shall assault us as once they did Peter to deny him let us remember what he is in himself and what hee hath done for us let us consider his greatnesse and bee afraid his goodnesse and bee ashamed for fear or shame or any cause whatsoever to deny him 2 That I may drive the nayl to the head let us often set before our eyes that dismal commination so often denounced in the Gospel by the Son of God himself against those who shall deny him Whosoever shall deny mee before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven and again inculcated by St. Paul if we deny him he will deny us a threat then which none more just and yet withall none more terrible just it is in that it is the retaliation of like for like what more rational than that despisers should bee despised forsakers should bee forsaken and denyers should bee denyed and how terrible it is will soon appear if you consider that the Son of God will then deny us when he shall appear in his glory that he will deny us not only before men but Angels nay his Father that if he pronounce upon us an I know you not which is to deny us wee are the cursed of the Father he will not acknowledge them for his adopted children who durst not here own his begotten Son and whom his Son will not then own for brethren yea which consummateth the misery of such Apostates they must have their portion with Hypocrites having denied Christ and being denyed by him they must depart from him into that fire which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels there being no reason that they should bee neer to Christ hereafter who follow him a far off nay run away from him here With these meditations let us arm our selves against this heinous sin that we may be the better strengthened 1 Labour wee to be throughly established upon good grounds in this fundamental doctrin that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God He that imbraceth Christian Religion upon the account onely of the Publike Law or private education will in time of tryal renege it Let therefore our assent to this Doctrin rest upon these sure Pillars primarily the authority of Scriptures and secondarily the Catholike Church and then we shall not easily deny it nor let us content our selves with a Conjectural opinion but strive for a firm and settled perswasion a stake in the ground may bee quickly plucked up but a tree rooted in the ground abideth unmoveable he that doubteth may soon be brought to deny but a well grounded perswasion will not quickly bee moved much lesse removed 2 Learn we according to our Saviours precept to deny our selves since oft times self and Christ come in competition so that one must be denyed and if we have not in some measure taken out this excellent lesson of self denial we shall soon deny him No wonder if an Ancient saith ingenuously Christiani praludium sui repudium the first step in the ladder of Christianity is self-denial 3 Nor must we forget that advice of St. Paul to deny Worldly Lusts for if wee take not our hearts off from the World the World will take them off from Christ it is very observable that our Saviour had no sooner threatned this sin of denying him but hee presently forbids Loving Father or Mother Son or daughter more than him intimating how prone the inordinate love of worldly things is to alienate us from him 4 Finally strive for a real union to Christ by a lively faith hee who is but a visible Christian may cease to be so much as visible but the spiritual union will not endure a dissolution much lesse an abnegation maintain and increase familiar communion with him that thou maiest more and more taste the sweetnesse that is in him and then no allurement or affrightment shall cause thee to deny him I end all as we desire not to be found deniers of the Father Son and Holy Ghost as wee desire to have the Father propitious towards us and Christ to own us before the Father at the last day let us dread to deny let us be ready to acknowledge with our hearts lipes lives Jesus the Christ the Son of God to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen THE FIRST EPISTLE OF St. JOHN CHAP. 2. VERS 24. 25. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning if that which yee have heard from the beginning shall remain in you yee shall continue in the Son and in the Father And this is the Promise that hee hath promised to us even eternal life ZEal Sincerity and Perseverance are not so much particular graces as each of them necessary ingredients to every grace Zeal being the fervor sincerity the truth and perseverance the duration of all graces of these three the last is not the least needful since constancy is the best evidence of sincerity nor will fervour avail without permanency no wonder if it be called by Bonaventure conditio annexa cuilibet virtuti an inseparable condition of every vertue and by Aquinas donum que caetera servantur dâ—nae that gift which preserveth all the rest without perseverance our Love will prove not a Star but a Comet our Devotion not a flame but a flash our Repentance not a River but a Pond our Hope not a Staff but a Reed and our Faith not a sub stance but a shadow And since this grace of Faith last mentioned is indeed the First the Root the Mother Grace constancy is not more needful in any than this The truth is there is no Grace more oppugned by the Devil than our faith hee well knoweth that if hee can undermine the foundation hee shall soon overthrow the building for which reason having obtained leave to sift S. Peter our Saviour prayeth for him that his faith may not fail Upon this account it is that more or lesse in all ages the Devil hath raised up false Teachers in the Church whose indeavour it is to with-draw the people from the Ancient Catholick and Apostolick Faith and for this cause no doubt it is that one of the chief designs of the holy Apostles in all their Epistles is to stablish Christians in the faith A pregnant instance whereof wee have in this Epistle particularly in these verses whose scope is by most obliging arguments to perswade a stedfast adherence to the truth which they had embraced Let that therefore which you have heard from the beginning c. Which words do plainly part themselves into two generals a mandate and a motive a command and a comfort an exhortation and an incitation The Exhortation enjoyneth a needful duty Let that therefore abide in you which ye heard from the beginning The Incitation adjoyneth a powerful motive drawn from the present comfort and future blisse of persevering Saints If that
the Preacher delivereth are either according to Brugensis the new and glorious mysteries of the Gospell in old and common resemblances or according to St Hilary and the Ancients Nova vetera in Evangeliis in lege the Legall and Evangelicall verities according to this is that occasionall note of St Ambrose upon those words of the Spouse At our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits new and old which I have laid up for thee oh my Beloved Teneo mandata omnia novi veteri Testamenti I keep the Commandments both of the old and new Testament for whereas the Jewish Synagogue neither keep the new in the letter nor the old in the Spirit the Christian Church observeth both and instructeth her Children in both Suiteble hereunto it is that this great Apostle of the Christian Church and well instructed Scribe for the Kingdome of Heaven brought forth in his Preaching and here layeth up a writing both old and new chiefly pressing upon us the observance of a command both Legall and Evangelicall Brethren I waite no new but an old c. Again a new Commandment I write unto you 2. Having dispatched the Compellation Brethren we have entred upon the first branch of the commendation drawn from its divine authority and therein the consideration of it as an old Commandment which having been already handled in the Assertion we are now to proceed to the Probation as it is implicitly couched in these words which we had from the beginning and explicitly set forth in those The old Commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning That you may see the strength of the Argument I shall forme it into a Syllogism thus That which you heard and had from the beginning is the old Commandment But This Commandment about which I write unto you is that you heard and had from the beginning Therefore It is not a new but an old Commandment The Conclusion is the Assertion and hath been already handled the Major and Minor containe the Probation and remaine now to be dispatched 1. Begin we with the Major The old Commandment is the word which was heard from the beginning To clear this Be pleased to know That a thing may be said to be old either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in some respects only or absolutely That which is not from the beginning and therefore is new in respect of preceding times may yet in respect of following ages be said to be old but only what is from the beginning is absolutely old Antiquity properly referreth to time so that what hath the priority carryeth it in point of antiquity and Id prius quod ab initio saith Tertullian That is first which is from the beginning principium a beginning being Id quo nihill prius that before which nothing is else it could not be the beginning In this sence it is we most justly say that which is true is old for though error may be old truth cannot be new Yea Since as that forementioned Father excellently argueth Falsum est corruptio veri Falshood is nothing else but an adulteration of truth Truth must needs be before Falshood and so the terms are convertible that which is true is old and that which is old is true for no error but is new in respect of that which is from the beginning though it be old in regard of that which followeth Upon this account it is that the same Father disputing with Marcion put it to this issue I say my Gospell is true Marcion saith his is I say Marcions Gospell is false he saith mine is Quis inter nos determinabit nisi temporis ratio ei praescribens authoritatem quod antiquius reperiretur let antiquity end the controversie that which can shew largest prescription of time and so the eldest let it be accounted truest Indeed Christianity stands upon holy antiquity and there is no better way of discovering what is false and reforming what is amiss then by looking back to the beginning Upon this ground it is that we contest both with the Papists on the one and all Sectaries on the other hand as being ready to justifie against both that what we teach is truly old because the word from the beginning 1. As the Gibeonites cheated Joshuah with their old Shooes clouted upon their feet old Garments dry and mouldy Bread So do the Papists delude many poore souls with pretence of the old Commandment and the old Religion It is the calumny they cast upon us Where was your Religion before Luther we are Novelists and but of Yesterday yea that we daily broach new Doctrines That some who are among us but not of us do so we cannot deny but still we are ready to justifie the Doctrine of our Church to be the old Doctrine nor do we desire a better Medium of proving it then this in the Text The old Commandment is the word which was from the beginning Take any or all of those opinions wherein we differ and for which we separate from them such as are Transubstantiation half Communion adoration of Images invocation of Saints and Angels the supremacy and infabillity of the Pope and the like And we shall find even by their own confessions that they were not from the beginning Scotus acknowledgeth that till the Counsell of Laterrane which was almost 1200 Years since Christ Transubstantiation was no Article of Faith Cassander confesseth that for a thousand years the holy Sacrament was administred in both kinds it were easie to instance in the rest but that learned Prelate hath already done it to the full and now let any rationall man judge whether we or they are to be charged with Novelty when as those things wherein they and we disagree have no primitive antiquity to establish them 2. As in this Particuler we vie with the Papists so are we ready to put the differences between Us and the Sectaries upon this triall Do we contend for a Lyturgy in the Church is it not because all Churches Greek and Latine have had their Lyturgies from the first Plantation of Christianity Yea Christ himself hath left a Prayer upon record to be not only a Platform after which manner he would have his Disciples pray but a Set form which they were to say when they did Pray Do we contest for our Hierarchie in the Church is it not because it was so from the beginning St Paul gave Timothy and Titus single persons Episcopall power of ordaining and governing Presbyters Those Angels of the Seaven Churches manifestly appear by the Ecclesiasticall History to be Bishops Yea No Church since the Apostles till Calvins time hath been without Episcopall Government Do we oppose the office of a Lay ruling Elder in the Church is it not because it was not from the beginning We can trace no footsteps of it in antiquity nor yet any such Officer or Office described in holy writ Finally To name no
more do we plead for the Baptizing of Infants Is it not because as Origen and Austin assure us it is a practice which the Church received from the Apostles and so an Apostolicall tradition which the more plainly appeareth because in St Cyprians time though there was a Controversie about Baptizing Infants upon the Eight day yet the thing it self is supposed as a practice then in use and though we do not read totidem verbis in the Scripture that the Apostle Baptized Infants yet it is very probable when as St Paul cald the Children of a believing Parent holy if he do not by the very phrase intend as the Learned Dr Hammond not improbably conceiveth yet that he did allow Baptism to those Children and where we read that whole Families were Baptized the Children might be among the number In one word It is the glory of the Church of England that her Doctrines are exactly consonant to Universall and Primitive antiquity nor do we desire any other rule to examine them by then this which here is laid down by our Apostle The old Commandment is the word which we have heard from the beginning 2. To let this go That which is chiefly to be considered is the Minor of the Syllogisme That the Commandment of love was from the beginning Now that which would here be enquired into is whence this beginning taketh its date Indeed haec vox pro materiâ substratâ varié accipi potest this word beginning may admit of a several reference and I find no less then four several expositions of it here all of which are not repugnant to but consistent with each other from the beginning of their conversion of Christian Religion of the Mosaical administration and of the Creation 1. Some Interpreters render the sence of the words thus from the beginning that is from the time you became Christians and first gave up your names to Christ and were called to the faith according to which sence our Apostle seemeth to assert that one of the first lessons of Christianity is love St Paul speaketh of milk for babes and meat for strong men intimating that there are some Commandments and Doctrines which are only fit for grown Christians but this Commandment of love as it is meat for the strongest so it is milk for babes 2. Others give this construction of the words from the beginning that is From the beginning of the Gospels Publication ever since the Faith of Christ was made known to the world Soon after Christian Religion was revealed there were many who endeavoured to bring in other Gospels but this Commandement which St John wrote of was as old as Christianity and what he delivered to them he received from Christ himself In that Sermon of Christ which is first mentioned by the first of the Evangelists St Matthew this Precept of love is expressed and in the last Sermon that ever he preached this lesson of love is commended to them and being taught by Christ himself it must needs be from the beginning of Christianity 3. Many take the date of this beginning a great deal higher even as high as Moses That which you Israelites had of old in the writings of Moses delivered to you So that we now give no other Commandement in charge to you then that which God cmmanded Moses and the Prophets to preach It is the exposition which I most incline to For since it is not improbable as hath been already suggested that those to whom this Apostle wrote were if not only yet principally the Jews and the design of St John by these words being to prove that what he wrote was no new but an old Commandement it is improbable that he would prove it by a date of not much above sixty years nor would it especially to the Jews have been any conviction of the antiquity of his Doctrine that it was from the beginning of Christian Religion when as in their opinion Christs Religion was a new Doctrine Upon this ground it seemeth a more rationall construction to referre this beginning to Moses and our Apostle could not use a more prevailing Argument to the Jews then by letting them know that the command he gave them was as old as Moses and before enjoyned by him There is only one Objection to be Answered that if this from the beginning be taken so far of how doth the Apostle say not only which you had but which you heard whereas this beginning was many hundred years before they were But the learned Grotius hath framed a fit Answer to my hand interpreting vos by majores vestri you that is your Ancestours according as it is to be taken where it is said whom you slew and did not Moses give you the Law That then which according to this construction is here asserted is that the Commandment of Love was from the beginning of Moses and required in the Law as well as in the Gospell This is that which in some sence is granted by all even the Socinians but so as that they assert something to be added to it by Christ and that upon that account it is called in the next Verse a new Comandment In what sence this Epithete of new belongs to it shall be by and by discovered In the mean time that which the Orthodox assert and I shall endeavour to make good is That the Evangelicall command of Love was from the beginning of the Law and so nothing new enjoyned by Christ which was not before by Moses To this end Be pleased to know that the command of Love may be considred either Extensivè or Intensivè Extensively in regare of the Object or Intensively in respect of the Act. In both these respects say the Socinians Christ hath added to the Law for whereas say they the Law requireth the Jews only to love their Countrymen their Friends the Gospell requireth us to love our enemies and so the extent of the Object is larger And whereas the Law required only of the Jews an Active Love the Gospell requireth a Passive so far as to lay down our lives for the Brethren The chief ground on which they build the former is that of our Saviour You have heard that it hath been said thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy but I say to you love your Enemies and the foundation which they lay of the latter is that the Law commanded only to love their Neighbours as themselves but the Gospell To love one another as Christ loved us which is in effect to love others better then our selves by laying down our lives for them which is more then the Law required To enervate both these Arguments and establish the truth of the Orthodox Assertion Be pleased to know 1. That Neighbour which is set down as the Object of Love in Moses his Law includeth Enemy as well as Friend To clear this I shall propose a double demand
with that of Cassian Quid diutius Evangelicis atque Apostolicis praeceptis immoramur cum etiam vetus lex haec eadem praecepit This Precept of Love is not only Apostolicall but Propheticall Evangelicall but Legall and in that respect truly said to be from the beginning 4. Lastly There is one Interpretation more which looketh backward as far as Adam and so this command of Love is from the beginning not only because commanded by Mosâ—s but Imprinted in nature The Law of Love was written at first in the mind of man and though it be much obliterated yet some Characters still remain and as by ruinous walls we guess how stately the buildings once were so by these remaining Impressions we may easily gather what goodly Characters of it were once stamped upon us Thus as before Christ made it Gospell Moses gave it as a written Law so before Moses made it a written Law God made it a branch or rather the root of the Law of nature To wind it up therefore Tell me I beseech you how inexcusable shall we be if having so manifold obligations we shall be negligent in the practice of this duty Even the Gentiles that have only the remainders of natures Law are obliged to love and not observing it will be found justly blameable much more the Jews who besides nature had the Law of Moses to guide them but most of all we Christians who have nature and Moses Law and the Law of Christ to direct us A threefold cord saith Solomon is not easily broken behold a threefold obligation lyeth on us Christians Christ Moses Adam all Preaching this Doctrine to us upon which account St John cals it the old Commandment which was from the beginning 2. There is yet another branch of this first particular in the commendation remaining which we find in the beginning of the eighth verse Again a new Commandment I write unto you That our Apostle by this new Commandment intends the same which before he cals not a new but an old Commandment is most probable partly because the conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifieth and is here rendered again which therefore seemes to look back on what precedes and intimateth that he continueth his discourse upon the same subject chiefly because this very command of love is called by our blessed Saviour in the Gospel a new Commandment nor is this phrase used any where concerning any other then this command and therefore it is most rational so to understand it here though Socinus most ab surdly contends that those words the darkness is past and the true light now shineth are a command and that which here is called a new Commandment This being premised the chief work is to reconcile St John to himself for if he speak of the same Commandment how is it that he cals it in one verse not new and in the next a new is it not a contradiction to affirm and deny the same thing of the same subject That of St Ambrose concerning the Cherubims Si stabant quomodo movebant si movebant quomodo stabant If they did move how did they stand and if stand how move may be here alluded to If it is old how is it new if new how is it old But surely it is not to be imagined that this holy Apostle should as it were with one breath give himself the lie Had it been at a great distance though an humane Author might forget himself yet surely this divinely inspired Apostle could not and much less being so near as the next verse And therefore we must necessarily conclude that though he speakes of the same subject yet not in the same respect Now it is a known maxime in Philosophy That contraryes and contradictions may be attributed to the same subject in divers respects the same snow may be called white as it falleth and black in its melting the same person may be in one part hot and cold in another Not to multiply instances the same Commandment may be old and yet in some respect not unfitly be called new To illustrate this give me leave briefly to set before you those several notions in which this term new may fit this old Commandment of love 1. Appellant Haebrei novum quod praestantissimum it is usuall with the Hebrews to call those things new which are excellent He hath put into my mouth saith David a new Psalm and again Oh sing unto the Lord a new song that is say interpreters an excellent song In this sense it is true here the command of love is an excellent command our Saviour cals the love of God the first and great Commandment and the love of our neighbour the second which is like to it St Paul speaking of this grace of charity and comparing it with preferres it before faith and hope That Apologue is very fit to this purpose of a consultation among the vertues which should have the preheminence whilest one was for chastity sister to the Angels another for justice which giveth every man his due a third for prudence Solomons choice not agreeing among themselves they made Reason the Vmpire who passing by all the rest set the Crown upon the head of Love But this interpretation though in it self true is not so congruous to our Apostles meaning 2. That exposition is doubtlesse more suteable which expounds new in opposition to the long received tradition of the Pharisees concerning this command for whereas this command had been corruptly taught for many years by those Doctors of the Law it was now refined from the drâ—sâ—e and purely taught by Christ and his Apostles and so this Commandment though old in it self yea older then their false glosses yet being but newly freed from them is fitly said to be new It is well observed by Heinsius that those things are said to be new which though they were long before yet are denuó restituta newly restored to their pristine purity Look as an old house repaired may be called a new house and a rusty sword fourbished a new sword look as an old book new bound up is as it were a new book and a defaced picture refreshed with colours a new picâ—ure so is this command a new Commandment For whereas they who sate in Moses his chair had perverted this doctrine Christ was pleased by himself and his Apostles a new to revive and restore it to its primitive integrity Indeed it was at this time with Moses law as it was in the beginning of our Reformation with Christian Religion The primitive doctrine and worship had for some hundred of yeares been buried under the ashes of Romish superstition whereby it is that the Reformed Religion though farre older then Popery might be accounted and was as it were a new Religion The Moral law in Christs time as to the both intensive and extensive meaning of it had been long hid under the corrupt opinion of the Jewish Doctors and
must wee Christians bee withdrawn from our assent to and love of those truths wee have heard This is that which is expressed by those phrases of standing fast in the Faith like a Souldier which keepeth his ground of keeping the faith as a Commander keepeth a Castle and of holding fast by which three Greek words are translated and all of them very emphatieal hold fast that which thou hast saith Christ to the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia where the Greek Verbe is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifieth strength and intimateth holding fast with a strong hand by force or might as wee do one that would get away from us Hold fast that which is good is St. Pauls advice to the Thessalonians where the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which noteth a firm holding with both hands and is used of them that are violently held in Prison Holding fast the faithful word is St. Pauls word to Titus where the Greek Verbe is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which the Seventy render the Hebrew Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and which according to its derivation signifieth to hold fast against opposers thus must wee by divine streugth so hold that which wee have heard as resolving not to let it go whatever befall us Nor is it without cause that our Apostle adviseth to this stedfast retaining of the Evangelical Doctrin if wee consider what danger they were and more or lessc Christians in all ages are of being deprived of it That which wee have in possession may bee taken from us three waies rapto furto dolo by manifest Theft by subtle fraud and by violent force by all these means do our spiritual enemies endeavour to bereave us of that which wee have heard 1 Very often the lusts of the flesh and the delights of the World steal away that which we have heard out of our hearts as the fowles of the Air plucked up the seed which fell by the High-way side Oh how many are so bewitched with carnal pleasures that they let go spiritual truths like the Dog who lost the flesh in his mouth by catching at the shadow of it in the water 2 Not seldome false Teachers by their fair pretences of divine Revelations sublime notions Gospel light endeavour to cheat us of that wee have heard from the beginning S. Pauls phrase is very apposite to this purpose where hee speaketh of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sleight of men tacitly comparing them to false gamesters who have devices by cogging a dye to deceive the unskilful nothing more usual than for Hereticks by subtle insinuations to be guile the unlearned and unstable of those pretious truths which they had before received 3 Sometimes the Devil stirreth up wicked Persecutors who set upon us with open violence to make us let go our hold of the Gospel and as Lactantius well Haec vera est constantâ—a â—t nullus terror à Deo possit avertere then doth that wee have heard abide in us when no terrors can divert us from it that is a truely Heroical spirit which will not bee dared out of his Religion which determineth to let go estate liberty nay life it self rather than that which it hath heard and embraced it was a brave resolve of the Spartan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either to bring back his buckler or to be brought back upon it such should bee a Christians resolution in point of Religion either to defend it or dye for it we know not what storms and Tempests may arise needful it is wee should be unmoved like the rocks in the midst of opposition But oh what cause is there of bemoaning the unsettledness of many in matters of Religion Pliny reports of a swimming Island which never appeareth in the same place one whole day together and Carystius of a flower that changeth colour three times in one day how fit emblemes are these of the Professors of this age who are ever and anon changing their Religion like the ship without an Anchor that is tossed to and fro in the Sea or like the chaff that is carried up and down with every blast let any one start up and broach some new doctrin under the mask of a glorious truth and how do the giddy multitude run after him forsaking those Orthodox Doctrines in which they were heretofore instructed What went you out for to see a Reed shaken with the wind too many such reeds may be seen every where in these Apostatizing days men as of barren lives so of fickle mindes unprofitable in their conversations and unstable in their judgements And especially if any thing of self-interest as to Profit or Honour or Pleasure come in competition Oh how easily are they removed from their former Profession no wonder if when danger approacheth and looketh them in the face their trembling hands let go their hold and they forgoe the truth In few words some are so foolish as to bee cheated more are so careless as to bee robbed the most are so cowardly as to bee frighted out of the truth which they have heard and professed Receive then a word of admonition to retain and maintain the ancient Catholick and Apostolick faith Indeed it is that which by way of Analogy may be pressed upon the Ministers of the Gospel Let that abide in them which they have taught from the beginning In the Law the shoulder of the Beast that was Sacrificed was the Priests and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an embleme of strength The first Priests name Aaron signifieth a mountain of strength and the Altar was called Ariel The Lyon of the Lord by all which is intimated how valiant they should bee for the Truth who serve at the Altar and are the Priests of the most High God It is set down by the Apostle as one of the Characters of a Bishop holding fast the faithful Word for this the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia is highly commended and comforted Because thou hast kept the Word of my Patience and it is the Apostles charge to Timothy that good thing which is committed to thee keep Indeed the Evangelical Doctrine is a sacred depositum which Christ hath left with the Bishops and Pastours of the Church To us saith the Apostle is committed the Word of Reconciliation Oh let us not bee so unfaithful as to betray our trust But yet it is not onely the Ministers but all Christians who are concerned in this duty as that must abide with the Preachers which they have taught so that must abide with the People they which have heard from the beginning This was that which St. Paul and Barnabas perswaded the Jews and Religious Professors which followed them namely to continue in the grace of God for this end they returned to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch to confirm the soules of the Disciples exhorting them to continue in the faith It is sage Counsel of
and St. Jude observed in these Antichrists of whom the one saith they did promise to the people liberty and the other that they did turn the Grace of God into Lasciviousnesse 3 The Plea of Tradition is much used by Hereticks all Nations and Persons both Jews and Gentiles being very tenacious of those things which they have received from their Ancestors By traditions it was that the Pharisees in Christs time indeavoured to make the Law of God of none effect and with traditions it was that the Hereticks in the Apostles time did spoil the people of the Truth for so much St. Paul intimateth when hee giveth that Caveat Beware lest any man spoil you through vain deceit after the traditions of men Not that all sorts of Traditions are to bee sleighted yea the Traditions which have been delivered and received in the Universal Church from age to age are to bee regarded by us next to the written word but not in opposition against or in competition with it such vain superstitious traditions were those which the Apostle condemned and which the Hereticks made use of 4 A show of Miracles is that which is sometimes made by these Deceivers Look as of Old when Moses and Aaron wrought Miracles Jannes and Jambres the Aegyptian Sorcerers imitated them So in the beginning of Christianity as God confirmed it by real Miracles so the Devil opposed it with Lying wonders This was our Saviours prediction concerning these Antichristian Seducers wherof my Text speaketh There shall come false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew signes and wonders so St. Mark Great signes and wonders so St. Matthew to seduce and deceive if it were possible the very Elect and thus the comming of the man of sin is said by St. Paul to bee after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders where that Epithite of Lying would not bee passed by those wonders which the Devil worketh by Hereticks being lying not onely because they accompany doctrins of Lies but likewise because they are for the most part delusions not realities nor are the greatest of those wonders above the power of nature and therefore though they are matter of wonder to us who oft times cannot understand how they are wrought yet they are not so in themselves But surely there is no device more subtle and prevailing than this men being very apt to beleeve that their words are Oracles whose works are Miracles and indeed were they so really it were a sufficient ground of beleef but as they are to wit onely so in appearance they have too great an influence upon the vulgar 5 A veil of Religion is many times put on by these Cheaters their garb their look their Language speak nothing but holinesse whilest their doctrins breath nothing but Heresy As too many of the Orthodox dishonour their teaching well by living ill so do many Hereticks credit their ill-teaching by well-living It is one of St. Pauls characters of Seducers Having a shew of godlinesse and Gregory Nazianzen saith of the Macedonians that their life was admirable whilest their Doctrin was abominable Thus as Harlots paint their faces and perfume their beds to allure Hereticks feign godliness and profess Religion to seduce 6 A vernish of Reason is drawn over false opinions by these Seducers because that is very taking with a rational creature This St. Paul intimateth in that fore-mentioned Caution Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit Accordingly Tertullian observeth that the Ancient Heresies concerning the Aeâ—nes were fetched from Plato's Ideaes the equality of the first matter with God from Zeno the death of the Soul from Epicurus and the denial of the Resurrection of the Body de unâ omnium Philosophorum Scholâ from the Schools of all the Philosophers Upon this account it is that the Father elsewhere asserts Philosophers to bee the Patriarks of Hereticks and that all Heresies are founded upon and supported by the rules and dictates of Philosophy not that Philosophy and natural Reason is to bee rejected by the Orthodox as of no use nay indeed it is an help to Divinity when in its right place but our Divinity must not bee regulated by Philosophy and our Religion bounded by reason The Orthodox use her as an handmaid to wait but the Heterodox make her a Mistress to seduce 7 The colour of a Revelation is oft times used to set off lying Doctrin When St. Paul saith If an Angel from Heaven Preach any other Gospel let him bee accursed hee intimateth that some might pretend to bring another Gospel from heaven and indeed such there were who broached fictitious Gospels as if they had been divinely inspired Simon Magus pretended himself to bee the Holy Ghost so did Montanus and vented the Dreams of his Whores Priscilla Maximilla and Quintilla for prephecies Indeed Divine Revelation is the proper ground of Faith No wonder if Hereticks that they may gain credit and so seduce the people lay claim to it 8 The Glosse of Scripture is very oft times put upon false opinions by the assertours of them to delude the people In this as St. Hierome well observeth they trace the Devils footsteps who quoted Scripture thereby fondly imagining hee might delude Christ himself Thus the Judaizing false Teachers in the Apostles time made use of the Old Testament Scripture quoting Moses and the Prophets and Irenaeus observeth of the Hereticks of those times that they dealt by the Sacred Writings as a Graver doth by the goodly image of a King which by altering the form hee turneth into the likenesse of a dog or wolf and then affirmeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the lovely image of the King they take the words of Scripture and put upon them their own sense and then say it is Scripture it is so indeed materially but not formally as the metal is the Kings but the stamp is a Wolf so the words are Scripture but the sense the Hereticks 9 To all these I may add the name of a Church is no small bait whereby Hereticks allure and catch the simple in their snares our Saviour tells us what their sayings should bee Lee here is Christ and there is Christ in this conventicle and that meeting by which they withdraw many from the Apostolical assemblies In this respect St. Judes Character of them is that they did separate themselves to wit from the Apostles and which must needs follow they no doubt assumed to themselves the title to the true Church of Christ and thus did the Novatians in St. Cyprians time and the Donatists in St. Augustines time fighting against the Church under the name of the Church By all this wee see how Antichristian hereticks abuse the best things to the worst designs Truth Liberty Tradition Miracles Holinesse Reason Revelation Scripture the Church are all of them of singular concernment and advantage to the Orthodox Christian
things are not taught simultaneously but successively fully but gradually the Disciples themselves were taught by degrees and did not know all things at first nay indeed not exactly at the last it is but a partial knowledge the best have of these all things but yet all those things which conduce to the strengthening us against error and the guiding us in the way of truth are in some though not the same measure taught by this Unction 2 The chief thing here to be discussed is the quality of the act what kind of teaching it is that is here attributed to the Spirit whereof all Christians participate For the better understanding hereof take notice of a double distinction 1 The teaching of this unction is either extraordinary or ordinary that peculiar to some this common to all Christians in reference to the extraordinary teaching it is that St. Gregory saith excellently Ungit Spiritus iste sanctus Citharaedum Psalmistam facit ungit pastorem Prophetam facit ungit Piscatorem praedicatorem facit ungit persecutorem doctorem gentium facit ungit publicanum facit Evangelistam the annoynting of this holy Spirit maketh an Harper so was David a Psalmist a Shepherd so was Amos a Prophet a Fisher-man so was St. Peter a Fisher of men by preaching a Publican so was St. Matthew an Evangelist finally a Persecutor so was St. Paul a Teacher of the Gentiles But it is the ordinary not that peculiar and extraordinary way of teaching which is here intended 2 The ordinary teaching of the Spirit is either external or internal and both these are no doubt included 1 The outward teaching of the Spirit is by the Ministry of the Word and preaching of the Gospel which is contained in the holy Scriptures look as the holy Writings were at first inspired by the Holy Ghost so by them he still teacheth his Church Accordingly it is that all saving truths were dictated by the Spirit to the Pen-men and are fully faithfully delineated in sacred Writ It is a form of sound words every way compleat explicating as Gregory the great saith all the Divine mysteries of Religion and delivering all precepts for Moral practice Quibus quidem duabus partibus omnis nostrae salutis faelicitatis ratio continetur in which two consists the whole doctrine of attaining true happinesse and therefore in this respect this of the Apostle is verified The annoynting teacheth us of all things to wit in the external ministration of the Word 2 Besides this outward there is an inward teaching which the Spirit vouchsafeth to the Church and every true member of it and is here principally aymed at This is that teaching which being the secret work of Gods Spirit is not so visibly discernable the more things are abstracted from sense the more mysterious they are no wonder if it be difficult to apprehend what this teaching is which according to St. Gregory is Allocutio intimae inspirationis an inward inspiration or Spiritual allocution It is a Question much controverted in the Schools how the Angels being Spiritual substances impart their conceptions to one another and surely it is much more hard to know how the Spirit imparts his Divine learning to the soul even they who are thus taught are sure of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that so it is but are not able to unfold the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how it is so And yet that wee may in some measure apprehend what we cannot fully conceive I shall in a few words acquaint you with that notion of this teaching which the Scripture is pleased to give us and accordingly if you ask what this inward teaching is whereof the Apostle speaketh I shall return the answer in the words of the Prophet Jeremy or rather God by the Prophet It is the putting his Law in our inward parts and writing it in our hearts Indeed as we say in general the Scripture is the best interpreter of it self so in this particular the Prophet is the best Commentator on the Apostle and therefore that wee may more clearly understand the one it will bee needful more particularly to comment on the other and let you see what this putting this Law in our inward parts and writing it in our hearts meaneth by which wee shall the better perceive what this teaching is in reference to which I shall lay down a double conclusion 1 That which the Spirit teacheth inwardly is the same with that hee teacheth outwardly and therefore that which he is said to write in the heart of man is no other than that Law which is written in the Book of God As the minde of the Spirit in one parcel agreeth with the minde of the Spirit in another parcel of Holy Writ so the impressions of the Spirit on the soul answer to the dictates of the Spirit in the Scriptures It is very observable that Christ tells his Disciples the Spirit should bring all things to their remembrance as if the chief end of the miraculous descension of the Holy Ghost upon them were not to teach them any new doctrine but to bring to remembrance what Christ had before taught them surely then the inward teaching of this Vnction whereof all Christians participate doth not reveal any new mysteries which are not already delivered in the Word Among other resemblances the Spirits working upon the Soul is said to be a sealing and among other reasons for this because as the seal maketh no stamp upon the wax but what is answerable to that which is upon the seal so whatsoever the Spirit teacheth the heart is answerable to what it teacheth in the Word 2 The inward teaching or writing of the Spirit is the imprinting of Scripture-truths upon the soul Conceive then the soul as the paper the truths revealed in Gods Word as the Letters the Spirit of God as the Scribe and the ayl of his grace as the Inke by which there is an impression made of the letters upon the paper truths upon the soul For the more particular opening hereof know 1 That this teaching is not a naked motion but a real impression not a superficial wetting but a deep soaking Many there are to whom the Spirit vouchsafeth some taste yet never drink a full draught who have some gliding aspects but no direct beams of the Sun of righteousnesse shining on them it is one thing to hear the voyce of the Spirit speaking another to find the Pen of the Spirit writing that teaching which is here meant is such as confirmeth against error and therefore doth not glide off like water but abide like oyl slightly move but strongly work upon the soul 2 That this impression of the Spirits teaching is upon the whole soul more especially the two chief faculties of the soul the Understanding and the Will so much seemeth to be intimated by that double character of the subject the inward parts and the heart which wee finde in the Prophet as of