Natural Principles must have Principles of revealed Truth whereupon to build it self and an habit of Faith in us wherewith Principles of that kinde are apprehended The Mysteries of our Religion are above the reach of our Understanding above discourse of Mans Reason above all that any Creature can comprehend Therefore the first thing required of him which standeth for admission into Christs Family is Belief Which Belief consisteth not so much in knowledge as in acknowledgment of all things that Heavenly Wisdom revealeth the Affection of Faith is above her reach her Love to God-ward above the comprehension which the hath of God And because onely for Believers all things may be done He which is Goodness it self loveth them above all Deserve we then the love of God because we believe in the Son of God What more opposite then Faith and Pride When God had created all things he looked upon them and loved them because they were all as himself had made them So the true Reason wherefore Christ doth love Believers is Because their belief is the gift of God a gift then which flesh and blood in this World cannot possibly receive a greater And as to love them of whom we receive good things is Duty because they
his absence should bereave them of and secondly of the sundry evils which themselves should be subject unto being once bereaved of so gracious a Master and Patron The one consideration over-whelmed their Souls with heaviness the other with fear Their Lord and Saviour whose words had cast down their hearts raiseth them presently again with chosen sentences of sweet encouragement My dear it is for your own sakes I leave the World I know the affections of your hearts are tender but if your love were directed with that advised and staid judgment which should be in you my speech of leaving the World and going unto my Father would not a little augment your joy Desolate and comfortless I will not leave you in Spirit I am with you to the Worlds end whether I be present or absent nothing shall ever take you out of these hands my going is to take possession of that in your names which is not only for me but also for you prepared where I am you shall be In the mean while my peace I give not as the World giveth give I unto you Let not your hearts be troubled nor fear The former part of which Sentence having otherwhere already been spoken of this unacceptable occasion to open the latter part thereof here I did not look for But so God disposeth the wayes of men Him I heartily beseech that the thing which he hath thus ordered by his Providence may through his gracious goodnesse turn unto your comfort Our Nature for coveteth preservation from things hurtful Hurtful things being present do breed heaviness being future do cause fear Our Saviour to abate the one speaketh thus unto his Disciples Let not your Hearts be troubled and to moderate the other addeth Fear not Grief and heaviness in the presence of sensible Evils cannot but trouble the mindes of men It may therefore seem that Christ required a thing impossible Be not troubled Why how could they choose But we must note this being natural and therefore simply not reproveable is in us good or bad according to the causes for which we are grieved or the measure of our grief It is not my meaning to speak so largely of this affection as to go over all particulars whereby men do one way or other offend in it but to teach it so farr onely as it may cause the very Apostles equals to swerve Our grief and heaviness therefore is reproveable sometime in respect of the cause from whence sometime in regard of the measure whereunto it groweth When Christ the life of the World was led unto cruel death there followed a number of People and Women which Women bewayled much his heavy case It was a natural compassion which caused them where they saw undeserved miseries there to pour forth unrestrained tears Nor was this reproved But in such readiness to lament where they less needed their blindness in not discerning that for which they ought much rather to have mourned this our Saviour a little toucheth putting them in minde that the tears which were wasted for him might better have been spent upon themselves Daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me weep for your selves and for your children It is not as the Stoicks have imagined a thing unseemly for a Wise man to be touched with grief of minde but to be sorrowful when we least should and where we should lament there to laugh this argueth our small wisdom Again when the Prophet David confesseth thus of himself I grieved to see the great prosperity of godless men how they flourish and go untoucht Psal. 73. Himself hereby openeth both our common and his peculiar imperfection whom this cause should not have made so pensive To grieve at this is to grieve where we should not because this grief doth rise from Errour We erre when we grieve at wicked mens impunity and prosperity because their Estate being rightly discerned they neither prosper nor go unpunished It may seem a Paradox it is truth That no wicked man's estate is prosperous fortunate or happy For what though they bless themselves and think their happinesse great Have not frantick Persons many times a great opinion of their own wisdome It may be that such as they think themselves others also do account them But what others Surely such as themselves are Truth and Reason discerneth farâ— otherwise of them Unto whom the Jews wish all prosperity unto them the phrase of their speech is to wish Peace Seeing then the name of Peace containeth in it all parts of true happiness when the Prophet saith plainly That the Wicked have no peace how can we think them to have any part of other than vainly imagined Felicity What wise man did ever account Fools happy If Wicked men were wise they would cease to be wicked Their Iniquity therefore proving their Folly how can we stand in doubt of their misery They abound in those things which all men desire A poor happinesse to have good things in possession A man to whom God hath given Riches and Treasures and Honour so that he wanteth nothing for his Soul of all that it desireth but yet God giveth him not the power to eat thereof such a felicity Solomon esteemeth but as a vanity a thing of nothing If such things adde nothing to mens happiness where they are not used surely Wicked men that use them ill the more they have the more wretched Of their Prosperity therefore we see what we are to think Touching their Impunity the same is likewise but supposed They are oftner plagued than we are aware of The pangs they feel are not always written in their forehead Though Wickedness be Sugar in their mouths and Wantonness as Oyl to make them look with chearful Countenance nevertheless if their Hearts were disclosed perhaps their glittering state would not greatly be envied The voyces that have broken out from some of them O that God had given me a heart sensless like the flints in the rocks of stone which as it can taste no pleasure so it feeleth no wo these and the like speeches are surely tokens of the curse which Zophar in the Book of Iob poureth upon the head of the impious man He shall suck the gall of Asps and the Viper's tongue shall slay him If this seem light because it is secret shall we think they go unpunished because no apparent Plague is presently seen upon them The Judgments of God do not always follow crimes as Thunder doth Lightning but sometimes the space of many Ages coming between When the Sun hath shined fair the space of six dayes upon their Tabernacle we know not what Clouds the seventh may bring And when their punishment doth come let them make their account in the greatness of their sufferings to pay the interest of that respite which hath been given them Or if they chance to escape clearly in this World which they seldome do in the Day when the Heavens shall shrivel as a scrowl and the Mountains
and using all men as Brethren both near and dear unto us supposing Christ to love them tenderly so as they keep the profession of the Gospel and joyn in the outward communion of Saints Whereof the one doth-warrantize unto us their Faith the other their love till they fall away and forsake either the one or the other or both and then it is no injury to term them as they are When they separate themselves they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not judged by us but by their own doings Men do separate themselvs either by Heresie Schism or Apostasie If they lose the bond of Faith which then they are justly supposed to do when they frowardly oppugn any principal point of Christian Doctrine this is to separate themselves by Heresie If they break the bond of Unity whereby the Body of the Church is coupled and knit in one as they doe which wilfully forsake all external Communion with Saints in holy Exercises purely and orderly established in the Church this is to separate themselves by Schism If they willingly cast off and utterly forsake both profession of Christ and communion with Christians taking their leave of all Religion this is to separate themselves by plain Apostasie And Saint Iude to expresse the manner of their departure which by Apostasie fell away from the Faith of Christ saith They separated themselves noting thereby that it was not constraint of others which forced them to depart it was not infirmity and weaknesse in themselves it was not fear of Persecution to come upon them whereat their hearts did fail it was not grief of torment whereof they had tasted and were not able any longer to endure them No they voluntarily did separate themselves with a fully settled and altogether determined purpose never to name the Lord Jesus any more nor to have any fellowship with his Saints but to bend all their counsel and all their strength to raze out their memorial from amongst them 12. Now because that by such examples not onely the hearts of Infidels were hardned against the Truth but the mindes of weak Brethren also much troubled the Holy Ghost hath given sentence of these Backsliders that they were carnal men and had not the Spirit of Christ Jesus lest any man having an overweening of their Persons should be overmuch amazed and offended at their fall For simple men not able to discern their Spirits were brought by their Apostasie thus to reason with themselves If Christ be the Sonne of the Living God if he have the words of Eternal life if he be able to bring Salvation to all men that come unto him what meaneth this Apostasie and unconstrained departure Why do his Servants so willingly forsake him Babes be not deceived his Servants forsake him not They that separate themselves were amongst his Servants but if they had been of his Servants they had not separated themselves They were amongst us not of us saith Iohn and Saint Iude proveth it because they were carnal and had not the Spirit Will you judge of Wheat by Chaff which the winde hath scattered from amongst it Have the Children no Bread because the doggs have not tasted it Are Christians deceived of that Salvation they look for because they were denyed the joys of the life to come which were no Christians What if they seemed to be Pillars and principal Upholders of our Faith What is that to us which know that Angels have fallen from Heaven Although if these men had been of us indeed O the blessedness of a Christian man's estate they had stood surer than the Angels that had never departed from their place Wherein now we marvel not at their departure at all neither are we prejudiced by their falling away because they were not of us sith they are fleshly and have not the Spirit Children abide in the House for ever they are Bond-men and Bond-women which are cast out 13. It behoveth you therefore greatly every man to examine his own estate and to try whether you be bond or free children or no children I have told you already that we must beware we presume not to sit as Gods in judgement upon others and rashly as our conceit and fancy doth lead us so to determine of this man he is sincere or of that man he is an Hypocrite except by their falling away they make it manifest and known that they are For who art thou that takest upon thee to judge another before the time Judge thyself God hath left us infallible evidence whereby we may at any time give true and righteous sentence upon our selves We cannot examine the hearts of other men we may our own That we have passed from death to life we know it saith St. Iohn because we love the Brethren And know ye not your own selves how that Iesus Christ is in you except you be Reprobates I trust Beloved we know that we are not Reprobates because our Spirit doth bear us record that the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is in us 14. It is as easie a matter for the Spirit within you to tell whose ye are as for the eyes of your Bodie to judge where you sit or in what place you stand For what saith the Scripture Ye which were in times past Strangers and Enemies because your mindes were set an evil works Christ hath now reconciled in the body of his Flesh through death to make you holy and umblameable and without fault in his sight If you continue grounded and established in the Faith and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel Collos. 1. And in the third to the Colossians Ye know that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of that Inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ. If we can make this account with our selves I was in times past dead in Trespasses and Sinnes I walked after the Prince that ruleth in the Ayr and after the Spirit that worketh in the Children of Disobedience but God who is rich in mercy through his great love wherewith he loved me even when I was dead hath quickned me in Christ. I was fierce heady proud high-minded but God hath made me like the Childe that is newly weaned I loved pleasures more than God I followed greedily the joyes of this present World I esteemed him that erected a Stage or Theatre more than Solomon which built a Temple to the Lord the Haâ—p Viol Timbrel and Pipe Men-singers and Women-singers were at my Feast it was my felicity to see my Children dance before me I said of every kinde of vanity O how sweet art thou in my Soul All which things now are crucified to me and I to them Now I hate the pride of life and pomp of this world now I take as great delight in the way of thy Testimonies O Lord as in all Riches now I finde more joy of heart in my Lord and Saviour than the Worldly-minded-man when his Wheat and Oyl do much abound
Minde that his Soul is as the Soul of a Beast Mortal and corruptible with the Body Against which barbarous Opinion their own Atheism is a very strong Argument For were not the Soul a Nature separable from the Body how could it enter into discourse of things meerly Spiritual and nothing at all pertaining to the Body Surely the Soul were not able to conceive any thing of Heaven no nor so much as to dispute against Heaven and against God if there were nor in it somewhat Heavenly and derived from God The last which have received strength and encouragement from the Reformers are Papists against whom although they are most bitter enemies yet unwittingly they have given them great advantage For what can any enemy rather desire then the breach and dissention of those which are Confederates against him Wherein they are to remember That if our Communion with Papists in some few Ceremonies do so much strengthen them as is pretended How much more doth this Division and Rent among our selves especially seeing it is maintained to be not in light Matters onely but even in Matter of Faith and Salvation Which over-reaching Speech of theirs because it is so open to advantage for the Barrowist and the Papist we are to wish and hope for that they will acknowledge it to have been spoken rather in heat of affection then with soundness of judgment and that through their exceeding love that Creature of Discipline which themselves have bred nourished and maintained their mouth in commendation of her did soon overflow From hence you may proceed but the means of connexion I leave to your self to another Discourse which I think very meet to be handled either here or els where at large the parts whereof may be these 1. That in this cause between them and us Men are to sever the proper and essential Points in Controversie from those which are accidental The most essential and proper are these two Overthrow of Episcopal Erection of Presbyterial Authority But in these two Points whosoever joyneth with them is a counted of their number whosoever in all other Points agreeth with them yet thinketh the Authority of Bishops not unlawful and of Elders not necessary may justly be severed from their retinue Those things therefore which either in the Persons or in the Laws and Orders themselves are faulty may be complained on acknowledged and amended yet they no whit the nearer their main purpose For what if all Errors by them supposed in our Liturgy were amended even according to their own hearts desire if Non-Residence Pluralities and the like were utterly taken away are their Lay-Elders therefore presently authorised or their Soveraign Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction established But even in their complaining against the outward and accidental Matters in Church-Government they are many ways faulty 1. In their end which they propose to themselves For in declaiming against abuses their meaning is not to have them redressed but by disgracing the present State to make way for their own Discipline As therefore in Venice if any Senator should discourse against the Power of their Senate as being either too Soveraign or too weak in Government with purpose to draw their Authority to a Moderation it might well be suffered but not so if it should appear he spake with purpose to induce another State by depraving the present So in all Causes belonging either to Church or Commonwealth we are to have regard what minde the Complaining part doth bear whether of Amendment or Innovation and accordingly either to suffer or suppress it Their Objection therefore is frivolous Why may not Men speak against Abuses Yes but with desire to cure the Part affected not to destroy the Whole 2. A second fault is in their manner of Complaining not onely because it is for the most part in bitter and reproachful terms but also it is to the common people Who are Iudges incompetent and insufficient both to determine any thing amiss and for want of skill and authority to amend it Which also discovereth their intent and purpose to be rather destructive then corrective 3. Thirdly Those very Exceptions which they take are frivolous and impertinent Some things indeed they accuse as impious which if they may appear to be such God forbid they should be maintained Against the rest it is onely alleged That they are idle Ceremonies without use and that better and more profitable might be devised wherein they are doubly deceiv'd For neither is it a sufficient Plea to say This must give place because a better may be devised because in our judgments of better and worse we oftentimes conceive amiss when we compare those things which are in device with those which are in practice For the Imperfections of the one are hid till by time and tryal they be discovered the others are already manifest and open to all But last of all which is a Point in my Opinion of great regard and which I am desirous to have enlarg'd they do not see that for the most part when they strike at the State Ecclesiastical they secretly wound the Civil State For Personal Faults What can be said against the Church which may not also agree to the Commonwealth In both Statesmen have always been and will be always Men sometimes blinded with Error most commonly perverted by Passions Many unworthy have been and are advanced in both many worthy not regarded And as for abuses which they pretend to be in the Laws themselves when they inveigh against Non-Residence do they take it a matter lawful or expedient in the Civil State for a Man to have a great and gainful Office in the North himself continually remaining in the South He that hath an Office let him attend his Office When they condemn Plurality of Livings Spiritual to the Pit of Hell what think they of Infinite of Temporal Promotions By the Great Philosopher Pol. lib. 2. cap. 9. it is forbidden as a thing most dangerous to Commonwealths that by the same Man many great Offices should be exercised When they deride our Ceremonies as vain and frivolous were it hard to apply their Exceptions even to those Civil Ceremonies which at the Coronation in Parliament and all Courts of Iustice are used Were it hard to argue even against Circumcision the Ordinance of God as being a cruel Ceremony Against the Passover as being ridiculous should be giâ—t a staff in their hand to eat a Lamb To conclude You may exhort the Clergy or what if you direct your Conclusion not to the Clergy in general but onely to the Learned in or of both Universities You may exhort them to a due consideration of all things and to a right esteem and valuing of each thing in that degree wherein it ought to stand For it oftentimes falleth out that what Men have either devised themselves or greatly delighted in the price and the excellency thereof they do admire above desert The chiefest labor of a Christian should be know of
a Minister to Preach Christ crucified In regard whereof not onely worldly things but things otherwise precious even the Discipline it self is vile and base Whereas now by the heat of Contention and violence of Affection the Zeal of Men towards the one hath greatly decayed their love to the other Hereunto therefore they are to be exhorted to Preach Christ crucified the Mortification of the Flesh the Renewing of the Spirit not those things which in time of Strife seem precious but Passions being allayed are vain and childish GEO. CRANMER This Epitaph was long since presented to the World in Memory of Mr. Hooker by Sir William Cooper who also built him a fair Monument in Borne-Church and acknowledges him to have been his Spiritual Father THough nothing can be spoke worthy his Fame Or the Remembrance of that precious Name Iudicious Hooker though this cost be spent On him that hath a Lasting Monument In his own Books yet ought we to express If not his Worth yet oue Respectfulness Church Ceremonies he maintaiu'd Then Why Without all Ceremony should he die Was it because his Life and Death should be Both equal Patterns of Humility Or that perhaps this onely glorious one Was above all to ask Why had he none Yet he that lay so long obscurely low Doth now preferr'd to greater Honors go Ambitious men Learn hence to be more wise Humility is the true way to rise And God in me this Lesson did Inspire To bid this humble Man Friend sit up higher TO THE Most Reverend Father in GOD my very good Lord the Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY his Grace Primate and Metropolitan of all ENGLAND MOst Reverend in Christ the long continued and more then ordinary favor which hither to your Grace hath been pleased to shew towards me may justly claim at my hands some thankful acknowledgment thereof In which consideration as also for that I embrace willingly the ancient received course and conveniency of that Discipline which teacheth inferior Degrees and Orders in the Church of God to submit their Writings to the same Authority from which their allowable dealings whatsoever in such affairs must receive approbation I nothing fear but that your accustomed clemency will take in good worth the offer of these my simple and mean Labors bestowed for the necessary justification of Laws heretofore made questionable because as I take it they were not perfectly understood For surely I cannot finde any great cause of just complaint that good Laws have so much been wanting unto us as we to them To seek Reformation of evil Laws is a commendable endeavor but for us the more necessary is a speedy redress of our selves We have on all sides lost much of our first fervency towards God and therefore concerning our own degenerated ways we have reason to exhort with St. Gregory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us return again unto that which we sometime were but touching the exchange of Laws in Practice with Laws in Device which they say are better for the State of the Church if they might take place the farther we examine them the greater cause we finde to conclude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 although we continue the same we are the harm is not great These fervent Reprehenders of things established by Publick Authority are always confident and bold spirited men But their confidence for the most part riseth from too much credit given to their own wits for which cause they are seldom free from Error The Errors which we seek to reform in this kinde of men are such as both received at your own hands their first wound and from that time to this present have been proceeded in with that Moderation which useth by Patience to suppress boldness and to make them conquer that suffer Wherein considering the nature and kinde of these Controversies the dangerous sequels whereunto they were likely to grow and how many ways we have been thereby taught Wisdom I may boldly aver concerning the first that as the weightiest conflicts the Church hath had were those which touched the Head the Person of our Savior Christ and the next of importance those questions which are at this day between us and the Church of Rome about the Actions of the Body of the Church of God so these which have lastly sprung up from Complements Rites and Ceremonies of Church Actions are in truth for the greatest part such silly things that very easiness doth make them hard to be disputed of in serious manner Which also may seem to be the cause why divers of the Reverend Prelacy and other most judicious men have especially bestowed their pains about the Matter of Jurisdiction Notwithstanding led by your Graces example my self have thought it convenient to wade through the whole Cause following that method which searcheth the Truth by the causes of Truth Now if any marvel how a thing in it self so weak could import any great danger they must consider not so much how small the spark is that flieth up as how apt things about it are to take fire Bodies Politick being subject as much as Natural to dissolution by divers means there are undoubtedly more estates overthrown through diseases bred within themselves then through violence from abroad because our manner is always to cast a doubtful and a more suspicious eye towards that over which we know we have least power And therefore the fear of External dangers causeth forces at home to be the more united It is to all sorts a kinde of Bridle it maketh vertuous Mindes watchful it holdeth contrary Dispositions in suspense and it setteth those Wits on work in better things which could be else imployed in worse whereas on the other side domestical Evils for that we think we can master them at all times are often permitted to run on forward till it be too late to recal them In the mean while the Commonwealth is not onely through unsoundness so far impaired as those evils chance to prevail but farther also through opposition arising between the unsound parts and the sound where each endeavoreth to draw evermore contrary ways till destruction in the end bring the whole to ruine To reckon up how many Causes there are by force whereof Divisions may grow in a Commonwealth is not here necessary Such as rise from variety in Matter of Religion are not onely the farthest spred because in Religion all men presume themselves interessed alike but they are also for the most part hotlier prosecuted and pursued then other strifes for as much as coldness which in other Contentions may be thought to proceed from Moderation is not in these so favorably construed The part which in this present quarrel striveth against the Current and Stream of Laws was a long while nothing feared the wisest contented not to call to minde how Errors have their effect many times not proportioned to that little appearance of Reason whereupon they would seem built but rather to the vehement affection or
the help of Revelation Supernatural and Divine Finally In such sort they are investigable that the knowledge of them is general the World hath always been acquainted with them according to that which one in Sophocles observeth concerning a Branch of this Law It is no childe of two days or yesterdays birth but hath been no man knoweth how long sithence It is not agreed upon by one or two or few but by all which we may not so understand as if every particular Man in the whole World did know and confess whatsoever the Law of Reason doth contain But this Law is such that being proposed no man can reject it as unreasonable and unjust Again there is nothing in it but any man having natural perfection of wit and ripeness of judgment may by labor and travel finde out And to conclude principles the general thereof are such as it is not easie to finde men ignorant of them Law Rational therefore which men commonly use to call the Law of Nature meaning thereby the Law which Humane Nature knoweth it self in Reason universally bound unto which also for that cause may be termed most fitly the Law of Reason this Law I say comprehendeth all those things which Men by the Light of their Natural Understanding evidently know or at leastwise may know to be beseeming or unbeseeming vertuous or vicious good or evil for them to do Now although it be true which some have said that whatsoever is done amiss the Law of Nature and Reason thereby is transgrest because even those offences which are by their special qualities breaches of Supernatural Laws do also for that they are generally evil violate in general that principle of Reason which willeth universally to flie from evil yet do we not therefore so far extend the Law of Reason as to contain in it all manner of Laws whereunto reasonable Creatures are bound but as hath been shewed we restrain it to those onely duties which all men by force of Natural Wit either do or might understand to be such duties as concern all men Certain half-waking men there are as St. Augustine noteth who neither altogether asleep in fâ—lly nor yet throughly awake in the light of true understanding have thought that there is not at all any thing just and righteous in it self but look wherewith Nations are inured the same they take to be right and just Whereupon their Conclusion is That seeing each sort of people hath a different kinde of right from other and that which is right of it's own nature must be every where one and the same therefore in it self there is nothing right These good folks saith he that I may not trouble their wits with the rehearsal of too many things have not looked so far into the World as to perceive that Do as thou wouldst be done unto is a sentence which all Nations under Heaven are agreed upon Refer this sentence to the love of God and it extinguisheth all heinous crimes Refer it to the love of thy Neighbor and all grievous wrongs it banisheth out of the World Wherefore as touching the Law of Reason this was it seemeth St. Augustines judgment namely that there are in it some things which stand as principles universally agreed upon and that out of those Principles which are in themselves evident the greatest Moral duties we ow towards God or Man may without any great difficulty be concluded If then it be here demanded by what means it should come to pass the greatest part of the Law Moral being so easie for all men to know that so many thousands of men notwithstanding have been ignorant even of principal Moral Duties not imagining the breach of them to be sin I deny not but leud and wicked custom beginning perhaps at the first amongst few afterwards spreading into greater multitudes and so continuing from time to time may be of force even in plain things to smother the light of Natural understanding because men will not bend their wits to examine whether things wherewith they have been accustomed be good or evil For examples sake that grosser kinde of Heathenish Idolatry whereby they worshipped the very works of their own hands was an absurdity to Reason so palpable that the Prophet David comparing Idols and Idolaters together maketh almost no odds between them but the one in a manner as much without wit and sense as the other They that make them are like unto them and so are all that trust in them That wherein an Idolater doth seem so absurd and foolish is by the Wiseman thus exprest He is not ashamed to speakunto that which hath no life He calleth on him that is weak for health He prayeth for life unto him which in dead of him which hath no experience he requireth help For his journey he sueth to him which is not able to go For gain and work and success in his affairs he seeketh furtherance of him that hath no manner of power The cause of which sensless stupidity is afterwards imputed to custom When a Father mourned grievously for his son that was taken away suddenly he made an image for him that was once dead whom now he worshipped as a god ordaining to his servants Ceremonies and Sacrifices Thus by process of time this wicked custom prevailed and was kept as a Law the Authority of Rulers the Ambition of Craftsmen and such like means thrusting forward the ignorant and encreasing their superstition Unto this which the Wiseman hath spoken somewhat besides may be added For whatsoever we have hitherto taught or shall hereafter concerning the force of Mans natural understanding this we always desire withal to be understood that there is no kinde of faculty or power in Man or any other Creature which can rightly perform the Functions allotted to it without perpetual aid and concurrence of that Supream Cause of all things The benefit whereof as oft as we cause God in his justice to withdraw there can no other thing follow then that which the Apostle noteth even men endued with the Light of Reason to walk notwithstanding in the vanity of their minde having their cogitations darkned and being strangers from the Life of God through the ignorance which is in them because of the hardness of their hearts And this cause is mentioned by the Prophet Isaiah speaking of the ignorance of Idolaters who see not how the manifest Law of Reason condemneth their gross iniquity and sui They have not in them saith he so much wit as to think Shall I bow to the stock of a tree All knowledge and understanding is taken from them for God hath shut their eyes that they cannot see That which we say in this case of Idolatry serveth for all other things wherein the like kinde of general blindness hath prevailed against the manifest Laws of Reason Within the compass of which Laws we do not onely comprehend whatsoever may be easily known to belong to the
that those very Laws which of their own nature are changeable be notwithstanding uncapable of change is he which gave them being of Authority so to do forbid absolutely to change them neither may they admit alteration against the Will of such a Law-maker Albeit therefore we do not finde any cause why of right there should be necessarily an Immutable Form set down in holy Scripture nevertheless if indeed there have been at any time a Church Polity so set down the change whereof the sacred Scripture doth forbid surely for Men to alter those Laws which God for perpetuity hath established were presumption most intolerable To prove therefore that the Will of Christ was to establish Laws so Permanent and Immutable that in any sort to alter them cannot but highly offend God Thus they reason First If Moses being but a servant in the House of God did therein establish Laws of Government for a perpetuity Laws which they that were of the Houshold might not alter Shall we admit into our thoughts that the Son of God hath in providing for this his Houshold declared himself less faithful then Moses Moses delivering unto the Jews such Laws as were durable if those be changeable which Christ hath delivered unto us we are not able to avoid it but that which to think were heinous impiety we of necessity must confess even the Son of God himself to have been less faithful then Moses Which Argument shall need no Touchstone to try it by but some other of the like making Moses erected in the Wilderness a Tabernacle which was moveable from place to place Solomon a sumptuous and stately Temple which was not moveable therefore Solomon was faithfuller then Moses which no man endued with reason will think And yet by this reason it doth plainly follow He that will see how faithful the one or other was must compare the things which they both did unto the charge which God gave each of them The Apostle in making comparison between our Saviour and Moses attributeth faithfulness unto both and maketh this difference between them Moses in but Christ over the House of God Moses in that House which was his by charge and commission though to govern it yet to govern it as a servant but Christ over this House as being his own intire possession Our Lord and Saviour doth make Protestation I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me Faithful therefore he was and concealed not any part of his Fathers will But did any part of that will require the Immutability of Laws concerning Church Polity They answer Yea for else God should less favor us then the Jews God would not have their Churches guided by any Laws but his own And seeing this did so continue even till Christ now to ease God of that care or rather to deprive the Church of his Patronage what reason have we Surely none to derogate any thing from the ancient love which God hath borne to his Church An Heathen Philosopher there is who considering how many things Beasts have which Men have not how naked in comparison of them how impotent and how much less able we are to shift for our selves a long time after we enter into this World repiningly concluded hereupon that Nature being a careful Mother for them is towards us a hard-hearted Step-dame No we may not measure the affection of our gracious God towards his by such differences For even herein shineth his Wisdom that though the ways of his Providence be many yet the end which he bringeth all at the length unto is one and the self-same But if such kinde of reasoning were good might we not even as directly conclude the very same concerning Laws of Secular Regiment Their own words are these In the ancient Church of the Iews God did command and Moses commit unto writing all things pertinent as well to the Civil as to the Ecclesiastical State God gave them Laws of Civil Regiment and would not permit their Commonweal to be governed by any other Laws then his own Doth God less regard our Temporal estate in this World or provide for it worse then theirs To us notwithstanding he hath not as to them delivered any particular Form of Temporal Regiment unless perhaps we think as some do that the grafting of the Gentiles and their incorporating into Israel doth import that we ought to be subject unto the Rites and Laws of their whole Polity We see then how weak such Disputes are and how smally they make to this purpose That Christ did not mean to set down particular Positive Laws for all things in such sort as Moses did the very different manner of delivering the Laws of Moses and the Laws of Christ doth plainly shew Moses had Commandment to gather the Ordinances of God together distinctly and orderly to set them down according unto their several kindes for each Publick Duty and Office the Laws that belong thereto as appeareth in the Books themselves written of purpose for that end Contrariwise the Laws of Christ we finde rather mentioned by occasion in the writings of the Apostles then any solemn thing directly written to comprehend them in legal sort Again the Positive Laws which Moses gave they were given for the greatest part with restraint to the Land of Iury Behold saith Moses I have taught you Ordinances and Laws as the Lord my God commanded me that ye should do so even within the Land whither ye go to possess it Which Laws and Ordinances Positive he plainly distinguished afterward from the Laws of the Two Tables which were Moral The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire ye heard the voice of the words but saw no similitude onely a voice Then he declared unto you his Covenant which he commanded you to do the Ten Commandments and wrote them upon Two Tables of Stone And the Lord commanded me that same time that I should teach you Ordinances and Laws which ye should observe in the Land whither ye go to possess it The same difference is again set down in the next Chapter following For rehearsal being made of the Ten Commandments it followeth immediately These words the Lord spake unto all your multitude in the Mount out of the midst of the fire the cloud and the darkness with a great voice and added no more and wrote them upon two Tables of Stone and delivered them unto me But concerning other Laws the people give their consent to receive them at the hands of Moses Go thou nearer and hear all that the Lord our God saith and declare thou unto us all that the Lord our God saith unto thee and we will hear it and do it The peoples alacrity herein God highly commendeth with most effectual and hearty speech I have heard the voice of the words of this people they have spoken well O that there were such an heart in them to fear me and to keep all
plain testimony that they which prayed were not sure they should obtain it would follow that their Prayer being without certainty of the event was also made unto God without Faith and consequently that God abhorred it Which to think of so many Prayers of Saints as we finde have failed in particular requests how absurd were it His faithful people have this comfort that whatsoever they rightly ask the same no doubt but they shall receive so far as may stand with the glory of God and their own everlasting good unto either of which two it is no vertuous mans purpose to seek or desire to obtain any thing prejudicial and therefore that clause which our Lord and Saviour in the Prayer of his Agony did express we in Petitions of like nature do always imply Pater si possibile est If it may stand with thy will and pleasure Or if not but that there be secret impediments and causes in regard whereof the thing we pray for is denied us yet the Prayer it self which we make is a pleasing Sacrifice to God who both accepteth and rewardeth it some other way So that sinners in very truth are denied when they seem to prevail in their Supplications because it is not for their sakes or to their good that their sutes take place the faithful contrariwise because it is for their good oftentimes that their Petitions do not take place prevail even then when they most seem denied Our Lord God in anger hath granted some impenitent mens requests as on the other side the Apostles sute he hath of â—avor and mercy not granted saith St. Augustine To think we may pray unto God for nothing but what he hath promised in holy Scripture we shall obtain is perhaps an error For of Prayer there are two uses It serveth as a mean to procure those things which God hath promised to grant when we ask and it serveth as a mean to express our lawful desires also towards that which whether we shall have or no we know not till we see the event Things in themselves unholy or unseemly we may not ask we may whatsoever being not forbidden either Nature or Grace shall reasonably move us to wish as importing the good of men albeit God himself have no where by promise assured us of that particular which our Prayer craveth To pray for that which is in it self and of its own nature apparently a thing impossible were not convenient Wherefore though men do without offence wish daily that the affairs which with evil success are past might have faln out much better yet to pray that they may have been any other then they are this being a manifest impossibilty in it self the Rules of Religion do not permit Whereas contrariwise when things of their own nature contingent and mutable are by the secret determination of God appointed one way though we the other way make our Prayers and consequently ask those things of God which are by this supposition impossible we notwithstanding do not hereby in Prayer transgress our lawful bounds That Christ as the onely begotten Son of God having no Superior and therefore owing honor unto none neither standing in any need should either give thanks or make petition unto God were most absurd As Man what could beseem him better whether we respect his affection to God-ward or his own necessity or his charity and love towards men Some things he knew should come to pass and notwithstanding prayed for them because he also knew that the necessary means to effect them were his Prayers As in the Psalm it is said Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the ends of the Earth for thy possession Wherefore that which here God promiseth his Son the same in the Seventeenth of Iohn he prayeth for Father the hour is now come glorifie thy Son that thy Son also may glorifie thee according as thou hast given him power over all flesh But had Christ the like promise concerning the effect of every particular for which he prayed That which was not effected could not be promised And we know in what sort he prayed for removal of that bitter Cup which Cup he tasted notwithstanding his Prayer To shift off this example they answer first That as other children of God so Christ had a promise of deliverance as far as the glory of God in the accomplishment of his vocation would suffer And if we our selves have not also in that sort the promise of God to be evermore delivered from all adversity what meaneth the Sacred Scripture to speak in so large terms Be obedient and the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thy hand in the fruit of thy body and in the fruit of thy cattel and in the fruit of the Land for thy wealth Again Keep his Laws and thou shalt be blest above all people the Lord shall take from the all infirmities The man whose delight is in the Law of God whatsoever he doth it shall prosper For the ungodly there are great plagues remaining but whosoever putteth his trust in the Lord Mercy imbraceth him on every side Not onely that mercy which keepeth from being over-laid or opprest but Mercy which saveth from being touched with grievous miseries Mercy which turneth away the course of the great water flouds and permitteth them not to come near Nevertheless because the Prayer of Christ did concern but one calamity they are still bold to deny the lawfulness of our Prayer for deliverance out of all yea though we pray with the same exception that he did If such deliverance may stand with the pleasure of Almighty God and not otherwise For they have secondly found out a Rule that Prayer ought onely to be made for deliverance from this or that particular adversity whereof we know not but upon the event what the pleasure of God is Which quite overthroweth that other principle wherein they require unto every Prayer which is of Faith an assurance to obtain the thing we pray for At the first to pray against all adversity was unlawful because we cannot assure our selves that this will be granted Now we have licence to pray against any particular adversity and the reason given because we know not but upon the event what God will do If we know not what God will do it followeth that for any assurance we have he may do otherwise then we pray and we faithfully pray for that which we cannot assuredly presume that God will grant Seeing therefore neither of these two Answers will serve the turn they have a third which is That to pray in such sort is but idly mispent labor because God hath already revealed his Will touching this request and we know that the sute we make is denied before we make it Which neither is true and if it were was Christ ignorant what God had determined touching those things which
our Lords admonition Pray that ye enter not into temptation When himself pronounceth them blessed that should for his Names sake be subject to all kindes of ignominy and opprobrious malediction was it his purpose that no man should ever pray with David Lord remove from me shame and contempt In those tribulations saith St. Augustine which may hurt as well as profit we must say with the Apostle What we should ask as we ought we know not yet because they are tough because they are grievous because the sense of our weakness flieth them we pray according to the general desire of the will of man that God would turn them away from us owing in the mean while this devotion to the Lord our God that if he remove them not yet we do not therefore imagine our selves in his sight despised but rather with godly sufferance of evils expect greater good at his merciful hands For thus is vertue in weakness perfected To the flesh as the Apostle himself granteth all affliction is naturally grievous Therefore Nature which causeth to fear teacheth to pray against all adversity Prosperity in regard of our corrupt inclination to abuse the blessings of Almighty God doth prove for the most part a thing dangerous to the Souls of Men. Very Ease it self is death to the wicked and the prosperity of fools slayeth them Their Table is a Snare and their Felicity their utter overthrow Few men there are which long prosper and sin not Howbeit even as these ill effects although they be very usual and common are no bar to the hearty prayers whereby most vertuous mindes with peace and prosperity always where they love because they consider that this in it self is a thing naturally desired So because all adversity is in it self against nature what should hinder to pray against it although the providence of God turn it often unto the great good of many men Such Prayers of the Church to be delivered from all adversity are no more repugnant to any reasonable disposition of mens mindes towards death much less to that blessed Patience and meek Contentment which Saints by Heavenly inspiration have to endure what cross or calamity soever it pleaseth God to lay upon them then our Lord and Saviours own Prayer before his Passion was repugnant unto his most gracious resolution to die for the sins of the whole World 49. In praying for deliverance from all adversity we seek that which Nature doth wish to it self but by intreating for Mercy towards all we declare that Affection wherewith Christian Charity thirsteth after the good of the whole World we discharge that duty which the Apostle himself doth impose on the Church of Christ as a commendable office a sacrifice acceptable in Gods sight a service according to his heart whose desire is to have all men saved A work most suitable with his purpose who gave himself to be the price of redemption for all and a forcible mean to procure the conversion of all such as are not yet acquainted with the Mysteries of that Truth which must save their Souls Against it there is but the bare shew of this one Impediment that all mens salvation and many mens eternal condemnation or death are things the one repugnant to the other that both cannot be brought to pass that we know there are Vessels of Wrath to whom God will never extend mercy and therefore that wittingly we ask an impossible thing to be had The truth is that as life and death mercy and wrath are matters of meer understanding or knowledge all mens salvation and some mens endless perdition are things so opposite that whosoever doth affirm the one must necessarily deny the order God himself cannot effect both or determine that both shall be There is in the knowledge both of God and Man this certainty That life and death have divided between them the whole Body of mankinde What portion either of the two hath God himself knoweth for us he hath left no sufficient means to comprehend and for that cause neither given any leave to search in particular who are infalliby the heirs of the Kingdom of God who cast-aways Howbeit concerning the state of all men with whom we live for onely of them our Prayers are meant we may till the Worlds end for the present always presume That as far as in us there is power to discern what others are and as far as any duty of ours dependeth upon the notice of their condition in respect of God the safest Axioms for Charity to rest it self upon are these He which believeth already is and he which believeth not as yet may be the childe of God It becometh not us during life altogether to condemn any man seeing that for any thing we know there is hope of every mans forgiveness the possibility of whose repentance is not yet cut off by death And therefore Charity which hopeth all things prayeth also for all Men. Wherefore to let go Personal Knowledge touching Vessels of Wrath and Mercy what they are inwardly in the sight of God it skilleth not for us there is cause sufficient in all men whereupon to ground our Prayers unto God in their behalf For whatsoever the Minde of Man apprehencieth as good the Will of Charity and Love is to have it inlarged in the very uttermost extent that all may enjoy it to whom it can any way add perfection Because therefore the father a good thing doth reach the nobler and worthier we reckon it our Prayers for all mens good no less then for our own the Apostle with very fit terms commendeth as being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a work commendable for the largeness of the affection from whence it springeth even as theirs which have requested at Gods hands the salvation of many with the loss of their own Souls drowning as it were and over-whelming themselves in the abundance of their love towards others is proposed as being in regard of the rareness of such affections 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more then excellent But this extraordinary height of desire after other mens salvation is no common mark The other is a duty which belongeth unto all and prevaileth with God daily For as it is in it self good so God accepteth and taketh it in very good part at the hands of faithful men Our Prayers for all men do include both them that shall finde mercy and them also that shall finde none For them that shall no man will doubt but our Prayers are both accepted and granted Touching them for whom we crave that mercy which is not to be obtained let us not think that our Saviour did mis-instruct his Disciples willing them to pray for the peace even of such as should be uncapable of so great a blessing or that the Prayers of the Prophet Ieremy offended God because the answer of God was a resolute denial of favor to them for whom Supplication was made And if any
assenteth unto all things and from the other nothing which Deity doth work is hid so that by knowledge and assent the Soul of Christ is present with all things which the Deity of Christ worketh And even the Body of Christ it self although the definite limitation thereof be most sensible doth notwithstanding admit in some sort a kinde of infinite and unlimited Presence likewise For his Body being a part of that Nature which whole Nature is presently joyned unto Deity wheresoever Deity is it followeth That his Bodily Substance hath every where a Presence of true Conjunction with Deity And for as much as it is by vertue of that Conjunction made the Body of the Son of God by whom also it was made a Sacrifice for the sins of the whole World this giveth it a presence of force and efficacy throughout all Generations of Men. Albeit therefore nothing be actually infinite in substance but God onely in that he is God nevertheless as every number is infinite by possibility of addition and every line by possibility of extension infinite so there is no stint which can be set to the value or merit of the Sacrificed Body of Christ it hath no measured certainty of limits bounds of efficacy unto life it knoweth none but is also it self infinite in possibility of Application Which things indifferently every way considered that gracious promise of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ concerning presence with his to the very end of the World I see no cause but that we may well and safely interpret he doth perform both as God by essential presence of Deity and as Man in that order sense and meaning which hath been shewed 56. We have hitherto spoken of the Person and of the presence of Christ. Participation is that mutual inward hold which Christ hath of us and we of him in such sort that each possesseth other by way of special interest property and inherent copulation For plainer explication whereof we may from that which hath been before sufficiently proved assume to our purpose these two Principles That every original cause imparteth it self unto those things which come of it and whatsoever taketh Being from any other the same is after a sort in that which giveth it Being It followeth hereupon that the Son of God being Light of Light must needs be also Light in Light The Persons of the Godhead by reason of the Unity of their substance do as necessarily remain one within another as they are of necessity to be distinguished one from another because two are the issue of one and one the Off-spring of the other two onely of three one not growing out of any other And sith they all are but one God in number one indivisible Essence or Substance their distinction cannot possibly admit Separation For how should that subsist solitarily by it self which hath no substance but individually the very same whereby others subsist with it seeing that the Multiplication of Substances in particular is necessarily required to make those things subsist apart which have the self-same General Nature and the Persons of that Trinity are not three particular Substances to whom one General Nature is common but three that subsist by one substance which it self is Particular yet they all three have it and their several ways of having it are that which maketh their Personal distinction The Father therefore is in the Son and the Son in him they both in the Spirit and the Spirit in both them So that the Fathers first Off-spring which is the Son remaineth eternally in the Father the Father eternally also in the Son no way severed or divided by reason of the sole and single Unity of their Substance The Son in the Father as Light in that Light out of which it floweth without separation the Father in the Son as Light in that Light which it causeth and leaveth not And because in this respect his eternal Being is of the Father which eternal Being is his Life therefore he by the Father liveth Again sith all things do accordingly love their Off-spring as themselves are more or less contained in it he which is thus the onely begotten must needs be in this degree the onely Beloved of the Father He therefore which is in the Father by eternal Derivation of Being and Life from him must needs be in him through an eternal Affection of love His Incarnation causeth him also as man to be now in the Father and the Father to be in him For in that he is Man he receiveth Life from the Father as from the Fountain of that Ever-living Deity which in the Person of the Word hath combined it self with Manhood and doth thereunto impart such life as to no other Creature besides him is communicated In which consideration likewise the love of the Father towards him is more then it can be towards any other neither can any attain unto that perfection of love which he beareth towards his Heavenly Father Wherefore God is not so in any nor any so in God as Christ whether we consider him as the Personal Word of God or as the Natural Son of Man All other things that are of God have God in them and he them in himself likewise Yet because their Substance and his wholly differeth their coherence and communion either with him or amongst themselves is in no sort like unto that before mentioned God hath his influence into the very Essence of all things without which influence of Deity supporting them their utter annihilation could not chuse but follow Of him all things have both received their first Being and their continuance to be that which they are All things are therefore partakers of God they are his Off-spring his influence is in them and the Personal Wisdom of God is for that very cause said to excel in nimbleness or agility to pierce into all intellectual pure and subtile spirits to go through all and to reach unto every thing which is Otherwise how should the same Wisdom be that which supporteth beareth up and sustaineth all Whatsoever God doth work the hands of all three Persons are joyntly and equally in it according to the order of that connexion whereby they each depend upon other And therefore albeit in that respect the Father be first the Son next the Spirit last and consequently nearest unto every effect which groweth from all three nevertheless they all being of one Essence are likewise all of one Efficacy Dare any man unless he be ignorant altogether how inseparable the Persons of the Trinity are perswade himself that every of them may have their sole and several Possessions or that we being not partakers of all can have fellowship with any one The Father as Goodness the Son as Wisdom the Holy Ghost as Power do all concur in every particular outwardly issuing from that one onely glorious Deity which they all are For that which moveth God to work is Goodness and
that which ordereth his Work is Wisdom and that which perfecteth his Work is Power All things which God in their times and seasons hath brought forth were eternally and before all times in God as a work unbegun is in the Artificer which afterward bringeth it unto effect Therefore whatsoever we do behold now in this present World it was inwrapped within the Bowels of Divine Mercy written in the Book of Eternal Wisdom and held in the hands of Omnipotent Power the first Foundations of the World being as yet unlaid So that all things which God hath made are in that respect the Off-spring of God they are in him as effects in their highest cause he likewise actually is in them the assistance and influence of his Deity is their life Let hereunto saving efficacy be added and it bringeth forth a special Off-spring amongst men containing them to whom God hath himself given the gracious and amiable name of Sons We are by Nature the Sons of Adam When God created Adam he created us and as many as are descended from Adam have in themselves the Root out of which they spring The Sons of God we neither are all nor any one of us otherwise then onely by grace and favor The Sons of God have Gods own Natural Son as a second Adam from Heaven whose Race and Progeny they are by Spiritual and Heavenly Birth God therefore loving eternally his Son he must needs eternally in him have loved and preferred before all others them which are spiritually sithence descended and sprung out of him These were in God as in their Saviour and not as in their Creator onely It was the purpose of his saving Goodness his saving Wisdom and his saving Power which inclined it self towards them They which thus were in God eternally by their intended admission to life have by vocation or adoption God actually now in them as the Artificer is in the Work which his hand doth presently frame Life as all other gifts and benefits groweth originally from the Father and cometh not to us but by the Son nor by the Son to any of us in particular but through the Spirit For this cause the Apostle wisheth to the Church of Corinth The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost Which three St. Peter comprehendeth in one The participation of Divine Nature We are therefore in God through Christ eternally according to that intent and purpose whereby we are chosen to be made his in this present World before the World it self was made We are in God through the knowledge which is had of us and the love which is born towards us from everlasting But in God we actually are no longer then onely from the time of our actual Adoption into the Body of his true Church into the Fellowship of his Children For his Church he knoweth and loveth so that they which are in the Church are thereby known to be in him Our being in Christ by Eternal fore-knowledge saveth us not without our Actual and Real Adoption into the Fellowship of his Saints in this present World For in him we actually are by our actual incorporation into that Society which hath him for their Head and doth make together with him one Body he and they in that respect having one name for which cause by vertue of this Mystical Conjunction we are of him and in him even as though our very flesh and bones should be made continuate with his We are in Christ because he knoweth and loveth us even as parts of himself No man actually is in him but they in whom he actually is For he which hath not the Son of God hath not Life I am the Vine and ye are the Branches He which abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much Fruit but the Branch severed from the Vine withereth We are therefore adopted Sons of God to Eternal Life by Participation of the onely begotten Son of God whose Life is the Well-spring and cause of ours It is too cold an interpretation whereby some men expound our Being in Christ to import nothing else but onely That the self-same Nature which maketh us to be Men is in him and maketh him Man as we are For what man in the World is there which hath not so far forth communion with Jesus Christ It is not this that can sustain the weight of such sentences as speak of the Mystery of our Coherence with Jesus Christ. The Church is in Christ as Eve was in Adam Yea by Grace we are every of us in Christ and in his Church and in his Church as by Nature we were in those our first Parents God made Eve of the Rib of Adam And his Church he frameth out of the very Flesh the very wounded and bleeding side of the Son of Man His Body crucified and his Blood shed for the Life of the World are the true Elements of that Heavenly Being which maketh us such as himself is of whom we come For which cause the words of Adam may be fitly the words of Christ concerning his Church Flesh of my Flesh and Bone of my Bones a true Nature extract out of my own Body So that in him even according to his Manhood we according to our Heavenly Being are as Branches in that Root out of which they grow To all things he is Life and to men Light as the Son of God to the Church both Life and Light Eternal by being made the Son of Man for us and by being in us a Saviour whether we respect him as God or as Man Adam is in us as an original cause of our Nature and of that corruption of Nature which causeth death Christ as the cause original of Restauration to Life The person of Adam is not in us but his nature and the corruption of his nature derived into all men by Propagation Christ having Adams nature as we have but incorrupt deriveth not nature but incorruption and that immediately from his own Person into all that belong unto him As therefore we are really partakers of the body of Sin and Death received from Adam so except we be truly partakers of Christ and as really possessed of his Spirit all we speak of Eternal Life is but a dream That which quickneth us is the Spirit of the Second Adam and his Flesh that wherewith he quickneth That which in him made our Nature uncorrupt was the Union of his Deity with our Nature And in that respect the sentence of Death and Condemnation which onely taketh hold upon sinful flesh could no way possibly extend unto him This caused his voluntary death for others to prevail with God and to have the force of an Expiatory Sacrifice The Blood of Christ as the Apostle witnesseth doth therefore take away sin because through the Eternal Spirit he offered himself unto God without spot That
that men ought to Fast more often then Marry the best Feast-maker is with them the perfectest Saint they are assuredly meer Spirit and therefore these our corporal devotions please them not Thus the one for Montanus and his Superstition The other in a clean contrary tune against the Religion of the Church These Set-fasts away with them for they are Iewish and bring men under the yoke of servitude If I will fast let me chuse my time that Christian Liberty be not abridged Hereupon their glory was to fast especially upon the Sunday because the order of the Church was on that day not to Fast. On Church Fasting days and especially the Week before Easter when with us saith Epiphanius Custom admitteth nothing but lying down upon the Earth abstinence from fleshly delights and pleasures sorrowfulness dry and unsavory Diet Prayer Watching Fasting all the Medicines which holy Affections can minister they are up be times to take in of the strongest for the belly and when their veins are well swoln they make themselves mirth with laughter at this our service wherein we are perswaded we please God By this of Epiphanius it doth appear not onely what Fastings the Church of Christ in those times used but also what other parts of Discipline were together therewith in force according to the ancient use and custom of bringing all men at certain times to a due consideration and an open Humiliation of themselves Two kindes there were of Publick Penitency the one belonging to notorious offenders whose open wickedness had been scandalous the other appertaining to the whole Church and unto every several person whom the same containeth It will be answered That touching this latter kinde it may be exercised well enough by men in private No doubt but Penitency is as Prayer a thing acceptable unto God be it in publick or in secret Howbeit as in the one if men were wholly left to their own voluntary Meditations in their Closets and not drawn by Laws and Orders unto the open Assemblies of the Church that there they may joyn with others in Prayer it may be soon conjectured what Christian devotion that way would come unto in a short time Even so in the other We are by sufficient experience taught how little it booreth to tell men of washing away their sins with tears of Repentance and so to leave them altogether unto themselves O Lord what heaps of grievous transgressions have we committed the best the perfectest the most righteous amongst us all and yet clean pass them over unsorrowed foâ— and unrepented of onely because the Church hath forgotten utterly how to bestow her wonted times of Discipline wherein the publick example of all was unto every particular person a most effectual mean to put them often in minde and even in a manner to draw them to that which now we all quite and clean forget as if Penitency were no part of a Christian mans duty Again besides our private offences which ought not thus loosly to be overslipt suppose we the Body and Corporation of the Church so just that at no time it needeth to shew it self openly cast down in regard of those Faults and Transgressions which though they do not properly belong unto any one had notwithstanding a special Sacrifice appointed for them in the Law of Moses and being common to the whole Society which containeth all must needs so far concern every man in particular as at some time in solemn manner to require acknowledgment with more then daily and ordinary testifications of grief There could not hereunto a fitter preamble be devised then that memorable Commination set down in the Book of Common Prayer if our practice in the rest were suitable The Head already so well drawn doth but wish a proportionable Body And by the Preface to that very part of the English Liturgy it may appear how at the first setting down thereof no less was intended For so we are to interpret the meaning of those words wherein restitution of the Primitive Church Discipline is greatly wished for touching the manner of publick penance in time of Lent Wherewith some being not much acquainted but having framed in their mindes the conceit of a new Discipline far unlike to that of old they make themselves believe it is undoubtedly this their Discipline which at the first was so much desired They have long pretended that the whole Scripture is plain for them If now the Communion Book make for them too I well think the one doth as much as the other it may be hoped that being found such a well-willer unto their cause they will more favor it then they have done Having therefore hitherto spoken both of Festival days and so much of solemn Fasts as may reasonably serve to shew the ground thereof in the Law of Nature the practice partly appointed and partly allowed of God in the Jewish Church the like continued in the Church of Christ together with the sinister oppositions either of Hereticks erroneously abusing the same or of others thereat quarrelling without cause we will onely collect the chiefest points as well of resemblance as of difference between them and so end First In this they agree that because Nature is the general Root of both therefore both have been always common to the Church with Infidels and Heathen men Secondly They also herein accord that as oft as joy is the cause of the one and grief the Well-spring of the other they are incompatible A third degree of affinity between them is That neither being acceptable to God of it self but both tokens of that which is acceptable their approbation with him must necessarily depend on that which they ought to import and signifie So that if herein the minde dispose no it self aright whether we rest or fast we offend A fourth thing common unto them is that the greatest part of the World hath always grosly and palpably offended in both Infidels because they did all in relation to false gods godless sensual and careless mindes for that there is in them no constant true and sincere affection towards those things which are pretended by such exercise yea certain flattering over-sights there are wherewith sundry and they not of the worst sort may be easily in these cases led awry even through abundance of love and liking to that which must be imbraced by all means but with caution in as much as the very admiration of Saints Whether we celebrate their glory or follow them in humility whether we laugh or weep mourn or rejoyce with them is as in all things the affection of Love apt to deceive and doth therefore need the more to be directed by a watchful guide seeing there is manifestly both ways even in them whom we honor that which we are to observe and shun The best have not still been sufficiently mindful that Gods very Angels in Heaven are but Angels and that bodily exercise considered in it self is no
any longer under him but he together with them under God receiving the joyes of everlasting triumph that so God may be in all all misery in all the Wicked through his Justice in all the Righteous through his love all felicity and blisse In the mean while he reigneth over the World as King and doth those things wherein none is Superiour unto him whether we respect the works of his Providence and Kingdom or of his Regiment over the Church The cause of Errour in this point doth seem to have been a misconceit that Christ as Mediatour being inferiour to his Father doth as Mediatour all Works of Regiment over the Church when in truth Regiment doth belong to his Kingly Office Mediatourship to his Priestly For as the High-Priest both offered Sacrifices for expiation of the Peoples sins and entred into the holy Place there to make intercession for them So Christ having finished upon the Cross that part of his Priestly Office which wrought the propitiation for our Sinnes did afterwards enter into very Heaven and doth there as Mediatour of the New Testament appear in the sight of God for us A like sleight of Judgement it is when they hold that Civil Authority is from God but not immediately through Christ nor with any subordination to God nor doth any thing from God but by the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. They deny it not to be said of Christ in the Old Testament By me Princes rule and the Nobles and all the Iudges of the Earth In the New as much is taught That Christ is the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Wherefore to the end it may more plainly appear how all Authority of Man is derived from God through Christ and must by Christian men be acknowledged to be no otherwise held then of and under him we are to note that because whatsoever hath necessary being the Son of God doth cause it to be and those things without which the World cannot well continue have necessary being in the World a thing of so great use as Government cannot choose but be originally from Him Touching that Authority which Civil Magistrates have in Ecclesiastical Affairs it being from God by Christ as all other good things are cannot chuse but be held as a thing received at his hands and because such power is of necessity for the ordering of Religion wherein the essence and very being of the Church consisteth can no otherwise slow from him than according to that special care which he hath to govern and guide his own People it followeth that the said Authority is of and under him after a more special manner in that he is Head of the Church and not in respect of his general Regency over the World All things saith the Apostle speaking unto the Church are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is God's Kings are Christ's as Saints because they are of the Church if not collectively yet divisively understood It is over each particular Person within that Church where they are Kings Surely Authority reacheth both unto all mens persons and to all kindes of causes also It is not denyed but that they may have and lawfully exercise it such Authority it is for which and for no other in the World we term them Heads such Authority they have under Christ because he in all things is Lord overall and even of Christ it is that they have received such Authority in as much as of him all lawful Powers are therefore the Civil Magistrate is in regard of this Power an under and subordinate Head of Christ's People It is but idle where they speak That although for several Companies of Men there may be several Heads or Governours differing in the measure of their Authority from the Chiefest who is Head over all yet it cannot be in the Church for that the reason why Head-Magistrates appoint others for such several places it Because they cannot be present every where to perform the Office of an Head But Christ is never from his Body nor from any Part of it and therefore needeth not to substitute any which may be Heads some over one Church and some over another Indeed the consideration of Man's imbecillity which maketh many Heads necessary where the burthen is too great for one moved Iethro to be a Perswader of Moses that a number of Heads of Rulers might be instituted for discharge of that duty by parts which in whole he saw was troublesome Now although there be not in Christ any such defect or weakness yet other causes there be divers more than we are able to search into wherefore it might seem unto him expedient to divide his Kingdom into many Provinces and place many Heads over it that the Power which each of them hath in particular with restraint might illustrate the greatness of his unlimited Authority Besides howsoever Christ be Spiritually alwayes united unto every part of his Body which is the Church Nevertheless we do all know and they themselves who alledge this will I doubt not confess also that from every Church here visible Christ touching visible and corporal presence is removed as farr as Heaven from the Earth is distant Visible Government is a thing necessary for the Church and it doth not appear how the exercise of visible Government over such Multitudes every where dispersed throughout the World should consist without sundry visible Governours whose Power being the greatest in that kinde so farr as it reacheth they are in consideration thereof termed so farr Heads Wherefore notwithstanding the perpetual conjunction by vertue whereof our Saviour alwayes remaineth spiritually united unto the parts of his Mystical Body Heads indeed with Supream Power extending to a certain compasse are for the exercise of a visible Regiment not unnecessary Some other reasons there are belonging unto this branch which seem to have been objected rather for the exercise of mens wits in dissolving Sophismes than that the Authors of them could think in likelyhood thereby to strengthen their cause For example If the Magistrate be Head of the Church within his own Dominion then is he none of the Church For all that are of the Church make the Body of Christ and every one of the Church fulfilleth the place of one member of the Body By making the Magistrate therefore Head we do exclude him from being a Member subject to the Head and so leave him no place in the Church By which reason the name of a Body Politick is supposed to be alwayes taken of the inferiour sort alone excluding the Principal Guides and Governors contrary to all Mens customes of speech The Errour ariseth by misconceiving of some Scripture-sentences where Christ as the Head and the Church as the Body are compared or opposed the one to the other And because in such comparisons ooppositions the Body is taken for those only parts which are subject unto the Head they imagine that who so is the Head of any
and to morrow condescend to have him beheaded or with the other Herod say they will worship Christ when they purpose a massacre in their hearts kiss Christ with Iudas and betray Christ with Iudas These are Mockers For Ishmael the Son of Hagar laughed at Isaac which was heir of the Promise so shall these men laugh at you as the maddest People under the Sun if ye be like Moses choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season And why God hath not given them eyes to see nor hearts to conceive that exceeding recompence of your reward The promises of Salvation made to you are matters wherein they can take no pleasure even as Ishmael took no pleasure in that promise wherein God had said unto Abraham In Isaac shall thy seed be called because the Promise concerned not him but Isaac They are termed for their impiety towards God Mockers and for the impurity of their life and conversation Walkers after-their own ungodly lusts Saint Peter in his second Epistle and third Chapter soundeth the very depth of their impiety shewing first how they shall not shame at the length to profess themselves prophane and iâ—â—eligious by flat denying the Gospel of Jesus Christ and deâ—ding the sweet and comfortable promises of his appearing Secondly that they shall not be onely deâ—iders of all Religion but also disputers against God using Truth to subvert the Truth yea Scriptures themselves to disprove Scriptures Being in this sort Mockers they must needs be also Followers of their own ungodly lusts Being Atheists in perswasion can they choose but be Beasts in conversation For why remove they quite from them the feat of God Why take they such pains to abandon and put out from their hearts all sense all taste all feeling of Religion but onely to this end and purpose that they may without inward remorse and grudging of Conscience give over themselves to all uncleanness Surely the state of these men is more lamentable than is the condition of Pagans and Turks For at the bare beholding of Heaven and Earth the Infidel's heart by and by doth give him that there is an eternal infinite immortal and ever-living God whose hands have fashioned and framed the World he knoweth that every House is builded of some man though he see not the man which built the House and he considereth that it must be God which hath built and created all things although because the number of his days be few he could not see when God disposed his Works of old when he caused the light of his Clouds first to shine when he laid the Corner-stone of the Earth and swadled it with bands of Water and Darkness when he caused the Morning-star to know his place and made bars and doors to shut up the Sea within his House saying Hitherto shalt thou come but no further he hath no eye-witnesse of these things Yet the light of Natural reason hath put this wisdom in his reâ—ns and hath given his Heart thus much understanding Bring a Pagan to the Schools of the Prophets of God prophesie to an Infidel rebuke him lay the judgements of God before him make the secret sinnes of his heart manifest and he shall fall down and worship God They that crucified the Lord of Glory were not so farr past recovery but that the preaching of the Apostles was able to move their hearts and to bring them to this Men and Brethren what shall we doe Agrippa that sate in judgement against Paul for Preaching yielded notwithstanding thus farr unto him Almost thou perswadest me to become a Christian. Although the Jews for want of knowledge have not submitted themselves to the righteousnesse of God yet I bear them record saith the Apostle That they have a zeal The Athenians a people having neither zeal nor knowledge yet of them also the same Apostle beareth witnesse Ye men of Athens I perceive ye are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some way religious but Mockers walking after their own ungodly lusts they have smothered every spark of that heavenly light they have stifled even their very natural understanding O Lord thy Mercy is over all thy works thou savest Man and Beast yet a happy case it had been for these men if they had never been born and so I leave them 10. Saint Iude having his minde exercised in the Doctrine of the Apostles of Jesus Christ concerning things to come in the last time became a man of wise and staid judgement Grieved he was to see the departure of many and their falling away from the Faith which before they did professe grieved but not dismayed With the simpler and weaker sort it was otherwise Their countenance began by and by to change they were half in doubt they had deceived themselves in giving credit to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Saint Iude to comfort and refresh these silly Babes taketh them up in his armes and sheweth them the men at whom they were offended Look upon them that forsake this blessed Profession wherein you stand they are now before your eyes view them mark them are they not carnal are they not like to noysom carrion cast out upon the Earth is there that Spirit in them which cryeth Abba Father in your bosoms Why should any man be discomforted Have you not heard that there should be Mockers in the last time These verily are they that now do separate themselves 11. For your better understanding what this severing and separating of themselves doth mean we must know that the multitude of them which truly believe howsoever they be dispersed farr and wide each from other is all one Body whereof the Head is Christ one building whereof he is the Corner-stone to whom they as the Members of the Body being knit and as the stones of the Building being coupled grow up to a man of perfect stature and rise to an holy Temple in the Lord. That which linketh Christ to us is his mere mercy and love towards us That which tyeth us to him is our faith in the promised Salvation revealed in the Word of Truth That which uniteth and joyneth us amongst our selves in such sort that we are now as if we had but one Heart and one Soul is our love Who be inwardly in Heart the lively Members of this Body and the polished stones of this Building coupled and joyned to Christ as flesh of his flesh and bones of his bones by the mutual bond of his unspeakable love towards them and their unseigâ—ed faith in him thus linked and fastned each to other by a spiritual sincere and hearty affection of love without any manner of simulation who be Jewes within and what their names be none can tell save he whose eyes do behold the secret disposition of all mens hearts We whose eyes are too dim to behold the inward man must leave the secret judgement of every Servant to his own Lord accounting