account of such Disgrace Contempt and ill usage from Rude People as is not to be compared with that which He underwent When we consider how our Blessed Saviour Forgave those who Thirsted after his Bloud and were never satisfied till they had put him to the most shameful and most cruel Death and not only Forgave them himself but Entreated his Father and that even in the midst of his Torments when his Spirit one would think should be most highly exasperated to forgive them too I say when we consider this how can it be difficult to disswade our selves from Meditating Revenge upon any Provocations whatsoever Surely we must needs be very powerfully inclined to forgive our Enemies When we call to mind how He exprest his love to his very Murderers even so as to design the greatest good to them by the means of that whereby they designed the greatest evil to him can we be averse to the bearing Good will to those who are ill affected towards us to the Blessing of those that Curse us and Praying for those that despightfully use us When we consider how this Mighty Person humbled himself even to the washing his Disciples Feet and declared that He came not to be ministred unto but to minister can We contemptible Wretches cherish the least spark of Pride in our Souls Can We despise the meanest of our Fellow-creatures or think our selves too Great or too Good to condescend to the lowest Offices of Love whereby we may serve our Brethren When we consider with what submission to the Divine Will our Blessed Lord indured the most exquisite Pains both of Soul and Body though He never deserved them by the least offence but was always most perfectly obedient to his Father can this be other than a most forcible motive to us who have Merited so ill at the Hands of God quietly to submit to his good Pleasure in Afflicting us whenas in so doing he doth always punish us far less than our iniquities deserve When we consider how well satisfied our Saviour was to be in poor low Circumstances and not to have so much as a Cottage of his own to put his Head in though he was Lord of all Is it imaginable that We should aspire at High and Great things and having Food and Raiment not be Content who are less than the least of all God's mercies And lastly Will not the Consideration of our Saviour's being such a Man of sorrows and so acquainted with griefs exceedingly deaden our desires after Sensual Pleasures Surely it must necessarily so do Thus we see how greatly exciting the Example of our Saviour is to the perfect Mortifying of those Lusts which are most strong and vigorous to the loathing and abominating those which are naturally very dear to us and to the most restless endeavours to get our Souls possessed of those Virtues and Graces which are most supernatural Thirdly Another very prevalent Motive is the Assurance our Lord hath given us that He will not take such Advantage of our Frailties and Weaknesses or Sins we fall into by mere surprize and want of due Watchfulness as to cast us off for them so long as we allow not our selves in any evil way and it is the principal design of our lives to be conformed in all things to the Laws of Righteousness There is a Prophecy concerning the Messiah Isaiah 42. 3. which our Saviour applieth to himself Matth. 12. 20. A bruised reed shall he not break and smoaking flax shall he not quench c. He will not crush under foot those who fall through weakness but whatsoever good he seeth in them he will still cherish My little children saith S. Iohn these things I write unto you that ye sin not But what if through the weakness of their Flesh they should at any time be overtaken is their state then desperate No by no means for it follows And if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the Righteous c. 1 Epist. 2. 1. As there are Sins unto Death so there are Sins not unto Death according to that of the same Apostle 1 Epist. 5. 17. All unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin not unto death Though all Unrighteousness be sin and the deserved wages of sin be Death yet such is the Goodness of God through Christ that all Sins shall not be unto Death but only Wilful and Presumptuous Sins And I add not these neither if not persevered in but throughly forsaken If we were liable to Eternal Ruine for such Faults as considering all our Circumstances in this state it is scarcely to be hoped we shall constantly avoid we should necessarily live in great Bondage through continual fear anxiety and disquieting thoughtfulness But on the other hand it conduceth exceedingly to the chearful pursuing our Great Work to be satisfied that it is not every Failure that shall endanger our final miscarrying And it is no small inducement to ingenuous Tempers to be so much the more solicitous to avoid Deliberate and Wilful sins because God through Christ is so ready to forgive and graciously pass by those that are not such Because he is pleased in his infinite Goodness to grant a pardon of course for these upon condition of their being in the general and habituals repented of And it is a great Motive also to such Tempers to be the more vigilant and watchful against all sins whatsoever against sins of daily incursion and infirmity as well as those which waste the Conscience And those are very ill natured and obdurate Sinners who can find in their hearts to Encourage themselves by this indulgence to sin the more freely Fourthly Another wonderful Encouragement to the careful use of the Means we are directed to for the subduing of our Lusts is our Saviours Mediation and Intercession There is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Iesus His oblation was begun on Earth but perfected in Heaven where He appears in the presence of God for us Heb. 9. 24. Those Prayers we put up in His name for things Agreeable to the Divine Will with honest and sincere hearts our Saviour inforceth with his own Intercession He ever lives to make intercession for us Heb. 7. 25. And for this reason as the Apostle saith in the former part of that Verse He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him That is to give them a full and complete Deliverance from the Slavery of sin and all the evil Consequents thereof Now we know that we ask what is according to the Will of God when we pray for his Grace to Mortifie our Corruptions and to set us more and more Free from their Dominion This is the Will of God even our Sanctification c. 1 Thess. 4. 3. There are many Temporal good things which God in his infinite Wisdom may see not to be good for us but He knows that whatsoever hath a necessary influence into
LIBERTAS EVANGELICA Ierusalem w ch is above is free which is the mother of us all Gal. 4. 26. If the Son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed S. lâ—hâ— S. 〈◊〉 LIBERTAS EVANGELICA OR A DISCOURSE OF Christian Liberty Being a farther Pursuance of the Argument of The Design of Christianity By EDWARD FOWLER Rector of Alhallows Breadstreet London LONDON Printed by R. Norton for Richard Royston and Walter Kettilby MDCLXXX To the Right Honourable ANTHONY Earl of KENT Lord Hastings Waishford and Ruthyn My Lord THE Relation I formerly had to Your Lordship and to the Excellent Countess Your Mother who like King Solomon's wise Woman hath Builded Her House and by Her extraordinary Prudence accompanied with the Divine Blessing hath raised the now Third Earldom in this Kingdom to its Ancient Greatness and Splendour this Double Relation I say hath Emboldened me to make a Dedication of this Discourse to Your Lordship But there are also several other Considerations that induce me thereunto As particularly I know Your Lordship to be a Sober and Virtuous Person and that as the Grace of God did Guard your Youth and make the Pious and Solicitous Care of so Good a Mother happily successful to preserve you from all inclination to the Debaucheries of the Age which have proved so Fatal to not a few Great Men and Great Families so since your coming to years of Consideration and Iudgment You have not onely upon deliberate Choice totally deelined them but from the Love of Virtue heartily detested them I know your Lordship to be excellently well Principled both as a Subject of his Majesty and a Son of the Church of England and to be a perfect Enemy to the two great Adversaries of both viz. Popery and Fanaticism And that as a Noble Clergie-man of this Church was your Grandfather so your Lordship hath always been an Affectionate Friend and Patron of her Clergie and have had a very particular Value for those of them whose Piety Prudence and Learning intitle them to Esteem But I will not enlarge so far as truly I might upon this subject I shall onely add that I know your Lordship to be a Lover of Books and Learning wherein you attained to very good Proficiency by your noted Studiousness and Industry in the Vniversity but chiefly to Admire that sort of Learning which incomparably Excelleth all other viz. That which our Great Master Christ Jesus hath so highly Advanc'd and Perfected The Design of which is to make us wise to Salvation and Happy both in this World and to All Eternity And this if your Lordship shall vouchsafe to peruse it you will find is for a great part the immediate Business of the following Treatise As it is of the remainder to Vndermine and Subvert those Principles both Popish and others which are of so Pernicious Consequence and infinitely Mischievous to that Design I am so well Acquainted with your Lordships Candour and Ingenuity as to presume that it will easily overlook the many Defects of this Discourse for the sake of that Honest Meaning which your Charity will believe prompted me to the Writing and Publication of it God Almighty continue to multiply His Blessings both Spiritual and Temporal upon Your Lordship together with Your Pious and Eminently Charitable Lady Your Hopeful Children and the Rest of Your as Happy as Noble Family This is and shall be the Hearty Prayer of MY LORD Your Lordships most Faithful and Humble Servant EDW. FOWLER THE PREFACE AS the right Understanding of the Nature of the Christian Religion will enable us to discover all Destructive and Dangerous Errors so those cannot be Ignorant of its true Nature who are acquainted with its Design and Business and consequently to be well informed herein is the most sure and compendious Method that can be made choice of to preserve our selves from the Contagion of Heresie and all such Opinions and Practices as are apt to make us Bad Christians By this means men may save themselves the tedious labour of busying their Heads in particular Controversies and in strictly examining all the Arguments whereby the many Sects among us do endeavour to make their proper Sentiments to pass for great Gospel Truths It is sufficient to measure them all by this one Standard and compare them with this Rule which having done we may be fully satisfied that all such as are opposite to the intendment of our Saviour's Coming are to be Rejected all such as tend to promote it are to be embraced and as for such as do neither Oppose nor Promote it if any such are it is not worth our while in the least to concern our selves about them The Consideration hereof did heretofore induce me to write that Treatise Intituled The Design of Christianity And whereas divers Worthy Persons about that time had written to excellently good purpose against certain Popular Notions in Religion and abundantly exposed both the Falsity and Dangerousness of them I employed my small Talent in Endeavouring in that Discourse to Undermine them all together in the lump and to pluck them up by the Roots And I praise God for it I have seen reason to hope that I did not wholly lose my Labour Now the Reader will soon perceive that this plain Discourse of CHRISTIAN LIBERTY as is expressed in the Title-Page is a farther Pursuance and Improvement of the Argument of that Treatise And that the self-same thing for substance is Endeavoured in both And I was the more inclined to treat of this Subject because as clear and obvious as our Notion thereof is I do not know that it hath hitherto happened to be fully expressed in any other Book and much less Made out and Improved Considering the near Relation between these two Discourses I may save my Self and Reader the trouble of a long Preface and shall do little more than acquaint him in a few words with these three things First The Body of the Discourse is as Practical as can be and treats of as Weighty and Important Points as are to be found in the Gospel Nor is there any one Notion started throughout the Whole but what is both very Easie and Improveable to the best and most Profitable purposes Secondly The Opinions and Practices which are exposed as False and Dangerous are none but such as are most Evidently Contradictory to Christian Liberty as 't is here Explicated or to that Natural Liberty which is the not to be invaded Property of Mankind although some of them we have shewed are insisted upon by not a few as so many Parts or Branches of Christian Liberty And all those that we have concerned our selves with may be reduced to three Heads Antinomian Fanatical and Popish Upon which last we have much more Enlarged than on the other two and not especially at this time without great reason Thirdly We have fully made it appear that as no man can entertain a kind thought of Popery so neither can he easily
right hand of God And in the same manner have innumerable of his Followers been since strengthened and among others not a few of our own Country people who were burnt at stakes by the Bloudy Papists in the Reign of Queen Mary And if ever such days should come again as God grant they may not all sincerely good Souls who are sensible of their own weakness and intirely confide in the power of Iesus shall undoubtedly be enabled to suffer with great Patience and Constancy if not with great Ioyfulness also and triumphantly And indeed without this more immediate and special Divine Assistance we could not well hope to endure a Fiery trial All External encouragements such is the infirmity of our Natures accompanied but with the ordinary assistance of the Divine Grace are like little to avail us in the hour of such a temptation And the reason is because we shall be in great danger of being totally deprived of the power of considering by very acute pain and torment And a vigorous powerful sense of the Glory of Heaven is necessary to our bearing with patience and much more with joyfulness the sharpest sort of Tribulations the mere Belief thereof would certainly have but a very weak influence in such a circumstance And therefore as was said all Good Souls may confidently expect extraordinary Assistance whensoever they are called out to extraordinary sufferings God is faithful saith the Apostle who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able c. 1. Cor. 10. 13. Now then who after all this shall need to be told what a Glorious Liberty of Soul is obtainable by the careful observance of the Laws of Righteousness and Goodness But this will yet further appear if we consider that Fourthly It delivereth from all immoderate self-love Such a love of our selves as ties us down and determines us to our own bodily and particular concerns A worthy person in a Discourse of the Excellency of true Religion hath a saying to our present purpose well worth our reciting viz. that Wicked men are of most narrow and confined Spirits they are so contracted by the pinching particularities of Earthly and Created things so imprisoned in the dark dungeon of Sensuality and Selfishness so straitned through their carnal designs and ends that they cannot stretch themselves nor look beyond the Horizon of time and sense And there he observeth that Plato hath long since concluded concerning the condition of Sensual men that They live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like a Shell-Fish and can never move up and down but in their own Prison which they ever carry about with them But true Religion and Goodness is so Generous and Noble a Principle that he who is acted thereby cannot be confined to himself and his own things His Soul is not imprisoned within himself that is within his own particular Being separated from the rest of the World but is enlarged by an Universal Charity by a sincere good will to God's whole Creation He hath an hearty concern for the good of the World and carries on no designs for himself which are opposite thereunto nor any other but such as some way or other do tend to promote the welfare and happiness of his Fellow-creatures And 't is the greatest pleasure to his mind imaginable to be instrumental thereunto Again his Soul is not tied down to any inferior good things his love and desires are not terminated on such objects but they are so extensive as to stretch themselves far beyond this world and fix upon the Original and Supreme Good and there to Centre The Language of this man is the same with holy David ' s Whom have I in Heaven but God and there is nothing upon the Earth I desire in comparison of him Though he hath a kindness for things below yet his thoughts and affections are not confined to them but soar aloft to him who is the Author of them and from whom all the goodness that is in them is derived Whereas as the foresaid Author expresseth it All the Freedom that wicked men have is but like that of Banished men to wander up and down in the Wilderness of this World from one Den and Cave to another And he saith before that Tully could see so much in his Natural Philosophy as made him to say Scientia naturae ampliat animum ad divina attollit The knowledge of Nature enlargeth and dilates the mind and carrieth it up to Divine things But this is most true of Religion that in an higher sence it doth work the Soul into a true and divine Amplitude And thus have we shewed that the Observance of the Laws of Righteousness and Goodness gives the most excellent Liberty in that the Liberty which results from thence is the Liberty of the Soul and also how the Soul is thereby set at Liberty CHAP. IV. That this is the Liberty of God himself and his most excellent Liberty THirdly I proceed to shew that the Liberty which ariseth from the Observance of the Laws of Righteousness and Goodness is the Divine Liberty the Liberty of God himself and his most Excellent Liberty God Almighty is of all Beings infinitely the most unlimited and uncontroulable by any thing without himself He doth whatsoever pleaseth him in Heaven the Earth the Sea and all deep places The whole Universe is in his hands as the Clay in the hands of the Potter perfectly under his power and at his dispose so that there is no resisting him nor hindering one thought of his But as unboundable as his Will and Power are by any thing without him they are both determined by the internal Rectitude and Goodness of his Nature to things Holy Just and Good He is so great a lover of Equity and Goodness that he can neither do or will any thing that is contrary or not agreeable thereunto We read that He is a Rock whose work is perfect and all his ways are judgment a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he That it is impossible for God to lye That his ways are right and equal and his judgment according to truth That the judge of all the Earth will do right and that he will not lay upon man more than is right that he should enter into judgment with God That he is of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on iniquity i. e. with approbation That the righteous Lord loveth righteousness and his countenance beholdeth the upright That he is not tempted with evil is uncapable of the least inclination towards it neither tempteth he any man Can not tempt any man to evil and much less by any Decree determine him That he is good unto all and his tender mercies are over all his works That he is full of compassion and long-suffering That he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked man turn from his way and
said to be weak through the flesh or in regard of the impetuosity and violence of mens fleshly Appetites Rom. 8. 3. Nor is there any express mention in the Ceremonial Law of any necessity of purity of heart This was only represented by the divers legal washings and other Rites the mortification of corrupt Affections was signified by the cutting off the foreskin of the flesh and the great substantial duties were veiled under dark shadows So that a man might be very punctually observant of this Law according to the mere literal sence thereof and yet his Soul remain perfectly under the power of sinful Affections And the Learned Mr. Chillingworth in his Sermon on Gal. 5. 5. saith thus even of the Moral Duties of the two Tables as they are part of the Mosaical Jewish Law viz. That they required only an external obedience and conformity to the Affirmative Precepts thereof and an abstaining from an Outward practice of the Negative They did not reach unto the Conscience no more than the National Laws of other Kingdoms do So that for example when the law of Moses forbids Adultery upon pain of death he that should in his heart lust after a Woman could not be accounted a Transgressor of Moses his law neither was he liable to the punishment therein specified Whereas the Gospel requires not only an Outward and as I may say corporal obedience to God's Commandments but also an inward sanctification of the Soul and Conscience upon the same penalty of everlasting damnation with the former And what is now said proceeds he of the Moral Precepts as they are part of Moses his law by the same proportion likewise is to be understood of the Iudicial And as for the Promises of this Law they were only of Temporal good things and therefore the Gospel is called by the Author to the Hebrews The bringing in of a better hope Chap. 7. 19. And is said to be established upon better promises Chap. 8. 6. 'T is confessed that promises of Heavenly things were contained in those of Earthly as some of the latter were Types of the former particularly the land of Canaan of the Eternal Rest in Heaven and the promises of good things in the general had those of the other life implied in them but there is not the least express mention in this Law of any Life after this I do not say in any part of the Old Testament but in this Law Now then seeing it abounded with Temporal Promises and none but such being in express terms contained therein 't is no wonder if it became an occasion to the sensual Iews of their being the more eager and vehement in prosecuting the profits honours and pleasures of this life as it was of their being the more Mercenary in their obedience The like may be said of the Threatnings of this Law they are all so expressed as if they were only of Present Temporal Evils and the Iews for the most part looking no farther than the outward letter of these Threatnings it was not to be expected that they should be excited by them to obey from any higher motive than the mere fear of such evils as those that did not look beyond the letter of the Promises were obedient only from the hope of some sensual present good And by this means especially did this Law Gender to bondage as we read it did Gal. 4. 24. The terrible manner in which the Law was given and the Threatnings of Present death or other temporal Calamities upon the Transgression thereof did occasion that slavish sear which the Apostle calls the Spirit of bondage in those words Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear Rom. 8. 5. God dealt with the Iews as it was most fit to deal with such a carnal such a stiff-necked stubborn and disingenuous people who would not be wrought upon and overcome by love to himself or a sense of the loveliness of Virtue and true Goodness nor regard any Laws but such as were enforced with severe present Penalties or promises of sensual good things Which obedience of theirs was most truly and properly the obedience of Slaves a Servile and Mercenary Obedience So that this Law having been abused by the Iews to the so much the more captivating them to their fleshly lusts for this reason chiefly was it laid aside namely because the Liberty which consisteth in a thorough compliance with the Rules of Righteousness the Obligation of this Law would have greatly obstructed the promoting of And the things expresly required in this Law being such as had no internal goodness in them being weak and beggarly Elements as the Apostle calls them Gal. 4. 9. the imposition of many such must needs be apt to call away mens Minds and Affections from those that are essentially and immutably good whilest the spiritual meaning of those injunctions is either not understood or not attended to And that it had this effect upon the generality of the Iews by this means is a case too plain to need to be proved And though the great substantial duties which are in their own nature Good and Necessary and of Eternal obligation were inculcated upon them by all their Prophets as well as taught by Natural Light such as Doing Iustice loving Mercy walking humbly with God and the like yet they generally were so sottish as to think that He valued Sacrifices and the other Ceremonial and External Performances of the Law so much above such Duties nay though he had expresly also declared the quite contrary as that their exact and diligent observation of those would make expiation for their remisness in these and fully satisfie for gross immoralities They trusted in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these implying that their continual attendance on the services there performed according to the prescription of the Law would effectually secure them from Divine vengeance although they refused to amend their ways and were never so immoral in their Practices And their constant Trading in Sacrifices in Rituals and Ceremonial things occasioned their having but very little sense of things Morally good so that that distinction was almost lost among them of things Positively and Morally so or things good only because commanded and things commanded because good Their being so intent upon a many little things caused them to sleight and overlook the great ones as our Saviour told the Pharisees Luke 11. 42. Ye tithe Mint and Rue and all manner of Herbs and pass over judgment and the love of God And Mat. 23. 23. Ye pay tith of Mint and Anise and Cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law judgment mercy and faith And their omitting these things was too plain an Argument alone though there is other proof of it of their having scarcely any notion of things Absolutely Immutably and Essentially Good and Evil which was occasioned as I said by their
and grave Whatsoever things are just or exactly agreeable to the Rule of doing as we would be done unto Whatsoever things are pure or far from all shew and appearance of unchastity Whatsoever things are lovely or which tend to secure to us love among men such as all works of benignity mercy and Charity Whatsoever things are of good report or which are apt to procure a good name and therefore to prevent all the causes of shame and to give us the greatest freedom and confidence as before God so before Men too If there be any virtue if there be any thing that is by Good men reckoned in the number of Virtues And if there be any praise or any thing laudable and praise-worthy All these things as the Apostle in the general here enjoyneth us to think upon them so they are very particularly and as clearly and perspicuously recommended to us to be carefully observed by us in the New Testament There is nothing which it becometh us to Do or Forbear whether in reference to God our Great Creator Governour and Benefactor or to our Fellow-creatures or to our own Souls and Bodies but here we find it Again we may observe all these in our Saviour's Life also wherein He set us an Example that we should follow his steps And it is a most admirable Example of Piety towards God of Love to him Trust in him and Submission to his Will of Charity to all men even his greatest Enemies and of Humility Meekness Temperance Purity Contempt of the World and Heavenly-mindedness He that shall observe how our Blessed Saviour Lived cannot be ignorant of any of those Laws of Righteousness and Goodness which before his coming the World was so lamentably in not a few instances to seek in the knowledge of through that blindness which by the customary gratifying their vile Affections men had generally contracted I say he that is acquainted with the Life of our Saviour cannot easily be ignorant of any of those Laws although he never understood what particular Commands or Prohibitions his Precepts consist of So that this is the First thing Christ Iesus hath done for us in order to our being made Free He hath given us fully to understand what it is to be Free what are those several Rules of Righteousness and Goodness in compliance with which consists our Liberty Secondly Our Saviour hath also prescribed most Effectual Means by making use of which we shall most certainly obtain and maintain this Liberty that is obey those Laws of Liberty which he hath given us These Means are especially Believing himself to be the Son of God and consequently the Truth and Divinity of his Doctrine Hearing his Word and Receiving it into honest hearts or Pondering it in our minds and Meditating upon it with the Design of conforming our selves to it Prayer to God in his Name together with Faith in his Bloud for the Remission of our Sins and in his Power and Goodness for the Subduing our Lusts and the making us Obedient to his Precepts That is for the blessing our Endeavours to that End Setting his Example before our Eyes which is an Excellent Means to beget in us a likeness to him and to our partaking of his Spirit and Temper Watching over our own Hearts and against Temptations Denying our selves and not indulging our Sensitive Part. Advising in all Cases of doubt and difficulty with our Pastors and Spiritual Guides whom Christ hath given to his Church For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the Edifying of the Body of Christ Ephes. 4. 12. And obeying them which have the Rule over us in the Lord they watching for our Souls as those that must give an Account Heb. 13. 17. Which Duties were never more neglected than in this Age to the great scandal of our Reformed Religion Keeping in the Communion of the Church And not forsaking the Assembling our selves together or our publick Assemblies as the manner of some is Heb. 10. 25. And now is the manner of vast numbers of us though no Terms of Communion are required that contradict any one Text of Scripture which Separation we are too like ere long to pay dear for The Religious observation of the Lords Day both in Publick and Private is another singular Help and Advantage Though few Professors of Christianity seem now to have any great sense of it to the great prejudice of their own Souls and the Souls of those who are under their charge And to these add in the last place because 't is most convenient to place them here The Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper By Baptism we are admitted into the Church of Christ and brought into a New State We are baptized into the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost or devoted to their service And the Father in this Sacrament takes us into his special care and into the Relation of his Children whereas before we were only the Children of Adam The Son receives us as members of his Body the Church We are baptized into one Body as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 12. 13. that Body whereof Christ is the Head And the Holy Ghost who is the Author of Grace and Spiritual Life taketh us for his Temples We are said to Receive the Holy Ghost in Baptism to receive that power and strength from him which will enable us to Mortifie the deeds of the Body and to acquire the Divine Graces and Virtues which we shall certainly do if we refuse not to Exert and Improve it when we come to years of Discretion and our Faculties are ripe enough for that purpose In Baptism the Holy Spirit communicates to us the Beginnings of a new life which may afterwards be improved to large measures of Virtue and Goodness if we be not wilfully wanting to our selves in the other Means And in the Lords Supper as we renew the Covenant we made in Baptism to renounce the Devil and all his works c. So all worthy Receivers of that Sacrament receive great additions of Grace and Spiritual Strength are fed with the spiritual food of the most Precious Body and Bloud of Christ. And of all the Means prescribed for the Subduing our Lusts and Growing in Grace the Frequent Receiving the Lord's Supper is very deservedly accounted the Principal Certainly there is not any Ordinance wherein sincere Souls do so experiment the Communications of the Holy Spirit by which they are so Strengthened with strength in their Souls Nor are there any such Strong and Spriteful Christians any so confirmed and rooted in Goodness in the love of God and their Neighbour and all the Christian Virtues as those who take all occasions to attend upon it with a thankful sense of the infinite love of God and Christ to them and sincerely design in so doing a fuller participation of the Divine nature But this intimation that these two Sacraments are conveyances of Grace and Strength leads me to shew that
all tending to entertain the several Humours of all men and to work what kind of Effects soever they shall desire c. So that where is mad Licentiousness more countenanced in the whole World than it is by this Church And where are poor Mortals made such miserable Slaves as She makes them And consequently how can there be a greater Enemy than the Romish Church is to that which we have proved to be the true and most Excellent Liberty And now is it possible that after the reading of the foregoing Account of the unsupportably Tyranny the intolerably Corrupt Principles and most Abominable Practices of the Church of Rome we should not be very greatly affected with the Priviledges we enjoy in the Church of England And with the infinite Goodness of God to us in giving us our Birth and Education in a Church which affords us all the Advantages of which that Church like a cruel Step-Mother robs her Children We live in a Church which lays before us the Scripture Arguments for our Confirmatiâ—n in the Christian Faith which obligeth us to receive the Faith of Christ upon the self-same Grounds and Motives that are proposed by our Saviour and his Apostles and upon no other We live in a Church which not onely gives us free leave but likewise enjoyns us to read the Holy Scriptures and deprives us of no part of them We live in a Church which requires us to receive nothing as an Article of Faith upon her bare Authority that assumes nothing of Inâ—allibility to her self but freely gives us the Liberty of trying all things That imposeth nothing upon our Belief or Practice as necessary to Salvation but what is in the plainest and most express terms to be found in the Bible That makes the Scriptures a complete Rule of Faith and adds not one syllable of her own to supply their defect That takes no Liberty in her Constitutions but such as she believes to be agreeable to the General Apostolical Rules of doing all things decently and in order and to Edification and imposeth these not as of Divine Institution or as necessary in their own nature but onely as Expedient for the more solemn grave and decorous Management of the Publick Worship of God This being left by Christ and his Apostles to the Prudence of the Governours of each particular Church We live in a Church which Abominates the Worship of God by Images allows no Prayers to Saints or Angels but onely to the true God by the alone Mediation of our Lord Iesus Christ. We live in a Church which renounceth all Merit of good Works and teacheth us to expect Salvation onely for the sake of Iesus Christ and through his Righteousness but gives not the least countenance to Licentious practices or Remissness in good Works and teacheth the absolute necessity of purging our selves by the Assistance of the Divine Grace from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit in order to our being made capable of God's Complacential love here and Glory hereafter Lastly whereas I might be exceedingly large upon this subject we live in a Church wherein we want no necessary help for the building us up in our most holy Faith or our having the Design of our Saviour's Religion happily effected in us namely the Reformation of our Lives and our being Renewed after the Image of God which consisteth in Righteousness and true Holiness O that at length we could become more eflectually sensible of the blessed priviledges the Divine Goodness vouchsafeth to us of the Church of England lest we be made to Prize them by the Loss of them Lest our general monstrous Ingratitude and lamentable Unprofitableness under them and the Wantonness Peevishness and Causless Separation of Multitudes from the Communion of this Church provoke the Divine Majesty to put our Necks once more under the Iron Yoke of those Tyrants which made such Vassals of our Fore-fathers If that dismal day should again come as God grant it may not with what Sorrow and Grief of Soul shall we reflect upon our neglecting and despising such happy Opportunities as we now enjoy What would we not then gladly part with to regain them when we are deprived of them And O that our several divided Parties were capable of being perswaded to consider Sedately and Seriously before it be too late what their Gain will be by the Fall of our Chuch when themselves and their Religion lie buried together in her Ruines CHAP. XIX The Fourth Inference That he onely is a true Christian that looks upon himself as obliged to be no less Watchful over his Heart and the frame and temper of his Mind than over his Life and Conversation I Shall now return to more immediately practical discourse for what remains of this Treatise which is far more pleasing to my self than that I have been employed in for several of the past Chapters as necessary and seasonable as that is also Fourthly From our Notion of Christian Liberty this is another manifest Inference viz. That a true Christian is one that looks upon himself as obliged to be no less watchful over his Heart than over his Life and Conversation to take as great care to cleanse the inside of the Cup and Platter to use our Saviour's expression as the outside to be as vigilant over his Affections as over his outward Behaviour to be as Solicitous about purging himself from all immoderate Love of the things of this World as about procuring them by warrantable and lawful means The true Christian makes as much Conscience of Lusting after a Woman and cherishing impure thoughts as he doth of Lascivious and Wanton Practices Of harbouring Revenge in his Breast and bearing ill will to any as of repaying Injury with injury He needs not to be made sensible that 't is no less his duty to forgive and love his Enemies than to forbear reviling them or doing evil to them that 't is as indispensably necessary to be low in his own Eyes and to think meanly of himself as to beware of a haughty and supercilious carriage towards others that he cannot more safely Covet than he can Steal his Neighbours goods that he is as much bound to bring his Will into subjection to the Will of God under the severest Providences as to forbear Murmuring Repining and Charging of God foolishly He who is a Christian in deed as well as in name placeth Religion in Governing his own Spirit no less than in any External performances or forbearances of what nature soever in putting away from himself all Wrath Bitterness and Sourness no less than in abstaining from uncivil deportment towards his Brethren This man doth not think it more necessary to do good works than to do them from a good principle And he is as much concerned about Loving of God as about Doing what he hath commanded him and Forbearing what he hath forbidden him He no less endeavours to Hate sin than not to Commit it and to be in love
and particular concerns And the Opposites to these do give the Soul great Enlargement and Liberty viz. That Confidence that is opposite both to Fear and to Shame Delight and joy which are opposite to Trouble and Dejection of Mind and Generosity and Nobleness of Spirit whereby a man is carried forth to the loving of God the Chief Good in the first place and a hearty concern for the general welfare of his Fellow-Creatures which is opposite to immoderate self-Self-love First The Observance of the Rules of Righteousness casteth out Fear This is a most servile Passion the Apostle speaketh of some who through fear of â—â—ath were all their life-time subject to bondage By Fear I mean that which is expressed by the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cowardly and dispiriting Fear None can imagine I mean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Awful and Reverential Fear such as is called Heb. 12. 28. a Godly fear Nor yet do I mean such a Fear as awakens and excites the Soul to the use of means for the shunning and keeping off evils Such a Fear as this doth not at all inslave or put a man out of his own power but is highly serviceable to the maintenance and preservation of Liberty And therefore it is commended to us by the Apostle Heb. 4. 1. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it But as was said the Fear which is enslaving is a Cowardly Dispiriting Fear and this the Righteous and Good man is freed from He hath not received the spirit of bondage again to fear in this sence but the spirit of Adoption whereby he crieth Abba Father Rom. 8. 15. He is not afraid of God as a poor Slave is of his fierce Master or as a wicked Servant of his justly provoked and incensed Lord but not being under the guilt of wilful sins his Conscience being privy to no other guilt than that which upon good grounds he believes is expiated by the Bloud of Iesus he can go to God as a child to his loving and tender Father And as he hath no tumultuary confounding or disheartening fear of God so neither hath he of the Devil or Men or any worldly evil as knowing that all these are subject to the restraint of that good Providence which ever chargeth it self with the care of good Souls and all their concerns God hath not given him the Spirit of fear or timidity and fearfulness but of power of love and of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1. 7. This man is an affectionate Lover of God and therefore cannot question God's love to him and is assured that all things shall work together for his good for his good both in this life and in the life to come Herein is our love made perfect saith S. Iohn in his 1 Epistle 4. 17. because as he is so are we in this world because we follow the example of our Blessed Saviour in the conscientious observance of the Rules of Righteousness there is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love That is he that is affected with such a fear as hath now been described He who is not under the power of Cowardizing dismaying Fear his Spirit is at great Liberty but a care to keep an inoffensive Conscience both towards God and men to adhere to the Rules of Righteousness and Goodness and never to swerve from them will banish this Fear The wicked saith the Wise man fleeth when no man pursueth but the righteous is bold as a Lion Prov. 28. 1. He that walketh uprightly walketh surely or confidently and securely Prov. 9. 10. To which great truth the Poet gives his Testimony in those known Verses Integer vitae scelerisque purus Non eget Mauri jaculis nec arcu c. He that 's in life upright and pure in heart Is too secure to need the Bow or Dart. hic murus aheneus esto Nil conscire sibi nullâ pallescere culpâ The strongest Bulwark's not so sure a Fence As is an inoffensive Conscience Secondly True Goodness begets that confidence which is opposed as to Fear so to Shame too There is a highly commendable shame which is proper to a Good man namely that which is expressed by the Latine Verecundia Which is a quick sense of whatsoever is indecorous and misbecoming No man can have too much of this for the more any one hath of it the better man must he necessarily be But there is another sort of Shame expressed by Pudor which is a troublesome passion arising from a sense of disgrace upon consciousness of Guilt Of this Shame the most learned Doctor Henry More observeth in his incomparable Ethicks that it neither falleth upon the worst nor the best of men For he who is conscious to himself that he constantly exerciseth his liberty in doing the best things knows that he ought not to be contemned and thereupon being above all contempt contempt it self is contemned by him which is a great instance in good men of Generosity but in bad men is the very height of improbity This Shame is a good effect of a bad cause for though it be an evil yet 't is a necessary evil and tends to the deterring men from unworthy actions for the time to come and doth actually produce this good effect where the great uneasiness and perturbation of mind which was caused thereby upon past commissions of sin is seriously and consideratively reflected upon For where this Shame is there is great Bondage where there is consciousness of guilt the mind of a man is miserably pent up confined and straitned so that he dares many times neither to look abroad into the world nor to look up to Heaven nor reflect upon himself And therefore Liberty and Confidence are expressed by the same word viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek language But while a man is careful in the observance of the Laws of Righteousness to be Righteous before God and to walk as it is said of Zacharias and Elizabeth in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless he is not affected with this kind of Shame and consequently enjoys a mighty Freedom by this means Upright Iob had the happy experience of this effect of uprightness as we find Chap. 31. 35 36 37. Oh that one would hear me saith he behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me and that mine Adversary had written a book Surely I would take it upon my shoulder and bind it as a Crown unto me I would declare to him the number of my steps as a Prince would I go near unto him Which is as much as if he had said Oh that mine Adversary instead of secretly whispering evil things of me had drawn up a charge in writing against me I would be so far from endeavouring to have it concealed
that I would my self publish it to all the world and instead of thinking it a disgrace and disparagement I would esteem it as an ornament for my innocence would be the more cleared and my good name vindicated by the means of it And so far would I be from sneaking and skulking in corners like one ashamed to shew his head that I would like a Prince with Heroick courage and confidence go up to the face of mine Enemy and expose and lay open my whole life before him Or rather we will read these Verses as the sence of them is expressed in a late excellent Paraphrase upon this Book Oh that the truth of all this that I have been accused of might be examined by some equal judge Behold I continue still to desire of God this favour And let him that can accuse me bring in his Libel in writing against me Surely I would not endeavour to obscure it but openly expose it to be read by all nay wear it as a singular ornament which would turn to mine honour when the world saw it disproved I my self would assist him to draw up his charge by declaring to him freely every action of my life I would approach him as undauntedly as a Prince who is assured of the goodness of his cause These words with many other of his sayings shew what a blessed Liberty the Soul of this Holy man was possessed with even whilest he was deprived of all his outward comforts and in the saddest and most dismal circumstances Thirdly Nothing will free a man from Trouble and Dejection of mind like the careful observance of the Laws of Righteousness This as it is a certain consequent of Fear and Shame it must needs free a man from as it freeth from those its Causes But it incomparably beyond any thing in the world cureth this Malady of a wounded spirit how or by whatsoever it be occasioned I have shewed that it is the fate of Sinners to feel great perturbation and disturbance of mind from their corrupt Affections by the law in their members warring against the law of their minds and also by reflecting upon their folly and madness and by the fearful expectations that their manifold bold transgressions of the Divine Laws do raise in them The wicked saith the Prophet are like the troubled Sea which cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Cain had no sooner given place to Envy and Revenge but his Countenance fell and the Disquiet of his mind was bewrayed by his looks But there is no such Lightsomness and Sprightfulness of Soul no such Pleasure and Self-satisfaction as that which results from true Religion Righteousness and Goodness It 's ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths peace Prov. 3. 17. Light is sown for the Righteous and joy for the Vpright in heart Psal. 97. 11. Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them Psal. 119. 165. The work of Rigteousness shall be peace and the effect of Righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Esay 32. 17. The Good man is free from self-accusations and from that gnawing Worm that is frequently felt in Guilty breasts He is not appalled in thinking of what is past nor cast down with the fore-thought of that which is to come His Soul is like a calm and clear River like the waters of Siloam which run softly without noise or murmur Whatsoever is Natural is for that reason highly pleasing but nothing so natural to the Heaven-born Soul of man nothing is so agreeable to our original Make as to live in conformity to the Laws of Righteousness Whilest this is our serious care we act according to our Highest principle that Principle which God and Nature designed for our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Leader and Governour I mean the Reason of our Minds And therefore so long as we follow its Dictates and behave our selves like those on whose souls the Divine image is imprinted which consisteth in Righteousness and true Holiness so long I say we live in our own Element and therefore must necessarily have Self-enjoyment And we shall enjoy our selves more or less according as we are more or less diligent in works of Righteousness and Goodness The experience of every Good man will force him to subscribe to the truth of this no such man can withhold his assent from it or call it into question any more than he can his own Feeling Such a one feels such serenity of thoughts and such great delight and satisfaction of mind in the exercise of love to God and love to men in works of Piety Justice and Charity in the exercise of Humility Meekness Patience and Submission to the Divine will and all other Christian Graces and Virtues that while he is so employed all is as well within him as he can desire he accounts it a Heaven upon Earth to be so employed I fear that many a one who would be thought a Christian cannot receive this Doctrine that it seems to him a very strange Soloecism but I could tell him of many a Heathen of whom he may learn it as well as of Christians particularly Tully who hath this brave saying in his Tusculan Questions O Philosophy the Guide of our lives O thou seeker out of Virtues and expeller of Vices One day well spent and in obedience to thy precepts ought to be preferred before a sinning immortality And all those say for substance the self-same thing who tell us that Virtue is a Reward to it self The Good man feels also no small pleasure in reflecting upon the fruits of Righteousness he hath brought forth And much more in the Contemplation of that Glorious Reward which God for Christ's sake hath promised to those who patiently persevere in well-doing The fore-expectation whereof doth greatly support him under all the crosses and afflictions wherewith he is exercised in this life And makes him not only Patient under those Tribulations he meets with for Righteousness sake but even to Glory in them as the Apostles did and Primitive Christians And moreover he receiveth great Refreshment and Comfort more immediately from the Holy Ghost especially when he is called forth to any exceedingly great suffering or extraordinary service He then marvellously strengthens the Good man with strength in his Soul to bear the one and perform the other as becomes a servant of Iesus Christ. Which he doth chiefly by giving sensible clear and lively representations to the Good mans mind of the Glory of Heaven and by stedfastly fixing it upon the Crown of Righteousness and Life which his Blessed Lord hath promised to all those who are faithful to the Death Thus was the first Christian Martyr S. Stephen strengthened who being full of the Holy Ghost looked up stedfastly into Heaven and saw the Glory of God saw the Heavens opened as ready to receive him and the Son of man standing on the
which purpose I will add this passage of Clemens Alexandrinus To submit and give place to evil Affections is extreme Slavery as to overcome them is the only Liberty Nor can the best place in the World not Heaven it self or the most Glorious outward circumstances make that person Happy or not Miserable within whom all is amiss and out of order and who is indued with no good Habit or Temper of Mind A diseased Body will be uneasie do what you can to it and so will diseased Souls These things considered 't is the most Amazing thing that any who call themselves Christians can entertain such a Notion as this of Christian Liberty the directly contrary being the whole Design and Business of Christianity And yet for all that we find it as Ancient as the Apostles days there were those so early that did not only Teach it but Practised upon it that used their Liberty for a cloak of Maliciousness and turned the Grace of God into lasciviousness But 't is no over-bold saying that if this could be really proved to be a Liberty of Christ's bringing into the World there is no Good man but would abhor the Christian Religion But the Antinomians not to make worse of them than they are tell us that they do not deny the Obligation of Christians to the performance of the Duties required by the Moral Law but 't is only Love Gratitude and ingenuity that can oblige them Which is as much as to say that they are not obliged to them in strict Justice or as they are the Matter of a Law But alas they very little mend the matter by this Salvo nay their Doctrine is of the same dangerous consequence with it that it is without it For First It destroys all the Gospel Precepts makes them insignificant and idle things They being all Moral either in themselves or in their Design Secondly It takes off all Obligation to Love Ingenuity and Gratitude You say you are not bound to be Righteous Charitable Temperate c. by any other Law than that of Love and Gratitude But by what Law are you obliged to the Love of God and Christ to be Grateful to them and to have an Ingenuous Thankful Sense of the Great things they have done for you You must say by no Law at all seeing you make these the only Law of Christians And if you are obliged to these things by no Law how are they Duties And perswade a man once that they are not Duties and 't will be very strange if he make any Conscience of Love and Gratitude And then there is nothing left to hold him in from committing all manner of wickedness with greediness whensoever the Tempter or his Lusts solicite him and opportunities are offered to him But besides they have another Doctrine and 't is that upon which this strange wild Notion is founded which takes away all necessity of being Grateful and Ingenuous viz. That the Righteousness of Christ is Formally and not only in its Fruits and Effects a Believers so that He hath done all that the Law requires in the Believers stead or as Personating him This is their Sence of those words lately cited I came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it so that Christ having fulfilled the Law as the Believers Representative he hath fulfilled it himself in Christ. And Christs Active and Passive Obedience is his both as to Matter and Principle and therefore Christs Love and Gratitude are his Love and Gratitude and all those Graces which so shined forth in Christ are the Believers in their very Formality and Essential nature Now what should ail those that can down with this strange stuff to boggle at believing that they have no need at all of any other Love Ingenuity or Gratitude than what is thus imputed to them And therefore you see that their talking of the Law of Love and Gratitude is but a pitiful shift and will do nothing towards the deliverance of their Doctrine of Freedom from the Moral Law from the necessary tendency it is charged with to the letting the Reins loose and opening the Flood-gates to all Ungodliness I exceedingly wonder how it is possible for People that have not first lost their Wits to embrace an Opinion so apparently Destructive of Christianity and of all Religion and all this while profess themselves Christians and the onely Christians too But I have bestowed too much time in the Confutation of this Hateful Notion of Christian Liberty it being as ridiculously silly as it is wicked And it being as evident to him that knows any thing of the Gospel that it is Antichristian Licentiousness as that there is any such thing as Christian Liberty Poor Souls They little understand what Liberty meaneth who are able to talk or think at this rate In short He that believes that true Christians are delivered by the Sufferings of Christ from the Curse due to the Transgressors of this Law believes most truly but whosoever believes they are delivered from the Power it had to oblige to the Duties thereof or that any man can be so delivered thinks most wickedly and thinks most madly CHAP. XIII A Second False Notion of Christian Liberty viz. That which makes it to consist in Freedom from the Obligation of those Laws of Men which enjoyn or forbid indifferent things This Notion differently managed by the Defenders of it First Some extend it so far as to make it to reach to all Humane Laws the matter of which are things indifferent Secondly Others limit it to those which relate to Religion and the Worship of God The 23. Vers. of the 7. Chap. of the 1 Epist. to the Corinthians cleared from giving any Countenance to either of these Opinions The Former of them Confuted by three Arguments And the Latter by four Vnder the Second of which several Texts of Scripture which are much insisted upon in the defence thereof are taken into Consideration An unjust Reflection upon the Church of England briefly replied to And this Principle that the imposing of things indifferent in Divine Worship is no Violation of Christian Liberty proved to be no ways Serviceable to Popery by considering what the Popish Impositions are in Three Particulars SEcondly We are next to speak to that Notion of Christian Liberty which makes it to consist in Freedom from those Laws of Men that command or forbid Indifferent things i. e. Things neither good nor evil in their own nature nor required or prohibited by any Law of God This Notion is differently managed by the Defenders of it First Some extend it to all Humane laws the Matter of which are things Indifferent Secondly Others limit it to those which relate to Religion onely and the Worship of God But what proof is there of Christ's having purchased such a Liberty as this Or that Christians are made Free from such Laws in either of these Sences There is one Text insisted on by both of these Parties for each
to be believed and practised by us in order to Salvation and which without any Additions are able to make us wise to Salvation as S. Paul assures us and are a complete Rule of Faith and Practice And that Preacher who shall offer to require his Auditors assent to any thing not delivered either in express terms or by plain consequence in the Writings of the Old or New Testament doth impudently impose upon their belief except he be able to work real Miracles for the convincing of them He takes more upon him than either the Apostles or our Saviour himself who did still appeal to the works the Supernatural works he did to attest the truth of the Doctrine he delivered I would such impudent imposers were onely to be found among the Romanists who are all so and the most impudent that ever appeared upon the stage of the World but alas they are too too common also among professed haters of Popery Thirdly And as to the sence of the more difficult places of Scripture no sober Preacher pretends to come to the knowledge thereof by the immediate illumination of the Spirit but such a one acknowledgeth he doth it in the general by the exercise of his Reason And particularly by considering the proper signification of Words and Phrases in the Original Languages by comparing Scripture with Scripture by searching into the Ancient Customs which give great light to a great number of Texts and without the knowledge of which they are not to be understood by enquiring after the judgment of those who lived nearest to the Times of the Apostles c. And after all they submit their Expositions of such Texts to the judgments of their Hearers I mean such of them as are capable of judging As for others Oportet discentes credere It becomes Learners to give credit to their Teachers And Credendum est peritis in suâ Arte. But Fourthly We do piously and by the Authority of Scripture believe that the Spirit is ready to assist us in our Reasonings and Enquiries and whatsoever particular good means we use for the understanding of Scripture when He is humbly and devoutly sought to by us and when without the least prejudice partiality ill design or sinister respect but for the best of Ends and from the pure love of Truth we make Enquiry Thus even Private Christians are assisted in the searches and enquiries which they are able to make For God hath promised that The Meek he will guide in judgment and the Meek he will teach his way Fifthly In composing also of profitable Discourses as we implore so we have the Divine Assistance but we see no ground to believe that we have it in any other manner than in other good works of what nature soever But as for the ready Faculty of Discoursing from a Pulpit and popular speaking to a Congregation we have no reason to believe it a Gift of the Spirit any more than the Lawyers strange readiness in pleading at the Bar. And a volubility of speech upon any subject whatsoever heat of Fancy and nimbleness of Wit and Invention are as much to be attributed to the Holy Spirit as such a Faculty And hence we may gather that a Preacher of the Gospel can plead no such Liberty as is wholly exempted from Restraints by Authority But one that is known to have never so good a Talent at Preaching may be forbidden the exercise of it till he hath submitted to a lawful Ordination such as was in use in the Churches of Christ for Fifteen hundred years together And when Ordained he may lawfully have bounds set him as to the places where he shall exercise his Ministry in publick and as to the times when And he may be forbidden to meddle with such Arguments as are above the reach of his Peoples Understandings or are not like to conduce to their Edification and much more to broach dangerous Doctrines that is such as are so in the judgment of his Governours And for his Disobedience and other Misdemeanours he is as liable to be suspended or totally deprived of his Ministerial Office as are any other Officers I do but touch upon and give light glances at these things because my present subject will not give me leave to discourse largely upon them which would be too great a digression from its proper business CHAP. XV. A Third False Notion of Christian Liberty viz. that which makes Liberty of Conscience a Branch of it Two things premised 1. That Conscience is not so sacred a thing as to be uncapable of being obliged by Humane Laws 2. That no man can properly be deprived of the true Liberty of his Conscience by any Power on Earth That what is contended for is more properly Liberty of Practice than of Conscience The Author's Opinion in reference to this Liberty delivered in Ten Propositions That whatsoever Liberty of this nature may be insisted on as our Right it is not Christian Liberty but Natural Liberty THirdly and Lastly I proceed to that Notion of Christian Liberty which makes Liberty of Conscience a Branch of it But before I deliver my Opinion about this weighty point which hath occasioned as great Feuds and sharp Contests as any whatsoever I shall premise two things First That Conscience is not so Sacred a thing as to be uncapable of being Obliged by Humane Laws Secondly That no man can properly be deprived of the true Liberty of his Conscience by any Power on Earth First That Conscience is not so Sacred a thing as to be uncapable of being Obliged by Humane Laws This is sufficiently clear from what is discoursed in the Thirteenth Chapter But it is said by many that God is the onely Lord of Conscience and therefore it is the highest presumption for Men to go about to bind it by their Laws It is the sole Prerogative of the Deity to search the Heart and try the Reins of the Children of men Conscience is too inward and secret a thing to fall under Mans cognizance and therefore what have any of our Fellow-Creatures to do to give Laws to our Consciences In Answer hereunto We have already seen what S. Paul's sense is about this matter that he saith We must needs be Subject or Obedient and that not only for wrath but also for Conscience sake So that the Apostle was far from thinking that the obligation of Humane Authority is founded in mere Prudence not at all in Conscience But no man in his Wits will say that the Laws of Men do oblige Conscience as the Laws of God do Those cannot do it immediately as these do but onely by virtue of the Divine Authority S. Paul saith Rom. 13. 1. Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers I think I shall not be over-critical in saying that is every Conscience for what follows proves the obligation of Conscience to subjection and is an Answer to the foresaid Objection against it viz. For there is no Power but
with his duty than to do his duty Nay the sincere Christian looks upon that as his greatest and most important work and business which is least in sight which is to be done within himself as well knowing that if the Tree be good its Fruit will be so also That as our Saviour saith a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit nor a good tree evil fruit and that all must needs be well without him if all be well within him And that no outward Temptations can be forceably enough to draw him to sin so long as there is entertained within him no treacherous Lust that is ready to take part with them That he to whom this Character doth not belong is no genuine Christian is apparent in that such a person is no Freeman And as a great number of Texts do plainly speak the former Proposition to be true so is it to be concluded from what hath been discoursed of the nature of Christian Liberty from our having demonstrated that it consisteth in deliverance from all Inslaving Lusts and in having all obstacles taken out of the way to our complete complying with the Laws of Righteousness and Goodness CHAP. XX. The Last Inference Viz. That the most Proper and Genuine Christian Obedience is that which hath most of Liberty in it namely that which proceeds from the Principle of Love to God and Goodness FIfthly and Lastly I infer from our discourse of Christian Liberty what is the most Proper and Genuine Christian Obedience Surely that which hath most of Liberty in it that Obedience which is most free and least forced That which springs from an Inward Living Principle and is not merely occasioned by the consideration of External Motives and Arguments And then doth a man act from an Inward Principle of Life when he acts from the love of God and Goodness There is scarcely any distinction betwixt these two for to love God that is as God is to be inamoured primarily with his most Beautiful and Amiable Perfections of Righteousness Purity Beneficence and Mercy all which may properly be expressed by that one Excellent word GOODNESS I say to love God as God is to be in love with these Perfections primarily and to love His Person upon the account of them if it be lawful to distinguish them and abstract His Person from His Perfections But those do most truly conceive of that Incomprehensible Being who make no such Abstraction but describe Him by calling Him Infinite Righteousness and Purity Bounty and Mercy Wisdom and Power c. rather than a Being in whom are all these Perfections For they are not so properly said to be in God as to be God Himself Thus limited that Maxim of the Schools is indisputably true viz. Quicquid est in Deo est ipse Deus Whatsoever is in God is God himself So that I say to love God and to love Goodness as such do amount to the same thing To love God not because Good in himself but because Good and Kind to me is more self-self-love than a love of God A Wicked man may thus love God for as the Wise man observes that every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts so is he especially to him that bestoweth gifts upon himself the very Brutes are so and he is more a Devil than a Man that is not so Publicans and Sinners our Saviour saith do love those who love them and the more a man loves himself the more will he be inclined to love his Benefactors and best Friends as such Now as I said that is the most Free and consequently the most Christian Obedience which ariseth from an Inward lively sense of the Beauty and Amiableness of Goodness of the Christian Virtues and Graces which are all so many Rays of and Emanations from the Divine Goodness and therefore those who are indued with them are said to be partakers of a Divine nature And when we act from this Principle we act from a New nature and I need not say that no actions are so free as natural actions Thus to do good is to do like God himself the Freest of all Agents for he doth good not from External Motives but from the Infinite Complacency he takes in Goodness it self I am the Lord who exercise Loving kindness Iudgment and Righteousness in the Earth for in these things do I dâ—light saith the Lord Ier. 9. 24. Which is as much as to say therefore I am exercised in these things because I delight in them or my delight in these things is the Principle whereby I am acted in the Exercise of them Thou art Good saith the Psalmist and dost good Psal. 119. 68. Or because thou art Good thou dost good and God's being Good is his Delighting in Goodness Righteousness and Goodness are too Excellent things to be made mere means to a farther End Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the Transgression of the Remnant of his Heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever and why he doth not the next words tell us because he Delighteth in Mercy Mic. 7. 18. And our imitating of God and being like to him is the great design and business of our Saviour's Religion But I would not be understood as if I affirmed that that Obedience which springs from Hope or Fear or is excited by the consideration of Rewards and Punishments is an Obedience not becoming and unworthy of Christians If so I should condemn our Saviour and his Apostles for proposing such Motives But I say First That the most genuinely Christian Obedience is that which proceeds from Love from the Love of God and Goodness Not that Christianity doth exclude all other Motives but this is the Chief and Principal because it makes our Obedience most Free and makes us most like to God in doing Good Secondly I say also that to do good from a Principle of love to God and Goodness and to do it from the hope of Heaven and the fear of Hell are one and the same thing if we have a true notion of Heaven and Hell That is if we conceive of the Heavenly State as that which consists in a perfect likeness to God as perfect as our Natures are capable of and a full and complete enjoyment of him and of the Hellish State as that which is directly opposite to the Heavenly according to this Notion of it Now I need not spend one minute in shewing that to do good from the hope of such a Happiness and from the fear of such a Misery is to be acted by the foresaid principle of Love in so doing Thirdly I add that to be acted by mere External Motives Motives wholly Extrinsical to God and Goodness by the â—â—ar of Hell onely considered as a place of Torment and the hope of Heaven onely considered as a place of great Pleasure and Joy without considering the nature of that torment and the nature of that Joy this is a low and mean
Obedience as having nothing but Self-love in it and Self-love of the lower kind too and this is a forced not a free Obedience It is a certain truth that he who hath no sense of the inward Pulchritude and Loveliness of Virtue and of the Deformity and Ugliness of Vice and the Eligibleness of the former before the latter considered in themselves and therefore would be a Wicked wretch if he were not held in by the mere hope of a Reward and fear of Punishment though he be never so Conformable outwardly to the Laws of Christ this man is no Christian. He is much nearer to the Kingdom of God than he on whom Hope and Fear have no Influence to make him better but he hath not attained to a due qualification and meetness for it I appeal to any Father whether he would account such a one a good Child who is mightily observant of him if he were assured that his Obedience proceeded from no more generous Principles and that he would be a Rogue and a Villain but for fear of the Lash and that he hopes for his Estate As little reason hath our Saviour to account such Disciples of his good Christians as we have to account such Sons of ours good Children And from what hath now been said we learn what to think of the Principle of Gratitude Whether this makes that Obedience which ariseth from thence the most genuinely Christian Obedience as it is ordinarily said it doth If our Gratitude proceeds merely from the consideration of the Divine Bounty to our selves taking no notice of that expressed to our Fellow-Creatures it hath nothing but Self-love in it and therefore is more Animal than Christian Gratitude And consequently I need not ask what we are to think of that Gratitude which is founded onely or chiefly upon the Peculiarity of God's love to our selves that wherein the Sweetest and most Indearing Consideration is this that the Generality of Mankind are excluded from it Truly this is a worse than mere Animal Gratitude and speaks a Mind exceedingly destitute of that Divine and therefore Christian temper which exerts it self in Universal good will And I am certain that the more a Christian any man is the higher will the Consideration of other's having a share with him in the Blessings of God advance his Gratitude And that which doth most become us springs more from a lovely sense of the Divine Beneficence considered as largely extended than from the Consideration of its being terminated on our own Persons or Families or some few people besides our selves I do not say that the peculiarity of a Favour ought not to affect us when it is not in our Fancy onely but in reality But I say there is nothing but what is natural it is impossible we should not be affected with it when we consider it there is nothing proper to a Christian in such a Gratitude and I say also that though this Consideration I have such a Mercy conferred upon me which not one in a thousand is blessed with besides my self must needs the more affect me with Joy and Gratitude because it makes me sensible that it was more than a thousand to one I might have missed of it too supposing it was no fruit of my extraordinary diligence and I did no more than others for it who went without it Yet it would be a very Uncharitable and therefore Wicked thing in me to be so much the more thankful for that Mercy because it is denied to most others There is a Vast difference between being the more grateful for a Blessing because since so small a number are partakers of it I am one of those that are and being so because so small a number are partakers of it And the more will our Gratitude have of the truly Christian Spirit the less we abstract our selves from others in the Consideration of those obligations God hath laid upon us together with others and by consequence that Obedience will be most Christian-like which flows from such a Gratitude THE CONCLUSION NOW then after all that hath been said upon this weighty Argument shall we continue as negligent and cold as ever in Asserting our Liberty That Liberty which is infinitely most Valuable that Liberty which sets free from the Vilest and most Intolerable Slavery the Liberty of our Souls and the truly Divine Liberty Shall that Liberty which deserves not to be named on the same day with this be so highly set by and can we tamely give up this Do men think Freedom from Bodily Slavery to be worth the Price of all they have their Lives and all and are we able to imagine that Freedom from Spiritual Slavery can be bought too dear or think much of using our most Serious Endeavours for the regaining of it Had the Laconick Boy when taken Captive by a Souldier of Antigonus so brave a Spirit as to refuse to be employed by him in any of that drudgery which was proper to Slaves and to prefer a Violent death before a Slavish Life when he despaired of Redemption Did those Dardan Women esteem Slavery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most loathsom of all Evils and so extremely Vile and Shameful a thing as to take their dear Children and drown them in the River to prevent their being made Slaves of And are we of so much a baser Make than that poor Lad and these silly Women as Sheepishly to subject our selves to the incomparably most Vile and dishonourable Slavery Nay are we so void of all Sense as to be unconcerned at the unsupportable Misery which first or last will be the unavoidable consequent thereof Are we Nati ad Servitutem is Slavery so natural to us as that we can endure to be domineered over by the most Tyrannical and Unreasonable Masters as we have shewed our Lusts and the Devil are Are we so in love with the house of Bondage as to be well satisfied to make it the place of our perpetual Residence Are we so like Apes as to hug our Clogs and so like Bedlams as to be fond of our Shackles The King of Heaven we have heard hath sent his onely Begotten Son upon this very Errand of Knocking off our Fetters of proclaiming Liberty to us Captives and opening the Prison doors unto them that are bound of delivering us from our Thraldom and Vassalage and making us Free indeed Free with the most Excellent and Noble Freedom and recovering those out of the snare of the Devil who are taken Captive by him at his Will and will we not be made Free Will we not exchange this worse than Egyptian Slavery for the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God As God said of old to Ierusalem Wilt thou not be made clean when shall it once be So let me say to every Soul that lyeth under the Dominion of Corrupt Affections Wilt thou not be set at Liberty when shall it once be Did the Grecians when set at Liberty by Flaminius as