to the Land of Promise Yea it is generally thought a matter of congruity that the world go well with every good Christian man Against those I will lay down this one conclusion That if we look into the tenour of the New Testament we shall find that neither the Church nor any Christian man by title of his profession hath any certain claim to any secular blessing Indeed if we look into the Iews Common-wealth and consider the letter of Moses Law they may seem not onely to have a direct promise of Temporal felicity but of no other save that For in the Law God gives to Moses the dispensation of no other but temporal Blessings and Cursings in the xxvj of Leviticus and the xxviij of Deuteronomy where God seems to strive with all possible efficacy to express himself in both kinds there is not a line conteining that which should betide them at their ends all their weal all their woe seem'd to expire with their lives What sense they had of future rewards or with what conceit they passed away to immortality I list not to dispute This suffices to shew that there is a main difference in the hopes of the Church before and since Christ concerning outward prosperity as for Christians to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostom they have greater and harder races to run greater prizes to take in hand then our Fathers before Christ. The Church was then in her youth she was to be led by sense as a child we are come to the age of perfect men in Christ. That the Church therefore might not deceive her self with this outward peace which is but a peace of ornament he strips her as it were of her borrowed beauty and washes off her Fucus gives her no interest in the world sends her forth into a strange Land as he did Abraham not having possession of a foot and which is yet more not having so much as a promise of any which yet Abraham had If Christ and his Apostles teach as sometimes they do Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and the righteousness thereof and these things shall be cast in upon you That Godliness hath the promise both of this life and of the life to come It is not presently to be conceived that every true Christian man shall doubtless come on and thrive in the world That which they teach is no more but this That we ought not to despair of the Providence of God for look what is the reward and portion of vertue and industry in other men the same and much more shall it have in Christians their goodness shall have the like approbation their moral virtues shall have the like esteem their honest labours shall thrive alike If sometimes it hath fallen out otherwise it is but the same lot which hath befallen virtue and honesty even in the Pagan as well as the Christian. In the fifth of St. Matthew where Christ teacheth us That the meek spirited shall possess the earth think we that it was the intent of the holy Ghost to make men Lords of the earth to endow them with Territories and large Dominions That which he teaches us is but a moral lesson such as common reason and experience confirms That meek and mild spirited men are usually the quietest possessours of what they hold But that these speeches and such as these in the New Testament be not wrong'd by us by being drawn to our avaritious conceits and thought to halt if sometime the meek-spirited become a spoil to the extortioner and be stript of all he hath give me leave to commend unto you one rule for the interpretation of them which will give much ease to unstable minds The holy Ghost delivering general propositions in things subject to variety and humane casualties is to be understood for the truth of them as far as the things themselves are capable of truth and according to the certainty of them There are many propositions fram'd even in Natural things of Eternal truth no instance neither of time nor person can be brought to disprove them our daily experience evermore finds them so There is a second order of things created by God himself subject to mutability which sometimes are not at all and being produced owe their being sometimes to one cause sometimes to another the efficacy of the cause no way being determined to this effect but of it self indifferent to produce it or not The managing of affairs whether in publick of Common-weals or in private of any man's particular state or calling Moral rules of behaviour and carriage yea all the things that are spoken concerning the temporal weal or woe of actions good or bad they are all ranged in this second order Now in all these things it is impossible there should be propositions made of unavoidable certainty If the rules and observations drawn for our direction ut plurimum usually and in the ordinary course of events hold currant it is enough to make them Maxims of Truth it matters not though at some time upon some occasions in some person they fail Now from the condition of these things the propositions made by the holy Ghost himself are by their Authour not exempted In the Book of the Proverbs the holy Ghost hath registred such store of Moral wisdom and Precepts of carriage in temporal matters that all the wisdom of the Heathen most renowned for Morality come far short of it These Precepts though with us they have as indeed they ought to have much more credibility as delivered unto us by an Authour of surer observation and exempted from all possibility of errour yet notwithstanding in regard of the things themselves they are of the like certainty of the same degree of truth when we find them in the Writings of these famous Ethnicks whom it pleased the holy Spirit to endue with Natural wisdom and Moral discretion which they have when we read them registred in the Oracles of God and thesame uncertainty have they in regard of some particulars when they be spoken by Solomon which they have when they are uttered by Plato or Euripides Solomon much inveigheth against the folly of Suretiship was it therefore never heard of that a wise man was surety for his neighbour with good success I. Caesar when he thought to have upheld his estate through mercy and clemency lost his life is it therefore false which Solomon teacheth that Mercy upholdeth the throne of the King He knew well and his son had dear experience of it that the peoples hearts are won and kept by mild and merciful dealing rather then by rough and tyrannous proceedings yet he could not be ignorant that even Kings sometimes reap mischeif and death there where they have plentifully sowed love and mercy Thus then and no otherwise are we to understand the holy Ghost preaching unto us the reward of the meek-spirited and the promises of this life to the godly For we are not to suppose that God in
It is or should be nothing else but Virtue and Happiness now these are alike purchasable in all estates Poverty disease distress contumely contempt these are as well the object of Virtue as Wealth liberty honour reputation and the rest of that forespoken rank Happiness therefore may as well dwell with the poor miserable and distressed persons as with persons of better fortune since it is confest by all that happiness is nothing else but actio secundum virtutem a leading of our life according to virtue As great art may be exprest in the cutting of a Flint as in the cutting of a Diamond and so the work-man do well express his skill no man will blame him for the baseness of the matter or think the worse of his work Beloved some man hath a Diamond a fair and glittering fortune some man hath a Flint a hard harsh and despicable fortune let him bestow the same skill and care in polishing and cutting of the latter as he would or could have done on the former and be confident it will be as highly valued if not more highly rewarded by God who is no accepter of persons but accepteth every man according to that he hath and not according to that he hath not To him let us commit our selves To him be all honour and praise now and for ever Amen Numb XXXV Verse 33. And the Land cannot be cleansed of bloud that is shed in it but by the bloud of him that shed it THese words are like unto a Scorpion for as in that so in these the self-same thing is both Poison and Remedy Bloud is the poison Bloud is the remedy he that is stricken with the Scorpion must take the oyl of the Scorpion to cure him He that hath poison'd a Land with the sin of Bloud must yeild his own Bloud for Antidote to cure it It might seem strange that I should amongst Christians thus come and deliver a speech of Bloud For when I read the notes and characters of a Christian in holy Scriptures me-thinks it should be almost a sin for such a one to name it Possess your souls in patience By this shall men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another Peace I leave with you The fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace in the Holy Ghost Let your softness be known to all men The wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of mercy It is reported by Avenzoar a great Physician that he was so tender-hearted that he could not endure to see a man let-bloud He that should read these passages of Scripture might think that Christians were like Avenzoar that the sight of bloud should be enough to affright them But is the common Christian so soft so tender-hearted is he so peaceable so tame and tractable a creature You shall not find two things of more different countenance and complexion then that Christianity which is commended unto us in the writings of the Apostles and Evangelists and that which is current in use and practise of the times He that shall behold the true face of a Christian as it is deciphered and painted out unto us in the Books of the New Testament and unpartially compare it with that copy or counterfeit of it which is exprest in the life and demeanour of common Christians would think them no more like then those sheilds of gold which Solomon made were unto those of brass which Rehâ—boam made in their stead and might suppose that the Writers of those Books had brought vota magis quam praecepta had rather fancied to themselves some admirable pattern of a Christian such as they could wish then delivered Rules and Laws which seriously and indeed ought or could be practised in common life and conversation St. Iames observes that he which beholds his natural face in a glass goes his way and immediately forgets what manner of man he was Beloved how careful we are to look upon the Glass the Books of holy Scriptures I cannot easily pronounce But this I am sure of we go our ways and quickly forget what manner of shape we saw there As Iacob and Esau had both one father Isaac both one mother Rebecca yet the one was smooth and plain the other rough and hairy of harsh and hard countenance and condition so these two kinds of Christians of which but now I spake though both lay claim to one Father and Mother both call themselves the sons of God and the sons of the Church yet are they almost as unlike as Iacob and Esau the one smooth gentle and peacable the other rough and harsh The notes and characters of Christians as they are described in holy Scriptures are patience easily putting up and digesting of wrongs humility preferring all before our selves And St. Iames tells us that the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated St. Iames indeed hath given the first place unto purity and it were almost a sin to compare Christian virtues together and make them strive for precedency and place For what Solomon saith upon another occasion is here much more true Say not Why is this thing better then that for every thing in its time is seasonable Yet he that shall mark how every where the Scriptures commend unto us gentleness and meekness and that peace is it quam nobis Apostoli totis viribus Spiritus sancti commendant as Tertullian speaks which the Apostles endeavour with all the strength and force of the holy Ghost to plant amongst us might a little invert the words of St. Iames and read them thus The wisdom that is from above is first peaceable then pure The Son of God who is the Wisdom of the Father and who for us men came down from Heaven first and before all other virtues commended this unto the world For when he was born the song of the Angels was Peace upon earth and good will towards men All his doctrine was peace his whole life was peaceable and no man heard his voice in the streets His last legacy and bequest left unto his disciples was the same Peace saith he I leave unto you my peace I give unto you As Christ so Christians In the building of Solomon's Temple there was no noise of any hammer of any instrument of Iron so in the spiritual building and frame of a Christian there is no sound of Iron no noise of any weapons nothing but peace and gentleness Ex praecepto fidei non minus rea ira est sine ratione suscepta quam in operibus legis homicidium saith St. Austin Unadvised anger by the Law of Faith is as great a sin as murther was by the Law of Moses As some Physicians have thought that in man's body the Spleen hath very little use and might well be spared and therefore in dealing with â—undry diseased persons they endeavour by Physick to abate and take away that
frigido corpore his body was now grown pale and meagre and cold but yet his heart burnt with unlawful desires Again they are sins of quick and easie dispatch they are done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Basil notes in a moment of time without labour of body without care of mind One wanton look makes us guilty of Adultery one angry conceit guilty of Murder one covetous conceit guilty of Robbery Whatsoever is outwardly committed either with difficulty of circumstance or labour of body or danger of Law that is inwardly committed in the soul without any trouble at all Thirdly consider but the strength of your thoughts and you will see there is great reason to keep them low for there was no man yet that ever was foil'd but by them and not by the outward acting of sin For the outward action is but the Cortex the bark of the sin but the very body and substance of sin is the wicked thought Beware of men saith our Saviour when he gave his Apostles counsel how to provide for their safety in times of outward danger but if you will provide against inward dangers we shall not need to beware of men or of any outward force whatsoever Let every man beware of himself for in this case every man is his own greatest enemy To draw then to a conclusion That sins of thoughts prevail not against us our way is by a jealous care first to prevent them and to this hath the greatest part of my discourse hitherto tended Secondly if we have suffered them to gain a little ground upon us let us betimes take the reins into our own hands and pull them back again and cast out our Adversary whil'st he is yet weak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostom such are the souls of holy men their recovery is so quick that they may seem to have risen before they fell It is a great sign of spiritual life in us to be quickly sensible of the first track and footing of sin For as bodies of the best and purest complexion have their senses quickest so that soul which soonest perceives the first scent of sin is of the divinest temper Our Books tell us that Dionysius the Tyrant was grown so gross and fat that though men thrust bodkins into him he could not feel it Beloved there is a sinner like unto this Dionysius David tells us of him when he describes unto us a sinner whose heart is fat as brawn That we fall not therefore into that like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stupidity and senselesness our way is to catch those young Foxes and strangle them in the nest Nolo sinas cogitationem crescere saith St. Hierom suffer not your thoughts to increase and gather strength upon you For as the man that touches onely at hot iron and stays not on it burns not his hand so the first glances of evil thoughts harm us not the harm is if by consent though never so little you stay upon them To be free from all on-set of evil thoughts is a matter impossible whil'st we have these hearts of flesh Ille laudatur qui ut coeperit cogitare sordida statim interficit cogitata allidit ad petram petra autem est Christus That man is praise-worthy who assoon as any unclean thought any child of Babylon is born in his heart straight-way strangles it in the birth and dashes it against the rock which Rock is Christ. Thus c. A SERMON On JOHN xiv 27. Peace I leave unto you My peace I give unto you THis portion of Scripture Beloved contains a Legacy which our Saviour gave to his Apostles and in them to all that are his when he was about to take his leave of the world The less shall I need seriously to commend it to your considerations or to take much pains in wooing your attention The words of dying men though neither the speeches or the persons concern us at all yet they usually move us much we hear them with a kind of Religion and we suffer them to take impression in us With what affection then would this speech deserve to be heard delivered by a Person the worthiest among the sons of women and concerning you near yea very near as near as your own souls concern ye as being the Saviour of them and now breathing his last and spending the little remainder of his breath in gracious promises and comforts concerning the whole state and weal of your souls And yet to raise your attention a little higher Such things as we are made present possessours of though they be of meaner value we prize higher then things of better worth if we live onely in expectation if we have onely a promise of them Now this last most excellent and comfortable Sermon of our Saviour though in it are many special arguments of his Love many Gifts and Legacies bestowed on his Church yet were they almost all assured unto his Disciples but by way of Promise onely this everlasting gift of Peace of which alone they are made the present possessours that as at his coming into the world he brought Peace with him for at his Birth there was peace throughout the whole world so now at his departure he might leave peace again unto the world though after another manner And this order of disposition seems to be observed not without peculiar reason It seems that all other blessings the Apostles might be without yea that Grand and Mother blessing the miraculous coming of the Comforter they did for a time expect but this blessing of peace they might not they could not want It is transcendent to all other blessings and reciprocal with a Christian man it flowes essentially from the very substantial Principles of our profession Seneca that saw something as it were in a dream concerning a wise man could tell us Securitas proprium bonum sapientis Inward and solid peace is a good appropriated to a wise man We that know Christianity alone to be truly wisdom know likewise that once a true Christian then truly peaceful and no true peace but in the true Christian. Yea it hath pleased God to characterize himself his Kingdom and his Servants by this term of peace as by a stamp and seal to be known by He styles himself the King and Father of peace his Kingdom the Kingdom of peace his Servants the Sons of peace the fruits of his Kingdom love and peace and joy in the holy Ghost The Church therefore anciently that by this as by a badge she might be known whom she served every where throughout the publick Form of Divine Service interlaced this comfortable manner of salutation Peace be with you all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostom When the Bishop came into the Church or Temple he came like Noah's Dove into the Ark with an Olive branch of peace in his mouth and his first words were Peace be with you all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he began his
doubled unto Pharaoh twice it is because the thing is established by God and God will surely bring it to pass So may we say of these words they are doubled to his Disciples because the thing is established by God and certainly with his Church is peace for evermore Secondly the incommunicability of this peace with many out of his Church I told you this was a Legacy of it therefore none partake but such as are specified in the Will Here are none mentioned by the Testatour but such as were sealed by him for his own Iudas saith the story was gone from them To that part of the Church therefore not which we see but which we beleive is this blessing of peace by right of inheritance pertaining But are these things so as we have said is it a matter of so incontroleable certainty that Christ hath left peace unto his Church that it were almost infidelity to doubt of it Surely if we look not narrowly into it we shall rather think peace which we make the Churches peculiar to have been an utter stranger unto her The Religious Rites of Gentilism how had they their beginnings their progress without opposition no disputes no contentions Scarce any thing of worth for so many thousand years the world lived under it done for or in pretence of Religion But no sooner was Christian Religion come to the birth but streight it was attended by that great Dragon in the wilderness spewing out whole seas of dissentions to overwhelm it The Apostles themselves as with one hand they sowed the seed of the Word so were they constrained with the other to pluck up and weed out Heresies arising with it So venterous was the envious man not onely whilst men slept for the Apostles were no sleepers but whil'st they were in act and sweat to intersperse his Tares with God's good Seed The Iewish Ceremonies a plant of God's own planting seems scarcely to have been acquainted with it God throughout that story of which himself was the Pen-man registring no one act of any contention concerning the interpretation of the Law yea afterward when some dissentions had crept in they seem to have been of an inferiour order and never to have broken out to any remarkable inconvenience But in the Churches story what leafe what line almost gives not in large evidence against the Church's peace it being almost nothing else but an Index of controversies which when they were at least occasioned great Schism and rents in the Church and afterwards receiving strength brake forth to further inconvenience one Christian persecuting another with that heat that Christianity scarce ever felt under the hand of Paganism now in our Age they have enforced the rending asunder of great Provinces and mighty Kingdoms without any hope as far as humane reason reacheth it of ever being re-united Again if we look into Peace as the world esteems it that is to the outward prosperity to the good and civil correspondence which is betwixt man and man if we consider what part the Church hath had in this her estate for some hundred of years was truly represented in her great Champion St. Athanasius of whom it was said St. Athanasius against all the world and all the world against St. Athanasius She was sent forth into the world with no other hope but of the world's hatred with no other lot then poverty and persecution so little claim seems she to have to secular ease and outward state which by most is termed the Church's peace much less to Riches and Glory and Provinces and whole Kingdoms which by some are counted the Church's Patrimony To clear these things and first to remove the scandal of Ecclesiastical dissentions give me leave to commend unto you two facile notes which of your selves you might easily have observed First it hath ever been the practise of the divil to bend his manifest strength and cheif forces against that which God hath with most strictness and severity commanded to be kept Whence it comes to pass that what we are especially commanded to observe in that we usually shew our selves most frequent and notorious transgressours When the Lord was to chuse himself a people out of the whole world habituated in Idolatry his greatest care was to wean them from the Idols of the Nations His commandments therefore to the Iews and almost all the messages of the Prophets beat on nothing so much as on this point to beware of the gods of the Heathen whence they were taken Yet such a strange bewitching madness possess'd them that even almost in the sight of the Sea that had given way unto them when the cry of the drown'd Egyptians was scarce out of their ears they fell to Idols Afterward what breathing time had they from plagues and calamities into which for this crime if not altogether yet cheifly they fell wherein they did not strangely relapse Which of their Kings had his heart right before God Solomon himself who had he not known God yet by that light he had of Moral and Natural Wisdom could not chuse but see the folly of it must needs to his other exorbitant lusts add this Adultery with stocks and stones But when long experience had taught the world its errour and the absurd Legends of their gods their lying miracles and their halting Oracles became so palpable that the learned writ in scorn of them and the unlearned sufficiently descried them Christ by his Apostles being to lay the ground of Christianity seems to have thought it a matter superfluous to spend many precepts in beating down Idolatry a thing of it self now ready to fall Neither was there in the Church's increase ever feared a voluntary relapse unto Paganism few men being so simple but though they had not the grace to imbrace Christ they had the wit to see as good do so as follow Idols And among all the Christian Emperours there is but one alone hath fallen into the crime of Apostacy and is known by that name Christ gives therefore a new and a great commandment of Love of Peace and Vnity This he makes the character of his By this saith he shall men know that ye are my disciples This he and his Apostles every where beat on and therefore by his Apostle St. Paul he calls the message which he sent by him The Gospel of Peace as being the cheifest argument of his Embassage yea the whole sum of the Law Love which is so much spoken of and an individual companion of Faith being either peace it self or the eminency and perfection of peace No marvel then if that ancient enemy of the Church's peace hath pull'd every cable used all occasions set all his engines and instruments awork to infringe the quietness and union of the Church especially in the Ministry who as they are the Church of the Church so is their peace the very bond and seal of all union in the Church Much might I say partly reproving partly bewailing
his ordinary proceedings concerning his Elect exempts things from that mutability and change to which he made them subject in the day of their Creation All things come alike to all saith the Wise-man There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the clean and unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not As is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Which speech is true in regard of those humane casualties from which the good Christian is no more exempted then the honest Pagan But it is a maxim of eternal truth and the joynt conspiracy of Heaven and Hell shall never be able to infringe it That all things work for the good of them that sear God Though sometime the meek-spirited men be turned out of house and home and the godly man have not a place whereon to rest his head By this then it appears that the title of Christian men unto temporal blessings is not out of any Divine Right giving undoubted assurance but onely of common equity and congruity by which it pleaseth God usually to crown honest counsels with good success As then this claim is uncertain so hath not the desire of Christians to intermeddle with secular business been scandalous to our profession Iulian the Emperour in an Epistle of his to the Bostrenses taxing certain seditious Christians tells them directly that their tumult sprang not out of any probable reason but meerly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But onely because he had made it unlawful for them to sit as Judges between man and man to interpose themselves in matters of Wills to interpret other mens possessions to their own uses to make division of all things unto themselves That much of this might be probable I will not easily deny He that shall look into the Acts of Christians as they are recorded by more indifferent Writers shall easily perceive that all that were Christians were not Saints But this is the testimony of an Enemy Yea but have not our Freinds taken up the same complaint Doubtless if it had been the voice and approbation of the Bridegroom that Secular State and Authority had belonged to the Church either of due or of necessity the freinds of the Bridegroom hearing it would have rejoyced at it but it is found they have much sorrowed at it St. Hilary much offended with the opinion that even Orthodox Bishops of his time had taken up that it was a thing very necessary for the Church to lay hold on the temporal sword in a Tract of his against Auxentius the Arrian Bishop of Millain thus plainly bespeaks them Ac primum miserari libet nostrae aetatis laborem And first of all I must needs pity the labour of our Age and bewail the fond opinions of the present times by which men suppose the arm of flesh can much advantage God and strive to defend by secular ambition the Church of Christ. I beseech you Bishops you that take your selves so to be whose authority in preaching of the Gospel did the Apostles use By the help of what powers preach'd they Christ and turn'd almost all Nations from Idols to God Took they unto themselves any honour out of Princes Palaces who after their stripes amidst their chains in prison sung praises unto God Did St. Paul when he was made a spectacle in the Theatre summon together the Churches of Christ by the Edicts and Writs of Kings 'T is likely he had the safe conduct of Nero or Vespasian or Decius through whose hate unto us the confession of the faith grew more famous Those men who maintain'd themselves with their own hands and industry whose solemn Meetings were in Parlours and secret Closets who travelled through Villages and Towns and whose Countreys by Sea and Land in spite of the prohibition of Kings and Councils 'T is to be thought that these had the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Did not the power of God sufficiently manifest it self above man's hate when by so much the more Christ was preach'd â—y how much he was forbidden to be taught But now which is a greif to think dust and earths approbation gives countenance to the Sacred Faith whil'st means are made to joyn ambitious Titles to the Name of Christ Christ hath lost the reputation of self-sufficiency The Church now terrifies with Exile and Prisons and constrains men to beleive her who was wont to find no place but in Prisons and Banishment She depends upon the good acceptation of her favourites who was wont to be hallowed in the fear of her Persecutours she now puts Preists to flight who was formerly propagated by fugitive Preists She glories that she is beloved of the world who could never have been Christ's except the world had hated her What shall we answer to this complaint Our enemies are apt to traduce the good things in us our freinds to flatter our vice and imbecillity But when our freinds and enemies do both joyntly consent to lay open our shame to whose judgment shall we appeal or whether shall we flie Whether Even to thee O Lord Christ but not as to a Judge too well we know thy sentence Thou hast sent us messengers of peace but we like Hierusalem thy ancient Love have not understood the things belonging to our peace O Lord let us know them in this our day let them no longer be hidden from our eyes Look down O Lord upon thy poor dismembred Church rent and torn with discords and even ready to sink Why should the Neutral or Atheist any longer confirm himself in his Irreligion by reasons drawn from our dissentions Or why should any greedy minded worldling prophecie unto himself the ruines of thy Sanctuary or hope one day to dip his foot in the bloud of thy Church We will hope O Lord for what hinders that notwithstanding all supposed impossibilities thou wilt one day in mercy look down upon thy Sion and grant a gracious enterveiw of freinds so long divided Thou that wroughtest that Great Reconciliation between God and Man is thine arm waxen shorter Was it possible to reconcile God to Man To reconcile Man to Man is it impossible Be with those we beseech thee to whom the presecution of Church Controversies is committed and like a good Lazarus drop one cooling drop into their Tongues and Pens too too much exasperated each against other And if it be thy determinate will and counsel that this abomination of desolation standing where it ought not continue unto the end accomplish thou with speed the number of thine Elect and hasten the coming of thy Son our Saviour that he may himself in person sit and judge and give an end to our controversies since it stands not with any humane possibility Direct thy Church O Lord in all her petitions for peace teach her wherein her peace consists and warn her from the world and bring her home to thee that all those that love thy peace may
Remonstrants have a Doctrine from Arminius that Redemptio impetrata is communis but not applicata Whereupon it followeth that impetratio is generalis which thing soundeth as unsound in the ears of men Dr. W. deviseth a word to help this For he will not say that impetratio is general but impetrabilitas is general Thus as if we wanted matter we are playing with words And if this humour had stayed it self within our private conferences it would have been less offensive but he hath opened himself to divers of the Synod which have told me of it And that men should not be ignorant he hath opened the same publickly in the Synod This gave the occasion of that report which came to your Lordship of some dissent among us We keep peace and love among our selves notwithstanding some variety of Opinions We wrote to your Lordship that Mr. President was offended at some things which we exhibited and was desirous that we should write to know my Lord's Grace his opinion therein In moving of that to my company I told them that we might yet take such order as to quiet all things without troubling my Lord's Grace Namely if we should recall our Theses and alter them at our pleasure for that is the common liberty granted to all to recall or add what they think good before the framing of the Canons I told them it might be with less trouble and speech if we did it of our selves rather than to refer it to my Lord's Grace to do To this Dr. D. answered that he would rather have his right hand cut off than recall or alter any thing Thus were we driven to send to his Grace If I could have drawn them to another course my Lord's Grace should not have been troubled Whatsoever will be done in this if we should do what we can we cannot sway the Synod for the Synod will ever have a major part against these Opinions and we can do nothing herein but only shew our Devises for we are sure before hand that this Devise of the Vniversal Grace of Redemption will not be received in this Synod Thus having given an account to your Lordship of these things whereof you wrote and which I thought my self bound to do commending your Lordship to the protection and blessing of God and my self to your Lordship I rest Dordr Febr. 8. 1618. Your Lordships most affectionate to do you service George Landaven Lord Bishop of Landaff Febr. 18. 1618. to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Most Reverend my very good Lord WE have advertised your Grace of the occurrents in the Synod Of late there fell out an unreasonable contention between the Breme-Divines and some of the Provincials wherein by a combination the Provincials had wrapped in Scultetus there were some faults on both sides but the greater fault was in the Provincials We have laboured to take up that matter and therein we have done not unprofitable service For those things which lately we wrote to your Grace we are desirous to compose them among our selves if happily we can We might have done it before if some of my fellows would have been perswaded to suffer some things to be changed which we have exhibited for we have that common liberty to change what we think good I pressed it to the company to change some things which offended the President but one of our company answered that he would rather have his right hand cut off than change any thing The question that troubleth us is whether we may admit the Grace of Redemption to be general to all men without exception Of which matters some of our company had written much and therein proceeded farther than we could yield to I cut off all that discourse which proved this General Grace before our writings were exhibited This I did by their good wills and consent yet if the matter shall come to be disputed in the Synod I fear that they will not be perswaded to be silent in it a private admonition from your Grace may quiet all We will be careful in the mean time to do what we can for Peace We live together in great love and society notwithstanding some differences of Opinions Thus with my hearty prayers for your Graces long continuance to the comfort of his Church I rest Dordr Febr. 18. 1618. Stil vet Your Graces most bounden in all duties George Landaven The British Divines Febr. 18. 1618. Stil Vet. Their Agreement concerning the Second Article Most Reverend OUr most humble duties premised Whereas of late by the advice of some whom we have cause to respect we so far troubled your Grace as by our joynt Letters to request your advice and direction concerning the authorized Doctrine of our Church de generali pretio mortis Christi We have since thought it more agreeable to our duties not to press your Grace therein nor to raise any scruple or question on that Point we having already resolved on that which we presume can incurr no exception in our Church and tendeth as we are perswaded to the advancing of the Peace of these Churches May it please your Grace therefore herein to leave us to our own defence and explication without any troubling your Grace otherwise than what your Wisdom shall think fit in private to advise whereof we shall make such use as occasion shall require with due respect to your Graces intention and command The process and particular occurrences of our Synodical Affairs since our last narration we have now sent reserving our selves a while therein for the conveniency of this Messenger who signified to us his intent of going purposely to Lambeth But that we presume that by our intimation to your Grace His Majesty is informed of the State of the Synodical proceedings we should think it our duty to take care for some such narration which as we have hitherto so will still forbear unless your Grace command us otherwise So with remembrance of our humble duties and prayers for the peace of our and their Churches and for your Graces prosperity we humbly take our leave this 28. of Febr. 1618. Stilo novo Dordr Batavor Your Graces to be commanded George Landaven John Davenant Samuel Ward Thomas Goad Walter Balcanquall The British Divines at Dort March 11. 1618. To the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Reasons of enlarging Grace beyond Election Our most humble duty premised AS we are bound most thankfully to accept and always ready observantly to respect your Graces especial care and judicious pains in explainig to us by letter some difficulties concerning our Second Article So we doubt not to enjoy your Graces approbation of our cautelous moderation both in private using only amongst our selves your Graces said Instructions as also in withholding our hand from pressing in publick any rigorous exclusive Propositions in the Doctrine of the extent of our Saviour Christ's oblation Our tenderness herein hitherto used is the more awaked by late intimation given us by my Lord Embassadour of His