is waxed gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes have they closed lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and should be converted and healed However the Sower that soweth the Word of God must cast his Seed abroad though he see but little that is good ground and likely to bring forth fruit answerable to his desires Who can tell but the Lord may direct his Word as an Arrow to hit them between the joynts of the Harness though they have armed themselves against it with so much prejudice and resolvedness in their own ways But whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for they are most rebellious Ezek. 2.5 yet shall they know that there hath been a Prophet among them 1. Let me entreat and exhort all such in the fear of God and as they love their own souls Apoc. 2.6 to remember from whence they aâ—e fallen to remember the years that are past and consider what the temper of their souls was then See what the Apostle saith to the Galatians and apply it to your own consciences Gal. 3.13 c. You know how that through much infirmity of the flesh we and other Ministers preached the Gospel to you at the first those Ministers whom you sometimes heard and in whom ye delighted were men subject to the like infirmities with us And yet our temptation which was in our flesh ye despised not nor rejected us and the Gospel for those infirmities but received us even as Angels of God and as those that brought glad tydings of Jesus Christ unto you and did esteem the very feet of them that brought these glad tidings to be so beautiful that if it had been possible to do us good you would even have plucked out your own eyes and given them to us But where is now the blessedness that ye then spake of Is not the Word of God as good as it was then And are we become your enemies because we do tell you the truth and the very same truths that were preached to you then Let me ask of you Do not we preach the same Doctrine and profess the same Faith as they did whom you followed formerly with so much diligence I believe you cannot deny it Or if you think us to be changed this is but like the thoughts of one in a Ship who when he puts off from the Land conceits the Shore to move back from him whereas it is the Ship onely that moves while the Shore remains where it was Your Seducers may possibly suggest such thoughts unto you of whom I may say with the Apostle They zealously affect you but not well they would exclude us that you might affect them Zeal indeed is very useful and commendable while it is rightly imployed vers 18. It is good to be zealously affected alwayes in a good matter But it is a very dangerous thing to be zealously carried forward in a mistake I pray Ask your own consciences I speak this to them that are serious though misguided in their profession Whether your consciences were not in a better frame when you frequented the publick Ordinances then now they are Did not the Word of God rellish better with you so that you esteemed it more then your necessary food Job 23.12 more precious then gold yea then fine gold sweeter also then honey Psal 19.10 and the honey comb Were you not more constant in those family and Closet-duties of which every good Christian makes conscience Had you not a more kindly sense of your sins upon your souls and more child-like sorrow for them Had you not more love to God and his people Apoc. 2.5 Well Remember from whence you are fallen and repent and do your first works And say with them Hos 2.7 I will go and return to my first husband for then it was better with me than now 2. Let me ask you and I pray be serious in answering Where did you first receive the foundation of that light which you so much talk of How came you first to know any thing of God and of the things that appertain to your Salvation Was it not by attending upon that Ministry which you now despise as Antichristian You did not bring this knowledge into the world with you And you could not learn it in private Meetings seeing many of the elder sort of you profess your selves to have had something of the knowledge of God before you frequented these Meetings yea before there were any such Societies for you to joyn with And therefore if you will deal fairly you must acknowledge those sparks to have been kindled in you by the preaching of the Word of God as the means And how can you possibly so far rub all modesty out of your Fore-heads as with such confidence to pronounce that Ministry Antichristian which was the means first to discover the true Christ to you Or do you think your selves to deal ingenuously in setting so soul a foot upon that step which first raised you from the ground and casting away that ladder which helped you up that it may not stand to upbraid you with the help it hath given you Is not this wantonness of spirit and a spiritual fulness which keeps you from hungring and thirsting after the Word of God that makes you loath the Manna of Gods publick Ordinances and to long for flesh of your own fancying Were it not better to acquiesce in our Saviours Judgement in this case Luk. 5.39 No man having drunk old wine straight-way desireth new for he saith The old is better 3. Let me intreat and admonish you not to condemn the Church of England without examination Joh. 7.51 Doth our Law saith Nicodemus judge any man before it hear him and knows what he doth Certainly no good Lawes nor any sober Christian will judg and condemn any person or thing without hearing and considering the matter Let it please you therefore first to be so much your own friends as to take the pains to cast out the leaven of malice and prejudice out of your hearts for these blind the eyes even of the wise that they cannot see that which is most palpable And then lay before you the Doctrine of the Church of England contained in the Creeds which we own in the Catechisms of the Church and in the Articles of our Religion As also the Liturgy of our Church which contains our daily prayers and the manner of administring the Sacraments and performing the other Offices in the Church And compare these with the Confessions and Services of other Churches and see where you finde any Church that is more Orthodox and pure in every respect yea if you finde any thing in it which to a sober and impartial minde doth so much as appear to be contrary to the Scriptures If you would take this pains I should verily expect to see a great number
meaning of the Scriptures as before he delivered his judgment And consequently the appealing to him in this matter is so far from putting an end to all strife that it is the way to continue an endless strife till he hath better Asserted his own authority then ever yet he hath done And therefore we may very reasonably invert this Argument and say that if the appealing to the Pope be not the way to satisfie our saith but rather to make it giddy by running round in these mazes therefore it is not the best way to refer our selves to him as an Arbitrator or Vmpire in those differences that are amongst us about the meaning of some Texts of Scriptures If yet they persist in pleading necessity to draw us to this inconvenience and that without putting it to this reference the suit will never be at an end We answer That as the case is very sad in our Church in regard of these divisions of Reuben so we may well suppose that the evil eye with which they look upon us represents it as much worse then it is when they would draw us to lean upon a broken Reed for fear of falling to rest upon that for the strengthening of our Faith which is not able to uphold it self I mean the Pope's authority and therefore will afford but a sorry support to us Besides when we find that in the Apostles times there was great cause to complain of Multitudes of false Teachers which then were risen up in the Church all which no doubt did pretend to the Patronage of the Scriptures as our Modern Opiniators now do and yet we never hear St. Paul who complains so much of them to appeal to St. Peter who was then alive and able to give a better construction of the Scriptures than those that call themselves his Successors for deciding those controversies and pronouncing who was in the right But he proceeds to cut his way by the Sword of the Spirit Eph. 6 17. which is the Word of God and reckons these Weapons to be mighty through God for pulling down strong Holds 2 Cor. 14.4 5. casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledg of God and bringing into Captivity every thought into the Obedience of Christ Therefore I say Why may not we believe that the same strength is able to do the same works still and that if we be diligent in endeavouring by sound Doctrine Tit. 1.9 Chap. 2 v. 1.8 both to exhort and to convince the gain-sayers and preach the things that becomes sound Doctrine and use sound Speech which cannot reasonably be contradicted that this I say shall be effectual for the discovery of the Truth And that we shall find in the issue that Great is the Truth and stronger than all things that it endureth and is alwayes strong 1 Esdras 4.35 38. and conquereth evermore Whereas Error though it appear boysterous and turbulent for the present yet it shall in the end appear to be weak and yield the Victory unto Truth And though for the present it afford us no small trouble in the Church that men of perverse mindes will not see the plain and true meaning of some Scriptures because they are blinded with prejudice and self-conceit yet do we not think that the onely expedient to remedy this is to turn Papists both because their Pope hath nothing to shew as a Commission for his Vmpirage and therefore we should be never the better for appealing to him and also because we doubt not but the Lord who is pleased to permit these errours for the trial and exercise of our Faith when we have suffered under them as much as he thinks meet for us will without applying our selves to this indirect course stablish 1 Pet. 5.10 strengthen and settle us and â—â—â—ry true member of his Church in the right Faith Rom. 16.20 and that the God of peace will himself tread Satan under our feet shortly I might add to make this up weight the contrary judgements of Popes and Antipopes which have for some time made a great stir in the Church and must needs be a great distraction to the mindes of them that were bound by their Religion to rest upon the judgement of an infallible person when it was so hard to determine which of the two contraries was truly infallible And beside that in the successions in that See there have been divers that have contradicted the judgement of their Predecessors yea we are not certain but that the same Pope may the next year esteem himself infallible in holding that which is quite contrary to what he now doth infallibly determine and these cases must needs puzzle the Faith of those that apply themselves to such a judge as may be subject to such alterations and contrariety But these things have been so fully and excellently managed by far abler hands that I shall content my self with giving a brief hint of them And this I think is sufficient to convince any person of an unbyassed minde That there is neither necessity nor convenience to invite us to refer our selves to the Pope for deciding of controversies about the interpretation of difficult Scriptures But to proceed As there are many places of Scripture which are not easie to be understood so it behooves us both to be industrious in using the means which God affords us for attaining the knowledge of them and withal to be very modest in passing our judgements concerning the meaning of them And indeed it is mostly to be observed that they are most confident of their understanding the darkest places of Scripture that have very little to support this confidence but onely that good Opinion they have thought meet to entertain of their own abilities And as the Moralist saith of moral and natural knowledge Seneca Multi ad scientiam pervenissent nisi putâssent se jam pervenisse Mens confidence that they are in the right hinders them from finding out their errour and seeking after the truth So we may say of spiritual Knowledge that one great thing which keeps many from the knowledge and belief of the truth and locks them up fast in the fetters of errours is that presumption they have taken up that they are in the right and that it is not possible they should be deceived and therefore Though you bray them in a morter yet will not this wisdom depart from them In the interpreting of Scripture it hath alwaies been observed as a general Rule that That interpretation which is nearest to the letter is the safest and most genuine and that The further men go from the letter the more hazzardous path they tread Indeed if the litteral meaning do either contradict our Senses or Reason or be expresly contrary to any other more plain Text or to the analogy of Faith then we must leave the letter and look for another meaning that will not run us upon such inconveniences So
hath made upon the soul Isa 61.2 and to pour in the oyl of Joy and consolation unto them that mourn in Son 12. Prov. 30.1 I may add that some conceive him to be understood by Ithiel and Vcal Ithiel signifieth God with me and so is to the same purpose with Immanuel and may signifie the Union of the Divinity and Humanity in Christ our Mediator Vcal signifieth power and strength and so may note the strength of his humane Nature by virtue of the Hypostatical Union of the Divine Person both to undergo all those sufferings that were to be laid upon it and also to give infinite value to these sufferings that they might make a perfect satisfaction to Gods Justice as I said before and be a sufficient price to purchase Eternal Salvation for us To these I might add divers other names that are given to the Messiah in the Old Testament but these are sufficient and indeed the very name Messiah as it speaks him to be anoynted of God to that threefold Office of Prophet Priest and King to which Offices men used to be set a-part by the ceremony of Vnction so they suppose him to be such a person as should be qualified and made meet for these Offices and to this end it was necessary that he should be God and Man that he might be a middle person between both Having considered his Names Titles let us proceed in the second place to take a view of what the Old Testament speaks of the Offices to which the Messiah was designed by God the Father And there will be the less need to dwell long upon this because I have spoken something of it upon the former Head We commonly believe that Jesus Christ in order to the accomplishing of this great business of our Salvation As he was pleased to stoop so low as to take our Nature into that neer Union with his Divine Person so that he was both truly God of the substance of his Father and truely Man consisting of a reasonable soul and humane flesh So in the hypostatical Union of these two Natures he did perform the office of a Prophet of a Priest and of a King to his Church And that we may see that we neither wrong Christ in imputing that to him which may either be dishonourable or disagreeing to him nor yet our selves or others in entertaining fond and groundless conceits as Articles of our Religion I shall therefore endeavour to shew you that Christ was promised to the Fathers of the Old Testament as one that should undertake and go through with each of these Offices First it was foretold that he should be a Prophet one that should both by his own preaching and the preaching of his Apostles while he was upon the earth and after his Ascension by giving the holy Ghost to his Ministers shew unto us the will of his Father and all things that should be necessary for us to know believe and do in order to our pleasing God in this world and everlasting enjoying of him in the world to come This is evident from that promise which God made by Moses Deut. 18.15 The Lord thy God shall raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me and him shall ye hear in all things to which agrees that voice which came from Heaven Mat. 17.5 in our Saviour's Transfiguration This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him Again the Prophet Isaiah speaking in the person of Christ saith Isa 61.1 2 3. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord And this our Saviour when he was upon earth applyed to himself and told the people that they had then seen that Scripture fulfilled before their eyes Luke 4.18 Secondly that he should be our High-priest one that should do that in reality and substance which was done onely typically by all the Oblations enjoyned in the ceremonial Law that he should offer up an expiatory and propitiatory sacrifice to Gods justice even his own body and thereby make an Atonement for us Surely saith that Evangelical Prophet he hath born our griefs Isa 53.4 5 6. and carried our sorrows He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all And again By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many vers 11. for he shall bear their iniquities And further vers 12. He was numbred with the transgressours and he bare the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressours Of whom the Prophet speaks all this you may hear from St. Philip's exposition of this place to the Eunuch Acts 8.34 35. 1 Pet. 2.22 and from St. Peter's application of it to our Saviour Therefore he is called The Lord our Righteousness Jer. 23.6 and he is said to swallow up death in victory Isa 25.8 and his people are called The ransomed of the Lord Isa 35.10 Thirdly It was foretold that he should be a King not that his Kingdom should be of this World that is after the manner of worldly Kingdoms Joh. 18.36 as the carnal Jews did conceit of which errour himself doth convince them But that he should have such a Kingdom wherein he should Rule his own people as a Shepherd doth his Sheep and his enemies with a rod of Iron so as to restrain their fury against his people to disappoint their devices and to dash in pieces at last those that are his implacable enemies This was foretold by the Prophet Isaiah Isa 40.10 11. Behold the Lord shall come with a strong hand and his arm shall rule for him he shall feed his Flock like a Shepherd he shall gather the lambs in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young And by David Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance Ps 2.8 9. and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession Thou shalt break them with a rod of Iron and dash them in pieces like a potters vessel So again the Prophet Jerem. Jer. 23.5 Behold a King shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgement and righteousness And who is this but he whom he calls in the next verse The Lord our Righteousness To this end he is so often called David Ezek. 37.24 25. and said to sit upon the throne of his father David Not in a literal sense as some conceit as if he should come in person to Reign upon earth and set up his Throne in the same place where
in some things and very careless in others Pals 119.6 Then shall I not be ashamed saith David when I have respect to all thy Commandments This is a good sign of a truely conscientious person when he hath an even and equal respect to every part of Gods Law So to do one as not to leave another undone But on the contrary as in the Body we reckon it a sign of a distempered stomack when the appetite is carried out to an inordinate longing after some sorts of food which is attended with a fastidious nauseating of others so in the soul 't is a sign of a Conscience that is out of order when men are more then necessarily strict and scrupulous in some matters and careless of keeping other commands when men are not careful both to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's Mat. 22.2 and to God the things that are God's 2. Especially if men spend a great deal of Zeal and make a great stir in the World about smaller and less confiderable matters and in the mean time are cool and remiss in matters of greater moment Indeed all Gods Commands are great and the least of them is not to be slighted but as our Saviour speaks of a first and great Commandment Mat. 22.38 and elsewhere of one of the least of his commandments Mat. 5.19 So he makes it a sign of an hypocritical Conscience when men strain at a gnat and swallow a camel Mat. 23.23 24. when they took special care to tythe mint and annis and cummin but neglected the weightier matters of the Law Justice and Mercy and the Love of God So if we see men that had rather kill a good Minister then hear a good Sermon rather pull down the houses of God then come to worship God in them rather starve their Pastour then pay him their Tythes rather cut off a mans head then move their own hat we may very reasonably doubt that 't is no well-informed Conscience that puts them upon spending so much zeal and industry about such trifles and nicityes 3. If men do what they do rather to gratifie their own humours than to please God and benefit his Church Those are truely good works and acceptable to God as proceeding from a right Christian spirit which are the Fruits of pure obedience to Gods Law and done with a true design to please God and to further the good of his Church And therefore if men embrace opinions and crochets in Religion or Heterodox singularities in their practices not so much because they believe them to be acceptable to God but because they suit with their own humours If men are so in love with what they have conceited to be convenient that though themselves cannot but believe and confess it to be an indifferent thing yet they will not depart an hairs breadth from their own humours though their complyance in such things would tend never so much to the peace of the Church and the good of the Community if there be not humour and pride at the bottom of this yet certainly there is but little shew of a well-informed Conscience 4. If men are stiff and zealous in their courses for this end that they may advance their fortunes in the world thereby He that is truely conscientious doth not onely talk much of the glory of God but doth indeed and truth make it his utmost end And therefore if we see men stickle for novel opinions and conceits in Religion and betake themselves to parties and separations and embrace odd kinde of singularities in their lives onely that they may be taken notice of beyond other people by being of another Colour If men plead hard for such things in the advancing of which and opposing the contrary they have greatly promoted their worldly estates though these later may seem to shew somewhat of a grateful spirit towards those things that have been good benefactors to them yet neither sort shew any better Zeal then Demetrius and his crafts-men did in crying out against St. Paul and his Doctrine Act. 19.25 not that they cared so much for the honour of Diana but because by that craft they had their wealth 5. If men spend much Zeal in finding faults with others but little or none in reforming what is amiss in themselves Tiberius in Tacitus observed it to be the temper of men of mutinous spirits Tacitus Annal. l. 3. Accusare tantum vitia deinde cum gloriam ejus rei adepti sint simultates facere They sought for applause and the Title of pious men onely by loud exclamations against the faults of other men and when they had raised their credits amongst the vulgar by these arts then upon this stock they set up a Trade of Faction and Sedition And when we see men spend all their time and zeal in censuring and reviling and scorning at the practices of others while in the mean time they are careless of themselves and neglect to reform what is amiss in their own lives we may conclude that if there be not Sedition to be sure there is little of Conscience at the bottom for the office of Conscience as you have heard is to judge not other mens persons or actions but chiefly and in the first place our own 6. When men avoid and despise the means of Conviction it is a signe that their Consciences are not in right order Every truly conscientious person makes it his earnest desire in the first place not to do amiss and next to this that he may be made sensible of his errors and brought back into the right way when he hath wandred from it And those therefore that make it the first principle which they teach their Disciples to forsake and despise the publick Ordinances for fear lest they should be convinced of the errors which they are running into 1 Sam. 11.2 do make such a Covenant with them as Nahash desired to do with the Children of Israel To thrust out their right eyes and lay it for a reproach upon Israel And they shew that they have rather taken a strong fancy to their own Conceits then that they have a well-informed Conscience and a sincere desire to do as they ought By these and such like Rules we may both try those motions that we find in our own minds whether they proceed from a well-informed Conscience or no And also may give a ghess at those who are about us whether they be in good earnest and well-advised in their large talking of Conscience in their proceedings And that I may prevail with you to lay these things to heart let me add that 'T is a business of great importance to have our judgments well informed in this point and that I shall briefly demonstrate by shewing in two words the great hazzard that men run in entertaining their own fancies or the motions of lust or the suggestions of Satan for motions of Conscience First While men embrace