Traditions It is as seldome found That a tale should be reported in the very same phrase or words it was at first told as it is that things transcribed with any common honesty or diligence should fail considerably so much as in the Letter And if they say in Tradition forms of words are not so much to be stood upon doth it not altogether hold as good when this Tradition is written How then do not men blush to argue so boldly and at the same time so weakly There is therefore a twofold Infallibility to be distinguished as well in Relation to unwritten Doctrines as written the one consisting in the Matter delivered the other in the manner so delivering And truly as to this later it cannot be said without some strong Presumption to the contrary the written Traditions which are the Scriptures have been so preciseâ—y and absolutely defended from either the common injuries of time or special miscarriages incident to humane frailty or perhaps as some conjecture the studious mischiefs of sacrilegious hands laid on them as not one title one word one period should not have been damnified thereby The Providence of God granting some such minuter defections from the Original Copies hath been singular in preserving them in that degree of perfection and entireness we now enjoy them So that infinite is the disparity in this case between them and unwritten Traditions which none have been so audacious positively to affirm though indeed their large and loose reasons seem to tend that way that any one unwritten doctrine hath been conserved unto us in the same form of words it was at first delivered to the Church And the like though not so great advantage is to be acknowledged on the Scriptures part compared with the pretended unwritten word of God in reference to the matter and that in these three respects 1. The Evidence 2. The Importance and 3. The Influence that the doctrine of the Scriptures have and ought to have over all Traditions And for the first It is impossible taking traditions as they are distinguished from Scripture that the like grounds of Faith should be offered to us as we have above shown are to be found proving the Scriptures to be the word of God For are all or some only Gods word All cannot be because Traditions in several Places of the world have been diverse and even contrary Because some are acknowledged to have been the Constitutions of Men or the Church since the Apostolical Age. Because many are acknowledged to have been quite lost Because many have been confessed to be changed of them which remain Now if the Church hath failed in the due Custodie of such treasures committed to her How can any man be assured sufficiently of the integrity of the remainer How can the Church be esteemed an Infallible Witness of traditions And who can but admire the Confidence of such Patrons of the Churches fidelity or rather felicity for I would not nor need I call in question its good will and Honesty in her Office of Preserving the Monuments of our Religion untouch'd by errors who by reasons would demonstrate that that cannot be which we see done before our eyes For at other times the same Party if not the same persons stick not to profess that divers Antienter Traditions are perished and more modern have succeeded them They say that some Traditions are as 〈◊〉 as sense can make them The Tradition that there were such famous Cities as Nineve and Babylon and are such as Constantinople and Rome requires the same Faith as the beholding them with our Eyes But first It should have been said in the argument They are as evident as those things we are informed of by our senses but this is far from truth All the testimonies of Past and present persons affirming that to be so which I have no sense of immediately being abundantly sufficient to beget a belief but not equalling in evidence the testimonie of any mans well-disposed senses For does not this so general testimonie it self depend upon a mans senses receiving the same Or can any man be so well assured upon the Credit of any persons whatever that the Apostles delivered such things to be believed and observed by the Church as if he himself immediately received the same from them If it be said that the case of Ecclesiastical Tradition is far different from humane in that the Church is divinely assisted to such ends supposing this at present still we are no less intregued then before For as is said The truth of a thing and the Evidence whereby it appears to be true are very much different And here it will be no less difficult to make such a supposed Assistance appear then the tradition it self which it commends to the World upon such pretences And therefore they who have sifted this matter more narrowly and stated it most rationally have thought it best to forsake such topicks at present as Extraordinarie Assistances and Hen. Holdeni Analysis Fid. tell us plainly that what the Church doth in this case she doth it not as divinely directed but as so many Men delivering their testimonie which is true but then what becomes of Infallibility all men singly and conjointly as men being fallible Well therefore they proved to tell us That to a jugde of Controversies Credible Testimonie or moral infallibilitie may suffice and to this I agree in the main though the term Moral Certainty and Moral Infallibilitie seems to me as vain and improper as it is modern it upon enquirie amounting to no more then the old Probabilitie well and reasonably grounded The next thing in Holy Writ is the much greater importance the things therein contained are of above unwritten doctrines For who of all the Ancients but such as are by tradition stigmatized for Heretiques for such their Basil Ma. de spiritu sancto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opinions did constitute any rule of Faith distinct from the Scriptures or bring any to stand in competition therewith Some 't is true have distinguished between Dogmes of Traditions and doctrines of the Scripture and haveaffirmed That as well the one as the other ought to be received by a good Christian All this we agree to how we shall show by and by more fully and here by comparing this by the words of St. John saying This Joh. 4. 21. Commandment have we from him that he that loveth God love his brother also By which it is not required that any Christian should with the same kind or degree of Love love his neighbour with which he loveth God For we must love God only for his own sake and our brother for Gods sake Nay when God sayes we must love our neighbour as our selves he does not exclude difference in degrees of love In like manner when it is said That we ought to believe and receive the unwritten as well as written traditions it was never intended by that excellent Father that we should admit
7. 1. Eph. 5. 21. place The Psalmist saith They have no fear of God before their eyes St Paul saith Perfecting holiness in the fear of God and elsewhere Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God All which with many more places import as much as Religious worship of God And so doth the Love of God also as in St. Luke our Saviour saith to the Pharisees Wo to you Pharisees for ye tithe Mint and Rue and all manner of Herbs and pass over Judgment and the Love of God where Love of God stands for the Luk. 11. 42. true Service of God and duely to him as Judgment insinuates our duty towards our neighbour And so St. Paul to the Thessalonians The Lord direct your hearts into the Love of God And St. John most frequently in 2 Thes 3. 5. all his writings Leaving therefore this general consideration let us in this order inquire farther into 1. The Parts 2. The proper States of serving 3. The special Kinds of Divine Worship CHAP. II. Of the two parts of Divine Worship Inward and Outward The Proof of outward worship as due to God and that it is both due and acceptable to God Several Reasons proving bodily worship of God agreeable to him Wherein this Bodily worship chiefly consists Certain Directions for Bodily worship Exceptions against it answered BY what is expressed in our General description of Worship it may appear that there are two Principal Parts of it The one consisting in inward affection and the other in the outward Actions The inward disposition of the mind or soul of man is that on all hands is agreed upon as most justly due and proper to God alone in the supreamest manner God calleth for the heart so often in his holy word as his proper portion and the Spirit as that which draweth nearer to the nature of God as purely spiritual and incorporeal For God saith Christ is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth Though if we should take these words according to the prime intention they would be found not to aim so much if at all at diverse manners of worship under the same kind but at several kinds such as were the Judaical and Christian the meaning of Christ being this that the hour or time was coming when there should be no longer use of those corporal services and Sacrifices under the Law but in lieu of them the spiritual and true worship of the Gospel should succeed But no question can be made of the excellency of that true spiritual inward devotion of the heart and mind to God as the most absolute most required most accepted and in comparison of that all outward worship being no better without it than gross Hypocrisie rather incurrs the displeasure of Almighty God than pleases him Therefore leaving that which all Christians are in their judgements sufficiently satisfied in and hold themselves obliged unto we shall take up the defence of the outward worship in great manner opposed by too many And truly They that argue so contemptuously and wildly as the vulgar custome doth against outward worship of God shall not need to go far to see their own folly For to say God is a Spirit and 'T is the heart that God calls for and 'T is the zeal of the Soul and such like loose sayings what do they but cut the throat as much of vocal prayer and Preaching as of any thing else For if God will accept the heart and looks no farther than the purity and good dispositiâ—n of the mind Audible Prayer and Preaching must together with the rest be excluded as impertinent in Gods service We know that the prayer of the heart as in the Case of Hannah is accepted of God at some times and in some places as the true Love and Charity to our Neighbour inclining us to do him good and relieve him when it lies not in our power but St. James looks on them and censures them as meer uncharitable mockers and not relievers of their neighbours who shall only pretend they mean them well inwardly and say unto them Depart Jam. 2. 16. in peace be ye warmed and filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body Even so Faith and so the will and the heart and the Spiritual worship without works are all dead and are a meer mockery of the divine Majesty a corrupting and perverting of his holy word and a bitter Sarcasm turning it against himself and as much as if it should be said Seeing you will needs have the heart you shall have it that is so as to have nothing more It were superfluous and shameful to cite the many misunderstood and misapplied texts of Scripture to delude the most ignorant and at the same time most presumptuous of Scripture None speak more after the phrase which hath deceived so many than that not long since quoted Wo be to you Pharisees for ye tithe Mint and Rue and Luk 11 42. all manner of Herbs and pass over Judgment and the Love of God Doth not the Scripture here seem to condemn and that under a curse such litle services as are there expressed It seems so indeed and really doth as much as any outward worship of God But it doth but seem so For undoubtedly it was most agreeable to it that such minuter services should be perform'd but that so performed as studiously and superstitiously to neglect the other more weighty was it which incensed God against them And here comes in that general argument also above touched Fast from sin say they and for outward fasts it matters not Wisely and profoundly said like able Divines indeed And so fast or abstain from sin and ye shall never need to pray nor hear Sermons nor to feed the Hungry nor cloth the Naked no nor to believe in God which is all such persons have left them of Religion starved into an unactiveness Would it not make a mans Hair stand upright to see and hear what precipices of Heathenism and follies Men dispute themselves into And so they may as they suppose enjoy their lust of contradiction and contempt of others strike through the loins of all Reason and Religion at the same time Reason which they set by such sophistry as this to fight against it self For Serving of God in Spirit and in truth and abstinence from all sins as well of Omission as Commission is the very perfection and end of all Religion And if there were no more required but a simple command to do it on Gods part not directing us to the way and no more on our part but presently and immediately to become holy and perfect without the proper means conducing to such high and not easie ends then forsooth these Disputants were the best Councellors but if there be outward means ordained in general by God and applicable many times by humane prudence to the effecting such ends and
here also as 1 John 4. 16. God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him and Love is the fulfilling of the Law saith St. Paul And the particular consequents and effects of Love are outward bounty towards Gods Worship and Service towards his Servants and faithful Children Zeal for the spiritual as well as temporal good of our Neighbour and for the general glory of God and the propagation of the true Faith Defence of the Church Reverence and Respect to his Officers and Ministers Perseverance in well-doing Constancy in the true Faith even to suffering of reproaches displeasures contempts indignities and to suffer joyfully the Hebr. 10. 34. spoiling of our Goods and cheerfully the loss of our lives by holy Martyrdome for the love we bear to God in Christ For as St. John saith Perfect 1 John 4. 18. love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that seareth therefore is not made perfect in love that is Love is of such a powerful nature that where it is truly there it overcometh all oppositions and difficulties which are apt to assail it and fears nothing that may stand in its way between Christ and it or its duty and God Now the contrary Vices to these forbidden when it is said Thou shalt have no other Gods but me are Atheism and contempt of all Divine Power Disbelief affected Ignorance of the true God and his Worship or Superstition in multiplying Gods either of equal or inferiour order to God Confederacies with the Devil consulting with him or any pretending to derive their art or skill from Evil Spirits Seeking to any such for remedy or relief in losses or sicknesses or any such like distresses And if any shall say They can find no other remedâ—es from some heavy Evils they are to consider the excellent advice and exhortation of St. Chrysostome to persevere notwithstanding in that condition it hath pleased God to bring them to and so patiently resisting the temptation of such unlawful deliverance they shall both suffer and be crown'd as Martyrs For such were some of those Martyrs mentioned by St. Paul Not accepting deliverance Again Carnal Hebr. 11. 35. Security Despair of Gods Grace and Mercy by Impenitence Worldly mindedness or any covetousness of the Creature or the comforts of it above God which is Idolatry But more literally Any more than Civil and Coloss 3. 5. Humane Worship given to any Creature whatever though with real intentions to worship the true God only when there are competent advises and means to discern the mistake Now what are competent notices is to be judged from the common Rule to other errours as well as that of Idolatry And therefore the modern Invention of Hyperdoulia or service above that ordinarily competible to Creatures is a manifest piece of Superstition and that Idolatroas it being not found out yet by the wit of man to put any mean between Divine worship and Civil For if by Hyperdoulia they mean a higher and nobler act of Service than is given to other blessed Spirits besides the Virgin Mary they must either mean Nobler and Higher in Kind or Degree But there is no Kind betwixt that proper to God which we call Divine and that communicable to Creatures which we call Civil and Religious not for the acts sake whereby they are honoured by us but for the ground and occasion of that act viz. their Religion or Holiness And if they mean Higher degrees of worship of the same kind then do they speak most absurdly and obscurely because nothing can receive such degrees as to denominate it above its nature And besides degrees have respect not to the very thing it self but to the quality of it No man can say water is cold above cold or fire is hot above the nature of heat So can no man with sense if he means honestly say Doulia is to be above Doulia or worship above worship but must say above such a proportion or degree of worshâ—p But the first is absurdly and the second wickedly said for where such a general licence of service is allowed and given without any limits set stinting and bounding the same who there can stay his devotion from running out to extremity and all excess Hyperdoulia therefore or as I may render it Super service doth naturally lead men to Idolatry and that before they are aware For if it be demanded What mean you by this Super-service Have they found out as yet any other description than that most ridiculous of defining a thing by it self telling us Super-service is that to be given to the Virgin Mary properly and it being altogether as obscure what is that reverence due to the Virgin Mary properly How should we serve or worship her otherwise than we do other Saints or Angels have they at all explained themselves otherwise than by this Hyperdoulia or Super-service this say they is due to her but what this is we are as far to seek as at the very first Only we are sure of this that by the term it self we may give her most properly Divine Worship and be born out by that word For it manifestly implyes somewhat exhibited above other Creatures but nothing at all of the inferiourness of that service to that given to God And therefore I see no reason to doubt but this vile invention doth commonly end in Idolatry and that against the first Commandment Let us now proceed to the Second The Second Precept in the Decalogue is Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing c. The true meaning of §. II. which can have or need no better exposition than the general practise of the Popish Churches For being resolved to hold to their corrupt way of making the Image of God contrary to their Forefathers who alwayes abhorred all representation of God whether by Picture or Statue and to their gross sense of giving reverence to that and others of Saints and Angels have laid this Precept aside as being certainly inwardly convicted that it makes against them as men are apt to turn those Servants or Children out of doors who will not be kept in good order or ruled by them or wicked Subjects who turn their Soveraign out of his Place his Throne because he will not rule as they would have him yet still perhaps will allow him the title of King under confinement This Commandment is not by them wholly cancell'd and rased out of Scripture but it is kept under restraint lest it should reduce Christians to its due Obedience They say It is the same in effect with the first and contained in it If so why they do they not suffer it to speak and to bear its part in their Religious Books as well as the other If it be not why do they deny it its proper place and use Surely their reason at hand we cannot but accept as good and reasonable viz. It may
but they were the intermediate effects of the stock of Grace treasured up in the Soul and exhorting and improving it self by the continual supplie of the Spirit of Christ according to the * Mat. 25. 16. doctrine of St. Paul to the Corinthians saying Insomuch that we desired Titus that as he had begun so he would also finish in you the same Grace also Therefore as ye abound in every thing in Faith in utterance in knowledge and v. 7. in all diligence and in your love to us see that ye abound in this Grace also Of this influence of Christs Spirit to the augmentation of Grace in the hearts of the true believers speaketh the same Apostle to the Colossians thus The Col. 2. 19. Head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministred and knit together encreaseth with the encrease of God Sanctification then may be described The Grace of God infused into the Soul of a Sinner and purifying it by Faith as Justification is the reputation and acceptation of a person for Just by almighty God through the intuition of the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ And yet more distinctly to declare their mutual agreement and difference it will conduce much to the due understanding of them both First then Justification and Sanctification agree in their Subject The true believer the same person who is Sanctified being also Justified and he that is Justified being Sanctified also For so saith the prophet Nahum of him The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked Nahum 1. 3. And when we find St. Paul affirming the contrary in appearance viz. that God justifieth the ungodly we are to understand him to speak not in Rom. 4. 5. Sensu composito in such manner that he is justified while he is so ungodly but in Sensu diviso a distinct sense and season as if it had been said Him that was once ungodly as he seems to interpret himself in his Epistle to the Corinthians where having spoken of the many abominations men were subject to he saith And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are 1 Cor. 6. 11. Sanctified but ye are Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God Secondly Justification and Sanctification agree in their foundation which is at least inchoate and initial holiness For though no mans inherent holiness arises so high as to denominate him truly Just or holy for its own sake yet both to Sanctification and Justification is necessarily required some preparatorie and imperfect holiness consisting principally in the Conversion of the mind to God from sin Thirdly both Sanctification and Justification are alike owing to Faith as their immediate Cause next under Gods Spirit as may be gathered from the prayer of Christ for his disciples Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is Joh. 17 17. truth That is the doctrine of Faith received To which Faith the effect of Sanctification is ascribed by St. Peter in the Acts whereby the Act. 15. 9. hearts of the Gentile were purified or Sanctified Fourthly they are both equally imputed unto us through the Righteousness of Christ Therefore saith St. Paul to the Corinthians To them that are Sanctified in Christ Jesus And 1 Cor. 1. 2. Heb. 10. 29. to the Hebrews it is said We are Sanctified by the blood of the Covenant So that no less are we Sanctified then Justified by Christs death and merits and the imputation of them But on the other side they are distinct in some formalities such as these may be for First the immediate cause of our Sanctification is in holy Scripture imputed to the operation and influence of the Holy Spirit as our Justification is more properly attributed to Christ the mediator between God and man As appeareth from St. Pauls words to the Thessalonians But we are bound to give thanks alwayes for you brethren beloved of the Lord 2 Thes 2. 13. because God hath from the beginning chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth And St. Peter Elect according 1 Pet. 1. 2. to the foreknowledge of God the Father and Sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience Thirdly Justification looketh backward being an absolution of the guilty from sins formerly committed and holding him Just but no man is justified actually from sins which hereafter he may fall into But Sanctification relates chiefly to the time future For not only is a sinner by the Spirit of Regeneration and Sanctification purged from the old Leaven of sin and malice but he becometh a New Lump and unleavened 1 Cor. 5. 7. Rom. 6. 13. and whereas he hath yielded his members as Instruments of unrighteousness unto sin he doth yield himself unto God as those that are alive from the dead And old things are done away in him and all things become new And whosoever is 1 Joh. 3. 9. thus born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God Fourthly to the Act of our Justification the will of man doth not necessarily concurr though it dissents not but is rather passive than Active but to our Sanctification is absolutely required the co-operation of the will and affections of man with the Grace of God in all those who have attained unto the use of reason For indeed by baptism Infants are so far Sanctified as to be freed from that hereditarie evil incident unto them which their will concurred not to but to actual Sanctification from those evils our wills did freely consent actual concurrence of our wills is necessary Fifthly Our Justification is entire and absolute at once no man being partly Justified and partly not Justified though he be partly Just and partly unjust or unholy But no man in this Life is so perfectly Sanctified as that there wants not somewhat to consummate the same because Justification being altogether the Act of God and not at all of Man God may and doth wholly and freely remit the guilt of sin to the penitent offendor But Man being also concerned in the Sanctification of himself his acts are imperfect and defective so that the effect it self partakes of the same and so Sanctification continues imperfect And it is not all at once but answerable to our natural man proceedeth by degrees Until we all come Eph 4. 13. in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledg of the son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ which fulness of stature is that we are to hope for and enjoy only in heaven Lastly to search no farther into this point before Justification there must of necessity goe some degree of Sanctification even in the opinion of such as contend most rigorously for freeness of Justification for to make Justification altogether
are intimated to us in these words of St. Paul which are vulgarly brought against us viz. Nevertheless the foundation of God 2 Tim. 2. 19. standeth sure having this seal The Lord knoweth who are his And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity The first foundation of God is that which he hath layed in his assuring us that he will have a Church in despite of all Enemies and Persecuters which would destroy it The second is the seal to this Charter which relating to special persons is twofold The First That God knoweth who are his that is according to Scripture phrase owneth and asserteth the cause of those that are his and will never forsake them otherwise than he hath declared that is they not violating egregiously the Covenant on their parts The second is that which follows viz. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity This is the seal set to the Covenant made by God which if not duly and proportionably to the favourableness of the Evangelical Covenant observed by man the seal of God avails but little to the benefit of a Christian A second conclusion may be That notwithstanding God hath no where enjoyned us under any forfeiture to obtain this assurance yet he requireth us to be alwayes so pressing and proficient in Faith and Holiness of Life that above his Capitulations or ordinary Promises made in his Word he may communicate his pleasure unto us and good-will concerning the particular salvation of us This hath been imparted unto divers and may again when it seems good to God But it is no Rule to us Thirdly A faithful Christian ought to endeavour the attaining to a strong and true degree of Hope by Gods grace and the working out of his Salvation with fear and trembling For St. John saith That a man may arrive to such a state of assurance as 't is called that considering and believing the undetermined mercy of God in the Gospel he may have confidence of Gods love towards him his own conscience not condemning him as St. John saith Beloved if our heart condemn us not then 1 John 3. 21. have we confidence towards God Lastly This sense serves much to the comfort and tranquility of the mind of scrupulous Christians more than the holding of a peremptory assurance of Salvation which they who require it cannot deny to be wanting to many faithful servants of God For when they consider that the want of this assurance is no indication or character of a Reprobate as some would make it and they must who bring it under precept and promise then are they heartened still to press towards holy and devout exercises believing that God not seeing nor judging as man judgeth nor as they of themselves but out of his incircumscribed mercie may accept them and have mercy on them And here properly doth that doctrine of Faith commended in the Articles of our Church as very comfortable take place viz. as that which when we have done all we must betake ourselves unto and which brings us neerest to God namely not that we believe we are justified for or because we believe we are freely but because Faith and trust in God as it is the first stone in our heavenly building so is it the crown and consummation of all when we disown and disavow all sufficiencie in ourselves or our most Christian Acts even Faith it self and trust in his mercy to be accepted under all our fears and reasonings to the contrary not manifestly violating the Covenant with God for which our own hearts and ordinary apprehensions may condemn us CHAP. XXII Of the Contrary to true Faith Apostasie Heresie and Atheism Their differences The Difficulty of judging aright of Heresie Two things constituting Heresie The Evil disposition of the mind and the falseness of the Matter How far and when Heresie destroyes Faith How far it destroyes the Nature of a Church THus having sufficiently treated of the most general and principal Effect of Faith before we leave this we are in reason to enquire into that which privatively relates to true Faith and that is Heresie What that is and wherein it consisteth For Heresie cannot properly be applyed to any but such who are of the Faith and in some degree belong to the Catholick Church wherein it is distinct from Atheism Apostasie and professed Infidelity For Infidelity though it carries with it in its name a sense which comprehends both Atheism and Apostasie yet use hath prevailed so far as to apply it only to such who do receive some Articles of the Christian Faith and them fundamental too though not as the Christians For Example Infidels may believe there is a God and that God but one and that there shall be a Resurrection of the Just and Unjust and Life everlasting either in misery or bliss yet being either wholly ignorant of or directly denying some fundamental Points of Faith as Christian they continue Infidels though not Atheists Neither can they be accounted Hereticks having never been of the Church nor initiated into or embraced the true Faith These are Negatively only related to the Church as Logicians say Dissimilary things relate one to another viz. A black thing to a white But Heresie is of a privative sense and an opposition to the true Catholick Faith with an Obligation not only taken from the matter of Faith it self to which all the world owe homage and obedience but from some extrinsecal formalities whereby some men more especially contract a relation to the Church of Christ And the first and most principal cause hereof is the solemn dedication which is made by ourselves or others we not oppugning it of us in the initiating Rite of Baptism wherein renunciation is openly made of all things persons and opinions contrary and inconsisting with that Doctrine we there submit unto and vow to observe This Dedication of us to Christ doth make and denominate us Christians and Catholicks according to the less ancient use of the word of which we shall hereafter speak Now according to the degree or manner of violating this most solemn and sacred Vow in Baptism are men said to be Apostates and Hereticks And an Apostates are Hereticks but not all Hereticks Apostates The principal difference consisteth in this 1. That the Apostate doth renounce even the first principles of Christian Faith as Christian And they are they which are expresly contained in the form of Baptism whereby he became a Christian 2. In a formal profession contrary to such Covenant made with God in Christ But Heresie doth not absolutely deny the Grounds of Christianity it self but whether by affected errour or invincible doth resolutely and firmly assert things contrary to true Doctrine But to give a precise definition of Heresie as St. Augustine of old so we find at this day very difficult and not to turn to the right hand or to the left not to make it too broad and wide
being two general motives to all duties Love and Ingenuity and fear of evil and necessity it is not so prudent nor so powerful to hang all upon one as on both 'T is true God hath put power into the hands of Parents and Princes and Governours to constrain and exact the duty of Obedience from their respective Subjects but he hath put a natural principle of Love into their hearts also inclining them to goodness towards them which notwithstanding is neither so general nor effectual but many fail egregiously in it wherefore God by his holy Word advertiseth and exhorteth to the exercise of it and as it were the better to dispose and bow those in subjection to them to perform their duty with cheerfulness And therefore St. Paul after the duty of Obedience imposed upon Children layeth a duty upon Parents on their Children saying And ye Fathers provoke not your Children but bring them up in the admonition Ephes 6. 4. of the Lord That is Exercise not imperiously and impertinently that power God hath given you over your Children rather be known ye can do it and so when it is discerned that it is rather the Lust of a tyrannous nature than of natural care love or kindness which urges them to rule with vain rigour the Children be provoked to break their bonds and pass the bounds which otherwise might have been observed to the glory of God and comfort of both Yet doth not the Apostle justifie such excess in children more than the extream of Parents but only foretels the evil event of such unchristian rigour And the like may be said of Servants and Masters mentioned next by the Apostle who having prescribed an Evangelical principle of demeanor Ephes 6. of Servants towards their Masters doth subjoyn the like Precept to Masters And ye Masters do the same things unto them forbearing threatning knowing that your Master also is in Heaven neither is there respect of persons with him Intimating the ground of hearty ingenuous and faithful service of Children and Servants to proceed commonly from the Fountain of love and kindness in the Parents and Masters and therefore if they would be well served they should first serve God themselves in educating them according to Gods gentle Law and be careful to instruct them in the fear of God And so where the Apostle stateth the mutual obligation between Eph. 5 21 25. Man and Wife he tempereth his counsel with reciprocal kindnesses that as the Wife is to submit her self to her own Husband the Husband is to love his Wife and that by vertue of this Commandment which can never be well kept according to Gods mind where there is a faileur on either hand though St. Peter tells us like a true Evangelical Preacher that with good Christians and true Believers it is no exemption from duty and proper subjection that our Superiours transgress the laws of modesty sobriety and moderation towards us But Servants and by the same rule Subjects and Children ought to be subject with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward and that for reasons immediately following And the 1 Pet. 2. 18 19 20. Titus 2. 9. same requireth St. Paul to Titus But here it is queried by some Why St. Paul having taken occasion to adjust the duties between Masters and Servants Parents and Children Husbands and Wives omitteth wholly to restrain and regulate the power of Princes towards their Subjects leaves no Rules for them as if they might offend or offending might not be informed of their duty by Christian Doctrine To this we say First what some have well observed and affirmed before us The reason hereof is because in St. Pauls dayes there were no Soveraign Powers of the Christian Religion and therefore it might have seemed unseasonable and vain to offer counsel and rules to them who were not capable of them For had there been such Princes no doubt is to be made but he would have seasoned them and sanctified them with his wholsome documents And yet Secondly He doth not absolutely dismiss them without advice who may be well reduced to the Head of Parents of Countries and Masters of their Subjects And thus much for the principle of honouring our Superiours from the benefit of their duties towards us Now the Principles of Obedience more immediately obliging us unto them are in brief The Fear and Honour of God whose Image Representatives and Instruments they are for our Good No man after so many Reasons and Precepts given us in holy Luke 10. 16. Scripture of faithful and conscionable submission to our Superiours can be said to fear God who doth not honour his Superiours For of all Civil Parents or Governours St. Paul saith They are the Ministers of God to thee Rom. 13. 4. Eccles 7. 27 28. for good And of our Natural Parents well admonisheth the Wise-man Honour thy Father with thy whole heart and forget not the sorrows of thy Mother Remember that thou wast begot of them and how canst thou recompence them the things they have done for thee And of our Ecclesiastical Parents Hebr. 13. 17. 1 Thess 5. 12 13. to the Hebrews Now the Act Honour doth imply all inward affection and proper humility of mind and all outward demonstrations of the same by sober modest humble respect and reverence unto them As also service assistance obedience attendance relief in straits feeding clothing and comforting them in their wants weaknesses and distresses and finally contributing all we are able to their well being who next under God were the Causes of our Beings in the world But of the manner or extent of our Obedience especialâ—y to our Civil Parents and of the contrary evil Resistance we have spoken before The last motive to this duty is expressed in the Reason annexed to this Commandment viz. That thy dayes may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God shall give thee Intimating a signal blessing of God upon them that so reverence his Deputies whether Natural Civil or Ghostly and a malediction Ephes 6. 2. unto such as deny the same upon false wicked fleshly or vain pretences See Part 1. Book 1. ch 26 But of the vertue and duty of Obedience we have spoken before The Sixth Commandment followeth Thou shalt do no murder as it is well §. VI. rendred in our English Translation For Murder is that which imports the killing of Man only and so doth the Hebrew word here used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in opposition as it were to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 common to all killing whether of Man or Beast Which though it might not be an argument to the Superstitious Heathens of the Pythagorean or rather Indian strain the Gymnosophists from whom Pythagoras borrowed his opinion denying it lawful to take away the life of any thing in so much as Aristotle tells us that Empedocles the ancient Aristotel Rhetor. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plin.