all even as the first cause hath a stronger influence then the second and all that come after it Will you then ask me why God rewards the best of men the righteous far above their deserts 't is because his mercy first made them men to be capable of righteousness and made them righteous to be capable of reward and that being the first cause must needs have the strongest influence Will you ask me again why God doth not reward the worst of men impenitent sinners according to their ill deservings I must answer again 't is the same mercy because that was the first cause of the creation and therefore cannot but have the strongest influence upon the creature and consequently though his justice do as it were force him to punish for his law must be satisfied either by our active or by our passive obedience yet his mercy will not let him punish to the utmost and hence comes in the citra condignum in the Schools that even the damned in hell shall be punished much less then they have deserved If you ask me in the third place why God forgives so much sin in the best of sinners the true penitents that he may discharge them from all punishment you must still be contented with the same answer for 't is nothing but mercy which having been the first cause of his working will have the greatest preeminence and the strongest influence amongst all his works nay over them all as saith the Psalmist his mercy is over all his works Ps. 145. 9. Deusnon miseretur nisi propter amorem in quantum amat nos tanquam aliquid sui saith the same angelical Doctour Gods mercy is from his love and his love is from himself he sheweth us mercy because he loveth us and he loveth us because he seeth something of himself in us nothing else being truly good and lovely in us but what the fountain of goodness and love hath made so and hence it comes to pass that where is the most of God there is also the most of mercy where is most of his image either by the first righteousness that of innocency or by the second righteousness that of repentance there also is most of his love there is some of his love towards the worst men because there is some of his image in them which they had by their creation but there is very much of his love towards the best men because there is very much of his image in them which they have from their sanctification We are all dull of our apprehensions and cannot easily discern Gods mercies by a right valuation but more dull of our affections and will not easily profess and acknowledge them by our thankfulness but the Apostle whose eyes were opened to discover whose heart was opened to perceive whose mouth was opened to express the goodness of God towards men breaketh forth into this great exclamation but greater admiration for us all O altitudo divitiarum O the depth of the riches who hath first given unto him and it shall be recompenced again Rom. 11. 33 35. here in the words is mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in the thing is made good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sigure notorious in Rhetorick for want of words and so called because the latter clause of the sentence doth not contribute or give its part to make up the full sense as Exo. 32. 31. If thou wilt forgive their sin S. Luk. 13. 9. if it bear fruit where nothing more is said to make up a perfect sense but the rest is left to be understood from the silence of the speaker this figure is notorious in Rhetorick the very art of speaking meerly for want of speech but 't is much more notorious in Divinity the art of doing meerly for want of deeds for if when we have done all we are unprofitable servants what shall we say of our selves that we can do nothing this is indeed a true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for here is nothing to be given back again God hath given us all but we can give him nothing and that he might be sure to leave nothing ungiven he hath given us him who is all in all he hath given us himself in our creation he hath given us his Son in our redemption he hath given us his holy Spirit in our sanctification but who either first or last hath given unto God and it shall be recompenced unto him again If we give any thing to him 't is but what we first received from him and we cannot give that so entirely as we received it it came better to us then it can return from us so that we must needs confess all that is given is given onely on one side without any the least recompence on the other and consequently none of Gods gifts to man can properly come under the consideration much less under the claim of justice but all of them flow from the inexhausted fountain of his free and undeserved mercy by this mercy alone it is that he willeth our salvation and hath given us his oath that he wills it As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Ezek. 33. 11. which made the ancient Father fall into a rapture and break forth into this exclamation O nos soelices quorum causa jurat Deus O miserrimos si ne juranti quidem Deo credimus O happy we for whose sakes God hath been pleased to swear O most unhappy if we do not beleeve him upon his oath by this mercy alone it is that he inviteth us to repentance the onely means of salvation that in his invitation he condescendeth to our infirmities and beareth with our delays by this mercy alone it is that upon our repentance he actually delivereth us from the bondage of sin and Satan working that deliverance by his Son and sealing it by his holy Spirit and that altogether freely that is to say so far without our good deservings as above them so far with our ill deservings as against them so saith the Apostle Rom. 3. 24. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus what did we do for Christ that he hath redeemed us what can we do for God that he should justifie us It is reasonable that we first shew what we have done towards our redemption before we presume to boast what we can do towards our justification Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit saith the Psalmist thereby shewing that the salvation he beseecheth God to restore unto him is as free as the Spirit whereby he restores it Eodem modó retinetur quo acquiritur no more merit is to be pleaded for our retaining of Gods Spirit then was for our first receiving him the Spirit was free when he first laid hold on us and is as free now he still upholds
when their bodies were most tormented and straitned their souls were most comforted and enlarged and the prison doors being opened and the prisoners bands loosed by the singing of a Psalm shew the great power of the key of David that the readiest way to get out of prison is to make use chiefly of that key which will turn thraldome it self into liberty and therefore cannot but turn liberty into a blessing for surely such men who can make heaven where it is not can much more enjoy heaven where it is they who can finde liberty in their captivity cannot but finde a great blessing in their liberty which they esteem to consist not so much in their free egresses and regresses unto men as in their frequent approaches and addresses unto God wherefore let my soul be evermore busied in contemplating Gods eternal mercy and my heart in loving it and my mouth in praising it that when I am driven to such exigencies as least to enjoy my self I may then finde such opportunities as most to enjoy my God Let me alwaies be saying with Israel I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of thy temporal mercies and much less of that eternal mercy which caused them I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies whether shewed me as a natural man or as an Israelite and a Christian or as a true Israelite and a good Christian whether mercies that concern the state of nature or the state of grace or the state of glory I am not worthy of the least of them all and what then shall I offer thee for the greatest I will offer mine heart for an holocaust I will offer the calves of my lips for a sacrifice of praise and thanks-giving that though I cannot deny in my self the greatest unworthiness yet I may never discover the least unthankfulness for though my being unworthy did not keep me from receiving Gods mercies yet my being unthankfull will keep me from retaining them it being alike against the very nature of mercy to look for recompence and not to look for acknowledgments nor can there be a truer acknowledgement of Gods undeserved goodness towards us then by ascribing all that we have are and hope for to his mercy this one thing alone is to us as God even all in all 't was creation when we were not 't is preservation now we are 't is glorification in what we hope to be Mercy is illumination to those in darkness Confirmation to those in weakness Comfort to those in sadness Health to those in sickness Liberty to those in prison Clothing to those in nakedness Joy to those in life and Life to those in death he that can truly and heartily ask for mercy cannot want a prayer to shew his necessities and shall not want a remedy to redress them for he hath both the Spirit and the gift of Prayer the Spirit of prayer in the zeal and sincerity of his affection the gift of prayer in the congruity and fitness of his expression Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on me S. Luk. 18. 38. was enough to open the blinde mans eyes to see his Saviour his heart to beleeve in him his mouth to glorifie him we may from those few words observe the Spirit of Prayer in the earnestness of the supplicant and the gift of prayer in the fitness of his supplication so that neither did he stint the Spirit by confining himself to a set form of words for he cryed saith the Text shewing the earnestness of his affection nor did he quench the Spirit by confining himself to the very same words till he had obtained his answer for he cryed so much the more saith the Text approving the fitness of his expression thereby intimating that they might justly have been ashamed who rebuked him for praying not he who maugre all their rebukes and taunts would not be driven from his premeditated and set form of prayer I will also use the same prayer in all my wants distresses will not doubt but as this form is already to me the opening of my mouth or rather of my heart to pray so it shall be also the opening of heaven to let in my prayers that they may have immediate access to him whose mercy is himself who therfore delights in mercy as in himself Thus have I briefly spoken of mercy as it is in God and now come as briefly to shew how mercy is also in the true Religion the service of God for in this above all is the true Religion to be discerned distinguished from faction for all false faith is faction whether it be addicted to blindness or to perversness to superstition or to separation the true Religion is alwaies most inclinable to mercy but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel Prov. 12. 10. where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is translated the wicked hath its derivation from commotion or agitation and doth most properly signifie those wicked who are turbulent seditions and factious even their tenderness is hard-heartedness even their mercy is cruelty whereas a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast rather then not shew mercy he will shew it to his beast though in some respects uncapable of mercy in others unworthy of it thus then it is the righteous is mercifull to his beast the unrighteous is not mercifull to his brother so near a conjunction is there betwixt righteousness and mercy faction may often pretend to piety but never to mercy but the true Religion admits of no piety without mercy wherein it follows both the pattern and the precept of its Founder who hath left his minde concerning this matter no less then thrice upon publick record once in the old twice in the new Testament in the old Hos. 6. 6. For I desired mercy and not sacrifice and as he desires so he accepts for to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices saith the Prophet Isaiah at the very same time while your hands are full of bloud Is. 1. 11 15. In the New Testament S. Mat 9. 13. But go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice and again S. Mat. 12. 7. But if ye had known wha◠this meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice ye would not have condemned the guiltless where our Saviour Christ requires of all that will be his disciples that is good Christians In the first place to look after mercy 1. in its nature and then in its exercise 1. In its nature here is mercy with sacrifice by way of conjunction mercy in sacrifice by way of command and mercy above sacrifice by way of comparison I will have mercy and not sacrifice affords all these three Expositions 2 In its exercise for we are bid Go and learn what this meaneth Our Saviour sends us all to his School and he sends none onely to look on like idle spectatours
this attribute of mercy we that have been the sinners are the greatest sharers and therefore I dare not say it is an errour of charity to assert that the Blessed Virgin had no sin to be forgiven her I may say it is an errour for it is against the Text Death passed upon all for that all had sinned Rom. 5. 12. nay I may say it is in some sort an uncharitable errour against the charity that is due to the blessed Virgin for though this doctrine may seem to adde to her honour yet it must needs detract and diminish from her joy since her self hath proclaimed these words My soul doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour and we know what his salvation was whom she calls her Saviour even that which gave him his name Jesus S. Mat. 1. 21. which was to save his people from their sins so that if she had no sin how could she have this Jesus for her Saviour and I dare not say that she had him not for her Saviour when I see her so rejoycing in his salvation wherefore the errour must be contented to go without the charity for there is no charity in denying the mother of God the greatest interest in God the interest in his mercy no charity in denying the mother of our Saviour the best interest in her own Son the interest in his salvation I dare not then exclude the blessed Virgin out of that number of which S. Paul hath spoken these words Even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you and can but wonder that some who have phansied her more tender-hearted then Christ himself should ascribe so much tender-heartedness to so little need of forgiveness for it is not unknown to travellers that in some Christian Churches where this doctrine of the Immaculate conception is maintained our blessed Saviour is pictured as one ready to pursue and smite the sinner when as his mother is pictured as one ready to shelter and to receive him which false representation seems to have proceeded from as false an imagination broached by Gabriel upon the canon of the Mass Lect. 8. Sibi reservavit justitiam Virgini Mariae concessit misericordiam there being two principal boons of the heavenly kingdome justice and mercy the King of heaven hath reserved the justice to himself but the mercy he hath bestowed on the blessed Virgin 't is very unsound and unsafe divinity that robs the King of Saints of the fairest slower in his Crown to make a garland for his mother but besides the unsoundness and unsafeness whereby it may destroy us there is also in it some unreasonableness whereby it destroys it self for all inclination to mercy in the creature is meerly from receiving it as in the Creatour meerly from giving it God being mercy in himself at first hath mercy because he will have mercy and at last will have mercy because he hath had mercy on us so that in him giving or shewing mercy is the onely cause of mercy because he cannot repent him of his own gifts but man being misery in himself learns to shew mercy by having first received it and continues to shew mercy because he still expects it so that in him receiving mercy is the onely cause of shewing mercy for that he will not be unthankfull to God for the free gift of his mercy wherefore this supposition that the Blessed Virgin needed no mercy cannot be agreeable with this position that she is most ready to shew mercy unless we will grant a non sequitur in the Apostle who thus argues concerning Christ himself the onely fountain of mercy as God to give it the onely channel of mercy as men to derive and to convey it that because he was tempted in all points as we are therefore he is the more to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities Heb. 4. 15. And the same doctrine which he preacheth concerning the head he enforceth concerning the members advising them therefore to forgive because they had been forgiven therefore to be kinde tender-hearted to their brethren because God for Christs sake had been kinde and tender-hearted to them he maketh choice of the best Topick that can be for an argument to perswade them to mercy even the infinite and undeserved mercies of God the Father Son and holy Ghost Forgive one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you here are the two first persons of the most holy blessed and glorious Trinity and if we look back upon the 30. verse we may see the third person and grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed to the day of Redemption how shall they not grieve that holy Spirit even by doing what follows in the next words v. 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kinde one to another c. this bitterness and malice least grieves your spirits but it most grievs Gods Spirit which cannot enter into a malicious soul and much less will dwell there wherefore you must put away all bitterness wrath and anger if you would have this heavenly guest come into your souls and you must keep them away if you would have him make any stay and abode when he is come the Apostle reckons up three several kindes or degrees of that fury which opposeth and grieveth Gods holy Spirit the first is bitterness a light distaste or dislike of the minde the second is wraths a violent commotion and disaffection of the heart both these contain themselves within doors and are to be rectified not by Aristotle's but by Christs Ethicks which alone reach to the inward man the third is anger an outward exorbitant passion that expresses it self in clamour and evil speaking and malicious doing not one of these but is against some act of true mercy and accordingly the Apostle prescribes three acts of mercy which will expell them all for first he requires us to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 benigni kinde or courteous that 's against the bitterness in the distaste or dislike of the minde Secondly he requires us to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 misericordes tender-hearted or mercifull that 's against the wrath the strong inward impression of anger in the heart Thirdly he requires us to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 donantes or condonantes forgiving or pardoning that 's against the anger or fury the outward expression of exorbitant passion either in our words or works and as a sufficient motive to all this notwithstanding it is so contrary to flesh and bloud he onely wills us to consider how much kindness tender-heartedness and forgiveness we have all found from God and then we shall never think it much to be kinde and tender-hearted and to forgive one another and to this motive though enough of it self we may further adde another argument for we have need of arguments more then enough to confute
was builded these many years agoe we desire not to lay one stone more nor one stone less then was anciently laid onely we are not willing to mistake a false for a true Antiquity Id verum quod primum that is the truest which was the first And it was our Blessed Saviours own way of reasoning Non sic fuit ab initio It was not so from the beginning and yet it had been so for a very long time before Secondly S. Paul had the comfort of his Religion in that he worshipped the God of his Fathers for his Religion entitled him to the same God his Fathers had before him who had shewed great mercy to them and had promised to shew mercy to their children for their sakes the Jews had comfort in their Fathers when they had not in themselves Moses useth three Arguments why God should not destroy the children of Israel for their Idolatry Exod. 32. 11 12 13. The first was his former benefits lest they should seem to be lost and thrown away The second was his own glory lest that should be obscured and his Name blasphemed and neither of these two Arguments prevailed his former goodness had been too much abused his after glory might be otherwise repaired But then follows his third Argument his Promises to the Fathers and that prevails then immediately saith the Text And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people ver 14. Gods veracity is indispensable and must be indisputable And thus Jarchi glosses upon this third Argument If they have sinned against all thy Ten Commandments yet remember Abraham was upright in his Ten Temptations let Ten go for Ten nay more If thou hast purposed to burn them or kill them or banish them yet remember Abraham and Isaac and Israel thy servants thou wilt not do it Remember that Abraham at thy command exposed himself to burning when he went to Ur that is Fire in the Chaldeaens Isaac exposed himself to killing Jacob exposed himself to a long Banishment to a wearisome Pilgrimage And thus God himself comforted Hezekiah Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy Father I have heard thy prayer I have seen thy tears Is. 38. 5. So willing so ready is God to shew mercy that he will find a cause to shew it to the Children for their Fathers sake when he cannot for their own doubtless it is to teach them not to trust in their own righteousness if they be righteous nor to distrust his mercy when they have been captivated under the dominion of sin unrighteousness And thus much concerning the worship of God the first substantial part of S. Pauls Religion The second substantial part thereof still remains undiscussed and that is his Faith Concerning which we may observe two things First That it was the Catholick Faith Secondly the Proof that it was so First That his Faith was the Catholick Faith Beleeving all things A Christians Faith may be called Catholick in a two-fold respect either essentially or accidentally essentially in the substance of it when he beleeves all those Christian Truths that God hath revealed as necessary to salvation and beleeves them because of Gods Revelation for as the second Epistle of Saint Iohn is called a Catholick Epistle though writ to a private person because it is Catholick or universal in its Instructions though it be onely particular in its occasion so is the true Faith the Catholick Faith though it may be continued onely among some few true Beleevers for what hath been already may be again and this case hath been in the days of Athanasius because it is universal in its Obligation though perchance almost singular in its Profession And in this sense the Catholick Faith and the Christian Faith are both one whence Athanasius calls that the Catholick which others have called the Christian Faith although he insist most upon the true doctrine concerning the Blessed Trinity even as the Imperial Edict cited in the Code in the Title de summâ Trinitate Fide Catholicâ gives the name of Catholicks to those Christians who had a right belief concerning the holy and undivided Trinity not onely as we may suppose because the chiefest hereticks of those daies had erred in that doctrine but also because they who erred not in it could not easily erre in denying any Fundamental of the true Christian Faith And thus Aquinas very briefly and plainly tels us what is this Christian or Catholick Faith even that Faith which brings us here to the saving knowledge and will bring us hereafter to the blessed enjoyment of our Saviour Christ. Credibilia de quibus est Fides secundum se quae directè ordinant ad Vitam Aeternam Nam Fides est principaliter de his quae videnda speramus in patriâ Heb. 11. 1. Ut Incarnatio Christi Trinitas At alia sunt de quibus non est Fides secundum se sed solum in ordine ad priora sc. ad manifestationem eorum ut quòd Abraham habuerit duos silios 22 ae qu. 1. Those truths do properly and of themselves belong to the Christian Faith which do immediately and directly order and dispose the beleever to eternal life for Faith is principally of those things which we hope to see and enjoy in heaven Heb. 11. 1. such as are the Incarnation of Christ and the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity But there are other truths which do not properly and of themselves belong to the Christian-Faith but onely in order to these to wit as far as they conduce to the manifestation of them as that Abraham had two sons As for the first of these they are to be explicitly beleeved of all Christians alike As for the second it sufficeth if they be implicitly beleeved by those who have not the means of an explicit Faith concerning them so that we may thus gloss S. Pauls words Beleeving all things that are written viz. either explicitly or implicitly all things explicitly that are revealed to me and all things implicitly that are revealed in the Text For every good Christian hath a preparation of his soul to beleeve whatsoever is contained in the whole word of God and a resolution of his soul to beleeve it as soon as it shall appear to him to be so Thus again the same Angelical Doctour Nam Fidei objectum per se est per quod homo heatus es sicitur per accidens autem secundariò omnia quae in sacrâ Scripturâ Divinitus traditâ continentur 22 ae qu. 2. art 5. The object of Faith essentially in and of it self is that which brings a man to the beatifical Vision for Faith is to end in Vision as Hope in Comprehension and Charity in Fruition But the object of Faith accidentally and secondarily is whatsoever is contained in the holy Scriptures that have been delivered to us from God As for the first every Christian is bound to beleeve them by an actual and
to the earth with them 't is because they have not yet seen the light of Christ nor heard his voice saying I am Jesus whom thou persecutest Act. 9. But we shall the more clearly see the splendour of this Omnipotency if we do seriously consider how suddenly the light of the Gospel notwithstanding all oppositions and persecutions did shine to the remotest corners of the earth insomuch that Polidore Virgil saith lib. 2. Hist. Ab initio orti Evangelii Britanniam fidem recepisse That Great Britain received the Faith from the first preaching of the Gospel and yet Britain was looked upon as divided from all the habitable world penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos many years after Christ. But Gildas saith more expresly De excidio Britan. in Biblioth Patrum Tom. 5 Tempore ut scimus summo Tiberii Caesaris c. We know that Britain received the faith towards the latter time of Tiberius now the very last year of Tiberius was the year of our Lord 38 in Baronius his account so that it is evident if Gildas say true and he was worse then mad if he produced his scimus to broach a lie That Britain received the Christian Faith within five years after the resurrection of Christ and therefore sure not from the Church of Rome for that Church did not it self receive that faith till the 45 year of the Lord that is at least ten years after the resurrection of Christ as saith the same Baronius that in the year of Christ 45 on the 15 of the Calends of Febr. that is the 17 of our January the Church of Rome was instituted by S. Peter and the Popes chair erected there and on that day this prayer was used in ancient rituals Omnipotens sempiterne Deus qui ineffabili sacramento Apostolo tuo Petro principatum Romae urbis tribuisti unde se Evangelica Veritas per tota mundi regna diffunderet Praesta quaesumus ut quod in orbem terrarum ejus praedicatione manavit Universitas Christiana Devotione sequatur Bar. Anti-Christ 45. nu 1. And surely if the truth of the Gospel did go into all the world from Rome and came not to Rome till the 45 year of Christ there were at least ten whole years from the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ wherein the truth of the Gospel did lie as it were hid in a corner but this was certainly far otherwise and Baronius his old prayer must therefore be accounted a new invention and might easily from the very stile of it be so proved for sure very few parts of the now Christian world did stay so many years for the Christian Faith And if the Church of Rome were so unhappy to stay so long for Christianity that she might get Supremacy she may still be so unhappy for ought we know as to keep the Supremacy and lose the Christianity however certain it is that innumerable other Churches and amongst the rest this of Britain received the Christian Faith long before that time the Sun of Righteousness breaking forth like the Sun in the firmament not unto any one place or people alone but unto all What providence brought Joseph of Arimathea or any other Apostolical man to England before St. Peter came to Rome might perchance be accounted a curious but would certainly be a vain dispute 't is enough for the proof of the Omnipotency of the Christian Religion That the Saviour of the world who died for all did not suffer the distance of place to keep or intercept from any the speedy knowledge of his salvation The second branch of Eternity is All-sufficiency and therefore God as he is eternal is likewise all-sufficient as he is eternal of himself so he is all-sufficient in himself which all-sufficiency consists of these three parts 1. That he hath an absolute perfection 2. That he hath this perfection in and from himself 3. That this perfection is not onely sufficient for himself but also for all things besides himself First God hath an absolute perfection not onely of essence or being but also of operation or working for even in that grand Objection That the wicked do flourish and the righteous are oppressed appears a three-fold perfection of Gods operation First in the variety of his providence that he dispenseth both prosperity and adversity Secondly in the justice of his providence that he punisheth sinne in his own servants who though they can say their adversities are greater then other mens yet can they not say they are so great as are their own sins Thirdly in the mercy of his providence that he punisheth them onely temporally therein shewing his mercy to be greater then either their adversities or their sins And so also true Religion hath an absolute perfection both in its being and in its working that is both in its substance and in its exercise and what defects or faults are to be found in the exercise of it among any sort of Christians belong to the men not to the Religion Some will needs kneel to Images that were of their own making others will not kneel to God their Maker the one may go for the exercise of Superstition the other for the exercise of profaneness but neither can go for the exercise of Religion Secondly God hath his perfection in and from himself For who hath first given unto him and it shall be recompensed unto him again Rom. 11. 35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who hath given first unto him We may and do and must give unto God O give thanks unto the Lord saith the Psalmist there 's our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our giving unto him but even in this is his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his giving first to us for he gives us the grace before we give him the praise we give but he gives first for he hath his perfection in and from himself we have ours in and from him And so hath Religion its perfection in and from it self whence it is called the beauty of Holiness Psal. 96. 9. The Christian Religion is the Beauty of earth even as Christ the Authour of it is the Beauty of Heaven And the Beauty of Holiness which is in Religion consists not in our adorning of Churches or in outward pomp and Ceremonies but in its own internal harmony and congruity to and conformity with him who is the very Beauty of Heaven the proper place of Holiness as being the habitation of the Holy One If thou come to worship thou receivest beauty from the holiness not the holiness beauty from thee thy soul is beautified thereby and made the Love of God and Angels but Religion was so of it self ever before as it is said Psal. 93. 6. Holiness becometh thy house for ever the holiness of Gods House is a becoming holiness and it is a holiness for ever a holiness that was before the creation of the world and a holiness that shall be after the end thereof Therefore outward ornament may not be pleaded for as matter
labour that they may be strengthened by piety and godliness yet will I not enter upon a particular enumeration of Gods communicable Properties I have been too long already upon this argument much less upon a particular explication of them for it will be sufficient for my purpose which is the advancement of the true Religion in the hearts and lives of men if I briefly insist onely upon these three to which all the rest may be reduced and they are Truth in his Understanding Goodness in his Will and Purity in his Action for we cannot better consider Gods Activity then in the Purity of his Action unto which we must also annex a short discourse of Liberty as belonging to all three that is to say to Understanding and Will and Action And these three Properties of Truth Goodness Purity as they are eminently in God and evidences of his perfection so are they also eminent in Religion the service of God And first of the Truth of God and of Religion God is true by a metaphysical and by a moral Truth First By a metaphysical Truth as having the true knowledge of all things Psa. 139. 2. thou understandest my thoughts long before God understandeth our thoughts before they are the angels not when they are and therefore they are defective in truth because defective in understanding for Truth metaphysically is a conformity of the thing with the understanding and accordingly our blessed Saviour is particularly called the Truth as being the Omniscient Wisdome of God and the eternal Understanding of the Father even as the holy Ghost is the eternal Love both of Father and Son Secondly God is True by a moral Truth as having his Affection Expression Action agreeable to his knowledge and that in three respects 1. As Truth is opposed to Falshood for God neither wills nor speaks an untruth 2. As Truth is opposed to Dissimulation for God neither dissembleth nor deceiveth 3. As Truth is opposed to Inconstancy for God changeth not his judgement in truths declared or determined he changeth not the event in truths foretold or prophesied for in promises he keeps his word and his truth if man perform the conditions in threats he may not keep his word and yet keep his truth because they are but conditional And as for deceiving the Prophets Ezek. 14. 9. and 1 King 22. 23. we generally and truly answer Tradit diabolo decipiendos he delivereth them over to the devil to be deceived by him so saith the Text Because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should beleeve a lie that they all might be damned who beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes. 2. 10 11 12. a text that gives us a fearful but yet a full account of all those strong delusions among men which led directly to the Father of lies the first step was a voluntary unrighteousness in not loving the truth the second step is a strong delusion in beleeving a lie the third step God keep them from treading in that who have trodden in the two former is a necessary damnation both for not loving the truth and for having pleasure in lies but still God is true though every man be a liar for God deceiveth the Prophet Ez◠14. 9. as he hardeneth the heart Exod. 10. 1. permissivè non efficienter permissively no◠efficaciously by not inhibiting or not purging those ill qualities that are already is the heart not by infusing any ill qualities into it and therefore though he saith I have hardened Pharaohs heart yet he saith unto us Harden not your own hearts and accordingly he threatneth in Ezekiel to destroy such a prophet from the midst of his people whose heart was hardned so fa◠as to deceive himself and others whereas he could not in justice destroy him onely for being that which himself had made him nay this permission is most plainly set forth in that parable of 1 Kin. 22. for all that God doth there is onely to let the evil spirit go forth that is not to inhibite him from going and deceiving not to send him down from heaven For it is evident that the evil spirit never did and never can come into heaven again since he was first thrown down from thence And thus briefly God is True Metaphysically and Morally Metaphysical truth consisting in the right apprehension of things as they are in themselves Moral truth in the right affection and profession of things as they are apprehended and this profession is either in word by veracity or in action by sincerity or in continuance of action by constancy so that moral truth is opposed to falshood because 't is the same with reality to dissimulation because 't is the same with sincerity and to wavering and floating because 't is the same with certainty And this same metaphysical and moral truth is also in Religion passing from the Master into his service for the Father seeketh such to worship him who worship him as he is that is who worship him in spirit because he is a Spirit and who worship him in truth because he is the Truth S. John 4. 23 24. The worship in spirit points at the metaphysical truth of Religion which requires a true apprehension of God the worship in truth points at the moral truth of Religion which requires an Affection Profession Action agreeable to that true apprehension and for both these hath our own Church taught us to pray Collect 7th Sunday after Tri. Graff in our hearts the love of thy Name Increase in us true Religion nourish us with all goodness and of thy great mercy keep us in the same Do you look for the metaphysical Truth of Religion 'T is in the knowledge of Gods Name which must be presupposed before the love of it since no man can love what he doth not know that you know God by his true Name such as himself hath proclaimed Exod. 32. 5 6 7. or that you apprehend God as he is not set up to your self an idol in stead of God as do all those who worship not the Father by the Son in the unity of the Spirit Again do you look for the moral truth of Religion 'T is in the love of Gods Name that you love him according to your knowledge or that you have your affection agreeable to your apprehension for to know God and not to love him is in effect to proclaim you do not truly know him since the same God is the first Truth and ground of our knowledge and also the last good and cause of our love and you may here likewise finde this moral truth of Religion in all respects First in its Reality for it is the very true Religion opposed to falshood or superstition 't is indeed Gods Name Secondly in its Sincerity or Fidelity for it is all Goodness not onely in the tongue but also in the heart
and in the hand as Truth is opposed to Dissimulation or Hypocrisie Thirdly in its certainty or perseverance And of thy great mercy keep us in the same as Truth is opposed to uncertainty or to levity and inconstancy Religion then hath and must have a two-fold truth the first consists in a right apprehension whereby we believe the thing as it is the second in a right affection profession and action whereby we love and profess and do the thing as we beleeve and there cannot be a more religious prayer invented by the wit of Piety nor a more affectionate prayer practised by the zeal of Charity then that which is so remarkable both for its Piety and for its Charity in our own Church Collect 3. Sunday after Easter Almlghty God which shewest to all men that be in errour the light of thy Truth to the intent that they may return into the way of Righteousness there 's its piety towards God rightly descanting upon Gods intent in shewing the light of his truth to make men righteous not to make them inexcusable These things I say that ye might be saved S. Joh. 5. 34. not onely convinced saith our blessed Saviour and yet he spake to those who had not the love of God v. 42. Grant unto all them that be admitted into the fellowship of Christ Religion that they may eschew those things that be contrary to their profession and follow all such things as be agreeable to the same there 's its charity towards men affectionately desiring that as they have a Christian Communion so they may also have a Christian conversation lest their unchristian conversation destroy and disanull their Christian Communion which without doubt it hath done already in many ages of the Church and will do still to the worlds end unless God in his mercy fill our hearts more and more with this true piety towards himself and with this true charity one towards another And for this cause the Commandments are in the judgement of some Divines accounted practical Articles of the Christian Faith because if these be left out in our conversation what is true in it self of our Creed is as it were false to us since either our profession gives the lye to our apprehension and affection or our action to our profession for this is the difference betwixt speculative and practical truths speculativè practicè credibilia those things that we must believe speculatively and those that we must believe practically the first which are summed up in the Creed are truly believed if there be a conformity of the thing with the Understanding but the second which are summed up in the Decalogue are then onely truly believed when there is a conformity of the affection and of the profession and of the action with the belief thus they that worship Images do expunge the second and they that resist Magistrates do expunge the fifth Commandment if not out of their books yet at least out of their Faith in their Books they may be true believers but in their Lives they are in these particulars little less then Infidels Now see in what a miserable condition is the irreligious miscreant who so beleeves as to make void his own faith and so receives the truth as to make the truth it self a lie to him either for want of a sanctified affection in not loving it or for want of a sanctified action in not practising it and hence we may likewise see and must confess that not he who knows most of the doctrine of Faith is the best Beleever but he that most loves what he knows in speculatives and he that most practises what he knows in practicks so that a great Scholar may fully know the truth and yet to him it may be as a lye because he loves it not for to him it is what he desires it should be contrariwise an ignorant peasant may not fully know the truth and yet to him it may be the saving truth because he loves it for what is wanting in his head is made up by his heart O my soul glory not in the knowledge of Christ but in the love of that knowledge glory not in thy learning if thou art Mistress of any but in thy Religion to which thou oughtest to be a servant learning may make a man wise to ostentation but 't is onely Religion can make him wise to salvation Do not then with Pilate ask thy Saviour what is truth and then go away without his answer much less mayest thou turn to those Jews that help to crucifie him for if thou know these things happy art thou not because thou knowest them but if thou do them thy happiness consists not in knowing Christ but in practising him nor is it possible for a man to be long defective in his practise and not to be defective also in his knowledge since what is sinfull in the deliberate action is sinfull in the will and what is sinfull in the will is erroneous in the judgement or understanding and this is the reason that a man may be a heretick not onely in credendis but also in agendis not onely in Articles of Faith but also in Duties of Life nay indeed he cannot easily be a heretick in the Duties of Life and still remain truly Orthodox in the Articles of Faith as for example he that prays to a Saint or Angel in stead of God directly overthrows the first Commandment but indirectly also the first Article of his Creed I believe in one God for Prayer is a Sacrifice that may be offered onely unto God again he that wilfully dishonours his Governours whom God hath set over him directly overthrows the fifth Commandment but indirectly also the ninth Article of his Creed I beleeve the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints for being a Lover of division he is not a true beleever of that Communion and this we may take for a general doctrine fitter to be received then opposed First that any practical errour which is against our duty towards God doth tend to a speculative errour against some part of the Creed which concerneth God as he that doth not honour God as God doth in effect deny him to be maker of heaven and earth therefore saith the Psalmist O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our maker as if we could not truly beleeve him to be our maker if we will not worship him with all possible reverence and fear Secondly that any practical errour which is against our duty towards our neighbour doth tend against some Article of the Creed that hath relation to men as he that will not be subject to the authority of his lawfull governours Civil or Ecclesiastical doth in effect deny The Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints Thirdly and lastly that any practical errour against the duty which a man oweth unto himself doth tend against some Article of Faith that concerns himself as he that is a common
the thought of ever returning that obedience which was but matter of courtship or of courtesie not of duty or of necessity and moreover he made Priests of the lowest of the people that by their false doctrine the people might still be encouraged in their state-heresie to defie their allegiance whilst he to make sure work was adding thereto a church-heresie to defie their conscience what a fair pretence was here what a foul intention first he findes fault with their grievances v. 4. thy father made our yoke grievous then becomes their head in the Rebellion v. 20. is made king over all Israel and at last changes their Religion and makes two calves v. 28. was this a delivering of their bodies to damn their souls a saving their estates to lose their consciences but yet no good is to be done till the Priests be in too and because the old ones will not consent new ones must be made that will never yet was there a sedition in the State without a schism in the Church the people first forsaking their obedience then not enduring them whose duty it is to reprove their disobedience thus there was a general Impudence Unthankfulness Impenitency both in the people and in the Priests of Israel before their final destruction which makes the Prophet say and what will you do in the end thereof Jer. 5. 31. that is what will you do in the end that you will make or in the end of the sin and what will you do in the end that I shall make or in the end of the sinner the end that you will make will be to pass from contention to sedition from sedition to rebellion from rebellion to impenitency and hardness of heart to think you do God service in advising with the devils instruments for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft 1 Sam. 15. 23. and witchcraft cannot but advise with the devil either in himself or in his adherents the end that I shall make of it will be your temporal destruction here your eternal demnation hereafter and both according to the rule of that justice which though you may dally I may not dispence with for you have been faulty in your temporal obedience towards your superiouâ—s in throwing away your allegiance and so are guilty of temporal destruction having cast off those whom I appointed to govern and to protect you and you have been faulty in your eternal obedience toward me in throwing away my commandments so are guilty of eternal damnation having cast out that conscience which I placed in your beasts to check and to admonish you that you might repent and be saved And now we see a full and satisfactory reason why God so destroyed his own chosen people the Jews as he never destroyed any other nation for he destroyed Aegypt but for one generation but Israel he hath destroyed for many generations Gath and Askelon were so laid waste as not to have one house left standing by another but onely Jerusalem was so laid waste as not to have one stone left lying upon another the reason is given by the Spirit of God Psal. 73. 26. Lo they that for sake thee shall perish thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee Ecce qui elongant se à te peribunt behold they that put themselves far from thee shall perish he saith not behold they that sin against thee shall perish for then all the world should be destroyed but behold they that go far from thee he that goeth far from God is a sinner but it follows not he that is a sinner goes far from God that belongs onely to such a sinner as delights in his distance from God regards not the offers of reconciliation and is resolved not to come near him which is the perverse resolution of shameless apostates men that were once so near God as to be of his communion but were soon weary of his company and therefore now so depart and separate from him as to rejoyce in their separation and this appears from the ensuing words Perdes omnes qui scortantur à te thou wilt destroy all them that go a whoring from thee which is a sin that none can commit but onely a wife which first separates from her husband in her affection then in her conversation and at last cleaves to another man so was it with the Church of the Jews the Spouse of God she did first forsake internal communion with God by Faith and Love then external communion by holiness and obedience till at last she revolted to other gods and accordingly she is thus reproved by the Prophets for playing the harlot with many lovers for polluting the land with her whoredomes and committing adultery with stones and with stocks Jer. 3. 1 2 9. this brought desolation upon that Church a desolation as remarkable as had been the apostasie there 's an Ecce belongs to both Behold they forsake and behold they perish Lo they that forsake thee shall perish none can properly forsake God but he that once had some interest in him and possession of him this the heathen never had but onely Israel wherefore justice requires that they should perish with a greater confusion then the heathen because for a greater sin that is to say for a greater contempt for a more abominable unthankfulness and for a more unpardonable impenitency and as for those that repented and yet were destroyed they cannot but say their sins were greater then their sufferings and being destroyed onely temporally when they might justly have been destroyed eternally they cannot but say Gods mercy was greater then their sins Thus we have weakly vindicated Gods Justice both in general and in particular and if we have insisted too long upon that vindication yet sure it is onely too long as to the theme but not too long as to our times wherein we have seen those severe proceedings of Gods Justice as would almost make us cast off the hopes of Mercy but that there is sometimes the greatest mercy in that justice which destroys temporally that it may spare eternally and therefore we do must and will beleeve that God doth punish us here that he may spare us hereafter beseeching him also to spare those whom yet he doth not punish And this same justice as it is in God himself so is it also in his service the true Religion and that so essentially that 't is impossible for an unjust man to be truly religious for he that will not give man his due will not give God his due nay indeed he cannot give God his due whose commandment he breaks and whose authority he despises in not giving it to man It is the Apostles argument 1 S. Iohn 4. 20. If a man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a lyar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen for indeed true charity is so kinde as not to seek
us I will heal their backslidings saith that Spirit I will love them freely Hos. 14. 4. he heals us freely he loves us freely we were backsliders when he did heal us we are backsliders now he doth love us what the sick man doth towards his cure who provokes his physician by backsliding and wilfully relapsing into his disease that we have done to God why he should heal us why he should love us and how then shall we not alwaies think of this free and undeserved mercy which is the surest salvation of our souls and therefore the best imployment of our thoughts and how shall we but once think of it and not finde words answerable to our thoughts not be ready to sing our Hosanna to the Son of David we have an excellent president from two sorts which were in the lowest degree of speakers the multitudes and the children S. Mat. 21. the one cannot speak orderly the other cannot speak plainly yet both join together in this heavenly consort and sing their Hosannas to our blessed Saviour both orderly and plainly nay we may finde a president by way of supposition though not by way of position from a sort that are in the very highest degree of not speakers for so saith Truth himself Verily I say unto you if those should hold their peace the stones would immediately cry out S. Luk. 19. 40. as if he had said if these two that are in the lowest degree of speakers the multitudes and the children should hold their peace and not magnifie that mercy which they cannot deserve which is therefore the more to be magnified because it it hath been the less deserved then would the very stones cry out which are in the highest degree of not speakers as not having any organs that conduce to so much as the making of a noise and therefore sure not to the uttering of a voice and yet even these should not onely speak but also cry out speak very loud if we should be so unthankfull as to hold our peace for God who can out of these stones raise up children unto Abraham S. Matth. 3. 9. can also out of these stones raise up Saints unto himself to sing hosannas to his Son nay indeed he hath raised up both children to Abraham and saints unto himself as it were out of these stones in mollifying the hard hearts of men to make them capable of the impressions of his grace and in opening their lips that he might fill their mouths with the expressions of his praise and glory a mercy that in this respect is greater then all the rest because without this we could not be thankfull for them and unthankfullness is able to make the greatest mercies no mercies at all So that now we may clearly see how to answer that curious and fond Question What did God do before the Creation not by saying that he was making hell for such Questionists but that he was wholly imployed in making heaven for doubtless God the Father Son and Holy Ghost delighted in himself from all eternity and consequently was making heaven for himself for he is indeed his own heaven his own blessedness rejoycing everlastingly in himself but we may yet go further and say that he was making heaven also for us men for that same goodness which made him rejoyce in himself as being his own blessedness made him also rejoyce in his workmanship as that which should proceed from himself and as that which should be blessed in himself and that same goodness made him in time give us a being and such a being as was capable of blessedness as was capable of the joy of heaven by rejoycing in the God of heaven for as God is his own heaven by rejoycing in himself so is he also our heaven by making us rejoyce in him O the happiness of a judicious soul that contemplates this mercy but much more of a religious soul that embraces it for doubtless such a soul begins to go to heaven by delighting it self betimes in God according to that heavenly advice given by the Psalmist Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart what else is the work of heaven but to delight thy self in the Lord what else is the reward of heaven but to have the desires of thy heart If thou do the work thou wilt not miss of the reward but though thou have not all that thou canst imagine which is the desire of the brain yet thou wilt have all that thou canst enjoy which is the desire of the heart thou maist want the corporal rest of thy body but thou shalt not want the spiritual rest and repose of thy soul thou maist be much oppressed by mans cruelty but thou wilt much more be refreshed by Gods mercy which always brings a great refreshment in its contemplation to shew it cannot be without an unimaginable joy in its fruition we may think those men merriest that sing loudest but the Apostle tells us of another singing which thought it hath much less noise yet can it not but have much more chearfulness Eph. 5. 19. Speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing and making melody in your heart unto the Lord a true and lively faith in Gods mercy which is most usefull in all times but most needfull in the worst times will neither let us want company for it will make us speak to our selves nor want a speech for it will teach us to speak in Psalms and Hymns nor will it let us want mirth for it will cause us to sing and make melody in our hearts Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs speaking and singing and making melody all is too little to welcome the very thought of mercy and what then can be enough to express the joy and the enjoyment of it but if we look upon the verse before we may there discern a double fulness a fulness of wine and a fulness of the Spirit he that is filled with wine the joys of this world may sing lowdest but he that is filled with the Spirit the joys of the world above surely sings sweetest for come what can come this man must either not be miserable or which is the greater happiness not be discontented with his misery for as it follows in the verse next after he is giving thanks always for all things to God and therefore he is giving thanks also for those things which seem to bring him the greatest discomforts and disturbances because his disturbances cannot be so fixed upon his body as his soul is fixed upon his God and looking with an eye of faith upon the eternal mercy he cannot but look with an eye of scorn upon a little momentany and temporal misery thus we finde S. Paul and Silas singing Psalms to God in the prison after all their stripes having been scourged in the day yet singing in the night these two discords scourging and singing make up an admirable harmony
or to gossip and tattle like idle auditours but he sends all to learn the lessons that he there teacheth them and not so much to learn the words of those lessons as their meaning Go ye and learn what that meaneth that is go learn it intellectually to understand it cordially to love it practically to perform it that mercy is the chiefest ingredient of your Religion and ought to be the first of your sacrifices for he that will have mercy rather then sacrifice surely will accept of no sacrifice without mercy and this appears from the very occasion of citing the Text for it is cited S. Mat. 9. 13. to confute those that out of a mistaken zeal would needs be factious and turn Separatists accounting themselves too good to keep company with sinners It is cited S. Mat. 12. 7. to confute those that would needs be superstitious making an idol of the Sabbath and condemning the disciples for plucking the ears of corn on the Sabbath-day when they were an hungred and much more is it still to be cited against them amongst us who in the same practises are both factious and superstitious men that most talk of Religion yet least care for mercy for we see that we have now a Religion without sacrifice but we can never have a Religion without mercy Sow to your selves in Righteousness and reap in mercy break up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain righteousness upon you Hos. 10. 12. there cannot be righteousness without mercy for both these make but one exhortation of seeking the Lord whom we must seek no less by mercy then by righteousness or we shall so seek him as not to finde him for even at his own altar will he not be found of us if we come thither to seek him without mercy before we are reconciled to our brother and therefore in this case we are plainly told it is in vain to offer our gifts which is in effect to say that God will not be there for to receive them S. Mat. 5. 23 24. nay even in heaven which is his throne will he not be found by us unless we come with mercy to seek him there and therefore the benediction of purity Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God presupposeth the benediction of mercy Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtain mercy for were it possible for a soul to be in heaven and there to see God which had not obtained mercy which had not its sins forgiven that soul could not be truly blessed First because it could not love God looking upon him as not reconciled in Christ and therefore not as a loving Father but as an impartial Judge for if to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little S. Luk. 7. 47. then by the same rule of proportion where is no forgiveness there can be no love supposing that there is sin which needs to be forgiven Secondly because that soul could not love it self as being odious and abominable whilest under the guilt of sin for even the damned souls in hell though they do not contract the guilt of new sins for then unrighteousness would be immortai yet forasmuch as they are still under the guilt of their old sins which could not be washed away but onely by that bloud which they trampled under their feet and by that repentance which they would not let come near their hearts and being not washed away still remains upon their souls cannot but be eternally odious and abominable to themselves because they cannot but be eternally under the guilt of sin so that we may infer with good Logick and better Divinity that if the reward of the pure in heart which is to see God without the reward of the mercifull which is to obtain mercy be no blessedness then surely purity without mercy is no righteousness for it is not possible that true righteousness should be without a reward And indeed it is not possible that true righteousness should be without mercy whence it is that the Seventy Interpreters do render the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is mercies by the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is holinesses as appears Isa. 55. 3. cited by S. Paul Act. 13. 34. the prophet had said I will give you the mercies but the Septuagint and from them S. Paul did say I will give you the holy or just things they both did mean the same gift though the one called it mercy the other called it holiness and indeed in the Hebrew the same is the good and the mercifull men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and S. Paul tels us that peradventure for such a good man some would even dare to dye Rom. 5. 7. scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die by the righteous man he means 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man rigorously just that would do no wrong but by the good man he means 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man piously mercifull that would do all manner of good and this man he accounts so obliging that peradventure some would not stick to lose their own lives so they might save his and by thus comparing the righteous man and the good man he shews that our Saviours love to us was beyond compare who was pleased to die for us when we were yet sinners that is so far from being good men that we were not so much as righteous men so far from having the positive righteousness of doing good that we had not so much as the privative righteousness of not doing evil Thus doth the Apostle prefer him that is righteous according to the rules of mercy before him that is righteous according to the rules of Justice from the example of God himself who delighted in the righteousness of mercy above the righteousness of justice and therefore was not so zealous to commend his love of justice in destroying us as his love of mercy in saving us go and do thou likewise is the use that the best Preacher that ever was either in heaven or in earth makes of this doctrine S. Luk. 10. 37. when the answer had been made that he was the neighbour to the wounded man who had shewed him mercy it follows presently then said Jesus go and do thou likewise and they that do willingly hear this Preacher do as readily obey him having a desire that mercy may rejoyce against judgement in them here because they have a hope that mercy shall rejoyce against judgement for them hereafter and this is the reason of the Apostles inference Eph. 4. 32. Be ye kinde one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you this priviledge and prerogative we men have above the angels that God hath forgiven us very much when as he hath forgiven them nothing they share equally with us in all Gods other attributes but in
our unbridled fury and of motives more then enough to make us restrain it that he who hath purchased all this mercy for us hath taught us not to pray for it and therefore not to hope for the blessing of it upon other terms but onely upon this very condition if we practise it Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us as if he had said make us to forgive as we desire to be forgiven no less then make us desire to be forgiven as we stood in need of forgiveness and this is agreeable with S. Chrysostome's gloss of the words not upon the place but in his 27 Sermon upon Genesis for it was his way of preaching to explain many Texts as he quoted them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us not think that in forgiving others we do a courtesie to them for indeed we do the courtesie onely to our selves who by this means do reap the benefit of that forgiveness which God hath promised and our Saviour Christ hath purchased but without forgiving can have no hopes to be forgiven and this lesson are we taught all along throughout our Saviours whole life and doctrine examine we his doctrine 't is for the greatest part nothing else but so many several instructions and injunctions of mercy I will make but one instance and that in his Sermon upon the mount S. Mat. 5 39. But I say unto you that ye resist not evil and v. 44. But I say unto you Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despightfully use you and persecute you as if he had said what ever others have said before it matters not if you will be my disciples you must observe and obey what I say unto you and I say unto you that all your labour and zeal must be to overcome one another in goodness and in mercy Again examine we our Saviours whole life we shall finde it nothing else but one continued practise and president of mercy sometimes we find him preaching and praying to cure the souls sometimes working miracles to cure or relieve the body sometimes helping the body sometimes helping the soul but always doing some good either to body or soul so that we can have no truer touchstone to discover and discern gold from dross true Christianity from vain Hypocrisie then is this of shewing mercy nor may we object That many and great injuries have provoked us to wrath and that solicites us to revenge for though it cannot be denied but this last and worst age of the world hath silled our mouths with too many such objections yet our hearts may in no case be full of them but herein also we must imitate our blessed Saviour who though he were the party offended yet came himself to make the atonement and reconciliation and hath left not onely his example but also his blessing behinde him to encourage us to do so to saying Blessed are the peace-makers S. Matth. 5. 9. If thine enemy come first to thee he will get this blessing and thou wilt lose it and if thou lose this blessing how wilt thou keep thy Saviour that pronounced it It is a mere madness in any man to break down that bridge over which himself is to pass the bridge over which we hope to pass in our journey from earth to heaven is mercy he that breaks down this bridge breaks off his own passage into eternal rest Hypocrites may pretend zeal for an occasion of cruelty but true Christians will be sure to follow the example of Christ to be always doing some act of mercy and wheresoever we find massacres and outrages we may safely say there is the pretence but there is not the power of the true Christian Religion that looks after no bloud but the bloud of Christ to contemplate the merit of it with admiration to congratulate the mercy of it with thankfulness that bloud never baths but it likewise supples whether the bloud of a goat will soften the Adamant or no let the naturalist dispute but that the bloud of the immaculate Lamb doth soften the most stony hearts the divine must determine Therefore if the heart be still in its hardness 't is still in its uncleanness for it cannot be cleansed but by the bloud of Christ and that bloud never cleanseth but where it softens 'T is the part of salvages to overcome good with evil but 't is the part of Christians to overcome evil with good Rom. 12. 21. Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good every Christian must look for this fight and strive for this victorie the fight is to encounter with evil the victory is to overcome it the fight is against a twofold enemie the one without the malice of the devil and his instruments the other within our own weakness and impatience and the victorie is likewise twofold one is over our enemies for we overcome evil another is over our selves for we overcome evil with good this is the way to be more then conquerours and to get the victory over the greatest Potentates even while they trample us under their feet not by resisting much less returning their outrages but by forgiving them Father forgive them they know not what they do was a voice of our dying Saviour and therefore perchance weak in its noise but sure strong in its power for if it did not shake the foundations of hell to conquer the devils tyrannie yet it did pierce the battlements of heaven to open Gods kingdom insomuch that those thousands which were afterwards converted at two several sermons Acts 2. 14. Acts 4. 4. did ow their conversion more to this one voice then to those very sermons which converted them And as the Head himself declared his Almighty power most chiefly in shewing mercie and pitie so hath he given the same priviledge to his members to conquer more by their mercy then by their power by their praying then by their fighting by their tears then by their swords Saul was the man at whose feet the witnesses laid down their clothes whiles they stoned S. Stephen so that he seems to have had the chiefest hand in that Protomartyrs bloud Omnium lapidantium vestimenta servabat ut omnium manibus lapidaret saith S. Aug. in Psal. 147. He kept the clothes of those that stoned Stephen that he might stone him with all their hands Was there ever a more bloudy persecutour then this Saul that embrued not onely his hands but also his heart with bloud That breathed out threatnings and slaughters against the disciples of the Lord andcunningly acted his threatnings by others hands that he might not put himself out of breath yet even this persecutour is presently after made a convert and the text intimateth in the history no other reason of his conversion but this prayer of S. Stephen immediately before the stones had beaten his soul out of his body Lord lay not
countenance any in sin and in impenitency and yet even this severe Bishop in his greatest strictness for Church discipline though he would not allow the Martyrs and Confessours to be too importunate for the over speedy reconciliation of notorious offenders in which he had also the approbation of the Clergy of Rome yet if an offender had been overhastily reconciled he would not by any means make void that act of mercy thus we read that when the Bishop Therapius had given the peace of the Church to Victor the Presbyter for the Bishops were in those dayes the governours in chief if not in whole of the Ecclesiastical Communion before he had made publick satisfaction for his offence though S. Cyprian and his collegues were much troubled that he had so hastily received him into the Communion of the Church nullâ infirmitate urgente when as no dangerous sickness of his had called for a dispensation of the Canon yet they would not revoke that act of grace that had been done by Therapius but let Victor still enjoy the benefit of it thereby shewing that the true Religion though it stand much upon the exactness of Justice yet is much more delighted in the exercise of Mercy the words of S. Cyprian and his fellow Collegues met together in a Synod meerly about Church-discipline are very remarkable Sed librato apud nos diu consilio satis fuit objurgare Therapium collegam nostrum quod temerè hoc fecerit instruxisse ne quid tale de caetero faciat pacem tamen quomodocunque a sacerdote Dei semel datam non putavimus au-ferendam Cyp. Ep. 59. cum Pam. after we had taken long and full advice about this business we thought it enough to reprove Therapius our Collegue that he had done this rashly and require him to do so no more but the peace which had been given by a Priest intrusted of God to give it though given after never so ill a manner we did not think fit to take away again and therefore declare that Victor shall still enjoy the communion of the Church But what do I speak of Mercy above Justice in the true Religion when she would not call for Justice at all were it not that she might shew Mercy for thus she proceeds to deliver a sinner to Satan that she may keep him from hell as faith the Apostle 1 Cor. 5. 5. to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus true Religion would not exercise that Justice which is for the destruction of the flesh were it not to make way for that Mercy which is for the salvation of the spirit therein resembling God himself who thrusts men away from him meerly out of the necessity of Justice but embraceth and receiveth them from his incessant desire and delight of shewing mercy CHAP. VIII The assurance we have of Religion in that it maketh us reverence and fear God ascribing the honour due unto his Name and of the ten proper Names of God collected by S. Hierome HE that is willing to expostulate with God can never be unwilling to offend him for it is impossible that man should ever be dashed out of countenance by the consideration of any sin who is resolved to justifie and maintain all his sins such a man is more fit for the School of the Peripateticks then for the School of the Prophets because he is made rather for disputation then for devotion and truly this is the chiefest reason that we can alledge for the continuance of all those grand miscarriages that are in the practise of Religion whether by way of superstition or of profaneness that men wedded to their own corrupt practises are in a manner resolved to expostulate with God rather then to comply with him 't is such a Clergy humour as this which the Prophet Malachi complaineth of Mal. 1. 6. saying unto you O Priests that despise my Name and ye say wherein have we despised thy Name they would needs be disputing when they should have been repenting for all this while they did neither honour God as a Father not fear him as a Master for so saith the Text a son honoureth his father and a servant his master if then I be a father where is mine honour if I be a master where is my fear saith the Lord of hosts unto you O Priests that despise my Name It is a foul shame for any to despise Gods Name but most especially for those who are most bound to glorifie it that is for his Priests who are peculiarly consecrated to serve God and therefore ought to be more particularly devoted to his service no man may securely contemn Religion but he least who is entrusted to teach it for what he is entrusted to teach he is much more commanded to practise and truly this is the proper work of Religion which the Prophet here cals for to glorifie the Name of God that is to honour God as a Father and to fear him as a Master for without this honour and this fear we cannot take God for God but it is the work of Religion to make man take God for God and how can that be but by acknowledging and professing his Verity Omnipotency Goodness and Excellency so that the work of Religion most especially consists in Faith Hope Charity and Reverence or holy Fear for by Faith we acknowledge Gods eternal truth or Verity by Hope his Omnipotency by Love his allsufficient Goodness and by Fear or reverence his Soveraign Majesty or supertranscendent excellency Thus he that beleeveth in God acknowledgeth God to be God because he acknowledgeth him to be the first Truth or chiefest Verity he that hopeth in God acknowledgeth God to be God because he relyeth on his Omnipotency he that loveth God with all his might acknowledgeth God to be God because he taketh him for the chiefest good being wholly satisfied with his allsufficiency and lastly he that feareth God with all his might acknowledgeth God to be God because he taketh him for the Soveraign Majesty or for the greatest excellency wherefore God is truly to be honoured as a Father by Faith Hope and Charity and to be honoured as a Master by Fear and Reverence and the true Religion reacheth us to honour God both as a Father and as a Master as a Father by beleeving in him for shall not a Son beleeve his Father though all others beleeve him no further then for his honesty yet his own Son is bound to beleeve him also for his authority again to honour him as a Father by hoping and expecting a blessing from him and more particularly our inheritance for as faith looks to the promise so hope looks to the thing promised and we can never look upon God too much and much less can we look for too much from him For if we being evil know how to give good gifts to our children how much more
unto Abraham and other Patriarchs of delivering his people the Children of Israel out of the heavy bondage which they sustained many hundred years under the oppressing hands of the Egyptians but he assured Moses that now he was about to compleat that promise in their deliverance and hereby God insinuated to Moses that the Name Jehovah signifies him qui constans sit in omnibus promissis suis omnia promissa sua quasi facit subsistere who is constant and faithfull in the performance of all his promises the duties and comforts which from this sacred Name may flow into our lives and consciences are divers First From that expression of God to Moses by my Name Jehovah c. we may infer that they onely know God to be Jehovah who doubt not of his good or fatherly will towards them and have found by a joyfull experience or felt in the quiet peace and calm of an undisturbed conscience that he is true and faithfull in the fullfilling of his word in that by a gracious pardon he hath abolished the guilt of their sins and by the powerfull work of his spirit upon their souls abated the strength of their imbred corruptions and all this in and through the Lord Christ in whom God hath manifested and declared himself to be Jehovah in promissis verax constans so saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 1. 20. speaking of Christ our Saviour In him all the promises of God are yea and amen i. e. have their compleat perfection per Christum habent suum implementum Grot. Secondly as the principal scope or end of this revealed Name Jehovah is not onely that hereby we acknowledge God to be the Lord who created all things out of nothing and gave them a being but also to teach or minde us of this truth that all his promises both of the things of this life and that which is to come shall by him be certainly compleated because that he who hath promised is most faithfull besides powerfull and true in his performance from hence our Christian duty is to exercise our faith by an humble and patient reliance on his promises expecting a joyfull issue of them and an undoubted performance whilest we argue thus with our selves The Lord our God the great Jehovah is omnipotent or almighty he can do what he will do and he will do what he hath promised it is he who hath chosen us before all worlds to salvation by Christ Jesus it is he who hath in great mercy promised to all believers the remission of all their sins and with it regeneration of our corrupt natures protection in the midst of dangers help in adversities sustenance in this life by a constant and fresh supply of all good things for our support and comfort perseverance in faith and well-doing and lastly a full possession of eternal life even the beatifical vision in heaven which is our essential happiness he hath sealed up those blessings by a gracious promise to us he who once promised to Abraham above 400 years before to redeem his people out of Egypt and to bring them into the promised Land of Canaan a type of heaven and at last when all things were desperate when their bondage was great and grievous when they groaned under their heavy burthens and were mightily oppressed with their task-masters then he awaked out of the sleep of his connivance and made good his ancient promise by destroying their enemies and delivering them out of bondage whereby he declared himself to be indeed Jehovah a God keeping his promises how then can we doubt but that he will do the same or more for us by performing what he hath promised and that with a solemn Oath to us i. e. to save our souls by translating them by Christ to heaven when they are released by death out of the prison of our bodies he can do this for he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he will do it for he is our faithfull Creatour our Lord Jehovah therefore though our flesh rebels within us with fears and doubtings though the world without us assault us with afflicting troubles though the devil that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Naz. calls him that unwearied implacable restless enemy begirt and infest us with divers temptations though our sins speak discomfort and beget horrour in us nay though an Angel should teach or preach the conttary to us yet ought we not to fear by distrusting Gods faithfulness and truth which like himself is immutable and infallible and changeth not upon this rock of his fidelity we ought to build our faith beleeving that what things soever he hath decreed and promised whether they be temporals or spirituals the good things of this life or the other we shall receive them at his merciful hands if we perform what is required on our parts the condition of the new Covenant viz. Faith and Obedience resigning up our souls wholly to God in an humble submission to his will and waiting with patience for that word he hath promised and is yet to come Thus David waited upon the Lord Psa. 40. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I waited patiently upon the Lord c. this waiting on God which implies a patient expectation of what he hath promised to us hereafter in his word together with an humble resignation of our wills to his it requires a great measure and strength of grace such as was in Abraham and that First In regard of the things waited for which are far beyond or transcend any thing which we can hope for in this world Secondly In regard of that long day or that long period of time which God hath taken and prefixt before he will compleat his promise Thirdly the tediousness of delay which results from the former Fourthly the many oppositions troubles crosses afflictions and disappointments which in our way in this life we meet with Fifthly the scandals or offences received from them which are in high esteem for Religion when we see them fall into enormous sins we are apt to question Gods promise of perseverance made unto us where he says I will never leave nor for sake you Adde to all these a sixth and that is the untoward peevishness of our fainting nature apt to sink under the least discouragement In these respects there must be more then an humane spirit to hold up the soul and carry it along to the end of that which we wait for and they that with the Prophet David Psa. 62. 1. truly wait upon God from whom they expect salvation they are thus spirited thus quickned with divine grace though they be cast into the place of Dragons Psal. 44. 2. or whales overwhelmed with the sea of calamities and covered with the shadow of death though with Jonah they lye in the midst of the whales belly in a place of darkness and in the deep yet their faith in the great God whose Name is Jehovah will then and there shew it self lightsome and full of life
by a gracious dependance on Gods truth and faithfulness and expecting in his good time a comfortable issue of his promises Such waiters whose God is the Lord Jehovah in whom they trust on whom they depend and whom they constantly obey not departing from his precepts when he seems to have forsaken them in their greatest distresses such men are the prime the onely Christians who have in their soul the seal of Gods grace to assure them of their future happiness O thou whose Name is the great Jehovah and rulest all things in heaven and earth send down from heaven the habitation of thy glory thine Holy Spirit into our hearts and so possess our souls with an awful fear of thy Majesty and a filial love of thee for thy goodness and mercy that we abhorring all things that may displease thee and obeying thy precepts may in the end of our days obtain the end of our hopes and the fruit of thy promises which is the salvation of our souls and eternal bliss through the merits of our blessed Redeemer our Lord Christ Jesus The tenth and last Name of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 schaddai by which God often stiled himself when he spake unto the Patriarchs to uphold their spirits and sustain their faith in the midst of their troubles Gen. 17. 1. the Lord appeared unto Abraham and said unto him I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the same words he bespake Jacob Gen. 35.11 hence it was that they also when they were to speak or make mention of God often used that Name or word Thus Isaac when he blessed Jacob Gen. 28.3 said the God whose Name is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bless thee and make thee to encrease and multiply so Jacob said to Joseph the God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appeared to me in Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me As for the notion or meaning of the Name Galatinus l. 2. c. 17. out of R. Moses the Egyptian and Algazel determines it that it is a compounded term and made up of these two parts or particulars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in composition the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies sufficient and sufficiency so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the whole latitude or acception of it denotes the alsufficiency of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui in se à se sufficientiam abundantiam omnimodam habet it a ut nullius ope indigeat i. e. who in himself and from himself hath a sufficiency and abundance of all good things and needs not the help of any creature There is in God a fallness of power whereby he can do what he will his will being the onely rule and bound of his power therefore the Septuagint do often render this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Job 8.3 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that doth or worketh all things so in our English Translation doth the Almighty pervert justice As there is in many a man an empty fullness when bladder-like his soul is blown up with windy fancies of having what he hath not or of more knowledge then he truly hath so in God there is a fullness without any the least defect or degree of emptiness in God and Christ who is God and man in one person there is as the Schools speak Plenitudo repletiva and diffusiva or plenitudo abundantiae and redundantiae and abounding fullness because no good thing no gift nor grace is wanting in him and a redounding fullness because what gifts or graces soever be in us they are all derived to our souls from him the ever-living and overflowing fountain and spring of them from whom they slow into our souls per Spiritum tanquam per canalem through the spirit as it were a conduit-pipe without any loss of them in him or without any the least diminution and of his fullness have we all received Joh. 1. 16. a fullness without any want argues a great perfection quod plenè habetur perfectè totalitèr habetur Aquin Now if men through the door of faith opened by Gods blessed Spirit did see the fullness the excellency and alsufficiency of God it would so fill them with admiration joy and content that having a communion with God by his sanctifying spirit they would care for nothing else they considering what the Lord is and beholding his glorious face in the glass of his Attributes viz. his Wisedom Power and Justice c. upon this consideration they would say with the Prophet David The Lord is on our side or with us we will not therefore fear what man can do unto us Psa 118. 6. the Lord is ours therefore we can lack nothing that is good for us and if the Lord be thine then his Power is thine to sustain thee under any cross to redeem thee from troubles to help thee in distress to succour thee in the greatest needs and to support thy weakness in the performance of any duties his Wisedom too is thine thou hast an interest in it it is thy portion so that if thou desirest to be instructed in the knowledge of his word to understand those hidden mysteries which are contained in it if thou openest thy mouth to him in prayer he will open thine eyes that thou shalt see mirabilia leg is the wondrous things of his Law Psa. 119. 18. and be also wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. his Justice likewise is thine to vindicate thee when thou art injured if thou committest thy cause unto him and to clear thine innocency when thou art falsly traduced by the malevolent and to deliver thee out of the hands of the oppressour so for his Truth and Holiness the former is thine to make good his promises of blessings in this life and of happiness in that to come if by faith and full affiance thou dependest on him so the latter i. e. his Holiness is thine to sanctifie thy corrupt nature and to free thee as from the guilt so from the power of sin This is the portion of all the Sons and servants of God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God al-sufficient who can and will do for us more then either we desire or deserve if we wholly rest and rely upon his goodness Happy is the man who is in such a case in so blessed a condition as to have a close union and near communion with the great God of heaven or to speak in the Prophet Davids phrase who hath the Lord for his God Psa. 144. 15. whose alsufficiency they atterly deny who worship any other God as did the Gentiles who multiplied Deities and sacrificed to more then one such are Polutheists who divide the glory of Gods excellencies amongst those petty Numens even as they are no other then practical Athiests and truly worship none who through infidelity question Gods alsufficiency for if he be God he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alsufficient who by small or unlikely means can bring great or mighty things to pass they doubt of his being alsufficient who walk in uneven waies and use evil means to work out their ends and to effect their enterprises as did Ahaziah the son of Ahab who in his sickness sent messengers to Baal-zebub the God of Ekron to enquire of him whether he should recover of his disease 2 Kin. 1. the like did the wicked Saul 1 Sam. 28. when being in a great strait by the Philistines that warred against him he went to a woman that had a familiar spirit to know of her whether he should conquer his enemies but this did not holy David he apprehended God to be all-sufficient that having promised him the kingdom would in his good time effect what he promised wherefore he used no sinister or unlawfull means to accomplish his desires but waited on God for the performance of his promise he had many opportunities to have gotten the Crown oftentimes Saul fell into his hands so that he might have destroyed him but he would not do it he would not touch him to his hurt because he was the Lords anointed but committed himself to the will of God waiting his leisure so after a few years his desires were accomplished his grand enemy flain and he setled in the Throne of this holy frame of spirit was that good Jonathan the Son of Saul 1 Sam. 14. 6. when he said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non est Jehovae impedimentum there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few so was Asa affected towards God his heart was possessed with high thoughts of his all-sufficiency 2 Chr. 14. 11. when Zerah the Ethiopian came against him with a thousand thousand men and three hundred chariots then saies the Text he cried unto the Lord his Lord and said Lord it is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no power help us O Lord our God for we rest on thee the Lord heard his cry and did help him that huge host was overthrown in a moment this Victory he obtained by his faith in the Lord of Hosts who is all-sufficient The thinking of him not so to be is the cause of all those indirect courses which men take to accomplish their worldly designes as when they lie and dissemble swear and forswear to get riches or go to conjurers and witches such men put not their whole trust and assiance in God but rather conceive that God cannot do what they desire by himself or by his own power unless they help him with their crafty wiles and politick devices when Peter denied Christ was it not out of fear and from whence was that fear was it not because he did not apprehend God to be all-sufficient a strong buckler of defence so that without his lying and dissimulation he could have rescued him out of the Jews bloudy hands although he had own'd his Lord and Master Christ Jesus To conclude if this comfortable Name of God were throughly digested by faith in our souls if we did beleeve that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God almighty and all-sufficient we should walk before him or as in his presence as Enoch Abraham and David did with a perfect heart we should fear him for his all-commanding power and love him for his Goodness of which there is in him a transcendent fullness we should be chearfull in adversity being content with God alone and think our selves very rich and happy though we be poor when we have God for our possession we should then see an emptiness in the creatures here below through whom God shines so that whatsoever excellency or beauty whatsoever worth vertue or comfort is in them it is an high degree in God who gave them their being and all things that attend it the consideration of this would make us more to delight in God and not dote on them which are but shadows in respect of that everlasting Sun and all their excellencies or perfections but so many beams descending from the Father of Lights or as so many blossomes of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Goodness so that if we separate these particularities from that universal good and not admire God in them or be not thankfull to God for them all our affections spent on them would be unchaste and their embraces adulterous hence it is said in the Scriptures that men in regard of their blinde dotage on them are said to go a whoring after vanities or the creatures which are vain and empty if compared with their makers fullness Lastly if God be all-sufficient then let him be our onely stay and comfort Let us trust in him alone being perswaded of this truth that he can help and support us without the assistance of the creatures but not all these without his blessing and providence ever look at God through the creatures who subsist by him who is a present help in trouble and oft sends best success when we are at the lowest or in a sad desperate condition because we usually then relie upon him most and go to him alone by prayer and supplication and then may we expect great mercies when we have a great faith in the great God of Heaven who delights in them who by their affiance or whole dependency on his powerfull Goodness bring much glory to him to this great all-sufficient and Almighty God to the Father Son and holy Ghost be given and ascribed all honour praise dominion and power c. Amen Most gracious God who art all-sufficient in thy self and from the inexhausted Treasury of thy goodness conveyest all things for the use of our bodies and comfort of our souls give us we pray thee largeness of spirits sutable to thy bounty towards us O enlarge our hearts with love and thankfulness to thee and let both display themselves in large expressions of duty that our thankfull lips may ever praise and our holy lives glorifie thee and above all Lord give us thine own self in blessing all thy gifts unto us and give us withall thy Son Christ Jesus that he may be ours in the pardon of all our sins by the merit of his death and passion and in the saving of our poor souls and we his by serving him all our dayes in holiness and righteousness Grant this heavenly Father for his sake who died and now sits in heaven at thy right hand making intercession for us Amen FINIS ALLEGIANCE AND CONSCIENCE Not fled out of England OR THE Doctrine of the Church of England CONCERNING Allegiance and Supremacy As it was delivered by the former Authour upon the Occasion and at the Time of Trying the King by his own Subjects In several Sermons Anno 1649. on the words of Ecclesiastes Eccles 8. 2 3 4. By EDW. HYDE D. of Divinity Tert. ad Scap. c. 2. Colimus Imperatorem ut Hominem à Deo secundum solo Deo minorem
to inspiration but rather advanceth it For God is with him and he shall prevail first over himself to settle his own conscience then over others to rectifie theirs O God endue thy Ministers with this righteonsness that so thou mayest make thy chosen people joyfull joyfull in the love and practise of their Allegiance that they may be joyfull in the testimony of a good Conscience knowing that no man who is bound to be subject for Conscience sake can at the same time be a bad subject and yet have a good Conscience Thus our Preacher of Allegiance and Supremacy here hath six names and not one of them but well befits both his office and his doctrine and yet he prefixeth not so much as one of them to the title of his Sermon chiefly sure to teach us that the doctrine was not of his own invention but of Gods Inspiration Like as the ancient Fathers in the first Nicene Council would not set any date under the confession of their faith lest it might be thought to be of their own making Haereticorum tantùm consuetudo erat edere professionem fidei Chronologiâ temporum consulum consignatam saith Binius in Concil Chalc. p. 416 417. edit colon so the Preacher here would not put too his own Name that he might not be thought to preach his own words and indeed the Hebrew Title of the Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plainly shews as much which is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a he but a she Preacher that is not a Preaching man but a Preaching soul or a Preaching wisedom and such is our Preacher here a preaching soul or Conscience to himself a preaching wisedom to others or a preaching soul in setting forth humane frailties and falsities for this Book was the publick testimonial of his repentance and a preaching wisedom in setting forth the divine power and truth And according to the Preacher is the manner of his preaching which is my second general part he preacheth by a grave judicious consciencious advice or counsell I counsel thee Indeed in the Hebrew Text there is no such word expressed but yet by the propriety of that language 't is necessarily to be understood I to keep the Kings Commandment that is I warn thee or I counsell thee or I command thee to keep the Kings Commandment So Aben-ezra fills up the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the meaning of this particle I saith he is this I warn and counsell thee or I command thee And since King Solomon was a most notorious sinner before he was this Preacher or Preaching soul or Preaching wisedom we may thus gloss upon his words First I warn thee as my self a sinner sent to preach to my self and others there 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greek Title Secondly I counsell thee as a Preaching soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pouring out mine own conscience Thirdly I command thee as a Preaching wisedom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 setting forth Gods Truth which two last make up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrew Title of this Book and all three are admirably consonant with this doctrine of Allegiance in the best times much more in these our wicked days which are the last and the worst of this wicked world the earth growing weary of it self now it is near its dissolution First I warn thee as a Preaching sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angels happily can best teach us because they are Intelligences pure understanding spirits but surely men can best admonish us who have been and are under the same infirmities of the body under the same distresses of the soul Dives could say S. Luk. 16. 30. If one went unto them from the dead they will repent It is so here one from the dead comes to preach repentance one who had been so long dead in sin that he was certainly at hell-gate but the hand of an extraordinary mercy pulled him thence one whom others that looked more upon his sin then upon his repentance painted hanging betwixt heaven and hell as being doubtfull of his salvation such a one as this comes here to warn us to take heed of disloyalty and disobedience himself a sinner adviseth us to repent us of our sins that he may keep us from those plunges of conscience which himself hath sustained the memory of his own sins is grievous unto him and that makes him remember us of ours he accounts his own burden intolerable and therefore labours to diminish and lessen ours we were best give him audience here is an expertus loquor in the Text better see our sins in his admonition then in our own consciences better see them in our own consciences here to condemn us then hereafter to confound us better men shew them us in the time of mercy then God shew them us in the time of wrath Ego peccator I am a grievous sinner which have been guilty of much disloyalty and disobedience against the King of Kings my dread Soveraign Lord I warn thee to keep thy Kings Commandment and that in regard not onely of the Oath but also of the wrath of God Secondly I counsel thee as a Preaching soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in its first sence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I counsel thee as a Preaching soul pouring out mine own conscience that I may have some influence upon thine that Sermon comes nearest to the soul of the hearer which comes first from the soul of the Preacher In other arts the best words but in Divinity the best thoughts are the most powerfull Oratory Conscience is the best Eloquence the most perswasive arguments are neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the affection of the hearer nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the excellency of the speech but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the conscience of the speaker God having spoken to the Preachers conscience makes him speak to the consciences of those that hear him nor is there a greater curse upon earth then an hypocritical Ministery that pretend zeal of Religion and want integrity of Righteousness for if the Shepherd be smitten the sheep will be scattered S. Mat. 26. 31. if hypocrisie get into the Pulpit 't is no wonder to finde it in the pew If the Clergy once place Religion in fine words and fair pretences no wonder if the Laity forsake all Religion to seek after a Reformation Therefore our Saviour first saith ye hypocrites to the Scribes and Pharisees and after that to the common people S. Mat. 15. 7 8. Ye hypocrites well did Isaiah prophesie of you you Doctours of the Law that give false expositions upon the fifth Commandment v. 5. 6. and prefer your Corban before your Obedience Isaiah did first prophesie of you that were the seducers and after that of them who were seduced by you saying truly of both but primarily of you this people draweth nigh unto me with their
continency then they did observe but concerning this the world would more willingly leave men to the judgement of their own consciences how to serve God with the most purity and with the least distraction if they did but answer to themselves this Question whether it is better that they which have wives be as though they had none 1 Cor. 7. 29. or that they which have no wives be as though they had them for what is best is doubtless in this as in other cases the determination of Religion for that labours to make men like God both in their bodies and in their souls in their bodies by sobriety temperance and chastity either virginal or vidual or conjugal in their souls by holy meditations and more holy affections and where men do most truly express this holiness in their lives and conversations 't is not to be doubted but there is the best and the purest Religion although it is often seen that where is the best and the purest Religion there men do not alwaies express the same in their lives and conversations which made the same S. Augustine declare this as a dogmatical sanction ex malorum Christianorum moribus non vituperandam esse Ecclesiam Aug. lib. de mor. Eccl. Cath. cap. 34. that the Church is not to be blamed for the misdemeanours of some men that live in her communion since she her self condemns those misdemeanours and labours to correct them The upshot of all may be this that not the practical but the doctrinal miscarriages of men are to be imputed to the Church and where are fewest of such miscarriages there is most of truth and goodness where is most of these there is most of the pure Religion for as manners make the man so Religion makes the manners and it is little other then the doctrine of devils that saith hell is full of moral honest men though it pretend to set up faith for S. Paul plainly shews that faith alone was the cause of all moral honesty in the Jews Heb. 11. so that 't is too much for any man to doubt much more to deny but that faith alone is the cause of all true moral honesty in the Christians whence our blessed Saviour preacheth onely moral duties S. Luk 21. 31. take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life c. he bids them be temperate sober and content watch and pray and what is all this but moral honesty yet if this rightly done and 't is rightly done onely in true beleevers proceed not from faith we must infer that we may stand in judgement without faith for so it follows v. 36. that ye may stand before the Son of man nor would Christ have thus taught daily in the temple v. 37. had this not been the right way of preaching true faith in Christ and what he prescribes in his doctrine he performs in his practise for his nights were spent in praying as his days in preaching and therefore to say that hell is full of moral honest men is to say that hell is full of true beleevers and consequently to blaspheme that precious faith in Christ which could not sanctifie the hand in working did it not first sanctifie the heart in beleeving and we cannot but say that Noahs preparing the Ark and Abrahams offering his son was materially an act of obedience that moral honest vertue which this world cares not to profess much less to practise though it was formally an act of faith and so we may say concerning those other examples there cited by S Paul wherein some vertue that belongs to the catalogue of moral honesty will come in for the material part though faith alone may happily challenge the formal part of the performance and Aquina's distinction of actus virtutis imperatus câ—â—â—tus will reconcile the difference for all vertuous acts truly so called are the acts of faith imperativè as commanded by it whence S. Augustine stiled the best works of unbeleevers but gilded or glittering sins though onely the peculiar acts of beleeving and confessing be the acts of faith elicitive as immediately and directly flowing from it for faith is in the soul as the soul is in the body and as all motion in the body is by redundancy from the soul so all good motion in the soul is by redundancy from faith and hence it is there is so great an influence of our words upon our manners and of our manners upon our doctrine and consequently upon our faith for as evil words corrupt good manners so also evil manners corrupt good words it having been the fate of Religion first to decay in mens lives then in their doctrines first in their works then in their faith so that irreligion first gets into our conversations then into our catechismes and the miscarriages of Churches have first been practical and after that dogmatical men being generally more zealous for their credit in labouring to justifie their errours then for their innocency in confessing that they have erred The third and last Attribute we are now to consider in God is his Mercy whereby he freely forgives what is due unto himself For as the act of grace is most clearly evidenced in freely giving what was not due unto the creature so is the act of mercy most conspicuous in freely forgiving what is due from it Aquinas makes Gods Mercy the foundation of all his works of distributive justice even in rewarding the righteous then much more is it the foundation of his not working according to his vindicative justice in the punishment of our unrighteousness 'T is a heavenly contemplation of his and such heavenly contemplations are very frequent in the angelical doctour opus divinae justitiae semper praesupponit opus misericordiae in eo fundatur 1 Par. qu. 21. ar 4. the work of Gods Justice alwaies presupposeth the work of his Mercy and is founded in it for the creature can have nothing due to it but for some thing that is in it and the creature hath nothing in it which did not flow immediately from the goodness of the Creatour therefore that goodness alone must be looked upon as the ground and foundation of all that the creature is capable of which alone put the same into a capacity of any thing at all Et sic in quolibet opere Dei apparet misericordia quantum ad primam radicem ejus cujus virtus salvator in omnibus consequentibus etiam vehementius in eis operatur sicut causa primaria vehementius influit quam causa secunda words that deserve to be engraven with letters of gold and much more to be engraven in our hearts and this is the meaning of them there is no work of God but mercy is the ground and root of it and this ground is preserved in all the building this root is seen in all the fruits that grow from it nay it hath a great efficacy of working above them