the Scriptures Ibid. The Form of Swearing among the Jews 394 Our Saviour's words and St. James's against all Swearing explained 395 When Oaths may be lawfully taken 396 The End of the Table of the Contents AN EXPOSITION OF THE XXXIX ARTICLES OF THE Church of England TITLE Articles whereupon it was agreed by the Archbishops and Byshops of both Provinces and the whole Cleargie in the Convocation holden at London in the yeare of our Lorde GOD 1562. according to the computation of the Church of Englande for the avoiding of the diversities of opinions and for the stablishing of consent touching true Religion Put forth by the Queens authoritie The INTRODUCTION THE Title of these Articles leads me to consider 1. The Time the Occasion and the Design of Compiling them 2 dly The Authority that is stampt upon them both by Church and State and the Obligation that lies upon all of our Communion to Assent to them and more particularly the Importance of the Subscription to which the Clergy are obliged As to the 1 st It may seem somewhat strange to see such a Collection of Tenets made the Standard of the Doctrine of a Church that is deservedly valued by reason of her Moderation This seems to be a departing from the Simplicity of the First Ages which yet we pretend to set up for a Pattern In those times the owning the Belief of the Creeds then received was thought sufficient And when some Heresies had occasioned great Enlargements to be made in the Creeds the Third General Council thought fit to set a Bar against all further Additions and yet all those Creeds one of which goes far beyond the Ephesine Standard make but One Article of the Thirty nine of which this Book consists Many of these do also relate to subtile and abstruse Points in which it is not easy to form a clear Judgment and much less can it be convenient to Impose so great a Collection of Tenets upon a whole Church to Excommunicate such as affirm any of them to be erroneous and to reject those from the Service of the Church who cannot Assent to every one of them The Negative Articles of No Infallibility No Supremacy in the Pope No Transubstantiation No Purgatory and the like give yet a further Colour to Exceptions since it may seem that it was enough not to have mentioned these which implied a tacit rejecting of them It may therefore appear to be too rigorous to require a positive condemning of those Points for a very high degree of Certainty is required to affirm a Negative Proposition In order to the explaining this matter it is to be confessed that in the beginnings of Christianity the Declaration that was required even of a Bishop's Faith was conceived in very general Terms There was a Form setled very early in most Churches This St. Paul in one place calls The Form of Doctrine that was delivered in another place The Form of Sound Words Rom. 6.17 1 Tim. 4.6 6 3. 2 Tim. 1.13 which those who were fixed by the Apostles in particular Churches had received from them These words of his do import a Standard or fixed Formulary by which all Doctrines were to be examined Some have inferred from them that the Apostles delivered that Creed which goes under their Name every where in the same Form of Words But there is great reason to doubt of this since the first Apologists for Christianity when they deliver a short Abstract of the Christian Faith do all vary from one another both as to the Order and as to the Words themselves which they would not have done if the Churches had all received one setled Form from the Apostles They would all have used the same Words and neither more nor less It is more probable That in every Church there was a Form setled which was delivered to it by some Apostle or Companion of the Apostles with some Variation of which at this distance of time considering how defective the History of the First Ages of Christianity is it is not possible nor very necessary for us to be able to give a clear Account For Instance In the whole Extent or Neighbourhood of the Roman Empire it was at first of great Use to have this in every Christian's mouth That our Saviour suffered under Pontius Pilate because this fixed the Time and carried in it an Appeal to Records and Evidences that might then have been searched for But if this Religion went at first far to the Eastward beyond all Commerce with the Romans there is not that reason to think that this should have been a part of the shortest Form of this Doctrine it being enough that it was related in the Gospel These Forms of the several Churches were preserved with that Sacred Respect that was due to them This was esteemed the Depositum or Trust of a Church which was chiefly committed to the keeping of the Bishop In the First Ages in which the Bishops or Clergy of the several Churches could not meet together in Synods to examine the Doctrine of every new Bishop the Method upon which the Circumstances of those Ages put them was this The New Bishop sent round him and chiefly to the Bishops of the more Eminent Sees the Profession of his Faith according to the Form that was fixed in his Church And when the Neighbouring Bishops were satisfied in this they held Communion with him and not only owned him for a Bishop but maintained such a Commerce with him as the state of that Time did admit of But as some Heresies sprung up there were Enlargements made in several Churches for the condemning those and for excluding such as held them from their Communion The Council of Nice examined many of those Creeds and out of them they put their Creed in a fuller Form The Addition made by the Council of Constantinople was put into the Creeds of some particular Churches several Years before that Council met So that though it received its Authority from that Council yet those Fathers rather confirmed an Article which they found in the Creeds of some Churches than made a New one It had been an unvaluable Blessing if the Christian Religion had been kept in its first Simplicity The Council of Ephesus took care that the Creed by which men profess their Christianity should receive no new Additions but be fixed according to the Constantinoplitan Standard yet they made Decrees in Points of Faith and the following Councils went on in their steps adding still new Decrees with Anathematisms against the contrary Doctrines and declaring the Asserters of them to be under an Anathema that is under a very heavy Curse of being totally excluded from their Communion and even from the Communion of Jesus Christ. And whereas the New Bishops had formerly only declared their Faith they were then required besides that to declare That they received such Councils and rejected such Doctrines together with such as favoured them who were sometimes meâ—tioned by
Body The Third is concerning his Ascension and Continuance in Heaven And the Fourth is concerning his returning to judge all men at the Last Day These things are all so expresly affirmed and that in so particular a manner in the New Testament that if the Authority of that Book is once well proved little doubting will remain concerning them It is punctually told in it That the Body of Christ was laid in the Sepulchre That a Stone was laid to the Mouth of it That it was rolled away and upon that Christ arose and left the Death-Cloaths behind him That those who viewed the Sepulchre saw no Body there That in the same Body Christ shewed himself to his Disciples so that they all knew him he talked with them and they did eat and drink with him and he made Thomas feel to the Print of the Nails and Spear It is as plainly told That the Apostles look'd on and saw him ascend up to Heaven and that a Cloud received him out of their sight It is also said very plainly that he shall come again at the Last Day and judge all men both the Quick and the Dead So that if the Truth of the Gospels is once fully proved it will not be necessary to insist long upon the special Proof of these Particulars Somewhat will only be necessary to be said in Explanation of them The Gospel was first Preached and soon after put in Writing in which these Particulars are not only delivered but are set forth with many Circumstances relating to them The Credit of the Whole is put on that Issue concerning the Truth of Christ's Resurrection so thar the overthrowing the Truth of That was the overturning the whole Gospel and struck at the Credit of it all This was transacted as well as first published at Ierusalem where the Enemies of it had all possible Advantages in their hands their Interest was deeply concerned as well as their Malice was much kindled at it They had both Power and Wealth in their hands as well as Credit and Authority among the People The Romans left them at full liberty as they did the other Nations whom they conquered to order their own Concerns as they pleased And even the Romans themselves began quickly to hate and persecute the Christians They became the Objects of Popular Fury as Tacitus tells us The Romans look'd upon Christ as one that set on the Iews to those Tumults that were then so common among them as Suetonius affirms Which shews both how ignorant they were of the Doctrine of Christ and how much they were prejudiced against it Yet this Gospel did spread it self and was believed by great multitudes both at Ierusalem and in all Iudea and from thence it was propagated in a very few Years to a great many remoteCountries Among all Christians the Article of the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ was always look'd on as the Capital one upon which all the rest depended This was attested by a considerable number of men against whose Credit no Objection was made who affirmed that they all had seen him and conversed frequently with him after his Resurrection that they saw him ascend up into Heaven and that according to a Promise he had made them they had received extraordinary Powers from him to work Miracles in his Name and to speak in divers Languages This last was a most amazing Character of a Supernatural Power lodged with them and was a thing of such a nature that it must have been evident to every man whether it was true or false So that the Apostles relating this so positively and making such frequent Appeals to it that way of proceeding carries a strong and undeniable Evidence of Truth in it These Wonders were gathered together in a Book and published in the very Time in which they were transacted The Acts of the Apostles were writ two Years after St. Paul was carried Prisoner to Rome and St. Luke begins that Book with the mention of the Gospel that he had formerly writ as that Gospel begins with the mention of some other Gospels that were writ before it Almost all the Epistles speak of the Temple of Ierusalem as yet in being of the Iews as then in Peace and Prosperity hating and persecuting the Christians every where They do also frequently intimate the Assurance they had of a great Deliverance that was to happen quickly to the Christians and of terrible Judgments that were to be poured out on the Iews which was soon after that accomplish'd in the most signal manner of any thing that is recorded in History These things do clearly prove That all the Writings of the New Testament were both Composed and Published in the Age in which that Matter was transacted The Iews who from all the places of their Dispersion went frequently to Ierusalem to keep the great Festivities of their Religion there had occasion often to examine upon the place the Truth of the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and of the Effusion of the Holy Ghost Yet even in that Infancy of Christianity in which it had so little visible Strength no Proof was so much as ever pretended in opposition to those great and essential Points which being Matters of Fact and related with a great Variety of Circumstances had been easily confuted if there had been any ground for it The great Darkness at the time of Christ's Death the rending the Veil of the Temple in two as well as what was more publick the renting of the Rocks at his death His being laid in a new Sepulchre and a Watch being set about it and the Watchmen reporting That while they slept the Body of Christ was carried away The Apostles breaking out all of the sudden into that variety of Tongues on Pentecost the Miracles that they wrought and the proceedings of the Sanhedrim with them were all things so publickly done that as the discovery of Falshood in any one of these was in the power of the Iews if any such was so That alone had most effectually destroyed the Credit of this Religion and stopt its Progress The Writings of the New Testament were at that time no Secrets they were in all mens hands and were copied out freely by every one that desired it We find within an Hundred Years after that time both by the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna by Iustin and Irenaeus not to mention Clemens of Rome who lived in that time or Ignatius and Polycarp who lived very near it That the Authority of these Writings was early received and submitted to That they were much read and well known and that they began very soon to be read at the Meetings of the Christians for Worship and were esteemed by the several Churches as the great Trust and Depositum that was lodged with them So that though by the Negligence of Copiers some small Variations might happen among some of the Copies yet as they do all agree in the main and most signally in
increasing Numbers of the Christians made that both in France in the Councils of Orange and in Spain in the Council of Toledo the same Rule was laid down that the Greeks had begun In Spain some Priests did consecrate the Chrism but that was severely forbid in one of the Councils of Toledo Yet at Rome the ancient Custom was observed of appropriating the whole business of Confirmation to the Bishop Greg. Ep. l. 3. Ep. 9. even in Gregory the Great 's time Therefore he reproved the Clergy of Sardinia because among them the Priests did Confirm and he appointed it to be reserved to the Bishop But when he understood that some of them were offended at this he writ to the Bishop of Carali that tho' his former Order was made according to the ancient Practice of the Church of Rome yet he consented that for the future the Priests might Confirm in the Bishops absence But Pope Nicholas in the IX Century pressed this with more rigor For the Bulgarians being then converted to the Christian Religion and their Priests having both Baptized and Confirmed the new Converts Pope Nicholas sent Bishops among them with Orders to Confirm even those who had already been Confirmed by Priests Upon which the contest being then on foot between Rome and Constantinople Photius got it to be decreed in a Synod at Constantinople That theChrism being hallowed by a Bishop it might be administred by Presbyters And Photius affirmed that a Presbyter might do this as well as Baptize or Offer at the Altar But Pope Nicholas with the confidence that was often assumed by that See upon as bad grounds did affirm that this had never been allowed of And upon this many of the Latins did in the Progress of their Disputes with the Greeks say that they had no Confirmation This has been more enlarged on than was necessary by the designed shortness of this Work because all those of â—he Roman Communion among us have now no Confirmation In decr Con. Florent unless a Bishop happens to come amongst them And therefore it is now a commonDoctrine among them that tho' Confirmation is a Sacrament yet it is not necessary About this there were fierce Disputes among them about Sixty years ago whether it was necessary for them to have a Bishop here to Confirm according to the ancient Custom or not The Jesuites who had no mind to be under any Authority but their own opposed it for the Bishop being by Pope Eugenius declared to be the ordinary Minister of it from thence it was inferred that a Bishop was not simply necessary This was much censured by some of the Gallican Church If Confirmation were considered only as an Ecclesiastical Rite we could not dispute the power of the Church about it but we cannot allow that a Sacrament should be thus within the power of the Church or that a new Function of Consecrating Oil without applying it distinct from Confirmation and yet necessary to the very essence of it could have been set up by the power of the Church for if Sacraments are federal conveyances of Grace they must be continued according to their first Institution The Grace of God being only tied to the Actions with which it is promised We go next to the Second of the Sacraments here rejected which is Penance that is reckoned the Fourth in order among them Penance or Penitence is formed from the Latin Translation of a Greek word that signifies a change or renovation of Mind which Christ has made a necessary condition of the New Covenant It consists in several acts all which when joined together and producing this real change we become then true Penitents and have a right to the Remission of Sins which is in the New Testament often joined with Repentance and is its certain consequent The first act of this Repentance is Confession to God before whom we must humble our selves and confess our Sins to him upon which we believe that he is faithful and true to his Promises and just to forgive us our sins and if we have wronged others 1 John 1.9 or have given publick offence to the Body or Church to which we belong we ought to confess our faults to them likewise and as a mean to quiet Mens Consciences James 5.16 to direct them to compleat their Repentance and to make them more humble and ashamed of their Sins we advise them to use secret Confession to their Priest or to any other Minister of God's Word leaving this matter wholly to their discretion When these acts of sorrow have had their due effect in reforming the natures and lives of Sinners then their Sins are forgiven them In order to which we do teach them to Pray much to give Alms according to their Capacity and to fast as often as their Health and Circumstances will admit of and most indispensably to restore or repair as they find they have sinned against others And as we teach them thus to look back on what is past with a deep and hearty sorrow and a profound shame so we charge them to look chiefly forward not thinking that any acts with relation to what is past can as it were by an account or compensation free us from the guilt of our former Sins unless we amend our Lives and change our Tempers for the future The great design of Repentance being to make us like God Pure and Holy as he is Upon such a Repentance sincerely begun and honestly pursued we do in general as the Heralds of God's Mercy and the Ministers of his Gospel pronounce to our People daily the offers that are made us of Mercy and Pardon by Christ Jesus This we do in our daily Service and in a more peculiar manner before we go to the Holy Communion We do also as we are a Body that may be offended with the sins of others forgive the Scandals committed against the Church and that such as we think die in a state of Repentance may die in the full Peace of the Church we join both Absolutions in one in the last Office likewise praying to our Saviour that he would forgive them and then we as the Officers of the Church authorised for that end do forgive all the Offences and Scandals committed by them against the whole Body This is our Doctrine concerning Repentance in all which we find no Characters of a Sacrament no more than there is in Prayer or Devotion Here is no Matter no application of that Matter by a peculiar Form no Institution and no peculiar federal acts The Scene here is the Mind the acts are Internal the effect is such also and therefore we do not reckon it a Sacrament not finding in it any of the Characters of a Sacrament The matter that is assigned in the Church of Rome are the acts of the Penitent his Confession by his Mouth to the Priest the Contrition of his Heart and the satisfaction of his Work in doing the enjoined
Testament answered 84 Concerning the various Readings 85 The nature and degrees of Inspiration 86 Concerning the Historical parts of Scripture 87 Concerning the Reasonings in Scripture 88 Of the Apocryphal Books 89 ARTICLE VII 91 NO difference between the Old and New Testament Ibid. Proofs in the Old Testament of the Messias 92 In the Prophets chiefly in Daniel 94 The Proofs all summed up 95 Objections of the Jews answered 96 The hopes of anotheâ— Life in the Old Testament 97 Our Saviour proved the Resurrection from the words to Moses 98 Expiation of Sin in the Old Dispensation 99 Sins then expiated by the Blood of Christ Ibid. Of the Rites and Ceremonies among the Jews 100 Of their Iudiciary Laws 101 Of the Moral Law Ibid. The Principles of Morality 102 Of Idolatry 103 Concerning the Sabbath Ibid. Of the Second Table 104 Of not coveting what is our Neighbours 105 ARTICLE VIII 106 COncerning the Creed of Athanasius Ibid. And the condemning Clauses in it Ibid. Of the Apostles Creed 107 ARTICLE IX 108 DIfferent Opinions concerning Original Sin Ibid. All men liable to Death by it 109 A Corruption spread through the whole Race of Adam Ibid. Of the state of Innocence 110 Of the effects of Adam's Fall 111 God's Iustice vindicated 112 Of the Imputation of Adam's Sin 113 St. Austin's Doctrine in this Point 114 This is opposed by many others Ibid. Both sides pretend their Doctrines agree with the Article 116 ARTICLE X. 117 THE true Notion of Liberty Ibid. The Feebleness of our present state 118 Inward Assistances promised in the New Covenant 119 The effect that these have on men 120 Concerning Preventing-Grace Ibid. Of its being efficacious or universal 121 ARTICLE XI 122 COncerning Iustification Ibid. Concerning Faith 123 The differences between the Church of England and the Church of Rome in this Point 124 The conditions upon which men are justified 126 The use to be made of this Doctrine 127 ARTICLE XII 128 THE necessity of Holiness Ibid. Concerning Merit 129 Of the defects of Good Works Ibid. ARTICLE XIII 131 ACTIONS in themselves good yet may be sins in him who does them Ibid. Of the Seventh Chapter to the Romans 132 This is not a total Incapacity Ibid. ARTICLE XIV 133 Oâ— the great extent of our Duty Ibid. No Counsels of Perfection 134 Many Duties which do not bind at all times Ibid. It is not possible for man to supererogate 135 Objections against this answered 136 The steps by which that Doctrine prevailed 137 ARTICLE XV. 138 CHrist's spotless Holiness Ibid. Of the Imperfections of the best men 139 ARTICLE XVI 140 COncerning Mortal and Venial Sin Ibid. Of the Sin against the Holy Ghost Ibid. Of the Pardon of Sin after Baptism 141 That as God forgives the Church ought also to forgive 142 Concerning Apostacy and sin unto Death 143 ARTICLE XVII 145 THE state of the Question 146 The Doctrine of the Supralapsarians and Sublapsarians Ibid. The Doctrine of the Remonstrants and the Socinians 147 This is a Controversy that arises out of Natural Religion Ibid. The History of this Controversy both in ancient and modern times 148 The Arguments of the Supralapsarians 152 The Arguments of the Sublapsarians 158 The Arguments of the Remonstrants 159 They affirm a certain Prescience 161 The Socinians Plea 164 General Reflections on the whole matter 165 The advantages and disadvantages of both sides and the faults of both 166 In what both do agree 167 The sense of the Article 168 The Cautions added to it Ibid. Passages in the Liturgy explained 169 ARTICLE XVIII 171 PHilosophers thought men might be saved in all Religions Ibid. So do the Mahometans Ibid. None are saved but by Christ 172 Whether some may not be saved by him who never heard of him Ibid. None are in Covenant with God but through the knowledge of Christ 173 But for others we cannot judge of the extent of the Mercies of God Ibid. Curiosity is to be restrained 174 ARTICLE XIX 175 WE ought not to believe that any are Infallible without good Authority Ibid. Iust prejudices against some who pretend to it 176 No Miracles brought to prove this Ibid. Proofs brought from Scripture 177 Things to be supposed previous to these Ibid. A Circle is not to be admitted Ibid. The Notes given of the true Church 178 These are examined Ibid. And whether they do agree to the Church of Rome 179 The Truth of Doctrine must be first settled Ibid. A Society that has a true Baptism is a true Church 180 Sacraments are not annulled by every Corruption Ibid. We own the Baptism and Orders given in the Church of Rome 181 And yet justify our separating from them Ibid. Objections against private judging 182 Our Reasons are given us for that end Ibid. Our Minds are free as our Wills are 183 The Church is still Visible but not Infallible Ibid. Of the Popes Infallibility 184 That was not pretended to in the first Ages Ibid. The Dignity of Sees rose from the Cities 185 Popes have fallen into Heresy Ibid. Their Ambition and Forgeries Ibid. Their Cruelty 186 The Power of deposing Princes claimed by them as given them by God Ibid. This was not a Corruption only of Discipline but of Doctrine 187 Arguments for the Popes Infallibility 188 No Foundation for it in the New Testament Ibid. St. Peter never clâ—imed it 189 Christ's words to him explained Ibid. Of the Kâ—ys of the Kingdâ—m of Hâ—â—vâ—n 190 Of binding and loosing Ibid. ARTICLE XX. 192 OF Church Power in Rituals Ibid. The Practice of the Jewish Church 193 Changes in these sometimes necâ—ssary Ibid. The Practice of the Ap stles 194 Sâ—bjâ—cts must obey in lawful things Ibid. But Superiâ—rs must not impose too much 195 The Church has Authority though not Infallible Ibid. Great Respâ—ct due to her Decisions 196 But no absâ—lute Submâ—ssion Ibid. The Church is the Depâ—sitary of the Scriptures 197 The Church of Rome run in a Circle Ibid. ARTICLE XXI 199 COuncils cannot be called but by the Consent of Princes Ibid. Tâ—e first were called by the Roman Emperors Ibid. Afterwards the Popes called them 200 Then some Councils thought on methods to fix their meeting Ibid. What makâ—s a Council to be General Ibid. What numbers are necessary 201 Hâ—w thâ—y must he cited Ibid. Nâ— Rules given in Scripture concerning their Constitution Ibid. Nazianzen's Complaints of Councils 202 Councils have been câ—ntrary to one another Ibid. Disâ—rders and Intriguâ—s in Councils Ibid. They judgâ— not by Inspiration Ibid. The Churches may examine their proceedings and judge of them 203 Concerning the Popes Bull confirming them Ibid. Thâ—y have an Authority but not absolute Ibid. Nâ—r do they need the Popes Bulls 204 The several Churches know their Traditions best Ibid. The Fathers do argue for the truth of the decisions but not from their authority Ibid. No prospect of another General Council 205 Popes are jealous of them Ibid. And the World expects little from them Ibid. Concerning the words
often shewed himself in visible Appearances but that was only his putting a special quantity of Matter into such Motions as should give a great and astonishing Idea of his Nature from that Appearance Which was both the effect of his Power and the symbol of his Presence And thus what glorious Representations soever were made either on Mount Sinai or in the Pillar of the Cloud and Cloud of Glory those were no Indications of God's having a Body but were only Manifestations suited to beget such thoughts in the Minds of Men that dwelt in Bodies as might lay the Principles and Foundations of Religion deep in them The Language of the Scriptures speaks to the Capacities of men and even of rude men in dark times in which most of the Scriptures were writ But though God is spoke of as having a face eyes ears a smelling hands and feet and as coming down to view Things on Earth all this is expressed after the manner of men and is to be understood in a way suitable to a pure Spirit For the great care that was used even under the most imperfect State of Revelation to keep men from framing any Image or Similitude of the Deity shewed that it was far from the meaning of those expressions that God had an Organized Body These do therefore signify only the several Varieties of Providence When God was pleased with a Nation his face was said to shine upon it for so a man looks towards those whom he loves The particular care he takes of them and the answering their Prayers is expressed by Figures borrowed from Eyes and Ears The peculiar Dispensations of Rewards and Punishments are expressed by his hands and the exactness of his Justice and Wisdom is expressed by coming down to view the State of human Affairs Thus it is clear that God has no Body Nor has he Parts for we can apprehend no Parts but of a Body So since it is certain that God has no Body he can have no Parts Something like Parts does indeed belong to Spirits which are their Thoughts distinct from their Being and they have a Succession of them and do oft change them But Infinite Perfection excludes this from the Idea of God successive Thoughts as well as successive Duration seem inconsistent both with Eternity and with Infinite Perfection Therefore the Essence of God is one perfect Thought in which he both views and wills all Things And though his Transient Acts that pass out of the Divine Essence such as Creation Providence and Miracles are done in a Succession of time yet his Immanent Acts his Knowledge and his Decrees are one with his Essence Distinct Thoughts are plainly an Imperfection and argue a Progress in Knowledge and a Deliberation in Council which carry Defect and Infirmity in them To conceive how this is in God is far above our Capacity Who though we feel our imperfection in successive Acts yet cannot apprehend how all things can be both seen and determined by one single Thought But the Divine Essence being so infinitely above us it is no wonder if we can frame no distinct Act concerning its Knowledge or Will There is indeed a vast difficulty that arises here for those Acts of God are supposed free so that they might have been otherwise than we see they are And then it is not easy to imagine how they should be one with the Divine Essence to which necessary Existence does certainly belong It cannot be said that those acts are necessary and could not be otherwise For since all God's Transient Acts are the certain Effects of his Immanent ones if the Immanent ones are necessary then the Transient must be so likewise and so every thing must be necessary A Chain of necessary Faâ—e must run through the whole Order of Things And God himself then is no free Being but acts by a necessity of Nature This some have thought was no Absurdity God is necessarily just true and good not by any extrinsick Necessity for that would import an outward limitation which destroys the Idea of God but by an Intrinsick Necessity that arises from his own Infinite Perfection some have from hence thought that since God acts by Infinite Wisdom and Goodness things could not have been otherwise than they are For what is infinitely wise or good cannot be altered or made either better or worse But this seems on the other hand very hard to conceive For it would follow from thence that God could neither have made the World sooner nor later nor any other way than as now it is Nor could he have done any one thing otherwise than as it is done This seems to establish Fate and to destroy Industry and all Prayers and Endeavours Thus there are such great difficulties on all hands in this matter That it is much the wisest and safest course to adore what is above our Apprehensions rather than to enquire too curiously or determine too boldly in it It is certain that God Acts both freely and perfectly Nor is he a Being subject to change or to new acts but he is what he is both Infinite and Incomprehensible We can neither apprehend how he made nor how he executes his Decrees So we must leave this difficulty without pretending that we can explain it or answer the Objections that arise against all the several ways by which Divines have endeavoured to resolve it The Third thing under the Head I now consider is God's being without Passions That will be soon explained Passion is an Agitation that supposes a Succession of Thoughts together with a Trouble for what is past and a fear of missing what is aimed at It arises out of a Heat of Mind and produces a Vehemence of Action Now all these are such manifest imperfections that it does plainly appear they cannot consist with Infinite Perfection Yet after all this there are several Passions such as Anger Fury Iealousy and Revenge Bowels of Mercy Compassion and Pity Ioy and Sorrow that are ascribed to God in the common Forms of Speâ—ch that occur often in Scripture as was formâ—rly observed with relation to those Figures that are taken from the Parts of a Human Body Passion produces a Vehemence of Aâ—tion So when therâ— is in the Providences of God such a Vehemence as according to the manner of men would import a Passion then that Passion is ascribed to God When he punishes men for Sin he is said to be Angry when he does that by severe and redoubled Strokes he is said to be full of Fury and Revenge When he punishes for Idolatry or any dishonour done himself he is said to be Iealous When he changes the Course of his Proceedings he is said to Repent When his Dispensations of Providence are very gentle and his Judgments come slowly from him he is said to have Bowels And thus all the Varieties of Providence come to be expressed by all that Variety of Passions which among men might give oceasion to such a Variety
called God God's Throne his Holiness his Face and the Light of his Countenance They went up to the Temple to worship God as dwelling there bodily that is substantially so bodily sometimes signifies or in a Corporeal Appearance This seems to have been a Person that was truly God and yet was distinct from that which appeared and spake to Moses for this seems to be the Importance of these words Behold Exod. 23.20 I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee to the place which I have prepared Beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions for my Name is in him These words do plainly import a Person to whom they belong and yet they are a pitch far above the Angelical Dignity So that Angel must here be understood in a large sense for one sent of God and it can admit of no sense so properly as That the Eternal Word which dwelt afterwards in the Man Christ Jesus dwelt then in that Cloud of Glory It was also one of the Prophecies received by the Iews That the Glory of the second Temple was to exceed the Glory of the first 2 Hag. 7. The chief Character of the Glory of the first was that Inhabitation of the Divine Presence among them from hence it follows that such an Inhabitation of God in a Creature by which that Creature was not only called God but that Adoration was due to it upon that account was a Notion that could not have scandalized the Iews and was indeed the only Notion that agreed with their former Ideas and that could have been received by them without difficulty or opposition This is a strong Inducement to believe that this great Article of our Religion was at that time delivered and understood in that sense If the Son or Word is truly God he must be from all Eternity and must also be of the same Substance with the Father otherwise he could not be God since a God of another Substance or of another Duration is a Contradiction The last Argument that I shall offer is taken from the beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews To the apprehending the Force of which this must be premised That all those who acknowledge that Christ ought to be honoured and worshipped as the Father must say that this is due to him either because he is truly God or because he is a Person of such a high and exalted Dignity that God has upon the consideration of that appointed him to be so worshipped Now this second Notion may fall under another distinction that either he was of a very sublime Order by Nature as some Angelical Being that though he was created yet had this high Priviledge bestowed upon him or that he was a Prophet illuminated and authorized in so particular a manner beyond all others that out of a regard to that he was exalted to this Honour of being to be worshipped One of these must be chosen by all who do not believe him to be truly God And indeed one of these was the Arian as the other is the Socinian Hypothesis For how much soever the Arians might exalt him in words yet if they believed him to be a Creature made in time so that once he was not all that they said of him can amount to no more but that he was a Creature of a Spiritual Nature and this is plainly the Notion which the Scripture gives us of Angels Artemon Samosatenus Photinus and the Socinians in our days consider our Saviour as a great Prophet and Lawgiver and into this they resolve his Dignity In opposition to both these that Epistle begins with Expressions that are the more severe because they are Negative which are to be understood more strictly than Positive words Christ is not only preferred to Angels but is set in opposition to them as one of another Order of Beings Made so much better than angels Heb. 1. as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they For unto which of the Angels said he at any time 4 5 Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee When he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world 6 he saith And let all the angels of God worship him 7 Of the angels he saith Who maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire 8 But unto the Son he saith Thy throne O God is for ever and ever And Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth 10 and the heavens are the works of thy hands Thou art the same 12 and thy years shall not fail But to which of the angels said he at any time Sit on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool 13 14. Are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation This opposition is likewise carried on through the whole second Chapter one Passage in it being most express to shew both that his Nature had a Subsistence before his Incarnation and that it was not of an Angelical Order of Beings since he took not on him the nature of Angels Chap. 2. but the seed of Abraham Thus in a great variety of Expressions 16. the Conceit of Christ's being of an Angelical Nature is very fully condemned From that the Writer goes next to the Notion of his being to be honoured because he was an Eminent Prophet on which he enters with a very solemn Preface inviting them to consider the Apostle and High-priest of our Profession Chap. 3. Then he compares Moses to him 12. as to the point of being faithful to him who had appointed him But how eminent soever Moses was above all other Prophets and how harshly soever it must have sounded to the Iews to have stated the difference in terms so distant as that of a Servant and a Son of one who built the house and of the House it self yet we see the Apostle does not only prefer Christ to Moses but puts him in another Order and Rank which could not be done according to the Socinian Hypothesis From all which this Conclusion naturally follows That if Christ is to be worshipped and that this Honour belongs to him neither as an Angel nor as a Prophet That then it is due to him because he is truly God The Second Branch of this Article is That he took man's Nature upon him in the Womb of the Blessed Uirgin and of her Substance This will not need any long or laboured Proof since the Texts of Scripture are so express that nothing but wild Extravagance can withstand them Christ was in all things like unto us except his miraculous Conception by the Virgin He was the Son of Abraham and of David But among the Frantick Humours that appeared at the Reformation some in opposition to the Superstition of the Church of Rome studied to derogate as
above all the Presence of God which appeared in the Cloud of Glory and in those Answers that were given by the Urim and Thummim all which must be confessed to be advantages on the side of Tradition vastly beyond any that can be pretended to have been in the Christian Church Yet notwithstanding all these God commanded Moses to write all their Law as the Ten Commandments were by the Immediate Power or Finger of God writ on Tables of Stone When all this is laid together and well considered it will appear That God by a particular Oeconomy intended then to secure Revealed Religion from the doubtfulness and uncertainties of Oral Tradition It is much more reasonable to believe That the Christian Religion which was to be spread to many remote Regions among whom there could be little Communication should have been fixed in its first beginnings by putting it in Writing and not left to the looseness of Reports and Stories We do plainly see That though the methods of knowing and communicating Truth are now furer and better fixed than they have been in most of the Ages which have passed since the beginnings of this Religion yet in every Matter of Fact such additions are daily made as it happens to be Reported and every Point of Doctrine is so variously stated that if Religion had not a more assured bottom than Tradition it could not have that Credit paid to it that it ought to have If we had no greater certainty for Religion than Report we could not believe it very firmly nor venture upon it So in order to the giving this Doctrine such Authority as is necessary for attaining the great ends proposed in it the conveyance of it must be clear and unquestionable otherwise as it would grow to be much mixed with Fable so it would come to be looked on as all a Fable Since then Oral Tradition when it had the utmost Advantages possible of its side failed so much in the conveyance both of Natural Religion and of the Mosaical we see that it cannot be relied on as a certain method of preserving the Truths of Revealed Religion In our Saviour's Time Tradition was set up on many occasions against him but he never submitted to it On the contrary he reproached the Iews with this That they had made the Laws of God of no effect by their Traditions Mat. 15.3 6 9. Joh. 5.39 and he told them That they worshipped God in vain when they taught for Doctrines the Commandments of men In all his Disputes with the Pharisees he appealed to Moses and the Prophets he bade them search the scriptures for in them said he ye think ye have eternal life and they testify of me Ye think is by the Phraseology of that time a word that does not refer to any particular Conceit of theirs but imports That as they thought so in them they had Eternal Life Our Saviour justifies himself and his Doctrine often by words of Scripture but never once by Tradition We see plainly That in our Saviour's Time the Tradition of the Resurrection was so doubtful among the Iews that the Sadducees a formed Party among them did openly deny it The Authority of Tradition had likewise imposed two very mischievous Errors upon the strictest Sect of the Iews that adhered the most firmly to it The one was That they understood the Prophecies concerning the Messias sitting on the Throne of David literally They thought that in imitation of David he was not only to free his own Country from a Foreign Yoke but that he was to subdue as David had done all the Neighbouring Nations This was to them a Stone of Stumbling and a Rock of Offence so their adhering to their Traditions proved their ruin in all Respects The other Error to which the Authority of Tradition led them was their preferring the Rituals of their Religion to the Moral Precepts that it contained This not only corrupted their own Manners while they thought that an Exactness of Performing and a Zeal in Asserting not only the Ritual Precepts that Moses gave their Fathers but those Additions to them which they had from Tradition that were accounted hedges about the Law That this I say might well excuse or atone for the most heinous Violations of the Rules of Justice and Mercy But this had yet another worse effect upon them while it possessed them with such prejudices against our Saviour and his Apostles when they came to see that they set no value on those practices that were recommended by Tradition and that they preferred pure and sublime Morals even to Mosaical Ceremonies themselves and set the Gentiles at liberty from those observances So that the ruin of the Iews their rejecting the Messias and their persecuting his followers arose chiefly from this Principle that had got in among them of believing Tradition and of being guided by it The Apostles in all their Disputes with the Iews make their Appeals constantly to the Scriptures they set a high Character on those of Berea for examining them and comparing the Doctrine that they preached Act. 17.11 with them In the Epistles to the Romans Galatians and Hebrews in which they pursue a thread of Argument with relation to the Prejudices that the Iews had taken up against Christianity they never once argue â—rom Tradition but always from the Scriptures They do not pretend only to disparage Modern Tradition and to set up that which was more Ancient They make no such distinction but hold close to the Scriptures When St. Paul sets out the Advantages that Timothy had by a Religious Education he mentions this That of a Child he had known the holy Scriptures 2 Tim. 3 15 16. which were able to make him wise unto Salvation through Faith which was in Christ Iesus That is the Belief of the Christian Religion was a Key to give him a right understanding of the Old Testament and upon this occasion St. Paul adds All Scripture that is the whole Old Testament is given by Divine Inspiration or as others render the words All the divinely Inspired Scripture is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works The New Testament was writ on the same design with the Old that as St. Luke expresses it We might know the certainty of those things wherein we have been instructed â—uk 1.4 John 20 31. These things were written saith St. Iohn that ye might believe that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name When St. Peter knew by a special Revelation that he was near his End he writ his Second Epistle 2 Pet. 1 15. that they might have that as a mean of keeping those things always in remembrance after his death Nor do the Apostles give us any hints of their having left any thing with the Church to be conveyed down by
weak and brag continually of the Spirit by which they do pretend that all whatsoever they Preach is suggested to them though manifestly contrary to the Holy Scriptures This whole Article relates to the Antinomians as these last words were added by reason of the Extravagance of some Enthusiasts at that time but that Madness having ceased in Queen Elizabeth's time it seems it was thought that there was no more occasion for those words There are Four heads that do belong to this Article First That the Old Testament is not contrary to the New Secondly That Christ was the Mediator in both Dispensations so that Salvation was offered in both by him Thirdly That the Ceremonial and the Judiciary Precepts in the Law of Moses do not bind Christians Fourthly That the Moral Law does still bind all Christians To the first of these The Manichees of old who fancied that there was a Bad as well as a Good God thought that these Two Great Principles were in a perpetual struggle and they believed the Old Dispensation was under the Bad One which was taken away by the New that is the work of the Good God But they who held such monstrous Tenets must needs reject the whole New Testament or very much corrupt it since there is nothing plainer than that the Prophets of the Old foretold the New with approbation and the Writers of the New prove both their Commission and their Doctrine from Passages of the Old Testament This therefore could not be affirmed without rejecting many of the Books that we own and corrupting the rest So this deserves no more to be considered Upon this occasion it will be no improper Digression to consider what Revelation those under the Mosaical Law or that lived before it had of the Messias This is an Important Matter It is a great Confirmation of the Truth of the Christian Religion as it will furnish us with proper Arguments against the Iews It is certain they have long had and still have an Expectation of a Messias Now the Characters and Predictions concerning this Person must have been fulfilled long ago or the Prophecies will be found to be false and if they do meet and were accomplish'd in our Saviour's Person and if no other Person could ever pretend to this then that which is undertaken to be proved will be fully performed The first Promise to Adam after his Sin speaks of an Enmity between the Seed of the Serpent and the Seed of the Woman Gen. 3.15 It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel The one might hurt the other in some lesser Instances but the other was to have an entire Victory at last which is plainly signified by the Figures of bruising the Heel and bruising the Head which was to be performed by one who was to bear this Character of being the Woman's Seed The next Promise was made to Abraham In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed Gen. 12.3 Gen. 22.18 Gen. 26.24 Gen. 28.14 Gen. 49.10 This was lodged in his Seed or Posterity upon his being ready to offer up his Son Isaac That Promise was renewed to Isaac and after him to Iacob When he was dying it was lodged by him in the Tribe of Iudah when he prophesied That the Scepter should not depart from Iudah nor the Law-giver from between his feet till Shiloh should come and the gathering of the people that is of the Gentiles was to be to him It is certain the Ten Tribes were lost in their Captivity whereas the Tribe of Iudah was brought back and continued to be a political Body under their own Laws until a Breach was made upon that by the Romans first reducing them to the Form of a Province and soon after that destroying them utterly So that either that Prediction was not accomplished or the Shiloh the Sent to whom the Gentiles were to be gathered came before they lost their Scepter and Laws Moses told the People of Israel That God was to raise up among them a Prophet like unto him Deut. 18.15 to whom they ought to hearken otherwise God would require it of them The Character of Moses was That he was a Lawgiver and the Author of an entire Body of Instituted Religion so they were to look for such a one Numb 24. â—â— Balaam prophesied darkly of one whom he saw as at a great distance from his own time and he spoke of a Star that should come out of Iacob and a Scepter out of Israel Some Memorial of which was probably preserved among the Arabians In the Book of Psalms there are many things said of David which seem capable of a much Auguster Sense than can be pretended to be answered by any thing that befel himself What is said in the 2 d the 16 th the 22 d the 45 th the 102 d and the 110 th Psalms afford us copious Instances of this Passages in these Psalms must be stretched by Figures that go very high to think they were all fulfilled in David or Solomon But in their Literal and largest Sense they were accomplished in Christ to whom God said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee In him that was verified Thou wilt not leave my Soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption His hands and his feet were pierced and lots were cast upon his vesture Of him it may be strictly said Thy throne O God is for ever and ever To him that belonged The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my Right-hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool And The Lord sware and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck The Prophets gave yet more express Predictions concerning the Messias Isaiah did quiet the Fears of Ahaz and of the House of David by saying The Lord himself shall give you a sign Behold Isa. 8 1â— a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son It was certainly no Sign for one that was a Virgin to conceive afterwards and bear a Son therefore the Sign or extroardinary thing here promised as a signal Pledge of God's Care of the House of David must lie in this That one still remaining a Virgin should conceive and bear a Son not to insist upon the strict signification of the Word in the Original The same Prophet did also foretell That as this Messiah or the Branch Isa. 11.1 2. should spring from the Stem of Iesse so also he was to be full of the Spirit of the Lord and that the Gentiles should seek to him ver 10. In another place he enumerates many of the Miracles that should be done by him He was to give sight to the Blind make the Deaf to hear and the Lame to walk Isa. 35. â— 6. He does further set forth his Character not that of a Warrior or Conqueror on the contrary He was not to cry nor strive Isa. 42.1 nor break the bruised
must be supplied by the Inventions of Men Which they oppose so much the more because they think that all the Corruptions of Popery began at some Rites which seemed at first not only Innocent but Pious but were afterwards abused to superstition and Idolatry and swelled up to that bulk as to oppress and stifle true Religion with their Number and Weight A great part of this is in some respect true yet that we may examine the matter methodically we shall first consider What Power the Church has in those matters and then What Rules she ought to govern her self by in the use of that Power It is very visible that in the Gospels and Epistles there are but few Rules laid down as to Ritual Matters In the Epistles there are some general Rules given that must take in a great many Cases such as Let all things be done to Edification to Order and to Peace And in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus Rom. 14 1â— 1 Cor. 14.40 many Rules are given in such general words as Lay hands suddenly on no Man that in order to the guiding of particular Cases by them many distinctions and specialties were to be interposed to the making them practicable and useful In matters that are merely Ritual the state of Mankind in different Climates and Ages is apt to vary and the same things that in one Scene of Human Nature may look grave and seâ—m fit for any Society may in another Age look light and dissipate mens thoughts It is also evident that there is not a System of Rules given in the New Testament about all these and yet a due method in them is necessary to maintain the Order and Decency that become Divine things This seems to be a part of the Gospel Liberty That it is not a Law of Ordinances these things being left to be varied according to the diversities of Mankind The Iewish Religion was delivered to one Nation Gal. 2.4 4.9 5. â— and the main parts of it were to be performed in one place they were also to be limited in Rituals lest they might have taken some Practices from their Neighbours round about them and so by the use of their Rites have rendred Idolatrous Practices more familiar and acceptable to them And yet they had many Rites among them in our Saviour's time which are not mentioned in any part of the Old Testament such was the whole Constitution of their Synagogues with all the Service and Officers that belonged to them They had a Baptism among them besides several Rites added to the Paschal Service Our Saviour reproved them for none of these he hallowed some of them to be the Foederal Rites of his New Dispensation he went to their Synagogues and though he reproved them for overvaluing their Rites for preferring them to the Laws of God and making these void by their Traditions yet he does not condemn them for the use of them And while of the greater Precepts he says These things ye ought to have done Matth. 23.23 he adds concerning their Rites and lesser matters and not to have left the other undone If then such a liberty was allowed in so limited a Religion it seems highly suitable to the sublimer state of the Christian Liberty that there should be room left for such Appointments or Alterations as the different state of times and places should require In hotter Countries for instance there is no danger in dipping but if it is otherwise in colder Câ—imates than since Mercy is better than even Sacrifice Hos. 6.6 Matth. 12.7 a more sparing use may be made of Water Aspersion may answer the true end of Baptism A stricter or gentler Discipline of Offenders must be also proportioned to what the Times will bear and what Men can be brought to submit to The dividing of Christians into such Districts that they may have the best Conveniences to assemble themselves together for Worship and for keeping up of Order the appointing the Times as well as the Places of Worship are certainly to be fixed with the best regard to present Circumstances that may be The bringing Christian Assemblies into Order and Method is necessary for their Solemnity and for preventing that dissipation of Thought that a diversity of Behaviour might occasion And though a Kiss of Peace and an Order of Deaconesses were the Practices of the Apostolical Time yet when the one gave occasion to Raillery and the other to Scandal all the World was and still is satisfied with the reasons of letting both fall Now if Churches may lay aside Apostolical Practices in Matters that are Ritual it is certainly much easier to justifie their making new Rules for such things since it is a higher Attempt to alter what was settled by the Apostles themselves than to set up new Rules in Matters which they left untouch'd Habits and Postures are the necessary Circumstances of all Publick Meetings The times of Fasting and of Prayer the Days of Thanksgiving and Communions are all of the same nature The Publick Confession of Sins by scandalous Persons the time and manner of doing it The previous steps that some Churches have made for the Trial of those who were to be received into Holy Orders that so by a longer Inspection into their Behaviour while in lower Orders they might discover how fit they were to be admitted into the Sacred Ones And chiefly the prescribing stated Forms for the several Acts of Religious Worship and not leaving that to the Capacities of Humours to the Inventions and often to the Extravagancies of those who are to officiate All these things I say fall within those general Rules given by the Apostles to the Churches in their time Where we find that the Apostles had their Customs 1 Cor. 12.16 ch 9.19 to 23. as well as the Churches of God which were then opposed to the innovating and the contentious humours of some factious Men. And such a Pattern have the Apostles set us of complying with those things that are regulary settled wheresoever we are that we find they became all things to all Men To the Iews they became Iews though that was a Religion then extinguished in its obligation by the Promulgation of the Gospel and was then fallen under great corruption Yet in order to the gaining of some of them such was the Spirit of Charity and Edification with which the Apostles were acted that while they were among them they complied in the Practice of those abrogated Rites though they asserted both the Liberty of the Gentiles and even their own in that matter It was only a Compliance and not a Submission to their Opinions that made them observe days and distinguish meats while among them If then such Rites and the Rites of such a Church were still complied with by Inspired Men this is an Infallible Pattern to us and let us see upon how much stronger Reasons we who are under those Obligations to Vnity and Charity with all Christians
The justest abatement that we can offer for thisCorruption which is too manifest to be either denied or justified is this They were then engaged with the Heathens and were much set on bringing them over to the Christian Religion In order to that it was very natural for them to think of all methods possible to accommodate Christianity to their taste It was perhaps observed how far the Apostles complied with the Iews that they might gain them St. Paul had said that to the Iews he became a Iew and to them that were without law 1 Cor. 9.19 20. that is the Gentiles as one without law that by all means he might gain some They might think that if the Iews who had abused the light of a Revealed Religion who had rejected and crucified the Messias and persecuted his Followers and had in all respects corrupted both their Doctrine and their Morals were waited on and complied with in the observance of that very Law which was abrogated by the Death of Christ but was still insisted on by them as of perpetual Obligation and yet that after the Apostles had made a solemn decision in the matter they continued to conform themselves to that Law all this might be applied with some advantages to this matter The Gentiles had nothing but the Light of Nature to Govern them they might seem willing to become Christians but they still despised the nakedness and simplicity of that Religion And it is reasonable enough to think that the Emperors and other great Men might in a Political view considering the vast strength of Heathenism press the Bishops of those times to use all imaginable ways to adorn Christianity with such an exteriorForm ofWorship as might be most acceptable to them and might most probably bring them over to it The Christians had long felt the weight of Persecution from them and were no doubt much frighted with the danger of a Relapse in Iulian's time It is natural to all Men to desire to be safe and to weaken the numbers of their implacable Enemies In that state of things we do plainly see they began to comply in lesser Matters For whereas in the First Ages the Christians were often reproached with this that they had no Temples Altars Sacrifices nor Priests they changed their dialect in all those Points so we have reason to believe that this was carried further The Vulgar are more easily wrought upon in greater Points of Speculation than in some small Ritual Matters Because they do not understand the one and so are not much concerned about it But the other is more sensible and lies within their compass We find some in Palestine kept Images in their Houses as Eusebius tells us others began in Spain to light Candles by Day-light and to paint the Walls of their Churches And though these things were condemned by the Council of Elliberis yet we see by what St. Ierom has cited out of Vigilantius that the Spirit of Superstition did work strongly among them We hear of none that writ against those abuses besides Vigilantius yet Ierom tells us that many Bishops were of the same Mind with him with whom he is so angry as to doubt whether they deserved to be called Bishops Most of these abuses had also specious beginnings and went on insensibly Where they made greater steps we find an opposition to them Epipli Heres 79 Epiphanius is very severe upon the Collyridians for their Worshipping the Blessed Virgin And though they did it by Offering up a Cake to her yet if any will read all that he says against that Superstition they will clearly see that no Prayers were then Offered up to her by the Orthodox And that he rejects the thought of it with Indignation But the respect paid the Martyrs and the opinion that they were still hovering about their Tombs might make the calling to them for their Prayers seem to be like one Mans desiring the Prayers of other Good Men and when a thing of this kind is once begun it naturally goes on Of all this we see a particular Account in a Discourse writ on purpose on this Argument of curing the Affections and Inclinations of the Greeks by Theodoret Theod. de cur Gr. affect l. 8. de Martyr who may be justly reckoned among the greatest Men of Antiquity and in it he insists upon this particular of proposing to them the Saints and Martyrs instead of their Gods And there is no doubt to be made but that they found the effects of this compliance many Heathens were every day coming over to the Christian Religion And it might then perhaps be intended to lay all those aside when the Heathens were once brought over To all which this must be added that the good Men of that time had not the Spirit of Prophesy and could not foresee what Progress this might make and to what an Excess it might grow they had nothing of that kind in their View So that between Charity and Policy between a desire to bring over Multitudes to their Faith and an Inclination to secure themselves it is not at all to be wondred at by any who considers all the Circumstances of those Ages that these Corruptions should have got into the Church and much less having once got in they should have gone on so fast and be carried so far Thus I have offered all the Considerations that arise from the State of Things at that time to shew how far we do still preserve the Respect due to the Fathers of those Ages even when we confess that they were Men and that something of human Nature appeared in this Piece of their Conduct This can be made no Argument for later Ages who having no Heathens among them are under no Temptations to comply with any of the Parts of Heathenism to gain them And now that the abuse of these Matters is become so scandalous and has spread it self so far how much soever we may excuse those Ages in which we discern the first beginnings and as it were the small Heads of that which has since overflow'd Christendom Yet we can by no means bear even with those beginnings which have had such dismal Effects and therefore we have reduced the Worship of God to the Simplicity of the Scripture Times and of the First Three Centuries And for the Fourth we reverence it so much on other Accounts that for the Sake of these we are unwilling to Reflect too much on this Another Consideration urged for the Invocation of Saints is that they seeing God we have reason to believe that they see in him if not all things yet at least all the Concerns of the Church of which they are still Parts and they being in a most perfect State of Charity they must certainly love the Souls of their Brethren here below So that if Saints on Earth whose Charity is not yet perfect do pray for one another here on Earth they in that State of Perfection do certainly
Whatsoever his Apostles settled was by Authority and Commission from him therefore it is not to be denied but that if they had appointed any Sacramental Action that must be reckoned to be of the same Authority and is to be esteemed Christ's Institution as much as if he himself when on Earth had appointed it Matter is of the Essence of a Sacrament for Words without some material thing to which they belong may be of the Nature of Prayers or Vows but they cannot be Sacraments Receiving a Sacrament is on our part our Faith plighted to God in the use of some material Substance or other for in this consists the difference between Sacraments and other Acts of Worship The latter are only Acts of the Mind declared by Words or Gesture whereas Sacraments are the Application of a material Sign joyned with Acts of the Mind Words and Gestures With the Matter there must be a Form that is such Words joyned with it as do appropriate the Matter to such an use and separate it from all other uses at least in the Act of the Sacrament For in any piece of Matter alone there cannot be a proper suitableness to such an end as seems to be designed by Sacraments and therefore a Form must determine and apply it and it is highly suitable to the nature of Things to believe that our Saviour who has Instituted the Sacrament has also either Instituted the Form of it or given us such hints as to lead us very near it The end of Sacraments is double the one is by a Solemn Federal Action both to unite us to Christ and also to derive a secret Blessing from him to us And the other is to joyn and unite us by this publick Profession and the joynt partaking of it with his Body which is the Church This is in general an Account of a Sacrament This it is true is none of those Words that are made use of in Scripture so that it has no determined Signification given to it in the Word of God yet it was very early applied by Pliny to those Vows by which the Christians tied themselves to their Religion Lib. 10. Ep. 97. taken from the Oaths by which the Soldiery among the Romans were sworn to their Colours or Officers and from that time this Term has been used in a Sense consecrated to the Federal Rites of Religion Yet if any will dispute about Words we know how much St. Paul condemns all those curious and vain Questions which have in them the Subtilties and Oppositions of Science falsly so called If any will call every Rite used in Holy Things a Sacrament 1 Tim. 6.20 we enter into no such Contentions The Rites therefore that we understand when we speak of Sacraments are the constant Federal Rites of Christians which are accompanied by a Divine Grace and Benediction being instituted by Christ to unite us to him and to his Church and of such we own that there are Two Baptism and the Supper of our Lord. In Baptism there is Matter Water there is a Form the Person Dipped or Washed with words I baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 There is an Institution Go preach and baptize there is a Federal Sponsion 1 Pet. 3.21 Matth. 26.26 27. The answer of a good Conscience there is a Blessing conveyed with it Baptism save us there is one baptism as there is one body and one spirit we are all baptized into one body So that here all the constituent and necessary Parts of a Sacrament are found in Baptism In the Lord's Supper there is Bread and Wine for the Matter The giving it to be Eat and Drunk with the Words that our Saviour used in the first Supper are the Form Do this in remembrance of me is the Institution Ye shew forth the Lord's death till he come again 1 Cor. 11.23 to 27. is the Declaration of the Federal Act of our part It is also the Communion of the body and of the blood of Christ that is the conveyance of the Blessings of our Partnership in the Effects of the Death of Christ. 1 Cor. 10.16 17. And we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread this shews the Union of the Church in this Sacrament Here then we have in these two Sacraments both Matter Form Institution Federal Acts Blessings conveyed and the Union of the Body in them All the Characters which belong to a Sacrament agree fully to them In the next place we must by these Characters examine the other pretended Sacraments It is no wonder if the word Sacrament being of a large extent there should be some Passages in Ancient Writers that call other Actions so besides Baptism and the Lord's Supper for in a larger Sense every Holy Rite may be so called But it is no small prejudice against the number of Seven Sacraments that Peter Lombard a Writer in the Twelfth Century is the first that reckons Seven of them From that Mystical Expression of the Seven Spirits of God there came a conceit of the sevenfold Operation of the Spirit Lib. 3. Dist. 2. and it looked like a good Illustration of that to assert Seven Sacraments This Pope Eugenius put in his Instruction to the Armenians which is published with the Council of Florence and all was finally settled at Trent Now there might have been so many fine Allusions made on the number Seven and some of the Ancients were so much set on such Allusions that since we hear nothing of that kind from any of them we may well conclude that this is more than an ordinary Negative Argument against their having believed that there were Seven Sacraments To go on in order with them The first that we reject which is reckoned by them the second is Confirmation But to explain this we must consider in what respect our Church receives Confirmation and upon what reasons it is that she does not acknowledge it to be a Sacrament We find that after Philip the Deacon and Evangelist had converted and baptized some in Samaria Peter and Iohn were sent thither by the Apostles Acts 8.12 14 15 16 17. who laid their hands on such as were baptized and prayed that they might receive the Holy Ghost upon which it is said that they received the Holy Ghost Now though ordinary Functions when performed by the Apostles such as their laying on of Hands in those whom they Ordained or Confirmed had extraordinary Effects accompanying them but when the extraordinary Effects ceased the end for which these were at first given being accomplished the Gospel having been fully attested to the World yet the Functions were still continued of Confirmation as well as Ordination And as the laying on of Hands Heb. 6.2 that is reckoned among the Principles of the Christian Doctrine after Repentance and Faith and subsequent to Baptism seems very
doubt of the Testimony of our Senses Another presumptive Proof that the Ancients knew nothing of this Doctrine is that the Heathens and the Iews who charged them and their Doctrine with every thing that they could invent to make both it and them odious and ridiculous could never have passed over this in which both Sense and Reason seemed to be so evidently on their side They reproach the Christians for believing a God that was Born a God of Flesh that was crucified and buried They laughed at their belief of a Judgment to come of endless Flames of a heavenly Paradise and of the Resurrection of the Body Those who writ the first Apologies for the Christian Religion Iustin Martyr Tertullian Origen Arnobius and Minutius Felix have given us a large Account of the Blasphemies both of Iews and Gentiles against the Doctrines of Christianity Cyril of Alexandria has given us Iulian's Objections in his own Words who having been not only initiated into the Christian Religion but having read the Scriptures in the Churches and being a Philosophical and Inquisitive Man must have been well instructed concerning the Doctrine and the Sacraments of this Religion And his Relation to the Emperor Constantine must have made the Christians concerned to take more than ordinary Pains on him When he made Apostacy from the Faith he reproached the Christians with the Doctrine of Baptism and laughed at them for thinking that there was an Ablution and Sanctification in it conceiving it a thing Impossible that Water should wash or cleanse a Soul Yet neither he nor Porphiry nor Celsus before them did charge this Religion with the Absurdities of Transubstantiation It is reasonable to believe that if the Christians of that time had any such Doctrine among them it must have been known Every Christian must have known in what Sense those Words This is is my body and This is my blood were understood among them All the Apostates from Christianity must have known it and must have published it to excuse or hide the shame of their Apostacy Since Apostates are apt to spread Lies of them whom they forsake but not to conceal such Truths as are to their Prejudice Iulian must have known it and if he had known it his Judgment was too True and his Malice to the Christian Religion too Quick to overlook or neglect the Advantages which this part of their Doctrine gave him Nor can this be carried off by saying that the eating of human Flesh and the Thyestean Suppers which were objected to the Christians relate to this When the Fathers answer that they tell the Heathens that it was a downright Calumny and Lie And do not offer any Explanations or Distinctions taken from their Doctrine of the Sacrament to clear them from the mistake and malice of this Calumny The Truth is the execrable Practices of the Gnosticks who were called Christians gave the Rise to those as well as to many other Calumnies But they were not at all founded on the Doctrine of the Eucharist which is never once mentioned as the Occasion of this Accusation Another Presumption from which we conclude that the Ancients knew nothing of this Doctrine is that we find Heresies and Disputes arising concerning all the other Points of Religion There were very few of the Doctrines of the Christian Religion and not any of the Mysteries of the Faith that did not fall under great Objections But there was not any one Heresy raised upon this Head Men were never so meek and tame as easily to believe things when there appeared strong Evidence or at least great Presumptions against them In these last Eight or Nine Centuries since this Doctrine was received there has been a perpetual Opposition made to it even in dark and unlearned Ages In which implicite Faith and blind Obedience have carried a great sway And though the Secular Arm has been employed with great and unrelenting Severities to extirpate all that have opposed it Yet all the while many have stood out against it and have suffered much and long for their rejecting it Now it is not to be imagined that such an opposition should have been made to this Doctrine during the nine hundred Years last past and that for the former eight hundred Years there should have been no Disputes at all concerning it And that while all other things were so much questioned that several Fathers writ and Councils were called to settle the Belief of them yet that for about eight hundred Years this was the single Point that went down so easily that no Treatise was all that while writ to prove it nor Council held to establish it Certainly the Reason of this will appear to be much rather that since there have been Contests upon this Point these last Nine Ages and that there were none the first Eight this Doctrine was not known during those First Ages and that the great Silence about it for so long a time is a very strong Presumption that in all that time this Doctrine was not thought of The last of those Considerations that I shall offer which are of the nature of presumptive Proofs is that there are a great many Rites and other practices that have arisen out of this Doctrine as its natural Consequences which were not thought of for a great many Ages but that have gone on by a perpetual progress and have increased very fruitfully ever since this Doctrine was received Such are the Elevation Adoration and Processions together with the Doctrine of Concomitance and a vast number of Rites and Rubricks the first occasions and beginnings of which are well known These did all arise from this Doctrine it being natural especially in the Ages of Ignorance and Superstition for Men upon the supposition of Christ's being Corporally present to run out into all possible Inventions of Pomp and Magnificence about this Sacrament and it is very reasonable to think that since these things are of so late and so certain a date that the Doctrine upon which they are founded is not much ancienter The great Simplicity of the Primitive Forms not only as they are reported by Iustin Martyr and Tertullian in the Ages of the Poverty and Persecutions of the Church but as they are represented to us in the Fourth and Fifth Century by Cyril of Ierusalem the Constitutions and the pretended Areopagite have nothing of that Air that appears in the latter Ages The Sacrament was then given in both kinds it was put in the hands of the Faithful they reserved some portions of it It was given to Children for many Ages The Laity and even Boys were imployed to carry it to dying Penitents what remained of it was burnt in some places and consumed by the Clergy and by Children in other places the making Cataplasms of it the mixing the Wine with Ink to sign the Condemnation of Hereticks are very clear Presumptions that this Doctrine was not then known But above all their not adoring the Sacrament which
which they were represented as governing the World with an Universal and Unbounded Authority This Book was a little disputed at first but was quickly submitted to and the Popes went on upon that Foundation still enlarging their Pretensions Soon after that was submitted to it quickly appeared that the Pretensions of that See were endless They went on to claim a Power over Princes and their Dominions and that first with relation to Spiritual matters They deposed them if they were either Hereticks themselves or if they favoured Heresy at least so far as not to extirpate it From deposing they went to the disposing of their Dominions to others And at last Boniface the Eighth compleated their Claim for he decreed That it was necessary to every man to be subject to the Pope's Authority And he asserted a direct Dominion over Princes as to their Temporals That they were all subject to him and held their Dominions under him and at his Courtesy As for the Jurisdiction that they claimed over the Spirituality they exercised it with that Rigor with such heavy Taxes and Impositions such Exemptions and Dispensations and such a Violation of all the Antient Canons that as it grew insupportably grievous so the management was grosly scandalous for every thing was openly set to Sale By these Practices they disposed the World to examine the Grounds of that Authority which was managed with so much Tyranny and Corruption It was so ill founded that it could not be defended but by Force and Artifices Thus it appears that there is no Authority at all in the Scripture for this Extent of Jurisdiction that the Popes assumed That it was not thought on in the first Ages That a vigorous Opposition was made to every step of the Progress that it made And that Forgery and Violence was used to bring the World under it So that there is no reason now to submit to it As for the Patriarchal Authority which that See had over a great part of the Roman Empire that was only a Regulation made conform to the Constitution of that Empire So that the Empire being now dissolved into many different Sovereignties the new Princes are under no sort of obligation to have any regard to the Roman Constitution Nor does a Nation 's receiving the Faith by the Ministry of Men sent from any See subject them to that See for then all must be subject to Ierusalem since the Gospel came to all the Churches from thence There was a Decision made in the Third General Council in the case of the Cypriotick Churches which pretended that they had been always compleat Churches within themselves and Independent therefore they stood upon this Privilege Not to be subject to Appeals to any Patriarchal See The Council judged in their favour So since the Britannick Churches were converted long before they had any Commerce with Rome they were originally Independent which could not be lost by any thing that was afterwards done among the Saxons by men sent over from Rome This is enough to prove the First Point That the Bishops of Rome have no Lawful Jurisdiction here among us The Second is That Kings or Queens have an Authority over their Subjects in Matters Ecclesiastical In the Old Testament the Kings of Israel intermeddled in all matters of Religion Samuel acknowledged Saul's Authority and Abimelech though the High-Priest when called before Saul 1 Sam. 15.30.22.14 appeared and answered to some things that were objected to him that related to the Worship of God Samuel said in express words to Saul That he was made the Head of all the Tribes and one of these was the Tribe of Levi. 15.17 David made many Laws about Sacred Matters such as the Orders of the Courses of the Priests and the time of their Attendance at the Publick Service When he died and was informing Solomon of the Extent of his Authority he told him that the Courses of the Priests and all the People were to be wholly at his Commandment Pursuant to which 1 Chron. 23.6.28.21 Solomon did appoint them their Charges in the Service of God and both the Priests and Levites departed not from his Commandment in any matter He turned out Abiathar from the High-Priests Office 2 Chron. 8.14 15. and yet no Complaint was made upon it as if he had assumed an Authority that did not belong to him It is true both David and Solomon were men that were particularly inspired as to some things but it does not appear that they acted in those matters by virtue of any such Inspiration They were Acts of Regal Power and they did them in that Capacity Iehoshaphat Hezekiah and Iosiah gave many Directions and Orders in Sacred Matters 2 Chron. 17.8 9. chap. 19.8 to the End Chap. 26.16 17 18 19. But though the Priest withstood Vzziah when he was going to offer Incense in the Holy Place yet they did not pretend Privilege or make opposition to those Orders that were issued out by their Kings Mordecai appointed the Feast of Purim by virtue of the Authority that King Ahasuerus gave him And both Ezra and Nehemiah by virtue of Commissions from the Kings of Persia made many Reformations and gave many Orders in Sacred Matters Under the New Testament Christ by saying Render to Caesar the things which are Caesars did plainly show that he did not intend that his Religion should in any sort lessen the Temporal Authority The Apostles writ to the Churches to obey Magistrates Rom. 13.6 to submit to them and to pay Taxes They enjoined Obedience whether to the King as supreme or to others that were sent by him Ver. 1. 1 â—et 2.13 Every Soul without exception is charged to be subject to the higher Powers The Magistrate is ordained of God and is his Minister to encourage them that do well and to punish the evil doers If these Passages of Scripture are to be interpreted according to the common consent of the Fathers Churchmen are included within them as well as other Persons There was not indeed great occasion to consider this matter before Constantine's coming to the Empire for till then the Emperors did not consider the Christians otherwise than either as Enemies ot at best as their Subjects at large And therefore though the Christians made an Address to Aurelian in the matter of Samosatenus and obtained a favourable and just Answer to it yet in Constantine's time the Protection that he gave to the Christian Religion led him and his Successors to make many Laws in Ecclesiastical matters concerning the Age the Qualifications and the Duties of the Clergy Many of these are to be found in Theodosius and Iustinian's Code Iustinian added many more in his Novels Appeals were made to the Emperors against the Injustice of Synods They received them and appointed such Bishops to hear and try those Causes as happened to be then about their Courts In the Council of Nice many Complaints were given to the Emperor by
or Descendents that is Parents and Children that by an Eternal Reason can never marry for where there is a Natural Subordination there can never be such an Equality as that state of Life requires But Collateral Degrees even the nearest Brothers and Sisters are not by any Natural Law barred Marriage and therefore in a case of necessity they might marry Yet since their intermarrying must be attended with vast Inconveniences and would tend to the Defilement of Families and hinder the Conjunction of Mankind by the Intermixture of different Families it becomes therefore a fit Subject for a perpetual Law to strike a horror at the thought of such Commixtures and so to keep the World pure which considering the Freedoms in which those of the same Family do live could not be preserved without such a Law It is also the Interest of Mankind and necessary for the careful Education of the rising Generation that Marriages should be for Life for if it were free for married Persons to separate at pleasure the Issue of Marriages so broken would be certainly much neglected And since a Power to break a Marriage would naturally inflame such little quarrelings as may happen among all Persons that live together which will on the contrary be certainly repressed when they know that the Marriage cannot be dissolved and when by such a Dissolution of Marriages the one half of the Human Species I mean Womankind is exposed to great Miseries and subject to much Tyranny it is a fit Subject for a perpetual Law so that it is Moral in a Secondary Order It were easy to give Instances of this in many more Particulars and to shew That a Precept may be said to be Moral when there is a Natural Suitableness in it to advance that which is Moral in the first Order and that it cannot be well preserved without such a Support It will appear what occasion there is for this distinction when we consider the Ten Commandments which are so many Heads of Morality that are instanced in the highest act of a kind and to which are to be reduced all such acts as by the just Proportions of Morality belong to that Order and Series of Actions The Foundation of Morality is Religion The Sense of God That he is and that he is both a Rewarder and a Punisher is the Foundation of Religion Now this must be supposed as Antecedent to his Laws for we regard and obey them from the persuasion that is formed in us concerning the Being and the Justice of God The two first Commandments are against the two different sorts of Idolatry which are the worshipping of False Gods or the worshipping the True God in a Corporeal Figure The one is the giving the Honour of the True God to an Idol and the other is the depreâ—â—ing the True God to the resemblance of an Idol These were the two great Branches of Idolatry by which the true Ideas of God were corrupted Religion was by them corrupted in its Source No body can question but that it is Immoral to worship a False God it is a transferring the Honour which belongs immediately and singly to the Great God to a Creature or to some Imaginary Thing which never had a real Existence This is the robbing God of what is due to him and the exalting another thing to a degree and rank that cannot belong to it Nor is it less immoral to propose the Great and True God to be worshipped under Appearances that are derogatory to his Nature that tend to give us low Thoughts of him and that make us think him like if not below our selves This way of worshipping him is both unsutable to his nature and unbecoming ours while we pay our Adorations to that which is the work of an Artificer This is confirmed by those many express Prohibitions in Scripture to which Reasons are added which shew that the thing is Immoral in its own nature It being often repeated that no Similitude of God was ever seen And to whom will ye liken me All things in Heaven and Earth are often called the work of his hands Which are plain Indications of a Moral Precept when Arguments are framed from the Nature of Things to enforce Obedience to it The Reason given in the very Command it self is taken from the Nature of God who is jealous that is so tender of his Glory that he will not suffer a diminution of it to go unpunished and if this Precept is clearly founded upon Natural Justice and the proportion that ought to be kept between all Human Acts and their Objects then it must be perpetual And that the rather because we do plainly see that the Gospel is a refining upon the Law of Moses and does exalt it to a higher pitch of Sublimity and Purity And by consequence the Ideas of God which are the first Seeds and Principles of Religion are to be kept yet more pure and undefiled in it than they were in a lower Dispensation The Third Precept is against false Swearing For the Word Vain is often used in the Scripture in that sense Ex. 23.1 Lev. 19.12 Mat. 5.33 And since in all the other Commandments the Sin which is named is not one of the lowest but of the chief Sins that relate to that Head there is no reason therefore to think That Vain or Idle Swearing which is a Sin of a lower Order should be here meant and not rather false Swearing which is the highest Sin of the kind The Morality of this Command is very apparent for since God is the God of Truth and every Oath is an Appeal to him therefore it must be a gross Wickedness to Appeal to God or to call him to vouch for our lies The Fourth Commandment cannot be called Moral in the first and highest sense for from The Nature of Things no reason can be assigned Why the Seventh day rather than the Sixth or the Eighth or any other day should be separated from the common business of Life and applied to the Service of God But it is Moral that a man should pay homage to his Maker and acknowledge him in all his works and ways And since our Senses and sensible Objects are apt to wear better things out of our Thoughts it is necessary that some solemn Times should be set apart for full and copious Meditations on these Subjects This should be universal lest if the Time were not the same every where the Business of some men might interfere with the Devotions of others It ought to have such an eminent Character on it like a cessation from Business Which may both awaken a curiosity to enquire into the reason of that stop and also may give opportunity for Meditations and Discourses on those Subjects It is also clear That such days of rest must not return so oft that the necessary Affairs of Life should be stopt by them nor so seldom that the Impressions of Religion should wear out if they were too
seldom awakened But what is the proper proportion of Time that can best agree both with mens Bodies and Minds is only known to the great Author of Nature Howsoever from what has been said it appears that this is a very fit matter to be fixed by some sacred and perpetual Law and that from the first Creation because there being then no other method for conveying down Knowledge besides Oral Tradition it seems as highly congruous to that State of Mankind as it is agreeable to the words in Genesis to believe That God should then have appointed one day in seven for commemorating the Creation and for acknowledging the great Creator of all things But though it seems very clear that here a perpetual Law was given the World for the separating the Seventh day yet it was a meer Circumstance and does not at all belong to the standing use of the Law in what end of the Week this day was to be reckoned Whether the first or the last So that even a less Authority than the Apostles and a less occasion than the Resurrection of Christ might have served to have transferred the day There being in this no Breach made on the good and moral design of this Law which is all in it that we ought to reckon sacred and unalterable The degree of the Rest might be also more severely urged under the Mosaical Law than either before it or after it Our Saviour having given plain Intimations of an Abatement of that rigour by this general Rule That the Sabbath was made for man Mark 2.27 and not man for the Sabbath We who are called to a state of freedom are not under such a strictness as the Iews were Still the Law stands for separating a Seventh day from the common Business of Life and applying it to a Religious rest for acknowledging at first the Creator and now by a higher Relation the Redeemer of the World These Four Commandments make the first Table and were generally reckoned as four distinct Commandments till the Roman Church having a mind to make the Second disappear threw it in as an Appendix to the First and then left it quite out in her Catechisms Though it is plain that these Commandments relate to two very different Matters the one being in no sort included in the other Certainly they are much more different than the coveting the Neighbour's Wife is from the coveting any of his other concerns Which are plainly two different Acts of the same Species And the House being set before the Wife in Exodus though it comes after it in Deuteronomy Exod. 20.17 Deut. 5.21 which being a repetition is to be governed by Exodus and not Exodus by it stands for the whole Substance which is afterwards branched out in the particulars and so it is clear that there is no colour for dividing this in two But the first two Commandments relating to things of such a different sort as is the worshipping of more Gods than one and the worshipping the true God in an Image ought still to be reckoned as different And though the reason given from the Jealousy and Justice of God may relate equally to both yet that does not make them otherwise one than as both might be reduced to one common Head of Idolatry so that both were to be equally punished In the Second Table this Order is to be observed There are Four Branches of a man's Property to which every thing that he can call his own may be reduced His Person his Wife and Children his Goods and his Reputation So there is a Negative precept given to secure him in every one of these against Killing committing Adultery Stealing and bearing false Witness To which as the chief acts of their kind are to be reduced all those acts that may belong to those Heads Such as Injuries to a man in his person though not carried on nor designed to kill him every Temptation to uncleanness and all those excesses that lead to it every act of Injustice and every Lye or Defamation To these Four are added two Fences the one Exterior the other Interior The Exterior is the settling the Obedience and Order that ought to be observed in Families according to the Law of Nature And by a parity of Reason if Families are under a Constitution where the Government is made as a common Parent the establishing the Obedience to the Civil Powers or to such Orders of Men who may be made as Parents with Relation to Matters of Religion This is the Foundation of Peace and Justice of the security and happiness of Mankind And therefore it was very proper to begin the Second Table and those Laws that relate to human Society with this without which the World would be like a Forest and Mankind like so many Savages running wildly through it The last Commandment is an inward Fence to the Law It checks Desires and restrains the Thoughts If free Scope should be given to these as they would very often carry men to unlawful Actions for a man is very apt to do that which he desires so they must give great disturbance to those that are haunted or overcome by them And therefore as a mean both to secure the quiet of mens minds and to preserve the World from the ill effects which such desires might naturally have this special Law is given Thou shalt not covet It will not be easy to prove it Moral in the strictest sense yet in a Secondary Order it may be well called Moral The Matter of it being such both with relation to our selves and others that it is a very proper Subject for a perpetual Law to be made about it And yet as St. Paul says Rom. 7.7 he had not known it to be a Sin if it had not been for the Law that forbids it for after all that can be said it will not be easy to prove it to be of its own nature Moral Thus by the help of that distinction of what is Moral in a primary and in a secondary Order the Morality of the Ten Commandments is demonstrated That this Law obliges Christians as well as Iews is evident from the whole Scope of the New Testament Instead of derogating from the Obligation of any part of that Law our Saviour after he had affirmed That he came not to dissolve the Law but to fulfil it and that Heaven and Earth might pass away Matth. 5.17 18. but that one tittle of the Law should not pass away he went through a great many of those Laws and shewed how far he extended the Commentary he put upon them and the Obligations that he laid upon his Disciples beyond what was done by the Iewish Rabbies All the rest of his Gospel and the Writings of his Apostles agree with this in which there is not a Tittle that looks like a slackning of it but a great deal to the contrary A strictness that reaches to idle Words to passionate Thoughts and to