tells us we ought highly to esteem the salts of the City and the publick table Hither also must we refer the Symbol of Pythagoras salem apponito set on the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laertius in vita Pythag. p. 222. edit Lond. 1664. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reverentia mensae salt by which he would that we should not dissolve friendship because salt preserves every thing from putrefaction and is made of the most pure and liquid things viz. Water and the Sea as Gyraldus observes So salem mensam ne praeterito despise not the salt and table whence the Reverence of the table was put for the law of friendship as Juvenal Claudian Euripides in Hecuba Theccritus in Hyla use it and for that reason the Antients were wont to set it before their Guests before all other meat But I shall end this observation with one antient and one modern testimony of this custom The first is of Origen speaking of Judas In his Comments of St. Matthew the Traytor Neque salis ejusdem neque mensae neque panis communicati memor That he was mindful neither of the same salt nor table nor the bread which our Lord communicated to him The second is of Baron Sigismond who reports the Czar has no greater expressions of his kindness than to send from his table bread and salt idque maximi honoris loco habetur which is esteemed a very great honour which he himself received when Ambassadour both from Maximilian and Ferdinand to Basilius He was also invited to dine with the Prince with these words Sigismunde comedes sal panem nostrum nobiscum Sigismund you shall eat our bread and salt with us And to this custom 't is not unlike but our Lord alludes in these words Have salt in your selves and have peace one with another He had observed that envy and ambition had moved that question vers 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which of them should be the greatest and therefore in order to the latter 't is no wonder he referred to the former of these symbolical qualities I mean that in order unto peace that he referred unto purgation For only by Prov. 13. 10. pride comes contention So that you may please to take this Paraphrase of the words Let the doctrine of the Gospel corrode and eat out all the corruptions of your souls and minds and oblige you to all amity and peaceableness one with another of the latter of which I shall chuse to intreat chiefly and of the former only in order thereunto Where you must not expect a tedious harangue in praise of peace For Quis unquam Herculem vituperavit whoever dispraised it but rather a severe stricture and reflection upon the want of charity in the Christian World with a proposal of some causes of that defect Such as is 1. The non-purgation of all vitious and depraved affections 2. The mistaking the true notion of the Christian Religion 3. The overvaluing of opinions 4. The advancing doctrines which have no good influence upon our lives 5. The taking up the sence of late men without inquiring after the good old paths wherein the Fathers of the first and best Ages walked and such like And if peace was the last Legacy our Lord left us before he dyed and the first blessing with which he did salute us after he rose again how is it that that innocent dove has so many Ages since taken her flight Terram 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reliquit Of old in the multitude of believers Acts 4. 32. there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one heart and one soul and their mutual charities did notam nobis inurere did signalise us saith Tertullian See say they how Christians love one another and are ready to die for one another 'T was Lucian's observation in his peregrinus Vide inquiunt ut invicem se diligunt ut pro alterutro mori sint parati Tertul. who speaking of his imprisonment tells us 't is incredible what zeal and celerity the Christians expressed in visiting and relieving of him in such cases Christians were wont to spare for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing nay they inriched him and assigning the reason hereof he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucian pag. 996. Edit Par. 1615. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Their chief Law-giver perswaded them they would become mutual Brethren So the City Prefect in the passion of Deridiculi causâ Vincentius calls Christians by way of scorn Fratres Brethren But whosoever shall take a view of the Christian Churches from the beginning of the Fourth Century down to this very day must needs suffer some kind of commotion even for Religions sake where he shall find no footsteps of that Primitive charity though it may be now and then a good man in vain calling for it Of old the Church was all one body compacted by the Literae formatae even from the Rhene to Nilus from the Brittish Ocean to and beyond Euphrates but now every little spot of earth has God help us a several Church Catholick Nay ever since the opening of the Springs of Controversies and the determining of unnecessary Questions the Church has suffered a deluge of Opinions and Schisms with which at this day 't is over-run and which is the saddest effect of all since we are become anathema Dum alter alteri anathema esse coepit prope saue nemo est Christi St. Hyl. to one another almost no man is found closely to adhere to Christ The dissentions of Christians are the disgrace of Christianity Witness the woful effects of the Alexandrian controversie wherein we have seen Council condemning Council and one Prelate another Whom would it not grieve to see the Mitre and the Crosier strangely converted into the Helmet and the Partizan and such ingenious cruelties practised upon one another as quite out-did the bloody Pagans So that a Heathen complained Nullae infestae hominibus bestiae ut sunt sibi ferales plerique Christianorum Ammian Marcel No Wolves nor Tygers nor beast of prey are so hurtful to man as very many Christians are to one another What Ingenuous Christian is not troubled to hear Julian bespeaking dissenting Christians Audite me quem Alemanni audierunt Franci i. e. hear me whom the barbarous Nations have heard To hear Marcus Antoninus O Marcomanni O Quadi O Sarmatae tandem alios vobis inquietiores inveni at length I have found some others more seditious and more unquiet than your selves So that a Parisian massacre a Guisian league or a Powder-Treason and that too for Religion's sake the more 's the pity is no great wonder in the World But O tell it not in Gath nor publish it in the 2 Sam. 1. 20. streets of Ascalon lest the Daughters of the Philistins rejoyce lest the Daughters of the uncircumcised triumph The Great Eusebius complained that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the forementioned Alexandrian division caused
the venerable divine doctrine to undergo the impure scorns and ludibries even of the Pagans in the midst of their Theaters And how much Religion suffers in these late days by these means amongst weak men who cannot or will not distinguish betwixt humane passions and divine revelations I need not now remember What devastation the holy house the Sambanite and the fatal pile have they made in the World We have seen Princes unthroned Prelates unchaired and people over run with fire and sword and all for Religion Tantum Relligio potuit suadere malorum For Religion did I say no St. James has better resolved that question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence are wars and fightings are they not from your pleasures by a Metonymy i. e. for the desires of things rather pleasurable than necessary for humane or divine life Divitis hoc vitium est auri nec bella fuere Ex cupiditatibus odia dissidia discordiae seditiones bella na scuntur Ciâ— 1. de Fin. Faginus adstabat cum scyphus ante dapes When men drank in a treen dish there were no wars Our hatred dissensions discords seditions our holy and unholy wars are from our lusts our envy our pride our avarice and our ambition So that a great part of our sufficiency for these things is a cordial endeavour after an universal purity of heart and life And therefore the best Philosophers do frequently discourse of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purgative vertues as necessary to preserve the soul for the knowledge of the most excellent and useful truths For into a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter nor dwell in the body that is subject Wis 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto sin Wickedness is destructive of principles and this notion is agreeable to the sence of all mankind Amongst the Gentiles before a man could be imbued with the discipline of the Eleusinia Sacra or the holy things of the Magna Mater he must by certain degrees and definite intervals of time be purged from the pollutions of this life and the sordes of his sins They had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and at length their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their publick purgations their more recondid their aggregations initiations and then their visions So we read no man could be consummate in the mysteries of Mythra unless having passed through many degrees of punishments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. he present himself holy and unhurt He must go through fire and water hunger and thirst great travels and such like 80 in number First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The lighter then the more laboursome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Candidate is consummate So the Primitive Christians always caused the Via purgativa to precede the via illuminativa from whom the mystical Divines had it So the pretended Dionysius distinguishes the operation of the sacred Mysteries into three actions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divided by their proper rites and seasons purgation initiation and perfection The like we may observe in the whole procedure of the antient Church either concerning such as were to be made Christians or were to be restored to the communion of the faithful and the first must go through the state of Catechumens then of competents before they could be fideles But touching 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their lapsed their discipline was very severe They were to go through 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 four places of punishments which they rarely underwent in less than twelve years So true it is that the wisdom which is from above is first pure then peaceable James 3. 17. The restauration of which Discipline Res Deo gratior absque dubio quam de fides dogmatis subtiliter disputare extra scripturas omnes dissentiâ—ntes ferro flamma prosequi in quo hodie summus pietatis apex ponitur Isa Casaub in the Church would be doubtless more acceptable to God Almighty than our extrascriptural and subtle determinations of Articles of our Faith and the prosecution of all Dissenters with fire and sword which at this day is the height of some mens Religion faith the Great Casaubon Which yet St. Paul places neither in circumcision nor uncircumcision but in the new creature i. e. in faith that works by love or in the keeping of the 1 Cor. 7. 19. Gal. 5. 6. 6. 15. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. commandments of God And which will most evidently appear if we consider that the great end and design of Religion is to entitle us unto and invest us with a Life after Death and a blessed Immortality Now let us consider first what it is that secludes us from that State Saint Paul will tell you it is unrighteousness Galat. 5. 19. Fornication Idolatry Adultery Effeminacy Sodomy Theft Covetousness drunkenness Reviling Extortion Vncleanness Lasciviousness Witchraft Hatred Variance emulation Wrath strife Sedition Heresies Envyings Murthers Revellings and such like I have told you before and I tell you again saith the Apostle That they that do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God What is it then that admits into that Kingdom our Lord will answer that question How readest thou saith he to Lukâ— 10. 26. the Lawyer who had asked him what he must do to inherit Eternal life Thus I read Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart c. which is no otherwise exemplified than by keeping his Commands and thy Neighbour as thy self this do and thou shalt live saith Christ Herein also did the antient Church place the Essence of Christian Religion whereof I will give you assurance from Witnesses Domestick and Forreign J. Martyr If you shall observe any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 J. M. 2. Apolog. to live not as our Lord hath taught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let all the World know they are no Christians although they make never such Orthodox Confessions of their Faith So Athenagoras No Christian is a wicked man unless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athen. leg he be such an one as doth dissemble his profession So Tertullian You would have us renounce the name of Christian we are excluded if our lives be as the lives Excludimur si faâ—i mus quae faciunt non Christiani of such as are not Christians And upbraiding to the Gentiles that their Prisons Mines and Beasts were daily cloyed with Malefactors he tells them There is not a Christian amongst them Nemo illic Christianus nisi planè tantùm Christianus aut si aliud jam non Christianus unless he be there for his Christianity only for if he be upon any other account he is no Christian And again You will say even some of ours do swerve from the Rule of our Discipline then they cease to be accounted
mesme aux plus simples de juger si le Ministere sous le quel nous vivons peut conduire au salut per conséquent si nostre Societe est la veritable Eglise and therefore introduce their divine notions like Homer's Deities always cloathed with Cloud They represent our Lord as another Sphynx that they might be reputed the only Oedipus's in the World but can we think that he who was disclosed from the bosom of that God who dwells in inaccessible light he whose name is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the East or the Morning he who is the Sun of Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true and genuine Light who was cloath'd with Light upon Mount Tabor and in that Garment appeared unto the persecuting Saul he who brought Life and Immortality to light and whose Disciples are the light of the World that he discourses Aenigmata Mysteries and Darkness We find him in his famous Sermon upon a Mountain indeed but below the Clouds Can we think it that that God who appeared in a pillar of Fire under the Oeconomy of Moses appears only in a pillar of Cloud under the dispensation of Christ Is there no light in the Sun that fountain of Light because the blind man doth not see it No no to the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according Esay 8. 20. to this word it is because there is no light in them Tell me not there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Pet. 3. 16. Homil. 3. in 2. Thess some things hard to be understood St. Chrysostom solves that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all necessaries are clear and manifest So Hilary Almighty God doth not Non per difficiles nos Deus ad beatam vitam quaestiones vocat nec multiplici eloquentis facundiae genere solicitat In absoluto nobis ac facili est aeternitas Jesum suscitatum à mortuis per Deum credere ipsum esse dominum confitâ—ri De Trinitat lib. 10. p. 231. Am. Marcel 21 Religionem Christianam absolutam simplicem anili superstitione confundâ—ns 1 Tim. 6. 3. Tit. 1. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat id quo tenditur Grotius in loc In id enim datur fides cognitio ut piè vivatur invite us to a blessed Immortality by hard questions nor doth he sollicit us with any great variety of a copious Eloquence but propounds Eternity to us upon plain and intelligible terms when this is all even to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead by God and to confess him to be the Lord. And a heathen Historian doth complain of Constantius That he did perplex the Christian Religion a Religion plain and intelligible enough with superstition and dotage For in the first and best Ages of the Church Religion did not consist of Systems of abstruse and difficult Speculations nor dry and barren Opinions but there was a special care had that their Theological notions were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as tended to a vertuous and pious life and did not directly contradict the conditions of that Covenant by which we claim eternal happiness such as are the fatal pre-determinations of mens eternal states and the servitude of humane minds which pair of Dogmata like Hippocrates his Twins laugh and cry live and die together If there be any that are vertuous and consequently happy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naturally and fatally such Such an one I would esteem an Hero sprung ex stirpe Deorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You 'd think him not born of Mortal parents but to be of divine extraction But that a Good and Righteous God hath decreed from all Eternity to bring into being innumerable myriads of Souls who let them do what they will and can are irreversibly determined to unspeakable torments so great and so exceeding that all the racks and tortures the witty cruelties of enraged Tyrants could ever invent or execute would be ease and pleasure in comparison of them and that these pangs should remain fresh upon them for ever and for ever this saith a learned and pious person Videsis Myst of Godl 〈◊〉 c. 2. is the representation of that sowr Dogma which he justly accuses of being contradictious to Reason and blasphemous of God and after tells you a great truth That the serious and imperious obtrusion of such a dismal conceit as this for one of the greatest Arcanums of Religion is enough to make the free spirit and over inclinable to prophaneness to question the whole frame of it And that this should be done by men who pretend they would advance vertue piety and probâ—â—y in the World is a great argument that they So Suetonius tells us of Nero he was Religionum negligentior quia persuasionis plenus cuncta fato agi Ac vide seculi furores Certamina Allabrogica de stoica necessitate tanta sunt ut carceri inclusus sit quidam qui à Zenone dissentit saith Melancthon to Joach Camerarius Ep. 796 p. 923. The same Melancthon to Gaspar Peucer relating the same passage cries out O rem miseram doctrina salutaris obscuratur peregrinis disputationib us understand not the consequence of their own Dogmata so well as the Tragedian did Solvite mortales animos curisque levate Totque supervacuis animuÌ„ deplete querelis Fata regunt orbem certâ stant omnia lege Cast away your cares and forbear your fruitless complaining for Fate governs the World and nothing can fall out otherwise than it does And to introduce the Servitude of humane minds doth necessarily subvert all Law Discipline and Religion the sum whereof is contained in the Precepts of Obedience the Promises of Rewards and the Threatnings of Punishments but he that acts from an inevitable necessity is uncapable of a commandement that which could not be otherwise neither merits the praise of obedience nor the reproach of disobedience We praise not the Sun that he rises upon us and spreads his comfortable beams in our hemisphere nor the Clouds that they drop fatness We know they can do no otherwise 'T is so with Man under these Adamantine bonds of Fate â—â—ud est nocens quicunque non sponte est nocens And now could I account for the Degeneracy of Christendom from any other cause I would have considered no other Opinions When I look into the Roman Communion the multitude of their Indulgences and Pardons their slight and superficial Penances their easie Promises of security to careless sinners must needs be acceptable to such a kind of people as have a mind to enjoy this World as well as that to come and so that part of the wonder ceases But Iliacos intra muros peccatur extra The Reformation is faulty too which makes me think some bad doctrines do too much influence their lives Such as De Justitia Christi imputata nobis quasi eam omnem praestitissemus dc fide quae illam justitiam
Christians amongst Desinunt tum Christiani haberi apud nos Apol. Haec non admittet omnino qui natus à Deo fuerit non futurus Dei filius si admiseâ—it Devestro numero carcer exaestuat Christianus ibi nullus nisi aut reus sua c. us And in another Treatise having enumerated very many of the works of the Flesh he says He that is born of God will by no means commit these things for if he should commit them he would be no longer the son of God So Minucius Felix Your Prisons are crowded with your own number but not a Christian amongst them nisi aut reus suae Religionis aut profugus unless guilty only of his Religion or a Runagado from it So Lucian in his Peregrinus tells us They worshipped their crucified Sophist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. 97. and lived according to his Laws So Pliny to Trajan tells us speaking of Christians They were wont to convene on a set day before it was light and there Carmen Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem Ne furta ne latrocinia ne adulteria committerent ne fidem fallerent ne depositum appellati abnegarent Ad capiendum â—ibum premiscuum tamen innoxium Mic. 6. 8. James 1. 27. to sing alternatly an Hymn to Christ as if he were God and to bind themselves by oath to no wickedness but that they would commit no Thefts nor Robberies nor Adulteries nor break their faith nor betray their trust which done they were wont to depart and to meet again to eat bread in common but very innocently Agreeably hereunto doth the Prophet Micah reduce Religion to Righteousness Mercy and an humble Piety and Saint James places true and genuine Religion in Beneficence and Purity of life So that if Christians will contend as such there remains to them only a laudable Ambition to excel in Meekness and Humility in Mercy and Charity in Purity and Peaceableness and not in multiplying Articles of Faith and then like foolish Builders making all of them of the foundation whereof St. Hilary doth gravely complain to Constantius That after the Councel of Nice Christians did Conscii nobis invicem sumus post Niceni Conventus Synodum nihil aliud quam fidem scribi little else but write Creeds Nor in determining fruitless and indeterminable Questions which all Christendom may truly say is Fundus nostrae Calamitatis the Ground of all our Schisms and Divisions Had the Tridentine Fathers had a right notion of Christianity they would have spared their Anathemata and Geneva their Fires and Dort their Wagons had they considered that such and only such Articles are necessary without the explicit knowledge of which we could not perform the conditions of the new Covenant That is Believe in God and Christ and observe their Precepts this entitles us to the Promises They would rather have spent their Zeal in preaching The worthy Author of Causes of the decays of Christian piety hath one chapter of the mischiefs arising from disputes St. Paul's Doctrine of Repentance from dead works and the exercise of Charity For I would the Proud Disputer and the whole Polemick Rabble should know that necessary Articles are neither many nor obscure Not many How succinct was that Creed upon which our Lord built his Church We believe and are sure that Matth. 16. 19. thou art the Son of the living God and this was Marthas Creed and Salvation John 11. 27. was particularly promised to it This was the end of writing St. John's Gospel that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that John 20. 31. believing we might have life through his name That Jesus Christ was the Son of Acts 8. 37. God was the Eunuchs Creed So St. Paul Rom. 10. 8 9. This is the word of Faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved And this simplicity did the antient Church retain Irenaeus who when he had recited that Creed which then was not so long as now it is adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not the most eloquent of all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deminorabit traditionem Iren. l. 1. 23. Prelats in the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 believes any more and the most simple Ideot believes no less the Faith being one and the same They who have the greatest plenty of words do not exceed it and they who have the fewest do not diminish it So Tertullian tells us the Rule of Faith is only one stable and unalterable Regula fidei una omnino est sola immobilis irreformabilis Arbitratur Rex rerum absolute necessariarum ad salutem non magnum esse numerum So that it is no wonder that excellent Prince in his Answer to Perrone thinks the number of things necessary to Salvation is not very great And further his Majesty thought there was no more expedite way to Peace than diligently to seperate Necessaries from Non-necessaries and that we might all agree in Necessaries in non necessariis Libertati Christianae locus detur in unnecessary Articles let Christian liberty take place The King further says That if we made use of this distinction for deciding of Controversies Videsis responsionem ad Epist Card. Per. Londini 1612 at this day there would be neither long nor fierce Contention amongst Pious and Modest men about Articles absolutely necessary Nam pauca illa sunt ferè ex aequo ab omnibus probantur i. e. That they are both few and upon the matter receiv'd by all who would be accounted Christians Nay that learned and pacifick King doth so much value this distinction for the lessening of Controversies which excercise Gods Church that he judges it the Duty of all that are studious of Peace diligentissimè hanc explicare urgere docere most diligently to explicate urge and teach it And this is but the breathing of that Spirit which influenced the first and best Ages of the Church How else shall we understand Justin Martyr who answering that objection of Trypho That Christ should be God before the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 World was and be made man and be born and yet not be born according to the manner of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. saith Trypho it seems to me not only incredible but also foolish The holy man answers If I cannot demonstrate that he did pre-exist the Son of him that made the Vniverse and was a Man born of a Virgin herein only 't was sit to say I was mistaken but not to deny that he was the Christ if it should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Videsis Just Mart. p. 63. Edit R. Steph. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril p. 101. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appear that he was a Man born according to the manner of men and