Certainty of all the doctrines of the Gospel may be discover'd yea and demonstrated to the minds of those who are fitted and prepared for it but still the Efficacy of sundry Evangelical Truths is kept secret from some persons for a time and some of them are of that quality that they will ever surmount and baffle the utmost efforrs of our Intellectual Powers In another place Col. 2. 2. the Apostle mentions the mystery of God and of the Father or rather it should be rendred even of the Father and of Christ that is the Gospel or the Christian Religion wherein God the First Person in the Glorious Trinity is declar'd to be the Father of Christ and Christ the Second Person is declared to be the Eternal Son of God and God himself These and the like Fundamental Principles of Christianity are Dark and Mysterious and because of these Sublime Truths Christianity it self hath the name of Mystery given to it If there were no other place in the New Testament but this where the word mystery is found it could not create wonder that the Socinians even for the sake of this alone contend that Christianity is not simply and absolutely call'd a Mystery in Scripture for here the Godhead of Christ as well as of the Father is asserted for the word God is attributed to both Persons God even the Father and Christ being the same with God who is both Father and Christ and consequently if they deny Christ to be very God as they do they must deny the Father to be so too I proceed to another Text in the same Epistle Col. 4. 3. whence it is manifest that in the stile and idiom of the New Testament the Gospel or Christianity hath the name of a Mystery for the Apostle expresly calls it the mystery of Christ the same with the mystery of the Gospel in the place before mention'd and he requests the Prayers of the Colossians for him that God would open unto him a door of utterance to speak this Mystery of Christ i.e. freely and openly to preach the Gospel as appears further from what follows next for which I am in bonds that is a Sufferer a Prisoner for my preaching the Truâ—hs of the Gospel So that it is impoâ—sible whatever is suggested to the contrary to understand the word here any otherwise than of the doâ—trine of the Gospel as it was then preach'd by this Apostle this is Mysterious and Hidden and in many things Inexplicable So again in 1 Tim. 3. 9. by the mystery of the faith which the Ministers and Officers of the Church are exhorted to hold i.e. to defend and maintain must needs be meant the Evangelical Truths and Doctrines The holding the mystery of the faith is the same here with holding fast the form of sound words 2 Tim. 1. 13. that is the Articles of the Christian Faith the doctrines of the Gospel And lastly in that Text on which I found the present Discourse Religion is call'd the Mystery of Godliness for immediately after the Apostle had made mention of the Truth which is held forth as on a Pillar in the Christian Church he assigns some of the greatest and fairest branches of it and in order to that acquaints us that we may the better know the true nature of them that they are a Mystery and that not with relation to the ages and generations before the Gospel but to the present Mysteriousness of this Sacred Institution for by consulting the Context you will find that the words are spoken Absolutely and Entirely without any respect to the past times of the world under Iudaism or Gentilism They represent to us the condition of Christianity as it is at this day and as it is in it self consider'd And so this and all the other Texts that I last mention'd are a baffle to what some late Advocates of Socinianism pretend to prove viz. that in the New Testament the word Mystery is always used to signifie something that is intelligible and clear in it self and in its own nature but clouded with figurative and mystical words but never to denote a thing that is dark and unconceivable in it self The contrary is plain and evident from the fore-cited Texts and every unprejudiced man that duly scans them must needs acknowledge that Christianity is there call'd a Mystery not in regard of what it was but what it is It is true there are some other Texts in the New Testament where the word Mystery is mention'd but it hath there no relation at all to the present Matter viz. the Gospel or Christianity in it self consider'd Thus in Rom. 11. 25. the General and Final Conversion of the Iews in the last ages of the world is call'd a Mystery In 1 Cor. 13. 2. mysteries is a general word for all matters of knowledge that are abstruse and dark and it refers more particularly to the knowledge of future things for to know all mysteries seems to be explicatory of the foregoing phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have a gift of Prophesying that is foretelling and declaring things to come as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken in the preceding chapter v. 10. In 1 Cor. 14. 2. mysteries is a large and extensive term and used by the Apostle to signifie those divine doctrines which are mysterious and difficult but it is not particularly applied by him and therefore I have not made use of it In 1 Cor. 15. 51. it is restrain'd to a particular Truth which was unknown to the Corinthians at that time but St. Paul reveals it to them behold saith he I shew you a mystery viz. this that we shall not all sleep those that are alive at at Christ's Coming shall not die after the manner of all other men but we shall all be changed they shall undergo such an alteration that their corruptible state shall be chang'd into that which is incorruptible and immortal The Conjugal State is said to be a mystery â—ph 5. 32. because it shadows forth the Union of Christ and the Church as the Sacraments were stiled Mysteries by the Ancient Writers of the Church because they were a Representation of so great a thing as Christ's Body Mystery is applied in the Revelation chap. 1. v. 20. and chap. 17. v. 7. to particular Visions and Revelations which had a mystical and spiritual meaning in them In Rev. 10. 7. the mystery of God is said to be finish'd or fulfilled for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is meant of the Glorious and Flourishing state of the Christian Church in the last times of the world which hath been kept as a Mystery from the generality of men but when the Seventh Angel sounds his Trumpet then as we are there assur'd that Mystery shall actually be accomplish'd and fulfill'd But none of these Texts refer to our present Matter as any Understanding Reader may perceive only I thought fit to produce them that they might
This is the Christian Truth Our singular Glory whereby We are distinguished from all those who profess any other Religions whatsoever whether of the Unbelieving Iews or the Idolatrous Gentiles or the Deluded Saracens and Turks or downright Atheists and others of a like Perverse Perswasion These all Err especially the three first Ranks of Men by not knowing or not imbracing the Scriptures which are deservedly stiled The Word of Truth and are the only supreme Rule of Faith and Doctrin We then who imbrace this Christian Rule are Blessed with that Institution which is Pure and Undefiled which is grounded on undoubted Revelation which is backed by a more sure Word of Prophecy which hath a divine Impress stamped upon it So that Our Religion as far surmounts all Others as the Gold which hath passed the Refiners Fire and hath the Royal Stamp upon it outbids the common Ore and shames its Dross and meaner Alloy You see then which are the unalterable Standards of Truth viz. Reason and Revelation the Light of Nature and of Scripture And I dare confidently aver that if our Enquiries and Determinations in Religion were faithfully managed by these two it were impossible to fail of Truth If we would but act thus as Men and Christians and that is as we ought to do we cannot miss of it For it is certainly the Purchase of all those who make a right Use of their Rational Powers and also help and direct those Powers by the Revelation of the Sacred Spirit in the Holy Scriptures By these two we may examine the Truth of the Whole Christian Religion and we shall find that it will abide the Test. By these Standards of Truth we may examine the Doctrins of all Seducers that are abroad in the World and we shall find them to be False and Adulterate If we would sincerely follow these Rules the great Diversity of Opinions and Sentiments amongst us would soon be reconciled If we would faithfully take these Measures i.e. always be Ruled and Conducted by Reason and Scripture we should easily agree upon what is to be believed and asserted in Religion and all our Disputes and Controversies would vanish Now from what hath been hitherto Discoursed we may in some good measure be able not only to return an Answer to Pilates Question What is Truth but to another near a kin to it viz. What is Error and Falshood All Propositions which contradict the common Notices and first Principles in our Minds and which affront right Reason and the plain Deductions made from it are to be looked upon as False And on the same account those Assertions which overthrow the Verdict of our Senses and much more those that imply Contradictions in them and consequently Impossibilities cannot be True And on These Grounds I might shew that the Divinity of some High-flown Enthusiasts and the Doctrin of the Roman Catholicks concerning Transubstantiation are justly to be impeached of Falshood Again whatsoever Assertions in any Religion are repugnant to Divine Revelation to God's Will declared by some Positive Law to such Discoveries as are known to be immediately from Heaven these must necessarily be False And on this Ground the Religion of the Pagans Iews and Mahometans must be voted to be such because they oppose an Infallible Revelation and That confirmed by unparallelled Miracles And semblably in Christianity all those Tenents of several Sects which bid defiance to any part of the Sacred Scripture which is left us by the Holy Ghost as the generality of the Roman Opinions the Doctrins of Pelagians Socinians Anabaptists Antinomians Libertines Quakers Hobbians c. are False and Erroneous Thus far then by vertue of the Premises we have advanced that when there are several Claims and Pretences to Truth and it is enquired What Judge shall decide the Controversy the Answer must be That Right Reason and Inspired Scripture are the only Judges they being the fixed Standards and Measures of Truth But then here will lie the main Difficulty of all that in the Questions and Debates of Religion Scripture is quoted with equal Vigor and Confidence on all Sides as if what the Iewish Rabbies say of Scripture That it hath Seventy-two Faces were the received Opinion of Christians Nay some of these seem to acknowledge by their strange way of Interpreting it That it hath not only different but contrary Aspects When therefore there are Disputes about Scripture-Interpretation What must we do How can we discern what is Truth by Consulting of Scripture when as that is Dubious and Uncertain If contrary Sects and Parties quote it and plead it how can it be a fixed Standard of Truth How is it an unerring Guide It might suffice to say in General That it is no wonder that all Opinionists even the Wildest of them make use of Scripture yea a great Part of the Turks Alcoran is express Words of the Bible It is no wonder I say since Scripture was quoted by Satan himself who when he Tempted our Saviour misapplied it to the vilest Purpose But particularly to satisfie this Great and Affrighting Difficulty we may inform our selves that in Religion there are Five Sorts of Enquiries and Doctrines Now I will briefly shew how Scripture is to be made use of and when it is fit to Apply it to any of these Particulars I. Some Points of our Religion are in themselves Mystical and Profound and the Sacred Writings having not Explained them it cannot be expected that we should ever do it Such Difficult and Sublime Doctrines as the Mystery of the Sacred Trinity i.e. a Trinity of Divine Persons in the Unity of the Godhead the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in One Person the Manner of the Resurrection and the like are not to be throughly known by us as long as we sojourn on Earth These are like the Book in the Revelation which none is able to open in Heaven or in Earth but the Lamb. And seeing he is not pleased to Unfold them to us we must Admire and Adore them but not be sollicitous to Comprehend them We are to remember this that some Things must be believed on the mere Authority of the Speaker and it argues Infidelity to question the Truth of them or so much as to be Inquisitive about them The Things are spoken by God therefore we ought to give Credit to them The Manner and Circumstances of them are not discovered therefore I 'm obliged not to pry into them This was the Sense and Practice of the Primitive Christians as we may learn from Origen who tells us That the believing some Articles of Faith on the bare Authority of the Scriptures was objected to the Christians by the Heathens Their Complaint against them was That they would neither give nor receive a Reason of their Faith but were wont to cry out Examine not but believe Here likewise I may rank some Insuperable Problems concerning the Divine Decrees and Predestination the Abstruseness of which forbids
hear Persons of different Judgments cite the same Passages of Holy Writ should not give Offence to any Because that Trumpet gives an uncertain Sound I see no reason why the Parties should prepare themselves for Battle and Dispute with so much Fierceness and Rage as generally they do I cannot sufficiently Admire and Commend the excellent Candor and Moderation of the first Pious Reformers of Our Church who in such Articles as are Dubious and Disputable have not shewed themselves Stiff and Peremptory Rigid and Magisterial have not wound up the Strings too high lest they should marr the Harmony and Peace of the Church But where the Arguments are deemed to be Equal on both Sides they have allowed us an ingenuous Freedom and permit us to make use of our own Judgments and yet at the same time severely and indispensably urge upon us all Articles that are of the Foundation and which are certainly known to be True And this brings me to the Fifth and Last Rank of Principles in our Holy Religion and they are Fundamental and Necessary and of the very Essence of Christianity Of which sort are the Doctrines of Man's Corruption and Degeneracy of the Reparation made by Christ the Redeemer of Forgiveness and Justification by his Blood c. with all those substantial Articles of Faith comprised in the Creed which goes under the Name of the Apostles These are the Christian Verities and these are clear and manifest in God's Word and have plain Evidence of Scripture and are agreed upon by all Sober and Considerate Persons who have not renounced the Christian Profession Here it is that we have the greatest Use and Guidance of Scripture and for that plain Direction which it gives us in these we are to Prize and Value it as the Richest Treasure nay as the Only Treasure in the World For from this Inspired Book alone we have these Heavenly and Divine Doctrines they were originally in no other Writings in the World but these Wherefore let us look upon these grand Truths as the main and necessary Contents of the Bible and as the Matters which we are indispensably concerned in As for those Texts which are Obscure and Difficult or which relate not to Faith or Manners and consequently are not necessary to be known let us not be displeased that we cannot reach the meaning of them Let it not seem strange that Interpreters vary here and cannot agree about the Sense of these Places St. Ierom upon the Place saith thus St. Augustin otherwise and St. Chrisostom varies from both and it may be a fourth differs from these and a fifth comes and diffents from them all This doth not offend me in the least for where the Scripture speaks of things that are Abstruse or speaks in an obscure and dark manner it is not strange that we have not a clear and plain discovery of those Passages and consequently that those Writers who have treated of them differ in their Expositions Let not this trouble us for it was God's Will there should be these Difficulties in Scripture and he hath not made it necessary for us to have the certain sense and meaning of these Places But this should satisfy us that whatever is necessary to Salvation is plainly revealed declared and written in the Old and New Testament and that the Knowledge of this alone is absolutely necessary This then is that which I say that if Christian Men would read the Bible to learn thence these undoubted Principles and their indispensable Duty and not to furnish themselves with Matter of Dispute they would be the happiest People under Heaven and be no longer Scandalous to the greater which is the Unbelieving Part of the World by their Dissentions and Disagreements O when will that Blessed Day come when Rectified and Unbiassed Reason and the plain Arbitrement of Scripture shall decide the Controversies in Christendom If these were once admitted as Impartial Umpires they would make short Work of all the Quarrels about Religion namely by pronouncing Many of them to be vain Janglings and Most of them Unreasonable and Absurd by assuring the Christian World That if they would lay aside Prejudice and Interest and Vile-Affections nothing would appear so Clear and Evident and Undisputable as the Fundamental Doctrines above-named and that all who name the Name of Christ are obliged to Embrace and Profess these necessary and unquestionable Maxims and that they ought to be Wary and Modest in their Determinations concerning other Propositions which are uncertain and that in Matters which are Indifferent and Circumstantial it is Reasonable that they should either conform themselves to the Practice of the Church they live in or mutually agree to bear with one another Where then is there any place left for Uncharitable Disputes and Unchristian Animosities No where certainly but where meer Wilfulness and Perversness reign For are not the Rules and Standards of Truth Easy and Intelligible Have we not the Eternal Laws of Reason the immediate Directions of Nature and the Convictions of our own Minds and moreover have we not the Infallible Oracles and Inspired Writings to rectify our Mistakes Have we not Heavenly and Divine Knowledge to Exalt our Natural Notions Hath not the Divine Goodness blessed us with abundant Discoveries both from the Law of Nature and the Positive Laws of Christ Jesus but more especially from the Latter that compleat Body of Divine Laws that Authentick Volume of Religion that Inestimable Treasury of true Wisdom and Knowlege So that if we will sincerely make use of these Helps which God hath given us we shall have no occasion to renew this Demand What is Truth Now to the God of Truth and Father of Lights and to his Son Christ Iesus who is the Way and the Truth and to the Holy Spirit of Truth and Grace be ascribed everlasting Honour and Glory Amen Why Rulers and Iudges are called Gods A Sermon Preach'd before the Iudges at the Assizes held at Cambridge PSALM LXXXII 6 7. I have said Ye are Gods and all of you are the Children of the most High But ye shall die like Men and fall like one of the Princes THIS Psalm may not unfitly be stiled the Iudges or Magistrates Psalm for of them it speaks and for them it was Penn'd that they might understand their Duty and not be ignorant of their Dignity that they might know how to discharge their Office which is briefly summed up in the third and fourth Verses and that they might be assured likewise that Heaven it self hath vouched their Function and authorized their Profession that they might be Ascertained that those of their Eminent Rank and Quality are under the peculiar Influence of Providence that they are God's Charge and that they are themselves Gods I have said Ye are Gods In which Words and the following ones which I have read to you we may take notice of these Two General Parts viz. a Concession and a Correction 1st An honourable Concession of
properly Studying And certainly this is of singular Use we cannot more effectually fit our selves for our Great and Important Work that we are call'd to than by serious and sober Reflections on our Minds by Sifting and Examining our Notions and observing what Conformity they bear to our Unprejudiced Faculties by being intimately acquainted with our Thoughts and exercising our selves to a familiarity with Rational and Solid Principles and by causing them to bring their utmost Aids to Support and Maintain the Articles of Christianity Our Reading will be of little use without this for it is by Pondering on the things that we have Read and by Comparing them among themselves that we are able to digest our Notions and to arrive to the true Understanding of Matters propounded to us The Royal Psalmist's Experiment concerning himself is worthy of our Observation I have more understanding saith he than all my Teachers for thy Testimonies are my Meditation Psal. cxix 99. I find a mighty Increase and advance in Divine Knowledge because I use my self to a serious Contemplation on those Heavenly and Sublime Truths and thereby I am capable of penetrating into the profound Nature of them and to discern those wonderful things in them which are hid from others We may take notice that after many seasonable Instructions and Precepts given by St. Paul to Timothy his Faithful Assistant in the Work of the Gospel he adjoins this which is of as great use as any of the rest Meditate upon these things 1 Tim. iv 15. And so again after several Pious Admonitions and Exhortations he adds Consider what I say 2 Tim. ii 7. Which Advice reaches all of Timothy's Character and is as much as if he had said Revolve these things often in your Minds and let this Charge which I leave with you be continually in your Thoughts Accustom your selves to Thinking and know that it is the part of a Christian as well as of a Man but especially it is an indispensable Qualification in a Publick Instructer in one that is to Amend and Rectifie the Sentiments of Mankind If therefore we are desirous to attain to any Improvement and Excellency in our Ministry we must not herd with the Crowd but retire from it and hold converse with our own Minds and thereby Teach and Instruct our selves and so we shall be fit to do the same to others Which is the next thing I shall treat of Fourthly Another way whereby we are to Edify the Church and Excel in it is the Office of Preaching or as the Apostle stiles it Prophesying He gives this the Precedence to all the other Gifts which he mentions either in this or the Twelfth Chapter of this Epistle Covet earnestly spiritual Gifts but rather that ye may Prophesy This is that Endowment which according to him makes most for the perfecting of the Saints for the Work of the Ministry and for the Edifying of the Body of Christ. which Character shews it to be this Gift which I'm now to speak of This is a Complicate Office and contains many Excellent things in it as first the Informing of Mens Judgments and setting them into Right Apprehensions concerning things in Religion The Leading Requisite as I conceive in a Preacher is Orthodoxy He is to be one that owns those Principles and Articles of Faith which have been always profess'd by the Universal Church Let us not assume the Title of Protestants and yet reject some of the Great Heads of Divinity which are acknowledg'd by all Sober Persons of the Reformation Let us not say we are of the Church of England and yet deny some of the Chief Doctrines contain'd in her Articles Let us not profess our selves to be Ministers of the Word and yet renounce those Truths which are formally contain'd in it or are according to it For either Express words of Scripture or Natural and Plain Consequences from it are to be the Standards of that Doctrin which we deliver It is required of us not only to Establish Truth but to Detect and Confute Falshood and Heresy therein following the Example of those Great Men Irenaeus Epiphanius Augustin Theodoret. And truly this is become necessary in this Extravagant Age where so many Wild Notions are entertain'd and so many Old Errors revived The Christian Structure cannot but be expos'd to great Hazards and Dangers when its Foundations are Undermined by some and its Superstructure hath continual Batteries made against it by others In such Circumstances how Careful and Watchful should we be How Vigorously and Concernedly should we act Like those Builders at the Restauration of the Iews with a Trowel in one hand and a Sword in the other We must be in a Defensive and Offensive Posture at once securing and maintaining the Apostolical Faith and grappling with the Opposers of it at the same time But yet I must insert this Caution That we ought carefully to avoid all Unnecessary Disputes for nothing is more unbecoming a Preacher of the Gospel and nothing doth more hinder the Success of his Ministry Accordingly we may observe That the Doctrines which minister questions are opposed to Godly edifying â— Tim. l. 4. We shall effect but little in our Employment if we indulge Controversies and delight in Quarrels and promote Intricacies and Perplexities in Religion Our task is to avoid these with all care and to entertain our Hearers with the Necessary Doctrines of Christianity such as depend not on the fallible Deductions of Men but are fixed and unmoveable founded on the Holy Oracles and deliver'd by Christ Jesus and his Apostles Again a Minister and Guide of Souls is not only to rectifie Mens Judgments and to settle them in the Necessary Articles of Religion but further it is required of him that he take care of their Lives and Manners For though True Notions of Religion and Godliness are to lead the way yet to make a Man Absolute and Complete there must be Uprightness of Life Nay indeed unless this latter be look'd after the former will soon decay By Unholiness and Wickedness we see oftentimes that Men Hazard their Principles If the Practice be Debauch'd if the Life be Impure if the Manners be depraved there will be a Corruption in the Judgment Therefore we that are Dispensers of the Word ought to be as concern'd for Practical Religion as for Truth of Doctrin We ought not only to Instruct our Hearers in Right Principles but with all freedom to reprove their Sins and Vices and pathetically to Exhort and Perswade them to all Vertue and Goodness remembring always that a Holy and Exemplary Conversation is the True Edifying of the Church yea 't is the very Top-stone of the Building It is not meer Speculation or bare Discourse that will atchieve this great Work This is as if a Man should undertake to Build a House by Contriving it in his Head or by Talking of it It is the utmost Perfection of a Christian to Live according to his Excellent
as the One thing Necessary in Religion and assure their Proselytes that this alone is sufficient to conduct them to Eternal Happiness Which is not unlike the Attempt of those late Iesuites who would teach the people of China and Siam the way to Heaven by the Mathematicks These men whom I am speaking of pretend to effect every thing in Christianity and to climb Heaven it self by meer Natural Strength and Humane Accomplishments as appears from the express words of the Racovian Catechism That there is no need of the inward gift of the Holy Spirit that we may believe the Gospel no not at all They have another way of Believing viz. by a strength of their own by the natural conduct and improvement of their Faculties And if True Faith then such a Knowledge as accompanies Salvation is to be acquir'd after the same manner and no other for a man need not be beholding to the Holy Spirit for it It is no wonder that those who talk thus find no Mysteries in Christianity 2. This gives an account of that Scarcity of true Divine Knowledge and Religion which is observable in the world There are Secrets in the Christian Faith which are known but by a few and therefore True Christians must needs be Rare There is indeed an Equivocal sort of Christians in the world who boldly assume the Name but are strangers to the Thing it self they boast of that Honourable Title but are regardless of the True Import of it and to use the Apostle's words though they think they know something they know nothing as they ought to know 1 Cor. 8. 2. These are very Numerous and every place swarms with them but the number of those who have a Practical Knowledge and Sense of Gospel-Truths is very mean and low The Multitude of those who derive their denomination from Christ have not attain'd to this Accomplishment and the reason is because it is by their own default hidden from them they are unwilling to receive the Divine Supernatural Light into their minds Let us implore the assistance of the Holy Spirit the Great and Heavenly Mystagogue the Effectual Interpreter of Divine Secrets and who alone can discover them to us that he would vouchsafe to enlighten and irradiate our souls in such a manner as shall be really beneficial to us Let us beg the aid of the Spirit of Truth to lead us into the Advantageous Knowledge of all Evangelical Truths and to enable us to feel them as well as know them Thus much of the First Branch of the Proposition founded on the words Christianity Mysterious A Sermon shewing that there are Mysteries properly so call'd in the Christian Religion With the True Reasons of it and the Natural Consequences from it Preached before the Vniversity at St. Mary's in Cambridge Iune 29. 1697. And since much Enlarged 1 TIM III. 16. And without controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness HAving in a former Discourse shew'd that Christianity is a Mystery to some more especially now I will pass to the Second thing I undertook viz. to prove that it is such even in a general way unto every one There are several Great Truths in the Gospel which the Spiritual Man can no more arrive to a full knowledge of than the Natural man can With relation and respect even to All persons whomsoever the sublime Truths of the Christian Religion still retain and ever shall the nature of a Mystery And I choose the rather to treat on this Subject because I verily believe it is of that nature and influence that if it were duly entertain'd it would be serviceable to put an end to all the Disputes and Cavils against the Doctrine of the Trinity and other Important Points that relate to it There would be no farther Contest about these if the abovesaid Proposition did but take place in mens minds This must needs be so at least in the nature of the thing it self because when it shall appear that there are Fathomless Secrets in Christianity and that they were design'd to be so yea and to be so to all as well as to some this cannot but supersede all Controversies about 〈◊〉 This with ingenuous and rational Spirits solves all Difficulties this with religious and pious minds answers all Doubts and fully satisfies all Scruples This thereâ—ore is the thing which I will evince that â—here are such Secrets as these in our Reliâ—â—on that there are many things in this Holy Institution which we have but a Dark and Imperfect notice of and it is impossible for us to attain to any other and these are properly stiled Mysteries That one Text alone 1 Cor. 13. 9 12. is sufficient to prove this We know in part saith the Apostle which refers to the knowledge mention'd in the foregoing verse by which as it is agreed by all is to be understood the knowledge of Divine and Evangelical matters and then it follows by way of natural consequence We prophesie in part for our instructing of others must be answerable to our own knowledge which is but in part He superadds Now we see through a glass that is either as men looking through a Perspective on an Object a great way off and therefore made Obscure by its great Distance from the eye or as persons beholding themselves in a Glass or Mirror which manner of expression St. Iames uses to signifie a Slight View 1 Iam. 23. and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But this Apostle thinks not this sufficient to set forth the Meanness and Deficiency of our Knowledge of Sacred matters but he adds another Emphatick expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a riddle i.e. in a very Obscure dark and intricate manner and therefore our Translators render it darkly The sum of what the Apostle saith is this that we have but a Partial discovery of some Divine Truths our Sight of them is very Imperfect there are certain Points of Christianity which are not within the sphere of our Capacities but are in themselves Aenigmatical and Abstruse And these passages are the more considerable if we call to mind the peculiar quality of the Person who writes thus It was that Apostle who was famous for his Knowledge he who among all the Apostles was the only man that was brought up a Scholar for we read that he was educated in the School of Gamaliel a Celebrated Hebrew Doctor and Professor and thence was stock'd with all the Iewish Literature And he that was well skill'd in the Heathen Poets as his Quotations in the New Testament let us know was questionless not defective in other parts of Humane Learning which he had the advantage of furnishing himself within his own Native City that of Tarsus which was at that time a famous Vniversity And these Excellencies joyn'd with his own Natural Parts and Endowments which as we may gather from his Acute Reasonings and Arguings on all occasions were of the highest
on the very same ground attend to the former because that is from God no less than this Wherefore those who oppose one to the other make â—od contradict himself because he is the Aâ—thor of both And here I cannot but take notice of the Injustice of some late Penmen who represent the Asserters of the Trinity and of such like Points of Faith as persons that are Enemies to Reason and such as will by no â—â—ans admit of a Rational Religion This they craftily urge and aggravate to blacken the Cause which they have set themselves against but there is nothing of Truth in the accusation but as they manage it a great deal of Falshood and Wrong For we give unto Reason the things that are Reason's we assert the use and necessity of it in Religion yea in the Christian Religion and we are able and ready to defend and maintain a considerable part of it by Rational Principles We most freely profess with Iustin the Philosopher and Martyr That whatever was well said by any of the Philosophers Poets and Historians is to be found in the Christian Writings of the Bible We declare that the Christian Institution commends and enforces all the Maxims of Morality and the Natural Religion of mankind and the Common Dictates of Reason Those therefore are very Injurious to us and to Truth itself who labour as we see they do to fill Mens heads with other apprehensions But though it be thus in the general yet there are Particular Doubts and Difficulties relating to this Holy Institution there are some certain Points which are in themselves Mysterious Incomprehensible and Inconceivable and will not submit to the nicer Scrutinies of Humane Reason The â—ery Deity it self which is the very foundation of all Christianity is a 〈◊〉 and the greatest of all Mysteries Whence it was the acknowledgment of 〈◊〉 a very Wise and Good Man God is Great and we know him not Job 36. 26. We cannot fully understand his Nature and Attributes yea we are capable of knowing but very little of them Which is fitly express'd by that of the Apostle He dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto 1 Tim. 6. 16. This inaccessible Splendor admits not of a full view The more we gaze upon this Glorious Sun the more we are dazzled and almost blinded In some case it is unsafe and perillous saith a Pious Father to speak what is True of God â—â—e is best known by a modest 〈◊〉 â—â—ith another We know not whâ—â— he is but only what he is not saith a Third And it is observable that Socinus himself in the first Chapter of his Praeâ—â—ctions stiâ—â—y contâ—nds though upon no solid grounds at all that the Existence of God is not discoverable by the light of Naâ—ure and Reason how then can he and his â—ollowers imagine â—hat the Divine Nature and Essence are to be comprehended by humaâ—e thoughts If we cannot according to him discover that God is how shall we understand what he is There are several unutterable Abstrusities and Difficulties in the notion of an Eternal Self-subsisting Being We cannot penetrate into the Omniscience and Omnipresence of God we have not adequate conceptions of his Immutability his Justice his Faithfulness and none of his Perfections and Excellencies are throughly understood by us So that according to the way of Arguing which some men use viz. that Nothing must be receiv'd in Religion but what is exactly according to plain Reason they may renounce the Deity it self for in the notions we have of the Nature and Attributes of God there are some things above our Reason The Manner how Three real Subsistencies are united in One Essence or Substance of the Godhead is not comprehensible but the Holy Scripture puts it beyond all doubt that it is so There are many Principles and Propositions in Christianity which are far above our weak capacities There are several things in the Conduct of our Redemption and Salvation the exact knowledge of which is hidden from us at least the Modes and Circumstances belonging to them are not to be comprehended though we are sure of the General Truth There are sundry Difficult things occur concerning the Incarnation of the Son of God but we have no reason to disbelieve the Doctrine it self I know saith St. Chrysostom that the Son was begotten of the Father but how I know not I know he was born of a Virgin but I can't tell the Manner of it for we acknowledge the production of Both Natures and yet the Manner of both we are not able to declare So as to the Vnion of the Divine and Humane Natures in Christ's Person we have not an accountable idea of it though the thing it self is agreeable to Reason We cannot answer all the doubts concerning Christ's Satisfaction but upon incontestable grounds we may be convinc'd of the Truth of it The Resurrection of the same Body at the last day is an unquestionable Article of the Christian Faith but if we be ask'd how a dead body crumbled into dust and perhaps dissipated by the winds into several quarters or how a body converted into the substance of other creatures after innumerable introductions of new shapes preserves its proper Identity â—nd Individuation if we be ask'd I say How this can be The Answer in brief can 〈◊〉 no other than this We cannot tell But it will be said This is an unbecoming Answer for any man that pretends to Knowledge and Understanding in the matters of Religion I reply This is no ways unbecoming but to pretend to give Reasons and Accounts when we are not able to do it is very unbecoming and absurd And many other Points of Christianity are hid from our Natural Reason and are Inscrutable Secrets Our Religion hath many Mazes and Labyrinths in it which we cannot extricate our selves out of The Gospel not only was but is a Mystery it is so now and will continue so to the end of the world If we enquire into the Reasons of this so far as we are able to judge there may be this Account given of it 1. That which Solomon suggests to us ought to have the preference to all other Reasons that can be assign'd It is the glory of God saith he to conceal a thing Prov. 25. 2. The Supreme Being is pleas'd to hide the knowledge of several things from men because this redounds to the Honour and Glory of the Divine Majesty Hereby the Sovereignty of the Great Disposer of all things is displayed to mankind hereby his Transcendent Nature which infinitely â—urpasses that of all Created beings is proclaim'd to the world This was the sense of another Wise and Holy man who speaking of the Almighty saith He giveth not account of any of his matters Job 33. 13. Though sometimes yea frequently he vouchsafes to render a Reason of what he saith as well as of what he doth yet in many cases he thinks fit to deal with us otherwise
to defame libel and blaspheme Christianity and all the Mysteries of it and they make use of their Reason to make void their Faith But now all this may be prevented and hindred by a humble and Christian submission to the Sacred Oracles by a free resigning our selves to the Faith of the Gospel and by giving credit to it Articles because they are deliver'd and attested by God himself in the Infallible Writings which even Reason it self dictates to be the best Method we can take to establish and confirm us in our Religion and to assure us of the Truth of all its doctrines be they never so perplexed and mysterious Nor doth this introduce a Blind Credulity and such an Implicit Faith as some of the Romanists defend for when we resign up our judgments to Divine Revelation we are not debarr'd from examining and searching into and satisfying our selves about the Truth of the things we speak of but only of the Mode of them Which makes it a quite different thing from the practice of the Roman Proselytes who are bid to swallow down whatever is dictated to them and that upon the bare Authority and Warrant of the Church But here is no such crude Method prescribed we are to search the Scriptures whether these things be so and we are to make use of Reason to shew and convince us how fitting it is that we should believe what is reveal'd by the Spirit of God For seeing since the Revolt and Original Depravation of Man we stand in need of Revelation to direct us right Reason tells us that it is unsafe to rely on the bare suggestions of our own minds in the great matters of Religion This acquaints us that though we are not capable of answering all difficulties in those Points yet we are oblig'd to give credit to the doctrines themselves because they are founded on Scripture which was divinely inspired This Principle in us assures us that though we can't fully explain these things by Reason yet we have reason to believe the Holy Writ which is the Rule and Measure of our Faith yea notwithstanding those Points seem to thwart the natural principles of Reason Thus far we have Reason on our side And then for Scripture that is wholly and entirely ours Those Grand Articles which our Antagonists renounce are found there Particularly to instance in that Great and Celebrated Doctrine which I have so often mention'd one would think it might suffice that this is so directly so plainly so frequently asserted in the New Testament where we find Three expresly named Father Son and Holy Ghost to whom the Divinity is ascribed and therefore we believe these Three to be One God But how these three distinct Hypostases are one Entire Indivisible Essence is an ineffable and incomprehensible Mystery Yet though we can't conceive the Manner of this yet the Thing it self is clearly and plainly reveal'd in Scripture and consequently the Socinians have no cause to brag that theirs is an Accountable and Reasonable Faith when it absolutely opposes and contradicts the Holy Oracles of the Bible This is the true state of the matter and so it was thought to be by that Learned Writer whom I before quoted who hath the repute even among these men of a Person of Great Reason and Sense speaking of them he thus expresses himself Their Opinion I look upon as fundamentally repugnant to Christianity it self if the New Testament be the foundation of Christianity for I know nothing more express than That viz. the Trinity in those Writings And therefore the denying of the Trinity is the denying of the Authority of the New Testament Or if they will pretend they can interpret things there so as to evade this doctrine by the same reason I think they may evade any and so still the Sacred Writ shall stand for a Cypher and signifie nothing which tends mainly to the enervating of our Faith These are very Weighty words and the more to be consider'd by our Adversaries because they come from One of a Large Compass of Mind and a great Asserter of Reason in Religion which is a thing that these Gentlemen pretend much to The sum of what he saith is this that if the Scripture be true the doctrine of the Trinity is so too if Divine Revelation in the books of the New Testament is to be believ'd then this also must be embraced And on this very account it hath been embraced by all religious and pious minds that have had a reverence for the Holy Scriptures As it was the Faith once delivered to the Saints so it hath ever since been the steady belief of all the Martyrs and Confessors of Iesus and all the True Professors of Christianity and it hath with invincible force in all ages of the Church born down all opposition that hath been made against it And I question not but those violent Efforts and Insults which have been and are made against it in this present Age will prove vain and successless Though we have seen the rain descend and the flouds come and the winds blow and beat upon it yet it shall never fall because it is founded upon a rock the same Rock on which the Church of Christ is built viz. the Confession and Testimony of the Inspired Apostles the Truth and Authority of the Scriptures the Veracity of God and the Certainty of Divine Revelation And all the other Sacred Mysteries of our Religion have the very same stable foundation and therefore are Impregnable Let this then satisfie us that these Doctrines are sufficiently reveal'd though they are not fully known I say they are sufficiently revealed because the Book of God assure us that these things are so but they are not fully known because we are not able to discover the Arguments on which they are founded we discern not the foot on which they stand God hath been pleas'd to hide this from us But then this is to be said It is not reasonable to renounce our belief of that which is plain and evident because it is mix'd with something which is dark and intricate It was an Excellent Caution and Rule of the Great St. Augustine Nunquid ideo negandum quod apertum est quia comprehendi non potest quod occultum est The Truth of a Doctrine may be evident and perspicuous and that is sufficient to command our Assent tho' the Nature of it is not The Modes and Circumstances appertaining to Divine things are not to be accounted for at least if we cannot clear them up we have no reason to quit the Grand Truths themselves These are not to be abandon'd because they are not according to our ordinary level because we are not able to render a punctual account of them because we cannot perfectly Gauge them and sound them to the very bottom in a word because they are not subject to the Tribunal of Reason But if we have any regard to the Sacred and Infallible Volume
SERMONS On SPECIAL Occasions and Subjects VIZ An Answer to Pilate's Question What is Truth Why Rulers and Judges are called Gods That Magistrates should be Exemplary in their Lives How Ministers of the Gospel are to Excel That Decay of Trade is the Product of Vice War Lawful and Necessary on just Occasions The Danger of Intestine Divisions The Use and Abuse of Apparel That there are Mysteries in Christianity c. By IOHN EDWARDS B. D. Sometime Fellow of St. Iohn's College in Cambridge LONDON Printed for Ionathan Robinson at the Golden Lion and Iohn Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-yard 1698. To the Right Honourable EDWARD Earl of ORFORD Viscount BARFLEUR Baron of SHINGEY One of His MAJESTY'S most Honourable PRIVY-COUNCIL My LORD ALL true English men have their Eyes upon Your Lordship as their Faithful Patriot and Protector as a Firm Lover of their Religion and Country and they all pay a profound Respect to that Illustrious Name in which the Welfare of the Nation is so much involv'd We are every one of us sensible of those large and manifest demonstrations which You have given us of Your Concern for the Publick Good in the late Happy Revolution Your Heroick Enterprizes Your constant Fatigues Difficulties and Perils undergone for the Service of Your Country are the continual matter of our Admiration We celebrate and applaud Your never to be forgotten Engaging the French Navy when their Admiral felt the destructive force of your Martial Thunder which You poured out so fast upon him and which produced a a Glorious Victory over the Insulting but Flying Foe the remembrance of which Great and Noble Atchievement Your Lordship bears in Your Honourable Title Which way so ever we look whether at Sea or Land we find Your Lordship meriting in a most sigâ—al manner both of Church and State And Your near relation to â—his Grace the Duke of Bedford whose Family hath been the Nursery of Patriots and Worthies yea and of Sufferers for the Publick Interest and Welfare renders You a Person yet more Conspicuous in the world And lastly That High Degree of Honour which Your Prince hath advanced You to and that Eminent and Honourable Post Your Lordship is now in make You capable of being what is so much desired by You Beneficial not only to the County You have a more particular Concern in but to the whole Kingdom But I know Your Transcendent Modesty will scarcely suffer these things to be said and therefore I dare add no more The design of this present Address to Your Lordship is to express my Thankful and Dutiful Resentments of the undeserved Favours cast upon me by Your Lordship and to offer my sincere Wishes and Prayers to Heaven for Your Health and Long Life that You may live in the favour of the Most High and be bless'd with His Divine Assistance that Success may crown all Your Worthy Undertakings that You may continue to be Happy in the Embraces of so Excellent and Accomplish'd a Lady as Heaven hath bless'd You with that You may be as instrumental in Preserving the Church and State as You were in Restoring them that You may long enjoy the Honour which Your Merits have advanc'd You to and the Happiness You have of possessing His Majesty's Favour and in â— word that You may still be admired honour'd and loved by all his Subjects that are Wise and Religious And now My Lord permit me to beg an Extraordinary favour of You but such as I know Your Generosity will not disdain to grant viz. that I may have the honour to dedicate the following Papers to Your Lordship's Name which as it will give a Glory to them so it will remain a Testimony which is the thing I design of that Entire Service and Duty which I owe and shall ever be owing to Your Lordship I have had Your Lordship in my eye ever since I have begun to be a Writer but I could not prevail with my self to make my Approaches of a sudden to so Great a Personage nor was I furnish'd with a Subject which was suitable to Your Lordship's Genius I forbore to trouble You with Criticisms and Controversies though of an important nature but now when the Matters I treat of are agreeable to so Noble and Exalted a Mind I take the confidence to make an Oblation of my Discourses to Your Lordship And though You have sometimes intimated Your averseness to see Your Name in Print yet I presume to prefix it to these Papers which have the Sacred Writings for which Your Lordship hath so great an Esteem for their ground-work On this account I hope they will not be unacceptable notwithstanding their Meanness and Faultiness otherwise Finally begging Your Lordship's Pardon for this Prolix Trouble I lay this Offering with my self at Your Lordship's Feet and crave the honour to be esteemed My LORD Your Lordship 's most Humble Entire and Devoted Servant JOHN EDWARDS THE PREFACE SEveral Years ago I was solicited by some of my Brethren of the Clergy and other Worthy Friends who were pleas'd to entertain no ill opinion of some of my Discourses which were deliver'd from the Pulpit to make them more Publick and to expose them to the General View but I was at that time furnish'd with such Reasons as would not permit me to give way to their importunity But about half a Year ago being solicited afresh I began to relent and to comply with such a Motion For a Friend extorted these Papers from me by an Argument which I was not able to resist he assuring me that Printed Sermons or Practical Discourses were call'd for by the generallity of Readers and were in great Esteem with them which I look'd upon as a Good Sign I wish it were an Infallible one that they were intent upon Practice I was heartily glad to hear that the World is in so good a temper and thereupon I laid aside my former Resolution for I had prepared Discourses of another nature for the Press and betook my self to the accommodating them with a Volume of Sermons whilst they were in so good a Vein and relish'd matters of a Religious and Practical nature And I did this the rather because having lately been employ'd in asserting some of the Chief Articles of the Christian Faith and in animadverting on the Errors which are contrary to them I was forc'd on that account to be ingaged in Contâ—oversies and Debates and therefore I take the first Opportunity to let the world see that I take no pleasure in Contests that I delight not in Insults and Philippicks and that I prefer the Practical part of our Holy Religion to the Disputes of it Having thus assigned the Occasion of my publishing these following Discourses I will in the next place give you a brief Account of them In the first I have endeavour'd to fix the Standards of Truth and to shew how they are to be Applied especially how the Scriptures which are the Chief Standard
of Wealth is the Natural Product and Just Penalty of Vice in a Nation A Sermon Preach'd at the Proclaiming and Opening of a Great Fair. EZEK XXVII 27. Thy Riches and thy Fairs and thy Merchandize thy Mariners and thy Pilots thy Calkers and the Occupiers of thy Merchandize and all thy Men of War that are in thee and in all thy Company which is in the midst of thee shall fall in the midst of the Seas in the Day of thy Ruine P. 133 SERM. VI. The Lawfulness and Necessity of Going to War on Just Occasions A Sermon occasion'd by the Proclaiming of the War against France GEN. XVIII 14. And when Abram heard that his Brother was taken Captive be armed his trained Servants born in his own House Three Hundred and Eighteen and pursued them unto Dan Pag. 160 SERM. VII The true Causes of the Ill Success of War A Sermon Preach'd on a Fast Day appointed by Their Majesties for the Imploring God's Blessing on their Forces by Sea and Land JOSH. VII 12. Therefore the Children of Israel could not stand before their Enemies but turned their Backs before their enemies because they were accursed Neither will I be with you any more except you destroy the Accursed thing from amongst you Pag. 192 SERM. VIII The Extream Danger of Intestine Divisions in a Kingdom A Sermon Preach'd before Sir Iohn Hoâ—blon late Lord Mayor and Alderman at Guild-hall Chappel MARK III. 24. And if a Kingdom be divided against it self that Kingdom cannot stand P. 225 SERM. IX X. The Use and Abuse of Apparel In Two Sermons occasion'd by the present Excess in that kind 1 TIM II. 8 9. I will that Women adorn themselves in modest Apparel with Shamefacedness and Sobriety Not with broidered Hair or Gold or Pearls or costly Aray Pag. 257 SERM. XI Christianity Mysterious A Sermon shewing the true Meaning and Acception of the word Mystery in Scripture and why the Christian Religion is called a Mystery occasion'd by some late Socinian Writings which Explode all Christian Mysteries 1 TIM III. 16. And without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness Pag. 328 SERM. XII Christianity Mysterious A Sermon shewing that there are Mysteries properly so called in the Christian Religion With the true Reasons of it and the Natural Consequences from it Preach'd before the University at St. Mary's in Cambridge Iune 29. 1697. and since much Enlarged 1 TIM III. 16. And without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness P. 365 ERRATA PAg. 11. l. 14. r Monstrous p. 19. l. 27. r. of Truth p. 92. l. ult dele were p 142. l. 4. r. thence p. 171. l. 20. r. one p. 176. l. 12. after Blood inseâ—t a 〈◊〉 point p. 178. l. 1. for on r. to p. 262. l. 2. r. there for their and their for the. p. 268. l. 1. dele were l. 17. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 269. l. ult r. Muliebri p. 271. l. 12. r. restrained p. 278. l. 5. r. gorgeous p. 279. l. 2. r. exotick p. 289. l. 18. r. supercilious p. 304. l. 7. r. altum p. 322. l. 8. r. Viands p. 345. l. 22. before which insert v. 9. p. 351. l. 5. r. things as the Spirits cleansing and. p. 380. l. 10. r. give it p. 389. l. 7. r. rarities With other Faults in the Greek and Latin which the Reader is desired to correct An Answer to Pilate's Question What is Truth A Sermon Preach'd before King Charles II. at Newmarket JOHN XVIII 38. Pilate saith unto him What is Truth ONE Signal Circumstance of our Saviour's Meritorious Passion was That which we daily rehearse in the Creed That he Suffered under Pontius Pilate And truly from the Character which is given this Person not only by the Evangelists but Other Writers he appears to have been a Fit Man for that Execrable work of Condemning the Lord of Life For who was more so than the Covetous and Greedy Pilate who attempted to Rob the Temple and Sacrilegiously to Rifle the Corban as Iosephus relateth Who could be Fitter than He to receive a Bribe from the Jews and even against his Conscience to deliver up the Messias a Victim to their fury and malice Who than He who had inhumanly mingled the Galileans Blood with their Sacrifices was Fitter to be employ'd when the Great Sacrifice of the World was to be offered and when Iesus of Galilee from whom his followers were called Galileans was to give his Blood for the Redemption of Mankind But though this Man was thus fitly Disposed and Prepared for his Work yet the Bloody Sentence against our Saviour was not to be pronounced by him without the Preamble of a Formal Arraignment and Trial. And accordingly the Innocent Iesus was set to the Bar and this Roman Governour took the Bench where as you will find by the Context this Iudg was full of his Interrogatories and propounded several and those not Inconsiderable Questions But among them all there was none certainly that was in it self more Substantial and Useful than this What is Truth And it was as Pertinent as it was Weighty for it was justly occasioned by our Lord's Plea and Protestation in Court viz. That notwithstanding the malicious Jews had Accused him as an Impostor yet to This end he was born and for â—his cause he came into the world that he might 〈◊〉 â—itness to the Truth v. 37. As if our Saviour had said Whereas Error and Falshood have 〈◊〉 a long time in the World and the 〈◊〉 have miserably perverted the Law of Nature and great numbers of them have been spoiled through their Philosophy and vain Deceit And likewise among you Iews the Meaning of God's Written Law is depraved by the Corrupt Doctrines of the Superstitious Pharisees and Prophane Sadducees the former a sort of Hebrew Stoicks the later a kind of Iewish Epicures and Atheists and you are divided into several Other Disagreeing Sects and Schools and go on daily to corrupt and stifle the True Notions of Morality and Religion and even utterly to take away the Key of Knowledge and Truth Whereas things are Thus The Great Design of my Visiting mankind is of a Contrary nature namely to lead them to Right Apprehensions of things to baffle all Error and Delusion and to direct them most effectually into the way of Truth And every one that is of the Truth heareth my voice v. 37. that is Those who are Competent Judges and Sincere Lovers of Truth will soon descry My Doctrin to be fraught with the Highest and most Important Verities and will imbrace it as the Greatest Blessing that was ever vouchsafed to the World Pilate hearing our Saviour discourse of Truth puts this Question to him in the Text. It is Luther's Conjecture that he did it out of Kindness to our Lord for Pilate saith he being a worldly-wise man and willing to relâ—ase Christ did as much as say to him What wilt thou dispute concerning TRUTH in these Wicked Times of the World TRUTH is
here of no value it is generally despised and rejected You must think of some Other way for This will not do Alas What is TRUTH worth and what are you like to get by abetting it But I rather think that Pilate ask'd This Question in Contempt and Derision I pray Sir What is the Right Definition of Truth Do you pretend to understand the Exact Notion of it I must tell you This Friend Men are as much Mistaken about This as Any thing in the World and I believe You are One of that number You talk of Truth but do you know What it is And as soon as he had started this Query he went off the Bench. By which it appears that his Enquiry was not Serious and that he Cared not for a Reply to it Otherwise if he had been in Good Earnest without doubt our Saviour would not have failed to return an Answer For he was a Person extremely Communicative and used to satisfy all Material Questions to the Full yea above what was demanded As when a Lawyer ask'd him What was the First Commandment he told him moreover what was the Second which was like unto it So when it was asked him Is it lawful to give Tribute to Cesar or no His Answer was more than Satisfactory for he not only acquaints them that they ought to pay Cesar his Tribute but he adds also that God's as well as Cesar's Dues are to be discharged It is not to be doubted that He who was so Ready at all times to Satisfy Mens Demands would have returned an Answer to This of Pilate if this Great Man would have Stayed for it But though Pilate went away in Haste I hope it will be worth our Time to Stay and Satisfy our selves about This Question of so unspeakable Use and Value a Question which is every ways Necessary in order to the Resolving of the Scruples of the Conscientious and Silencing the Cavils of the Atheistical and Prophane a Question whereon the whole Frame and Constitution of Religion depends a Question of the Greatest Importance next to That What shall we do to be Saved Or rather it is of the Same rank with it for as the Apostle hath joyned them together God would have all Men to be Saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth But an Other Question then will arise How shall we come to the Knowledg of the Truth Are we not on every side beset with Mistakes and False Notions Was not Error very Early in the World and doth it not bear Date from Adam I have not Examined whether that be True which One saith That there is but One Speech deliver'd before the Flood by Man wherein there is not an Erroneous Conception But this is certain that Mistake and Falshood enter'd into the World betimes and that ever since a Night of Ignorance hath over-spread our Minds and our Judgments are involved in a Cloud of Obscurity and Imperfection In Cebes's Table which represents Man's Life Imposture gives her Cup to all that come into the World Error and Ignorance are the Potion and every one Drinks of it but some more and some less Hence it is that Pretences and Appearances of Reason cozen us Imperfect Argumentations and Superficial Discourses easily determine us A Petty Inducement a Weak Likelihood a Plausible Harangue are enough to Turn the Scales with us and Weigh heavier sometimes than a Demonstration Hence it is that Truth is so Rare a thing in the World We may justly complain as He of old It is Difficult to find out True Reason Or we may cry out as Hermias the Old Christian Philosopher did Truth hath abandon'd and taken its farewell of the World How then shall we hope to have this Question assoil'd and to know What is Truth Nay We are in as bad Circumstances as before and Pilate's Demand is as far from being Answer'd as it was for as the Sceptick doubteth of all Truth yea indeed denies it so on the other hand we see that All Parties of Religion in the World pretend that they are Masters and Possessors of it Before there was No Truth and now All is Truth If you ask what it Truth you shall not want whole Herds of Men who will come and offer their Service to you and with all Officiousness will tell you that they are able to Resolve you in such an Easy Question as That is Truth takes up its Residence with Vs say the Pagaâ— Worshipers Our Numerous Deities and their Idols have been vouched by Oracles and Divinations and all the ways that are requisite to make a Religion Authentick We are the Parents of Orthodox Faith say the Iews and all the rest of the World are Bewilder'd and Lost being destitute of a Pillar of Light to lead them Alas they are inveloped in Egyptian Darkness and must continue to be so till they take Moses for their Only Guide to bring them out of it But then again Neither Gentiles nor Iews are in the right say the Followers of Mahomet who yet was the Son of a Pagan Father and a Iewish Mother The Alcoran is the True Charter of our Religion and who can suspect it since our Prophet received it from the Angel Gabriel We are the True Musselmen i.e. Believers and all Others are downright Infidels and Miscreants Nay even among Those who profess Christianity for out of the Best and Purest Religion will arise the Worst of Corruptions and Heresies the Parties and Divisions the Disputes and Claims are not a few Truth is but One and yet they All think they Monopolize it Every Sect is Eager and Violent and some of them Confine All Religion and Salvation to their Own Way Nay they are for Persecuting all Parties but their Own like the Ottoman Princes they must Strangle all their Brethren otherwise they think they cannot Reign safely Ask the Different Parties even from the Highest to the Lowest from the Old Gentleman that sits in the Porphyry Chair to the meanest Quaker or Muggletonian and they will all tell you they are in possession of the Truth Every Perswasion hath this of Popery in it that the Professors of it think themselves Infallible and say they have an Unerring Guide and therefore they take the Chair and Determine Peremptorily on their Own Sides Even whilst some cry This is False and others That if you ask them singly they all say they are in the Right and every one confidently vouches that he is Proprietor of Truth It seems by This that Truth is Equally divided among All Men or rather indeed that the Opinion of it is so And hence it is probable that Scepticism and Indifferency in Religion have had their Rise for too Lavish Pretences to Truth have made some question whether there be Any The Divers Claims and Quarrels in Christianity have wonderfully fostered Atheism For whilst it hath been observed that Divinity hath every where become Polemical and that Men have thrown Bibles at one anothers
Heads whilst it hath been cried in their Ears that here is Truth and there is Truth they have grown Perplexed and Distracted and know not how to behave themselves and What Part to take They hear that the Claim to Truth is Universal but then they know This that All the Pretences to it cannot be True and How say they if None of them should be so Hereupon they renounce Religion as a Faction and in plain terms a Cheat and consequently they Live and Act in the World as they Please If Truth be claimed by All the Professors of Religion and those Professors Contradict one another Where shall we find an Answer to This Interrogatory What is Truth In way of Reply it is enough to say at present for I shall answer a great part of these Cavils afterwards in the sequel of this Discourse 1. These Several Divisions and Parties evidently prove a True Religion For it is certain that Rational Men would not Contend for Nothing Unless there were some Reality at the bottom we cannot imagine that Persons of unprejudic'd Minds and sincere Intentions as we must allow a great Part of them to be would thus seriously busie themselves and be so mightily concern'd 2. Some Mens fond and groundless Pretences ought not to be equalled with the Iust Claims of others As long as the World continues in this degenerate posture where it is there will ever be a great number of men who will be pretending to Truth even whilst they are maintaining those Doctrines which are directly opposite to it Therefore we are not to concern our selves for these Pretenders only so far as to slight them as Persons govern'd by Interest or Passion or to pity them as those who are misled by Ignorance or Prejudice 3. As for the generality of Disputes which are at this day on foot Religion and particularly the Christian Religion I mean the Essentials and Vitals of it which give it its denomination are little or not at all concern'd in those Quarrels as will appear from what I shall suggest anon and therefore I shall say no more here But notwithstanding what hath been objected I will go on with my present design which is an Inquest after Truth and I hope the attempt will not prove vain and succesless That we may certainly find it out those Two known but too much neglected Rules or Standards are to be made use of by us viz. Reason and Scripture By Reason I mean the free and impartial use of our Understandings and Judgments which God hath naturally endued us with and which we are obliged to improve and cultivate by the aid of our Bodily Senses by the Testimony of others by serious and steady Observation and well-grounded Experience for these must be assisting to Humane Reason to render it perfect and compleat If thuâ— we would apply our selves to a serious search after Truth we should soon make our selves Masters of it For the Candle of the Lord as Solomon very significantly calls the Reason of Man was set up in our Breasts by God on purpose to discover Truth to us But it must be acknowledged that this Light hath been much impair'd by Man's Degeneracy so that it can scarcely be said to Shine out i.e. perfectly to display it self It hath been Clouded ever since the First Apostacy and obscured daily by the actual Prevalency of Vice An undeniable Evidence whereof were those swarms of monsterous Opinions among the Pagans that gross Superstition and Idolatry of the Gentile World those prodigious Shapes and Models of Religion which were invented by them Oftentimes it happened that the Creature made and framed his Creator they shaped out Deities and the way of Worshipping them according to their own Fancies and Imaginations and a God was even what they thought good to make him Or suppose Natures Light did shine out to the full yet it would not be Clear and Bright enough to give us a Prospect of those Divine and Supernatural Truths which are to bring us to Everlasting Happiness For Nature and Reason cannot Dictate those things which depend wholly on God's Free Grace and Pleasure And such are the Doctrine of a Saviour and Redeemer the Method of Man's Salvation and all the Mysteries of the Christian and Evangelical Dispensation How was Nicodemus a Noted Master in Israel and no mean Possessor of Reason baffled with the Doctrin of Regeneration He might truly be said to go to Iesus by Night who made his Visit only by the dusky and obscure Light of Nature Therefore tho' Reason or rather the Understanding using its reasoning Faculty be a laudable Guide in Religion yet it will not be a safe Conduct to Truth if it be alone There must of necessity be another Guide besides this to lead us to the Discovery of Heavenly Verities and Propositions of Faith There must be Divine Illumination to assist us to find out Divine and Spiritual Truths The Second Standard then of Truth is the Infallible Word of God Divine Truths must be sought for not from Man but from God not from Human Writings but an Unerring Word not from those who are Finite and Ignorant but from Him who is Infinite and knoweth all Things not from the Sons of Men but from Him who is the only-begotten Son of God the Revealer of his Father's Will For No man hath seen God at any time the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him as the beloved Disciple beareth witness Iohn 1. 18. None is able to discover the Divine and Supernatural Mysteries which our Religion is fraught with but the Founder of them We could never have arrived to those Transcendent Notions unless we had been taught them from Heaven We were not skilled to appoint the Manner of Appeasing the incensed Majesty of Heaven and to prescribe the Way of Worship suitable to that Oeconomy This would have been as if it should be left to some silly Country Peasant to assign the Way and Manner of Treating a Mighty King and Monarch Who would not expect in such a case a strange and uncouth a rude and ridiculous Way of Address and Courtship and below the Greatness and Majesty of a Prince But it was requisite there should be a particular Divine Discovery a clearer Light a surer Guide than that of Nature For though God at sundry times and in divers manners had Revealed himself to the past Generations of Men yet to make that Revelation compleat he spoke in the last days by his Son and by the Testimony of the Holy Ghost in the inspired Writings of the Apostles and Evangelists Christ therefore saith and that Emphatically I am the Truth Iohn 14. 6. The Gospel was the last and most corrected Edition of the Doctrin of Truth and we must never look for any other to come forth to the End of the World This is Truth more eminently so called The Truth which came by Iesus Christ as the Blessed Evangelist speaketh
becomes an Emperor to die standing as one of them said surely it will not be Unbecoming a Christian Magistrate to do so I mâ—an to expire in the Faithful Performance of his Office in the actual doing of his Duty Others of a meaner Quality steal into their Coffins and silently descend into their Graves and are not much observed but you will be watched when you go off the Stage when you leave the World and it will be asked in the Neighbourhood what you did when you were in it and how you manag'd your Stewardship Live then so that when you come to die you may with Pericles a Famed Statesman of Athens rejoice that no Citizen ever wore a Mourning Habit on your account Live so that when God shall remove you from your Places by Death you may in another Sense than our Psalmist intended die like Men Bravely and Honourably that ye may fall like one of the Princes with Credit and Renown and that after your Departure you may live and flourish in the Memories and Hearts of all Good Men who will never suffer your Good Actions to be Buried with you The Reasons why Magistrates ought to be Exemplary in their Lives A Sermon Preach'd at the Election of the Chief Magistrate in a Corporation EXOD. XVIII 25. And Moses chose able Men out of all Israel and made them Heads over the People WE find that Supremacy and Government have been made matter of Chance with some People thus one Regilianus was promoted to Kingship meerly because of his Name The Sidonian Servants agreed among themselves to make him King who the next morning should first see the Sun Darius's Horse made his Master King of Persia by his Neighing But it is certain that so Great a Concern should not depend upon meer Casualty but ought to be determined with the most serious Deliberation imaginable And so as for Subordinate Rulers and Governors the Designation of them ought not to be Accidental and Fortuitous but is to be managed with Consultation and Choice for every one is not fit for such a Place every one is not duly Capacitated and Qualified for a Publick Office and Trust. This is the first thing we take notice of here That Moses chose Men out of all Israel to be Heads and Rulers And this Choice was conformable to his Father-in-Law Iethro's Advice ver 21. Thou shalt provide out of all the People able men such as fear God men of Truth hating Covetousness and place such over them to be Rulers The first and leading Qualification of an Able Magistrate is That he fears God He must be one that is Eminent for Religion and Piety which ought to be seen and observed not only in his Profession but Practice Next he ought to be a Man of Truth i.e. void of all Dissimulation and Hypocrisy one that is Faithful and Upright in his Dealings and therefore the Septuagint render it Iust or Righteous For he is not fit to be a Ruler whose Life is stained with Acts of Injustice and Dishonesty Moreover none should be preferred to Magistracy and Government but such as hate Covetousness such as are of a Free and Generous Spirit and Detest all Base and Sordid Actions such as Scorn to Pervert Justice by taking of Gifts and Bribes such as have been taken notice of for their great Inclinations to Charity for their readiness to Relieve the Distressed and for their Condescending to the Poor and Needy thereby shewing that they hate Pride and Haughtiness which gives an Account of the Seventy's Version or Gloss rather These are the Qualifications of a Magistrate but the First of them is the Chief and governs the rest He that fears God will approve himself to be a Man of Truth and Sincerity Faithfulness and Uprightness Religion and Piety will make him Just and Honest towards Men These will inspire him with Charity Generosity and Condescention and will not suffer him to pervert Judgment and Justice In short the Fear of God will make him Eminent in his Life and Actions singular for Vertue and Goodness and cause him to do all things worthily and as becomes a Migistrate This is the Character which Rulers must bear according to Iethro's Advice to Moses And the Text acquaints us that this latter made his choice agreeably to it for he chose able Men out of all Israel and made them Heads over the People and Rulers of thousands c. that is he conveniently placed them in several Quarters to decide Controversies among the People to distribute Justice to give every one their Right to take care of the Publick Welfare and to discharge all the Parts of a Good Magistrate The General Proposition then which I will entertain you with at present is this That a Ruler must be a Man of an exemplary Life and Conversation he being placed above others must Excel them in the Eminency of his Deportment and Actions This is clear from the Choice which is here made and from the Character which is here given There is a great deal more requir'd in a Governor than in an Inferior Person He may be Good in a low and mean Place who can scarcely be reckoned so in a high one So that it may be said of such a one after he is advanc'd to Government as Tacitus said of Galba He might have been thought by all Men to be capable of Ruling if he had not actually been prefer'd to that Station For this is unquestionable That that Person may make a tolerably Good Subject or Citizen who yet may not be fit to be a Chief Governor The Reason is because such a one must Surpass others wherefore what is sufficient and fitting in the former is not so in the latter It was one of the Laws of the Twelve Tables among the Romans That the Order of the Senators should be free from Vice and be an Example to others The same may be pronounced in General concerning the high Degree and Order of Magistracy It must not be spotted with the common Defilements of the World it ought to be a Pattern to the rest of Mankind It is required of Superiors and Rulers that they be as Noted for their Moral and Divine Excellencies as for their Authority and Dignity They must strive to outshine others in Vertue and Goodness and to be really the Best Men in the place they live in The Reasonableness of which will appear from the Consideration of these following Particulars First A Magistrate is oblig'd to be Exemplary in his Life because so great numbers of Men have their Eyes fixed upon him and that 1. To find Fault with him 2. To Imitate him and do as he doth I begin with the first Mens Eyes are fixed upon you that are Magistrates to see what Faults they can find in you to discover your Imperfections and Miscarriages The Great Luminaries of Heaven are never Eclips'd but we take notice of them yea some of the Lesser Lights and Petty
Confusion of Egypt was the attendant of the foolishness i.e. the Sinfulness of their Princes Isa. xix 11. And you may hear God speaking thus in Zech. x. 3. Mine anger was kindled against the Shepherds and I punish'd the Goats i.e. God punish'd both Rulers and People but these for the sake of them Yea a Nation is sometimes punish'd because of a Wicked King even when he is dead as appears from Ier. xv 4. Israel was Plagued for Manasses's Sins after he had left the World So Pernicious and Destructive are the Miscarriages of Superiors The Community is endamag'd by their Disorders Their Follies bring down Judgments on a whole Nation All the Members suffer for what the Head doth And this happens so from the Nature of the thing it self as well as by the just Judgment of God By Sardanapalus's Luxury the Assyrian Monarchy was removed to the Medes By Xerxes's Riot and Prodigality the Persian Empire was Ruin'd And many other Instances there are of the like Nature From whence you may gather how Reasonable it is that a Ruler should endeavour to be free from Vice and to lead a very Religious and Pious Life For if he doth otherwise the People stand ready to follow his Steps and so there will be an Universal Corruption and the Judgments of God will overtake both Rulers and People But Secondly Those in High Places are engag'd to be Exemplary in their Lives and to shew forth all Vertues and Graces because when Men behold these in them they are enclined to Imitate them I have shew'd before that they are apt to resemble them in their Vitious Practices Now I will briefly let you see that if they have Examples of another Nature set before them they will be enclined to follow them As there is no Evil so Pernicious as a Wicked Ruler because as I have shew'd under the foregoing Head his Personal Faults soon become National and his worst Actions are drawn into Example so there is no Good in the World so Universally Beneficial as a Godly Ruler because most Men will be moved to Transcribe his Good and Vertuous Actions and so there will be an effectual and speedy Reformation of the Publick There are Examples in Holy Scripture which might be produced here For as Ieroboam a Bad King corrupted the People by his Evil Life as well as Laws and thereby made all Israel sin so we read that David Asa Iosiah Hezekiah Good Kings promoted God's Worship and a Holy Life by their own Practice Plutarch in the Life of Alcibiades a Person of Wealth and Quality in Athens tells us how he refused to learn to play on the Flute and inveigh'd against that Instrument as it was then in use whereupon it soon wore out of Fashion and at last was look'd upon as a Sordid and Unbecoming sort of Diversion by the Athenian Gentlemen Livy acquaints us that Romulus who at first was very Extravagant and Irreligious afterward grew Sober and Staid And when he did so all the Romans chang'd with him and became like him The Custom of Immoderate and Excessive Attire Feasting and Houshold Stuff had prevail'd long at Rome and could not be Repress'd by Laws but as soon as Vespasian was Emperor it went off of it self Tacitus observes the Cause of it to be their desire of Emulating their Prince and conforming themselves to his Example This did more than Fear and Penalty Herodian observes of Antoninus Surnamed the Philosopher that he was the first Emperor that signally Establish'd Wisdom and good Manners by his own Life and Actions whereby it came to pass that that Age yielded a great Company of Wife and Grave Men. You may read in a very good Author that the Senate of Rome's Acclamation to Severus the Emperor was after this manner All Persons do all things well because you Rule well This perhaps may be said in Flattery to that Prince but it is undoubtedly true that if he were a Good Ruler the generality of his Subjects would find the happy Influence of it in the Goodness of their own Lives Never was there such a Time of Converts as when Constantine the Great turn'd Christian and afterwards when he was Baptiz'd Twelve thousand Men besides Women and Children received the Christian Faith that Year and were admitted to Baptism Ammianus observes of the Emperor Valentinian that he being a very Chast Prince both at Home and Abroad and giving way to no Obscene and Lascivious Words or Actions This was the Bridle of the Court and it prov'd the best way to keep them in good Order To come nearer when King Lucius a British King embraced the Faith of the Gospel and was Baptiz'd great numbers of his Subjects receiv'd the same Faith and flock'd to the Baptismal Waters and so Paganism and Idolatry decay'd daily And afterwards when Heathenism return'd into this Land by the Invasion which the Saxons made it by degrees wore off again by the powerful Example of their Kings When King Ethelbert and King Sebert embrac'd the Christian Religion and were Baptiz'd the Nation was in a short time Christianiz'd Thus it is evident what great Obligations lie upon Rulers and Governors to be Good and Righteous for their Examples teach Goodness most powerfully and effectually There are other Considerations besides these which I have mentioned and insisted upon to convince you of this Truth That a Magistrate ought to be a Man of an Exemplary Life and to surpass others in all laudable Endowments and Actions I might mention this that he cannot with any confidence govern others unless he have a Government over himself and looks narrowly into his own Life and Manners He cannot with Boldness call upon others to obey those Laws which he breaks himself One of the Antients expresses it thus It is not for him that is falling to set others upright it is not for him that hath no command over himself to command others It must be look'd to in the first place that the Rule be streight and lie right and orderly if you intend to bring those things to a rectitude which it is applied to So must a Prince first rightly settle his Command and Empire over himself and direct his own Manners in order to a right governing of others This latter cannot be done as it should be without the former Though it is true it is done after some sort where the other is wanting Thus Plutarch Remarks of Sylla that he would be frequently prescribing Laws to the Romans of Sobriety and Chastity whilst himself was a Stranger to them both and indulg'd himself in all Intemperance and Leudness Domitian made severe Laws against Adultery whilst he lived in Incest with his Neece Iustinian the Emperor that caused the Imperial Laws to be compiled the Rules of the highest Justice suffer'd all sorts of Injustice to be unpunish'd â—aith Evagrius though I know others dissent from him in this But most certainly it is with inward shame and regret that any
Good and there stints and determines all our Passions and Desires We at once become Lovers of God and of his Church the one absolutely Influencing upon the other the Glory of the Almighty and the Good of Souls being so twisted together that it will be found a thing wholly impossible to divide them For the Church being that Society of Holy Men wherein God is more peculiarly acknowledged and glorified it must needs be that whilst we tender the Welfare of that Society we likewise more signally advance God's Glory Our Love if it be true and real will reflect from God to his Church and through the Church it will ascend to God again The Edifying or Building of the Church which is the thing here design'd principally belongs to Christ Iesus himself It looks like a Paradox but is certainly true that the Foundation and Chief Corner-stone in the Building are the Chief Architect also On this Rock saith he to St. Peter I will build my Church This Glorious Fabrick is rais'd by Christ's own hand Yet this Work in some measure belongs to all Holy and Exemplary Christians they are useful and necessary for the promoting of this Structure But more especially the Guides and Rulers of the Church the Ministers of the Gospel the Dispensers of God's Holy Word are employ'd in this Work they are in a peculiar manner appointed and set apart on purpose to be Artificers and Builders in the Erecting of the Christian Church they are particularly design'd for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ i.e. his Church Eph. iv 12. First Our great Care must be to lay the Foundation and what that is our Apostle tells us 1. Cor. iii. 11. Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Iesus Christ i.e. the Meritorious Undertaking of the Son of God Christ Jesus the Blessed There is no Salvation but by a lively and effectual Faith in the Blood of this Lamb of God This is the same with the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Eph. ii 20. which St. Paul tells the Ephesians they are built upon viz. the Doctrin of the Redemption and Salvation by Christ delivered by these Inspired Men and which they received from Christ himself who in the same place is called the Chief Corner-stone This is the Great Fundamental Point of the Christian Institution this is the main Truth on which all Christianity is founded and therefore we must be very Faithful in the Asserting and Vindicating of this The whole Fabrick of our Religion sinks and that irrecoverably without this firm and steady Basis. And all the other Principles and Rudiments of Christianity which are also justly stiled the Foundation Heb. vi 1. are our proper Concern We are indispensably obliged to instruct our Charge in all those Divine Truths of the Gospel which the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles furnish us with And having laid the Foundation with singular Care and Skill as knowing that it is this which Supports the Fabrick we must proceed to erect our Superstructure to build upwards as well as downwards And accordingly all the Holy Doctrines and Rules conducing to Christian Knowledge and Practice are to be produced and made use of We must remember the Apostle's Advice to build upon the Foundation nothing but Gold Silver and precious Stones 1 Cor. iii. 12. Such Sound and Orthodox Conclusions as are of real Worth and Value and not Wood Hay and Stubble i.e. unnecessary and useless Doctrins or Inferences muchless such as apparently Confront the Faith of the Gospel and Foster Lewd and Wicked Practices The Pope as Luther expresses it is for Building up the Church ex Accidentibus of Outward things of little value but we saith he Build it ex Substantia we urge those Doctrines which are Substantial we press those Practices which are of Moment which are Essential to Religion and have real Worth and Excellency in them Thus we should behave our selves remembring that the Superstructure ought to be suitable to the Foundation this being Solid and Substantial that must be so too Briefly this Excellent Metaphor of Edifying or Building which our Apostle seems much to delight in as we may gather from his frequent using of it imports no less than an Impartial delivering and teaching the whole Mystery of Godliness whether it consists in Fundamentals or in such Important and Necessary Matters as are to be grounded on them all that our Hearers are to know and all that they are to do the Whole Will of God and the Whole Duty of Man In a word to enlighten Mens Minds to reform their Lives to convert Sinners from the Errors of their Ways to confirm and strengthen Converts in the ways of Truth and Righteousness by any Holy Arts and Methods to further the real Good of Christ's Flock by any good Means to promote the Churches Welfare is to Build it up This is the Divine Architecture this is the Art of Spiritual Building So that if we hearken to this Proposal we shall assuredly advance the Good of the World and at the same time promote our own Bliss and Happiness In seeking the Churches Good we shall not fail of a Blessing and that Charity which raiseth our Hearts to endeavour the Welfare of the Church Militant will at last Exalt us to the Glories and Consummation of the Church Triumphant when they that be wise shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever I proceed now to the next thing propounded viz. the Means in order to this Noble End which I have been speaking of and that is expressed in those words Seek that ye may excel Take care to fit your selves for this Grand Employment of building up the Church which is the House of God 1 Tim. iii. 15. 1 Pet. iv 17. Passionately desire and endeavour that you may be eminently and abundantly Capacitated for this mighty Work This is the Import of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used which signifies both to Excel and to Abound Be ambitious of the Choicest Gifts and strive to possess them in the highest degree We of the Sacred Function are not to content our selves with mean and low Attainments in Religion but to aspire to the Greatest and Noblest Improvements to a great Plenty and Abundance of Gifts and Graces as a Learned and Pious Father Paraphrases on this Place We must strive to be Masters of all those Excellent Qualifications which tend to Edification and to arrive to what Perfection we can in them In short seeing the Edifying of the Church is the proper Office of an Evangelical Minister he must make it his great Business to pursue this effectually and to Excel in it by such Means and Methods as these First Prayer Which seems to be here suggested in the word Seek This Excelling and this Edifying
Principles And consequently it is the chief Business of a Preacher to beat down all Immorality Wickedness and Prophaneness and to set up and promote whatever is Vertuous and Laudable and especially to advance the Evangelical Vertues and Graces and such Duties as are more especially commanded by Christ and his Apostles in the New Testament And this very thing shews the Excellency of our Office when it is rightly discharg'd for the Worthiness and Esteem of Employments are according to the Usefulness of them Thus to instance in other Faculties he is the Best Laâ—yer that most successfully directs Men to the Securing of their Estates and Properties and he is the Best Physician that saves Mens Lives So it is here he is the Best Divine he is the Best Preacher that reforms Meâ—s Manners and effectually shews them how to save their Souls The True Preaching is to answer to Prophesying in the Primitive Church which is the thing more particularly design'd in the Text by Excelling to Edification and this you find was esteemed by the Apostle as the Best and most Valuable Gift because it was most Advantageous to the Church He that Prophesieth saith he speaks to men to Edification and Exhortation and Comfort 1 Cor. xiv 3. This is the proper Task of the Evangelical Preacher viz. not only to Build Men up by Instructing them in their Holy Faith but by Powerful Exhortations to the Practice of all Christian Vertues to make them Better and to enable them to feel the Comfort and Satisfaction of a Religious Life In Order to this his Instructions and Exhortations must be Plain and Intelligible and easy to be comprehended We read of some Hereticks of old that were wont to use a great deal of Hebrew in their Religious Worship and in their Discourses to the People thereby to Astonish and Amaze the Vulgar But he that would Preach so as to Edify must not use any such Arts he must not soar above the Capacities of those that hear him Or if any one will needs call this Building it is like that of Babel where they understood not one another We justly Condemn the Papists for Praying in an unknown Tongue but let me be so free as to say that to Preach in a Stile which is not understood by the People is every whit as unlawful and as absurd Therefore thou O Man of God flee these things and let the Great Apostle be thy Example Who would rather speak five words to be understood and to Edify others than utter ten thousand which could not have that effect upon them The Prophet shrunk himself into the proportion of the Child he meant to revive And so must Spiritual Instructers and Publick Exhorters to Vertue deal with those they intend to recover out of their Sins wherein they are dead they must adapt themselves to their Measures they must suit themselves to their mean Understandings and condescend to their Weaknesses and often Inculcate the same Divine Lessons therein having regard to the Forgetfulness as well as the Ignorance and Shallowness of their Common Hearers And as for the Mode of delivering our Doctrines whether by Book or without that is of the meanest Consideration and no Intelligent Person will be very solicitous about it so it be Grave and Proper Certainly it is not Necessary we should commit every Sermon to our Memories Such perpetual Conning is too like a School-Boy's Task methinks as if our Auditors were Pedagogues and we stood in continual Fear of the Ferula if we should not have all our Lesson by Heart Much less is Preaching a needless Mustering up of Authors an unmerciful haling of the Fathers out of their Graves to no purpose a rude claiming Acquaintance with Greek and Latin Writers for the sake of a Sentence or two out of them It is not pleasing the People with Little and Trifling things or astonishing them with too Great and High ones Nor is it yet any thing made up of an Affected Tone or Gesture or any thing of that sort But as I represented it it is a sober informing of Mens Judgments and establishing them in the Grand Points of Religion it is a plain and bold rebuking of Vice and a warm Exhortation to Vertue it is an affectionate Application of Truth to the Hearts and Lives of the Hearers This is Preaching and thus the Church of Christ is built up thus this Great Pile is raised and reaches with its utmost Top even to Heaven where it is Triumphant Fifthly In the next place I must not forget to add that we are to mind those things also which respect the Discipline and Order the Vnity and Peace of the Church To this purpose its Solemn Censures were Instituted by Christ and his Apostles that if there should happen any Dilapidations in the Building of the Church it might by these be speedily Repair'd that Persons of Unholy and Disorder'd Lives might be debar'd Communion with so Holy a Society And the Laws of Decency were prudently design'd to extirpate all Confusion and Distraction and to render the Church and all its Services Beautiful and Venerable The Apostle concerning his Converts of Colosse professes that he rejoiced in beholding their Order Col. ii 5. A Military word and signifies the orderly disposal of Soldiers in an Army Such should be the Regular Marshalling of the Church Militant It is requisite for its Security and Welfare that all keep their proper Ranks and Stations and that a Decorum be every where observ'd We find that Circumstances as well as Substantials are to be look'd after the Apostle in the Eleventh Chapter of this Epistle controuls the Solecisms of their External Behaviour in the Service of God He checks their Rudeness and Irreverence and gives Rules for the outward Deportment and Carriage in Praying and Prophesying It is fit that some care should be taken of Religion's Outside that she have a comely Equipage Decent and Fitting Circumstances are the Wall about the Spiritual Building they are the Hedge about the Field of the Church which contributes much to her Preservation and Welfare It is such a Fence to her as the Bark is to the Tree which when it is utterly neglected the Fruit and sometimes the Tree it self is endangered Even those things which are but Accessary and Accidental to Devotion are of great use and the Devotion and Worship themselves would not be long kept up without these But let us remember that they are but Circumstances and Appendages and that the things which we are chiefly to be concern'd for in Religion are of an higher Nature and that the Mind is principally to be employ'd here The main care in God's Worship must be that it be Spiritual and Sincere that the Heart be rightly disposed for this is the Sacrifice which he chiefly requires and regards All must be so done in his Service that the Simplicity of Christianity be not abated that Real and Internal Religion be not diminish'd and that the
Visible Face of it be never without the Vitals and Spirit of it Let Religion outwardly appear as comely and beautiful as the Rules of Christian Edification will allow but by no means let her exceed in Ornament and Bravery for she will soon vanish when she grows Pompous and runs into External Shew and Pageantry With Decency and Comeliness are generally coupled Vnity and Concord and these we are to be concern'd for likewise It is the Harmony and Uniformity of the Parts of a Building that makes it both Beautiful and Useful Without this it would not be a well-ordered Edifice but a confused Heap And 't is certain that by our love of Peace and Unity we shall successfully contribute towards the Building of the Church For there is History enough to convince us that the Antient Hereticks and Schismaticks betray'd the Faith when they destroy'd the Vnity of the Church At the same time that they made a Breach in her Walls they undermined her Foundations It behoves us of the Clergy then to maintain mutual Amity and Agreement both among our selves and others It is high time to banish all Dissention to put a Period to all our Animosities and Vain Janglings to doat no longer on Fruitless Disputes but to pursue the One thing Necessary and to imbrace our Religion with an Entire Affection and to commend it to the World by our Practising of it And so I pass to the last thing which I intended to Name Seek that ye may Excel in a Holy Life St. Paul in his Visitation Sermon to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus enjoins them to take heed to themselves as well as to all the Flock Acts xxviii 28. And he commands Timothy to be an Example of the Believers in Word in Conversation in Charity in Spirit in Faith in Purity 1 Tim. iv 12. And more briefly ver 16. Take heed unto thy self and to thy Doctrin i.e. to thy Life as well as to thy Preaching And he charges Titus That in all things he shew himself a Pattern of good Works Tit. ii 7. As there is a Special Designation to the Office of the Ministry so there must be a Special Holiness accompanying it There must be a Consecration of their Lives as well as of their Persons As their Function Exalts them above others in Dignity so they should surpass them in all Laudable Actions according to those words used by our Church in her Canons They must have always in mind that they ought to Excel others in Purity of Life and should be Examples to the People to live well and Christianly Let not that which was part of the Pharisees Character be fastned on them They say but do not they Preach well but Live not accordingly Let not that which the Apostle saith of Seducers and False Teachers be applied to them They profess that they know God but in works they deny him If they be Guilty of this latter they pull all down that they have Built they render all their Instructions Admonitions Reproofs and Exhortations ineffectual they obstruct the Truth in or by their Vnrighteousness for so Rom. i. 18. may be read according to the sense of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they hinder the Force and Vertue of the Truth on themselves and the Propagation of it to others by an Impious Life yea they take a course to Ruin Religion it self Thence it was the usual Speech and Maxim of the Learned and Pious Dr. Hammond The Exemplary Vertue of the Clergy must restore this Church It is that must commend us to the Hearts and Consciences of Men it is that must powerfully Influence upon them and teach them to be Religious in good Earnest A Minister cannot chuse a more efficacious way of prevailing with others to be God than by letting them see that he is so himself But on the contrary 't is no marvel that the Sheep wander if the Shepherd strays Every ones Eyes are upon their Guides all Men are looking up to these Stars these Torches of the World If they burn dim it will be observ'd and which is worse it will be Imitated It is observ'd by a Traveller of good Repute that Atheism thrives in Italy because they see so much of the Cheats and Juggles of many of the Priests and that Interest is all their Religion Wherefore let it be known by our Exemplary Lives that we are not enclined to gratifie Atheists and to promote Irreligion in the World Especially let it be seen that we act not out of Worldly Designs that we make not the Ministry a Secular Calling but that our Principles are Sincere and that we do all for the Glory of our Great Master In brief one of our Character should like Iohn the Baptist be a Burning and a Shining Light Burning in his own Breast with entire Flames of Goodness and Devotion with pure Intentions of Honouring God and Promoting Religion and Shining in his Life and Actions by an Uniform Practice of Piety by an Holiness that is conspicuous and resplendent Indeed some of us are apt to entertain this False Apprehension That the things before-mention'd viz. Right Opinions Preaching of True Doctrin Conformity to the Church's Order and Discipline are sufficient though they be abstracted from Holiness Thence some labour to be accounted Orthodox and yet mind not their Lives They teach others what they are to do but are regardless of their own Actions They are hot for Ceremonies but cool and indifferent in the Practice of Religion But nothing can be more unreasonable and absurd for the things before-named are in order to a Holy Life The proper tendency of the Articles of Faith is to Obedience The Exercise of Discipline and the keeping up of Decency and Order were originally designed to beget and nourish Religion and Vertue Let us therefore Correct our Conceptions concerning these Matters and perswade our selves that a Vitious Life is as contrary to God and Religion as Erroneous Doctrines that to break one of the Commandments is as bad or worse than to deny an Article of the Creed that Drunkenness Swearing Uncleanness are as black Crimes as Schism Yea let us be convinced that by Prophaness and Wickedness the Comliness of our Worship is rendred Deformed our most Decent Rites become Sordid our White Garments are Stain'd and Polluted Let us fix upon our Minds that of the Devout Abbot of Claraval What will our Canonical Ordination profit us if we live Vncanonically To be sound in the Faith to Preach it to others to be Peaceable and Orderly and to observe the Ecclesiastical Rules and Laws are of no worth and value if our Lives be Impure and Irregular Wherefore to sum up all in a few words let him that earnestly contends for the Faith for the Order and Discipline of the Antient Christians think himself obliged also to live the Life of a Primitive Saint You see your Calling Brethren you see what is your Office your Work your
Cassibelan and other Great Men and so Caesar fought and overcame and made this Island tributary to Rome Though it is true this was not presently Effected but after several Assaults For the Britains who were not inferior to the Roman Legions in Valour repuls'd them at first and Caesar fled from Britain Of this Juncture of Affairs Tacitus speaks acquainting us that the Britains fell into Factions and Parties and could not agree among themselves to resist the common Danger So whilst they fought divided they were joyntly defeated And in succeeding Ages there never was any great Enemy entred this Kingdom but when there were Schisms and Distractions at home Whether other Nations were invited over hither or invaded us it was always occasion'd by Dissention among our selves There different People successively took the Opportunity of overrunning our Country when our Bickrings and Digladiations were great in our own Bowels It was this which gave occasion to the Saxons to invade this Land or if you will rather to our Ancestours to call them in for the Picts who were the Old Barbarous Britains were divided from the rest of the Nation and held Confederacy with the Scots Therefore Gildas expressly sheweth that one cause of the fatal Councel of sending for the Saxons to come and assist them was their Disagreement and Contention among themselves The Southern and Northern Inhabitants were at odds which moved Vortigern the Head of the Natives at that time to send for those Saxons who came over and miserably requited the Britains for the care they shew'd to them and the kind Entertainment they gave them and with many and long Battels made this Land a place of Slaughter Ravage and Bloodshed And afterwards these very Saxons who seem'd to have made amends for all their violence and mischief by the ardent Zeal which they shew'd to the Christian Faith as soon as 't was Preach'd among them by their building of Churches and Religious Houses by their extraordinary Devotion and by their care to propagate and spread the Christian Religion these Noble Converts who flourish'd under their Heptarchy so long a time were ruined at length by their Intestine Broils and Wars as our Learned Antiquary observes And if you consult our Chronicles you will find that nothing gave the Danes and Normans more advantage against our Predecessors than their Divisions and Quarrels among themselves In brief the former State of things in this Nation immediately fore-going the several devastations by Foreign Invasion hath in This as well as in some other Circumstances too near an Alliance and Correspondence with our Present Times I pray God avert the Omen And let us endeavour for now I am coming to turn my History into Application let us I say endeavour to avert it by the most Proper Means we can use that is by studying Peace and Unity and by promoting Love and Goodwill among one another This is the Practical Inference which we are to make from the Premises And certainly if ever there was need of Preaching and Practising this duly there is now more especially We have been and are at this Day a People divided against our selves and therefore it is a wonderful Prodigy that we have not had our final Downfal before this But now we cannot reasonably expect to stand any longer if we continue in our Divisions and persist in our mutual Antipathies Let us then in this our Day know the things which belong to our Peace before they be hid from our Eyes and that for ever Let us agree as Members of the same Community and banish all Dissentions and Animosities I know this hath been a very Common and Trite Subject But assure your selves that at this time it is the most Proper and Suitable one that a Preacher can entertain you with For on the speedy Practice of this depends all your Safety all your Security all your Wellfare and Happiness in this World If you neglect this you plunge your selves into Ruin but if you are so wise as to attend to it you contribute towards the Establishment of the Nation towards the lasting Prosperity of the Publick Amphion is said in a Poetick rant to have built the Walls of Thebes by help of his Musick But it is no Fiction but a solid Truth that Harmony and Concord are the best means of building up the Walls of our Ierusalem and of incompassing it with more firm and durable ones than those of Brass which the Famed Frier as 't is said vainly boast'd he would environ England with Let us then cast away all unbecoming disgusts and grudgings at one another And though we are an Island and divided from the rest of the World let us not be Dissevered and Divided from our selves Let us love as Brethreâ— and acknowledge none to be our Enemies but such as we know are Implacable Enemies to our Religion that is those who have a design to Rob us of that which is dearer to us than our Lives And to urge this Effectually upon you I will offer these following Considerations to you 1st Consider the Scandal of our Divisions It is a Reproach to our Religion as we are Christians that we nourish so many Feuds and Disturbances among us For the Blessed Author and Founder of our Religion pronounced the Peace-makers blessed and made Love and Peace the honourable Badges of our Profession and we find that all the excellent Principles of the Gospel lead to these and that Christianity it selfe inculcates nothing more than the Practice of them But not only thus in general as we are Christians but in a more Especial manner as we are Protestants we are under a strict Obligation of mutual Amity and Agreement There are two things among others which the Church of Rome glories in first that they perfectly agree among themselves secondly that we on the contrary are divided and break out into passionate Heats and Contests That there is too much of Truth in this their Boasting we cannot denâ—â— though with reference to the former part it must be said and that with equal Truth that they have their Divisions and Parties no less than we as I could easily prove if I were at leisure to do it but 't is granted that as to the Main they are at Unity among themselves that is they perfectly agree to oppose the Protestant Cause They consult together with one consent and are confederate against it This is the Great Prop and Preservative of the Church of Rome this buoys up the whole Papal Interest viz. their Agreement among themselves their being all of a Piece viz. with relation to us And is it not a shame that we should learn of them how to behave our selves Do not our own Reason Necessity and the Cause it self require that we maintain an entire Concord Must we go to the Roman Catholicks to be taught our Duty in this Point This is very Scandalous and I cannot mention it without a peculiar Disdain and Regret nor can
the Way to unite us more intimately among our selves for the future and to lay the Foundation of a Profound and Lasting Peace For when we join together against the Common Adversary surely we shall learn to be friendly among one another The reason of this I think is as clear and certain as any Demonstration and therefore there is no need of urging it Let us with united Hearts and Hands endeavour to stem the Fury of the Great Oppressors and Ravagers of Christendom and not so much as think of any of our Particular Differences so long as this General Concern requires our Thoughts and Assistance Suffer me to speak to you in a very plain and familiar way Suppose some great City or Town were on Fire do you apprehend that that would be a fit time for the Inhabitants who are concern'd in that Calamity to come forth and busy themselves only in renewing their former Grudges and repeating the little Contests which had heretofore been among the Neighbourhood whilst in the mean time they are unmindful of using the proper means for â—â—opping the Raging Flames and hindring their furious Advance towards their Dwellings Just such is the Folly and Stupidity of those Persons who stand contending and wrangling with one another and revive their former Debates at a time when there is a General Conflagration in the World at a time when we are threatn'd by the Great Boutefeues the Tremendous Firebrands abroad at a time when there is so great a Number of Incendiaries at home striving to put us all into a Combustion at a time when our Divisions are like to prove most Successful to our Enemies Let us then all be Exhorted this Day to Christian Agreement Let us henceforth become perfect Vnisons and let no Jarring be found amongst us Let us wear off our former Roughnesses and become Smooth even and gentle heartily complying with one another breathing nothing but Love and Peace that thereby we may be a Happy and a Prosperous Nation and that Glory may dwell in our Land Though the Antient Britains as Tacitus truly observ'd of them were given to Faction and making of Parties yet let it not be said that the same Genius yet possesses this Nation Let us shew that we have the true Spirits of English Men by being more Manly and Generous Let us detest and avoid those ill Men who are forward rather to lay open the Maladies of the Church and State than to apply a Cure who are more desirous to increase our Diseases than to make use of a Remedy Who would continually raise Commotions and Distractions amongst us and put us all into Flames A most mischievous sort of Men that are born to Trouble Plague and Embarass their Country who if you will give them Footing as he of old required will shake the Earth and move the World out of its place A generation of Men that would involve three Kingdoms in Blood and Slaughter merely to indulge their groundless Humour and to satisfy their own Lusts and Bigotry Let us shew our selves to be of an other Temper by endeavouring to Correspond with one another both in our Sentiments and Affections And where we cannot wholly agree in the former let us perfectly accord in the latter And let us know this assuredly that we can reasonably expect nothing but Confusion till we be all touch'd with the same Magnetism of Love and Charity and so point the same Way and turn to the same Coast and till we conspire in one General and Unanimous pursuance of the same Cause Then and not before that time the Catholick Interest and Benefit of these Kingdoms will through the Blessing of the Almighty be advanced then this Island may enjoy many Halcyon Days and be Crown'd with an undisturbed Quiet and Repose What need I say more Having spoken to Wise and Understanding Persons I think I have said enough And therefore I have only this now in the Close to desire of you that you would seriously Reflect upon what I have offer'd to you already and that you would put it in Practice before it be too late It is high time now to turn our Spears into Pruning-hooks and burn the Chariots in the Fire It is high time to do this whether we consult our Duty or our Safety Therefore let me beseech you to betake your â—elves to this Work Agree in the unquestionable and general Maxims of Peace And particularly agree to defend your Religion and your Country against the Attempts of Rome Agree to defeat the Projects and withstand the force of the Great Apollyon abroad Agree to baâ—fle the Designs of all those who any ways promote or favour the Interest of that Unwearied and Merciless Disturber of the Peace of Christendom In brief Agree to keep those Horrid Dangers and Mischiefs at a distance from you which were so near you of late Which you can never do unless you be at Peace among your selves I request you then by all that is Sacred Religious and Venerable to compose your selves into a quiet Posture to purge out your sower Ferments to forget your former Animosities and Oppositions I most Passionately beg of you that you would not repeat your former Iustings and Tiltings against one another that you would think no more of your unkind Reflections and Rallyings that you would Cancel your Philippicks and Invectives and burn all your Pasquils Now if ever be prevail'd with to bestow your Pardons and Indulgences on one another for this will be the best Iubilee for procuring our Peace Now if ever forget not to pull down your Rams of Battery to cease your Cannonading one another to give check to your former Hostilities and to lay aside all your Warlike Weapons If you must needs Strive Strive and Contend for the Faith once deliver'd to the Saints strive to assert and maintain the Necessary and Fundamental Articles of Christianity which of late are so much Corrupted and Perverted Strive to excel and surpass one another in real Acts of Religion and Holiness Strive who shall be most Exemplary and Eminent in Virtue and Piety In a Word Strive to transcribe the Excellent Institution of the Blessed Iesus into your Lives and Manners and to be Doers of the Word of this particularly which hath been deliver'd to you at present and not Hearers only deceiving your own selves And now that all our Animosities may be lay'd aside our Divisions healed and Union among our selves which I have been pressing you unto may be promoted and effected let us make our Addresses to the God of Peace in that excellent Form of Prayer composed by my Lords the Bishops for one of our late Fasts O God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ our only Saviour the Prince of Peace look down in much Pity and Compassion upon this Church and Nation stir up we beseech thee every Soul among us to cast forth the accursed thing to root out of our Hearts all Pride and all Wrath and Bitterness
of Time and are known to be great wasters of your precious Hours are an unsufferable impediment to Religion I am satisfied that there is none here of a sober and stayed mind but will relish what I have said and therefore I need not enlarge on this Particular Moreover there is nothing takes the mind off from Serious Thoughts so much as the Vanity of Attire Those that are addicted to this trouble not their heads with the Concerns of an higher nature The Great Work of Dressing is their Main Employment To be Gay Modish and Trim to be Fine Brave and Splendid is that which engrosses all their Care and Solicitude and thereby they are rendred unfit for the Service of God and all Religious Exercise They banish the thoughts of their present Duty and of Death and Judgment to come of another World after this Thus you see on what accounts the Habit which persons wear may be a hindrance to Religion and Piety And when it is so we are sure that it becomes Sinful and Unlawful Though it may seem to adorn the body it is the blemish of the Soul and the deformity of the whole man And now having more generally display'd the nature of that Excess which I undertook to give you an account of and having shew'd the Unlawfulness of it I now desire you to make some Reflections upon what I have said For it is certain that we live in an Age that is egregiously Criminal as to this very thing Most of the Ornamental part of men and womens Apparel is at this day unlawful i. e. either as it proceeds from Vain Curiosity and Affectation of Novelty or as it is a Badge of Pride and Vain-glory or as it administers to Lust and Wantonness or as it exceeds the Condition and Quality of those that wear it As to this last especially the Disorder among us is unsufferable and utterly disagreeable to the laws of Reason Prudence and Religion These things I plainly and impartially set before you and let me not be accounted your Enemy because I tell you the truth and that with great freedom and sincerity And herein I follow the example of the Greatest Lights in the Christian Church The two Chief Apostles thought it part of their Ministerial Office to rebuke their female Converts for the Immodesty and Vanity of their Head-Attire in my Text and in 1 Pet. 3. 3. And we shall find that the Pious Fathers and Bishops of the Christian Church afterwards esteem'd it their indispensable duty to take notice of the like disorder and to reprimand it with great severity Clement of Alexandria with much ardency inveighs against the Gaiety and Vain Adorning used by the women in his time Tertullian in two of his Treatises pursues the same subject in the former disswading the women from Rich and Gorgeous Apparel in the latter declaming against False Hair and Painting and such like wanton usages which shew as he saith that they were displeas'd with God's Workmanship and endeavour'd to mend it but it was in a very ill way for they made use of the Arts and Inventions of the Evil Spirit From St. Cyprian's Discourse of the Discipline and Habits of Virgins it appears that some of the Christian women were very immodest and profuse in their Attire in those days but that Holy Bishop reprehends them with a Gravity and austerity which became his Sacred Function St. Chrysostom was a sharp Reprover of the extravagant Garb and antick Dresses of that Sex And those Religious Fathers Basil the Great and St. Austin remonstrated against the same Excess The like did St. Ierom who particularly animadverts on the High Toppings of their Head-Attire For it seems they were then guilty of the rampant folly of this Age they did as he words it Turritum verticem struere Build and rear up their heads in the shape of High Turrets and Pinnacles It was the fashion to erect here a stately Pile of Ornaments to which that of Iuvenal refers Tot adhuc compagibus altem Aedificat caput for he speaks it of the Women of those days These are call'd Turrita capita by Festus and Varro This Mounting Head-gear is call'd by Lucan Turrita corona because of its Soaring-Altitude and the ground it is built upon is stiled by him Turrita frons This is the Daring Pride which reigns among our very ordinary Women at this day All their Rigging is nothing worth without this wagging Top-Mast They think themselves highly advanc'd by this Climbing Fore-top and in defiance of our Saviour's words endeavour as it were to add a cubit to their stature With their Exalted Heads they do as 't were attempt a Superiority over Mankind Nay these Babel-builders seem with their Lofty Towers to threaten the Skies and even to defie Heaven itself But we must not suffer them to go uncontroul'd if we will imitate the Religious Writers and Preachers of the first Christian Ages some of whom were Martyrs and Confessors yea if we will follow the example of our own Pious Reformers in this Nation who with great plainness and freedom rebuked this Vice in their time as the Homilies on this subject testifie and particularly that passage in one of them The proud and haughty Stomachs of the daughters of England are so maintain'd with divers disguised sorts of costly apparel that there is left no difference between an honest Matron and a common Strumpet If this was truly and honestly spoken and commanded to be publish'd in those times surely it may with as much truth honesty and faithfulness be proclaim'd in ours Nay indeed I do not see how a Preacher can be faithful unless he discharges this part He must openly declare his dislike of this Indecent Garb he must give a check to this Ranting and Gaudy Attire And it would be well for England if the Magistrates would give it another check if the Civil as well as the Spiritual Powers would shew their abhorrence of it And herein truly they would imitate the practise of the Ancientest Law-givers and Wisest Governours We are inform'd that there were Officers appointed heretofore at Athens to oversee the Apparel of the people that it might be modest grave and comely and where they found a default to punish the offenders and more especially they had a sort of Overseers who took care of the Attire of Women There was a Sumptuary Law made by Numa Pompilius to reform the Excess in Garments which was among the Old Romans And among these people afterwards it was order'd that all persons and their qualities should be distinguish'd by their Habits Our Ancestors likewise did not forget to retrench the Vanity and Disorder which they observ'd in Cloathing thus in King Edward the Third's time an Act was made to appoint every degree of persons the Vesture they should wear and Great and Eminent persons only were permitted to wear Gold Silver Silk Furs c. King Edward the Fourth
must needs say I had not dealt thus with you but that I saw no other person would undertake this work Or if any hath attempted it it is evident that their Undertaking hath proved successless Wherefore it was requisite to urge this matter afresh and freely to set before you your Fault and your Danger that you may seriously reform the one and happily avoid the other This is the grand design of my present Enterprize and I hope it will not be altogether void of success To which end I will conclude with an Exhortatory Address to those who are most concern'd in this Discourse because they are generally the most Criminal Let it be your chief study to deck your selves with those Ornaments that embelish the Soul and adorn the Life and Conversation Put ye on the Lord Iesus Christ as the Apostle is pleas'd to express it Rom. 13. 14. Put on bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-susering and above all these put on charity which is the bond of perfectness which is as it were the rich gridle that ties all your spiritual Attire together Col. 3. 12. More especially be exhorted in the same Apostle's Words to adorn your selves with shamefacedness and sobriety and in the language of another Apostle Let your adorning be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit 1 Pet. 3. 3 4. Which Words as I told you before do not exclude all Ornaments of the Body If they exceed not Christian Modesty and Gravity and offend not against the other Rules before laid down and in a word if they are not unbecoming women professing godliness as the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 2. 10. you may lawfully use them But then you must be sure that you do not by means of these or in the use of them forget and neglect the Inward and Spiritual Adorning Nay you must be Chiefly concern'd for this latter for this is the sole Ornament of the Spouse of Christ who gave himself for his Church that he might sanctiâ—ie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a Glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Eph. 5. 25. c. This is the Beauty and Finery which you are to be solicitons about and let the Care which others take in beautifying and garnishing the Bodies remind you of a much Greater Concernedness which you ought to shew for your Immortal Spirits It was a Specimen of a great Devotion and Religion in that Good Father who one time observing a Harlot and minding how curiously she had trick'd up her self and how elaborately she had made her self fine stept aside and retired into his own breast and there sharply chid himself because he had never taken half so much care in adorning his Soul for the entertaining of the Holy Iesus as that vile Curtezan had done in trimming of her body for the pleasing of her lewd guests Thus we may make the Vanity and and Sinfulness of others administer to our Pious Thoughts and Reflections Let him who beholds the utmost gallantry and splendor of the most Polished Creature presently turn his eyes inward and look upon his Naked Soul and blush at his neglect of it How nice and exact are Vain persons in accoutring and furbishing themselves And that their Bodies may not be disproportionable to their Apparel what cost are they at to repair and beautifie those houses of clay What little Arts and Methods do they use to set off themselves They are not ashamed to borrow the Beauty which they boast of from a Drug or a Dark Spot Some of them are at the trouble every day of putting on a New Complexion But be not you of the number of these Gaudy Fools let your principal design be to beautifie your Minds in adorning of which you cannot spend too much time or take too much pains To this purpose think seriously of the Excellency and Worth of your Souls remember that this is your Better Part and therefore you ought to be solicitous above all things to have this adorn'd with Divine Vertues and Graces And consider likewise that these are the only True and Valuable Ornaments these alone deserve that Name because they have an intrinsick worth in themselves and convey an inward and substantial Excellency to those that have them and which is the highest commendation of them they are in the sight of God of great price as the Apostle informs us These Rich Jewels and Diamonds carry a commanding Lustre and Splendor along with them and even sparkle in the â—yes of Heaven These therefore must be esteem'd by you as the True Christian 〈◊〉 as the Genuine Bravery which outshines and at the same time darkens and sullies all the most exquisite Embelishments of Art And therefore these are to be infinitely preferr'd in your wishes desires and affections before them Lastly These will fit you for those Shining Robes of Glory those Garments of Light and Everlasting Happiness which you shall be cloathed with in the highest Heavens Christianity Mysterious A Sermon shewing the true Meaning and Acception of the Word Mystery in Scripture And why the Christian Religion is call'd a Mystery Occasioned by some late Socinian Writings which explode all Christian Mysteries 1 TIM III. 16. And without controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness THAT there are Fathomless Depths in the Gospel which none can arrive to the full knowledge of that there Profound Abysses in the Christian Religion which utterly surpass our conceptions and are above the comprehension of all Humane Reason be it never so exalted is a Truth as bright and manifest as perspicuous and illustrious as the Writings of the New Testament can possibly make it Here the kingdom of heaven is compared to an hidden treasure Mat. 13. 44. Here we read of hidden wisdom 1 Cor. 2. 7. of the wisdom of God in a Mystery in the same Verse of the deep things of God v. 10. of things hard to be understood 2 Pet. 3. 16. of things which have not enter'd into the heart of man 1 Cor. 2. 9. Finally if a Mystery be a Religious Secret as will appear afterwards then there are many Mystical things in the Gospel and Christianity it self is a Mystery and a Great one as the Apostle here assures us The Reasons of which Denomination if we particularly enquire into I conceive this Account may be given of it It is stiled so upon this double ground 1. In way of Comparison 2. On a Positive and Absolute consideration As to the former I will prove that the Christian Religion is a Mystery as it may be compared with or distinguish'd from Other Mysteries viz. Iewish Pagan Heretical or Antichristian First It is stiled a Mystery in opposition to the Iewish Rites and Observances which it is well known were Mystical and Obscure
pitch could not but render him a very Accomplish'd Person such as was able to discern and judge of things in the best manner and to know and comprehend whatever was to be known and comprehended of them But we are to remember this further that his knowledge in Divine and Sacred things was as eminent for even as to these he had those Helps which other Christians had not yea which the rest of the Apostles were not honoured with for he tells Gal. 1. 11 12. That the Gospel which was preached of him was not after man for he neither received it of man neither was he taught it but by the revelation of Iesus Christ. He was in an Extraordinary and unparalell'd manner call'd to the Office by Christ himself then in heaven he had Immedâ—ate declarations of God's will by Visions and Revelations 2 Cor. 12. 1. yea by abundance of Revelations v. 7. for he had the matchless dignity and priviledge to be caught up to the third heaven into paradice as he otherwise expresses it the Seat of the Divine Majesty and the place of the Blessed and there he heard those unspeakable words those Doctrines and Truths which it is not possible for a man to utter i. e. fully v. 4. Then were display'd before him those Mysteries and Profound Doctrines which his Writings every where abound with several of which are not so much as mention'd in the Writings of the other Apostles which plainly shews that he far excell'd them in Spiritual Knowledge and in the understanding of some of the Main Heads of the Christian Religion And yet behold this Apostle who was thus bless'd with all manner of Intellectual Accomplishments and was possessor of all the Knowledge that Nature or Art and his own happy Genius could furnish him with and which is unspeakably much more all that Knowledge that God himself vouchsafed to infuse into him and inspire him with Behold this very Apostle is the man who uses here this humble and mean language We know in part we see through a glass darkly When he saith we he means himself as well as other Christians nay it appears that he chiefly and principally intends himself for he changes the plural into the singular v. 12. Now I know in part as much as to say notwithstanding all my advantages of Knowing much more than others I acknowledge my self to be but a Smatterer a Novice I own my self to have but a mean and imperfect insight into the High and Mystical Points of the Gospel and if they were not such I should not have so short and partial a knowledge of them This is an unanswerable place of Scripture to prove that there are Mysteries in Christianity such Divine Truths which no quickness of thoughts no sharpness and sagacity of mind can wholly reach And therefore if St. Paul be in the right we know who have taken the wrong part If Plato could say of the Rites of Sacrificing and Divine Worship It is impossible for our mortal nature to have any knowledge of these things surely then our conceptions concerning the Sublime Points of Christianity which is the Noblest and Highest Dispensation of Religion must needs be weak and shallow Divine matters are not clear and manifest of themselves to men said one of the Greek Sages quoted by Iustin Martyr To the same purpose Clement of Alexandria cites that eminent passage of Plato in his Timaeus The only way to learn Truth is to be taught it of God himself or of those that are from God Those are notable words of Iamblicus a Platonick Philosopher It is not easie to know what things God is pleas'd with unless we have convers'd with those who have heard them from God or we have heard God himself or we have attain'd to that knowledge by some Divine Art These are the apprehensions of Improved Heathens concerning Religious matters and shall not those who have attain'd to clearer notions believe the same with a more special relation to the doctrines of the Gospel As these things were not at first found out by Man so they cannot be comprehended by him As they were not discover'd by humane skill and art so they can never be fully known and explain'd by them Thus they are universally a Mystery It is true and I am very forward to grant it that the Christian Religion is stock'd even with Natural Principles such as are in themselves manifest Even that Model of Religion which is made up wholly of the Law of Nature and therefore is call'd Natural Religion is here entirely receiv'd All Rational and Moral dictates are incorporated into this Institution Here are Admirable Notions which carry with them an Intrinsick Evidence as an undeniable demonstration of their Worth and Excellency here are Reason and Morality at their Heighth It was excellently said of an Ancient Writer of the Church Far â—e it that God should hate in us that very thing wherein he hath created us more excellent than other creatures So we may say Far be it that Christianity should disallow that very thing in us which distinguishes our nature from that of Brutes and gives us a Preference to them Some of the Mahometans have a conceit that Idiots and Mad-men are Inspired persons that those who have so little of Man have the more of God But this is an idle fancy and unworthy of our Humane Nature as well as of the Supreame Being it self who was the Author of it The Best Brains are fittest for Religion and even for the Best Religion Christianity It is admirably shew'd by a Worthy Person that the Christian Religion suits even with a Philosophick Genius I question not but it may be made evident from Strict Reason that the Main System of the Christian Theology is uniform and harmonious in it self and conformable to all the Divine Attributes and Perfections that the Coming of Christ in the flesh was requisite in order to the Redemption of lost Man that his Undertatakings were the most Rational Expedient for the restoring of mankind that they were the most Proper and Suitable Method to reduce lapsed creatures and raise them up again after their fall and that Christ's Divinity was no more impair'd by being joyned to the Humane Nature than the Soul of Man is by its Union with the Body These and several things of this kind I could make clear and evident and thereby shew that Christianity is consonant to the most sober Reflections we can make on things that it is agreeable to the most solid and natural Reasonings we can form For we are not to imagine as some Enthusiastick Spirits do that Divine Revelation contradicts the principles of Reason this being a certain Truth that it is impossible to know that any Revelation i. e. any Reveal'd doctrine is from God unless we be first Reasonably satisfied that it is from him Besides Reason is from God as well as Revelation and therefore if we receive the latter we must
vaunt themselves to be Masters of True Reason For then they would see how unreasonable it is that their thoughts and expressions concerning the Infinite God should be according to the nature of Finite beings They would see how absurd it is to undertake to measure the Creator by the Creature and to apply the Properties of Natural things to what is Supernatural as they deal in the doctrine about the Holy Trinity They would find that what is true of the former is not necessarily so of the latter and consequently that they ought not to â—rgue from the nature of a finite and created being to that of God They would be convinced That the Scripture to use the words of a Man of free Thoughts and of a very Philosophical and Rational Genius who professes that the Scripture declares nothing concerning the Divinity of Christ and the Holy Trinity that is impossible contradictious or more unintelligible than things that men ordinarily assent to who are free Philosophers and admit nothing upon force or superstition but upon Reason They would not pretend to such a penetration of mind as to dive into the exact nature of the Deity they would be sensible of the unmeasurable disproportion between their weak capacities and what is Infinite and Immense In sum they would confess that they have not right conceptions concerning the nature of those Sublime Verities which I have been speaking of whilst they contend that there is nothing Mysterious and Hidden in them nay they would acknowledge that they have very wrong and perverse notions of these things and such as are no ways agreeable to their nature And now to shut up this Head of my Discourse we are to remember that the Truth and Reality of Things are firm and unshaken and we can't think to dissettle them but our business is to adjust our notions to the Things He that finds fault with them for their Obscurity and Difficulty cavils at the nature of the Things themselves which is the most irrational act imaginable for the Nature of Beings is stable and settled and we cannot alter it and therefore to require that it should be altered is absurd and ridiculous Lastly I argue not only from the quality of the things themselves but from the present state we are in which is capable of no other than an Imperfect knowledge of these Divine Secrets This Accounr of the matter is suggested to us by the Apostle for he makes a plain distinction between knowing now in part and seeing then i. e. hereafter face to face and knowing even as we are known 1 Cor 13. 12. One he compares to the state of a Child who is of weak understanding and capacity and the other to that of a Man who is of ripe judgment and apprehension The former is our allotment in this world Evangelical and Divine Truths for of these the Apostle speaks in that place are known by us here only in part and no otherwise shall they or can they be known as long as we inhabit in these dark Vehicles of Earth I speak not this to disparage the Christian Knowledge for it must be granted that there are many Plain aud Clear Propositions both as to the matter and manner of the things contain'd in them which the Writings of the New Testament furnish us with and all the Practical Truths of Christianity are easie to be known and are represented to us by Christ and his Apostles in a very intelligible manner And as to the knowledge of those very Doctrines which I have been speaking of all True Christians have such a measure of it as makes them sufficiently capable of understanding their Religion and of discharging their Duty of knowing so much as concerns them to know so much as is requisite to Salvation But that which I assert and am proving is this that these last sort of Truths are mix'd in us whilst we take up our residence on this earthly stage with much Ignorance and Darkness We comprehend not the full meaning of them because this is not suitable to our present condition which we are now placed in Thence it is that there are some Secrets mention'd in the Holy Scriptures which our understandings tremble at and are afraid to approach unto Be the mind of man never so Ambitious and greedy of knowledge it cannot grasp them for they are too Big it cannot reach them they are too High it cannot fathom them they are too deep it cannot discern them they are too Remote in a word they surpass humane abilities at their highest pitch in this state of Mortality But it shall be otherwise afterwards as the Apostle informs us When that which is perfect is come when we shall be translated to Heaven a state of Perfection then that which is in part shall be done away v. 10. Then we shall no longer be in the dark then the imperfection of our understanding shall cease because our natures shall be exalted Then those Amazing Truths which pose us now shall be fully resolved i. e. so far as is fit for us for even in Heaven our Nature will still be but Finite and therefore our knowledge will be so too But by the change of our vile bodies for heavenly ones though still they are the same but otherwise qualified which will no ways impede but promote the operations of our Souls and by being taken into the more Immediate Presence of the Holy Trinity and stated in the Fruiâ—ion of perfect Glory we shall have our minds exalted and our understandings widened to such a degree that we shall exactly and fully know every thing that is to be known by us Though the intrinsick nature of the things that we shall know shall be the same that it is now for there can be no alteration as to that yet our faculties shall not be the same as to the degree of their capacity and the manner of their perception When this gross Veil of flesh shall be drawn aside when the Soul is rid of this Terrestrial Clog and is stript of these Deficient Organs we shall have a more clear and refined apprehension of all Truths and approaching nearer to the Great Objects themselves we shall attain to a more distinct view of them and a fuller insight into them than now at this distance from them we are capable of In that Separate state we shall by reason of an intimate Communion with the Supreme Being and a close Conjunction of the Soul with him be able to comprehend all the Hard Points of Religion to unravel all Difficulties to untie all Knots to assoil all Controversies Then and not before we shall be furnish'd with this ability Wherefore those men make not a due distinction between this life and that to come who talk against Mysteries in our Religion they are forgetful of the Present Scene of things and the Dispensation they are under they discourse as if they thought themselves advanced to the Coelestial Regions already But this very
thing shews their mistake and that they are on this side of that place for they betray the weakness and uncertainty of their Knowledge These persons indiscreetly antedate the Last day anticipate the Future World and confront the revealed Purpose of Heaven for it was not design'd by the Supreme Being that we should here below have a full insight into those Divine Recesses this is reserved for another State Thus much of the Reasons so far as we can apprehend why Christianity is a Mystery that is why some of the most weighty and momentous doctrines of it are in some part hid from all mens understandings What I have said administers to us this double Reflection 1. From the premises we may discover the vanity and falsity of the Socinian Notion that there are no Mysteries in the Christian Religion 2. We may gather what is our Proper Duty and Concern in the Case before us First I say this discovers and detects and at the same baffles the false apprehension of those men who cry down all Mysteries in Christianity and tell us that all is levell'd to the meanest capacities Notwithstanding those Remarkable Attestations to the Contrary Truth from the plain words of our Saviour and his Apostles yet they perversly oppose and deny it and magnifie Reason as the only Measure of Truth and Rule of Faith whatever their late Pretences are and nothing will serve them in Religion but Logick and downright Demonstration I have observ'd it in the Modern Writings of this sort of men and of one also that is a late Friend of theirs that they seldom or never finish a Discourse though it be about Religion without bringing in of Geometrical terms especially Angles and Triangles These Gentlemen under a pretext of Mathematicks would subvert Christianity and demonstrate us out of the Articles of our Faith and make a Triangle baffle the Trinity This is the grand Source of their present Delusion and of that disturbance which they make in the World viz. their labouring to exclude all Mysteries from Christianity It arises wholly from this that they will not give credit to any thing in Religion but what is entirely Clear and Evident and commensurate to exact Reason This is perfectly according to that Description which one of the Fathers of the Primitive Church gives of St. Paul's Natural man He is one saith he that attributes all to the Reasonings of his Soul and thinks not that he stands in need of help from Above neither will be receive any thing by Faith but counts all foolishness which cannot be made out by Demonstration And an Ancient Critick defines him thus He is one who turns all over to Humane Reason and admits not of the operation of the Spirit i. e. any thing that is Supernatural in Religion This is the brief but full Character of a Disciple of Socinus so far as we are concern'd in him upon the present occasion but certainly it ill becomes a Christian man for I have proved already that such a spirit and genius are against the plain determination of Christ and his Apostles against the very nature of the things themselves and unsuitable to the present state we are in Such a one forgets to distinguish between Philosophy and Christianity The Professors of the former act not amiss in squaring all their opinions and sentiments by Strict Reason but the Adherers to the latter who are eminently stiled Believers must yield their assent to things which they cannot by Reason comprehend Otherwise they confound the natures of things and take away the Distinction between Reason and Faith which is much more absurd and unaccountable than what Scenkius in his Medical Observations fancies that it is possible for a man to receive the Visible Species through his Nostrils or in plainer terms that a man may See with his Nose for here is only a substituting of one Bodily Sense for another but in the other case there is a mistaking of one Mental Operation for another viz. Reason for Faith This is the Absurdity of those of the Racovian way and we ought carefully to avoid it We are to believe Christianity to be a Reasonable Service as the Apostle deservedly stiles it but it may be truly said of those men that they make Christianity more reasonable than it is that is they make it submit wholly to Humane and Natural Reason and this is the ground of their exploding all Mysteries Secondly Seeing a great part of the Christian Religion is a Mystery and design'd to be such we are concern'd to Behave our selves accordingly that is never to be so bold and rash as to demand a Positive and Punctual Account of things of this high and abstruse nature It is required in a Good Grammarian said One who was as skilful in that Art as any man that he be ignorant of some things The same may be said of a Good Divine to be ignorant of some Mysteries and not to search too earnestly into them is a good qualification in one of that Profession and indeed in all persons that study Christianity This is a Learned kind of Ignorance and we are not to be ashamed of it It is not necessary we should have a clear understanding of Theological Secrets because the Holy Writ is silent about them but yet we ought to hold and believe the things themselves because the same Infallible Word asserts them Those that go any further shew indeed that they are very Prying and Inquisitive but let them beware of handling the Word of God deceitfully and making Truth uphold Falshood As that Egyptian in Plutarch answer'd the men who ask'd him What it was that he carried so close Covered Therefore it is cover'd said he that you should not know what it is and therefore your asking was in vain So it is here these Divine things are purposely hid from us and wrapt up in Obscurity that we may not with too eager a Curiosity search into them and busie our heads about them Let every one of us think that spoken to us which the Good Christian said to the Philosopher at the Council of Nice Ask not How Be not inquisitive concerning the Manner of Sacred and Heavenly things for this is hid from us A Learned and Pious Writer of the Primitive Church tells us That it is enough for us to know that in Christ's Person the Divine Nature was so joyn'd by an ineffable kind of Tye with the Humane Nature that the same Hypostasis contains in it two distinct Natures but how that Union is made it is not necessary to know nor is it fit to search only let us believe and hold what is written And the same Excellent Person in another place and indeed in several places of his Writings exceedingly blames the rashness and curiosity of those that prie into Divine Mysteries and dispute and wrangle and raise vain questions about them and ask why and how such things are It
enjoyn'd us but we are to satisfie our selves with this that God's Will ought to be the Standard of ours and therefore we ought to resign our selves to the Divine Conduct And these men allow of this as just and rational and advise that our Natural desires and propensions should give way to our Saviour's Commands he being our Great Law-giver and Master And why then do they shew themselves Partial in denying it reasonable to submit the Intellectual part of the Mind to the doctrines and dictates of the Gospel Is there not as much reason to take care of this Faculty to look to the management of it to keep it within its due bounds as there is to deal thus with the Elective Power of the Soul If they are content to surrender this to the Divine Will why are they against subjecting the other to the Divine Lighâ— and Discoveries If it be commendâ—ble to curb and moderate the Concupiscible or â—rascible part why not also to regulate and govern the Perceptive If the Will must be check'd why must the Intellect be left uncontroulable If they measure the Goodness of the former Power in them by the Laws and Rules of Christ what is the reason that they measure not the Rectitude of the latter by the discoveries of Divine Truth made by the same Author in the Writings of the New Testament Seeing they deem it proper and necessary for humane minds to vail the first to the express Injunctions of the Gospel why do they not think it as requisite to submit the second to the infallible dictates of the Holy Spirit in Scripture why do they not abandon their own weak sentiments about the highest Concerns of Christianity why do they not renounce their private surmises their shallow arguings their sophistical ratiocinations and give them up to be corrected by the light of Divine Revelation why are they not sensible of the deficiency and indigence of their Minds of the narrowness and contractedness of their understandings and why do they not at the same time adore the Divine Perfection why do they not inure their understandings to the dictates of Inspiration and believe what is Unintelligible Particularly in the doctrine of the Trinity why do they lean to their own understandings why do they prescribe to Heaven and set up their own weak Conceptions as the Standard of Divine Truth In a word why do they not make their meer Natural Notions and Principles truckle to Reveal'd Truth and bring their Reason into subjection to the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If they come here with their old cry and cavils that the Article of the Trinity and some others that appertain to it are contrary to Reason and are a perfect Contradiction and are Impossibilities as their language is we may for ever silence them with this that they can't with any shew of Reason talk after this rate because they can't pronounce that to be Contrary to Reason the Nature of which they are ignorant of what they can't reach with their Reason they can't say is Repugnant to it Nor can they doom this or that to be Contradictory when they know nothing of the Manner of it And so for the Impossibility of a thing it is rash folly to determine it cannot be when they are unacquainted with the Transcendent Nature of it when the Mode of its existence is hid from them This I think is very plain and it is as pertinent to the matter in hand I having proved that the doctrine of the Trinity and such like Articles of Christianity are hidden Mysteries Therefore let not these men think to amuse and banter us as they would needs do with â—alking of Contradictions Impossibilities c. which are Terms that are nothing to the purpose But this I request of them that they would be Serious and vouchsafe to reflect on what I have suggested under this Head for the Article of the Trinity would be a very clear and bright Truth to them if they would but entertain this one thing in their thoughts that they are oblig'd as much to keep a discipline over their Understandings as over their Wills that the Intellectual Powers as well as the other Faculties of the mind are to be in subjection It is mention'd as part of Man's Depravity and alienation from his first Make that he seeks out many Inventions i. e. as the Hebrew word signifies curious Excogitations quaint Arguings fanciful Reasonings These especially in matters of Religion are greedily sought out and pursued by Vain men but where the true force and vertue of Religion prevail there they cast down imaginations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reasonings and every high thing every proud Conceit that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought i. e. every corrupt notion and conception which usurps upon Faith This is the Conduct of our Minds which the Apostles teaches us we must quit our false Argumentations and Debates about the the Great Mysteries of our Religion we must not dare to be wise above what is written above or beyond what Divine Revelation hath taught us but we must resolve all our doubts and scruples by appealing to Divine Authority and the Veracity of God It may be the Sagacious Gentlemen we have to do with at present will grant that some Vulgar heads among whom perhaps they will reckon the foresaid Apostle have favour'd the restraining and limiting of the Intellectual Powers as well as the other Faculties of the mind but will this pass current they may say with those that are voted for Men of Sense and Wit will it be admitted by Men of Keen Apprehensions men of Judgment and Philosophy Yes most surely if they will be pleas'd to take the Learned Lord Verulam and the Great Des Cartes into that number The former of whom hath left these remarkable words Gods Sovereignty reaches to the whole man extending it self no less to his Reason than his Will so that it well becomes man to deny himself universally and yield up all to God Wherefore as we are bound to obey the Law of God notwithstanding the reluctancy of our Will so are we also to believe his Word though against the reluctancy of our Reason The latter expresses himself thus and though some may think it is spoken in Politick Compliance yet it is more than they can prove and it is certain that they are in themselves words of truth and soberness and worthy of so Great a Man We must saith he always and chiefly remember this that God the Author of things is Infinite and we altogether finite so that when God reveals any thing concerning himself or other things which surpasses the natural strength of our wit such as the Mysteries of the Incarnation or Trinity we are not to refuse to give our Assent to them though we do not clearly understand them And again in the Close of this First Part of his Philosophical Principles he hath left
us this Excellent Memorandum This is to be fix'd on our memories as a Principal Rule that whatever things are reveal'd unto us by God are to be believ'd by us as the most certain of all And though perhaps the most clear and evident light of Reason should seem to suggest to us some other thing notwithstanding this we are to give credit to the sole Authority of God rather than to our own judgment Thus these Mighty Genius's of Philosophy give their Suffrage to our Greater Apostle and declare to the world how rational it is to keep the Reasoning as well as the Elective part in subjection And indeed seeing it is the same Soul that affects wills and understands and these Faculties are not really different from the Soul it self it follows that if the Soul in one capacity may be check'd and regulated then it may be so in another and if we are oblig'd to chastise the extravagancy of the Will and Appetites we may and ought to correct the disorder of the Vnderstanding The Socinians grant the former but deny the latter though without any ground for there is the same reason for the one that there is for the other Which shows that they despise the Parity of Reason that they attend not to the Consequence of their Propositions that they argue not alike in thinâ—â— that are alike that they vary in Cases that are of the same nature that they deal not fairly and ingeniously that they contradict themselves that they are froward and perverse and are resolv'd to 〈…〉 and Partiality have the 〈…〉 Thirdly There is yet another Great Disparagement and Blemish lies upon this Sentiment and this Behaviour for as they are the off-spring of Pride and Insolence of Partiality and Perverseness so they are the nurse of Indifferency and Scepticism in Religion Whilst persons acquiesce in Divine Revelation they are upon safe and firm ground but when they quit this and undertake to measure Christianity by the Principles of Natural and Common Reason they have no sure footing but they waver and fluctuate they start queries about all things and utterly overthrow all Certainty in Religious and Divine matters For when Over-curious and Wrangling heads come to argue about those High Points of Christianity which I have before mention'd and make them the matter of a Formal Dispute and encounter them with meer dint of Reason they soon perswade themselves that they are Victors in such an Engagement and then they carry their Conquests further and range and flie about and make it their work to unsettle Religion and bring all the Concerns of it into question They teach men to doubt of all the Propositions which they before received and especially to dispute about every part of Christianity For they infuse this notion into mens heads that they must not admit of the doctrine of the Trinity and such receiv'd Articles of Faith because they are against Reason and Reason with them is their own Prejudice and Dislike which prompt them to use a sort of Argumentations against these Truths But they are able to use the like Reasonings against all other Articles of Christianity and when there is occasion they will not fail to do it for they seem to begin with those â—â—ore Difficult and Abstruse Points and to bring people off from them because they think they can't easily maintain them that they may make way for shaking the Plainer ones afterwards I must needs profess I have more Charity than to think that this is a formed design of the generality of those that profess the Socinian way for I believe there are some well disposed persons among them But I am enclin'd to believe that there is such a Project carried on by some ill-minded and perverse men who take this opportunity to render Religion Doubtful and Disputable and by degrees to represent it as an Indifferent and Unâ—ertain thing By this course which they are at this day taking the most Sacred and Venerable Truths will be slighted nay they are already slighted and actually disregarded by this race of men as 〈◊〉 of the Artributes of God Christ's 〈◊〉 the Rising of the same bodies the Sâ—bâ—iâ—tence and Perception of Separate Souls the Torments of Hell c. And sundry other substantial Verities as the Existence of Good and Evil Angels the Universal Providence of God in the world the Miracles of our Saviour the Truth of the Christian Religion and many more such doctrines are either doubted of or denied by Deists or Atheists and that on the Socinian Principles that is the thing observable at present I say upon the Socinian Principles viz. because there are some Difficulties that attend the notions and apprehensions of these things and because they are not on all accounts adjusted to the model of mens ordinary Reasonings therefore they are unwilling to admit of them on that very account But for the same reason all the Main Doctrines of the Gospel will be doubted of the weightest Articles of our Religion will be voted to be but Arbitrary Hypotheses and Christianity it self will be thought to be no other as we find in the Writings both of our Foreign and Domestick Adversaries Christianity is laid in the same Scales with Iudaism and Turcism and some parts of it nay the Weightiest are determin'd to be lighter than any in the other two This naturally follows from their arrogantly presuming upon the Strength of their Understandings and Reasons in the things of God from their peremptory resolving to entertain nothing in Religion but what is commensurate to Natural Principles from their opposing and denying a Doctrine which is plainly and expresly asserted in Scripture meerly because they cannot define the exact Manner of the thing that is asserted This I say is the Consequence of founding all Religion upon Natural Reason and Argument We must throw up a great part of that which is Reveal'd meerly to gratifie the Deists and Racovians Nay this will not suffice for it is to be suspected that those who strike at Reveal'd Religion bear no kindness whatever they pretend to the Natural It is likely that those who bid defiance to the former will do the same in time to the latter for we can't imagine but that those bold men who disregard the Immediate Discoveries of Heaven to mankind and represent them as altogether Incredible by intelligent and inquisitive minds will also vilifie the more Mediate and Common Dictates of Nature those that slight the Extraordinary Voice of God cannot be supposed to attend to the Ordinary one those that refuse to hear him speaking in the Holy Writ will not be obsequious to his dictates in their own breasts Thus you see how dangerous and pernicious an Opinion our Adversaries maintain and promote we see how they feed the humour of this Sceptical Age and work upon unstable and wavering minds and wheadle them out of their Religion by plausible insinuations and pretences of Humane Reason by this means they directly lead them
we cannot but entertain these Divine Doctrines and firmly believe them and heartily approve of them for when we find any thing though 't is impossible to explain and unfold it vouch'd by Scripture we need desire no more Whence we may judge of Socinus aud Smalcius the former of whom declares concerning the Satisfaction of Christ and the latter concerning the Incarnation of the Son of God that they would not believe these doctrines though the Scripture should expresly assert them These are strange passages in Writers that bear the Name of Christians and seem to own the New Testament as well as the Old where every thing is Authentick and worthy of all acceptation and depends not on the arbitrement of our shallow Reasons Here to doubt is Inâ—idelity to be scrupulous is an affront to Heaven to dispute is an injury to the Deity To conclude It appears from the whole that the Disciples of Socinus are the most foolish and sensless pretenders to Reason in the whole world because they make it their business to argue against the God of Reason and the Spirit of Truth But if they will call their Anti-Scriptural Notions by the name of Reason who can help it Only this we are sure of and it is all I will add at present no truly Rational and Sober man will be pleas'd with that Reason which rejects what God hath reveal'd which vilifies the Discoveries that come from Heaven which contradicts the Bible and gives the Lye to Him who is the Original Truth the Eternal Reason the Source of all Understanding and Light and Knowledge it self FINIS BOOKS written by the Reverend Mr. John Edwards and printed for Jonathan Robinson and John Wyat. AN Enquiry into several Remarkable Texts of the Old and New Testament which contain some Difficulty in them with a Probable Resolution of them In Two Vol. 8 o A Discourse concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament with a continued Illustration of several difficult Texts throughout the whole Work In Three Vol. 8 o Some Thoughts concerning the several Causes and Occasions of Atheism especially in the present Age with some brief Reflections on Socinianism and on a late Book Entituled The Reasonableness of Christianity as deliver'd in the Scriptures 8 o Price 1s 6 d. A Demonstration of the Existence and Providence of God from the Contemplation of the visible Structure of the Greater and the Lesser World In Two Parts The first shewing the Excellent Contrivance of the Heavens Earth Sea c. The Second the wonderful Formation of the Body of Man 8 o Price 4 s. 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Eâ—r l. 1. c. 2. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Uâ— Dâ—us Cognosâ—atur ex Deo fit Prosper de Vocat Gent. l. â— c. 24. †〈…〉 * Col. 1. 5. 2. Tim. 2. 15. Rev. 5. 3 6. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cont. Celf. l. ◠†〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4 Quaest. in Genes ‖ Nihil aliud niâ—â— nugas tenemus fâ—nte veritatis amisso opinionum titulos consectamur cum quae Deus occulta nobis eâ—se volâ—it nimia curiositate perscrutamur * Nat. Qu. * Proprium hoc est omnium Haereticorum Nam quia Pauca sunt quae in silva inveniri possunt Pauca adversus Plura defendunt Tertull. adv Praxeam †Solenne est Haereticis alicujus 〈◊〉 ancipitis 〈…〉 adversus exercitum sententiarum Instâ—â—mâ—nti totiu◠〈◊〉 Tertull. de Pudicitiâ— * Utique aequum incerta de certis obscura de manifestis praejudicari ne inter discordiam certorum incertorum manifestorum obscurorum fides dissipetur Veritas periclitetur ipsa Divinitas ut inconstans denotetur Tertull. de Resurrectione †Ad obscuriores locutiones illustrandas de Manifestioriâ—us sumantur exempla quaedam Certarum Sententiarum testimonia dubitationem de Incertis â—uferant Aug de Dâ—â—â—rin Christianâ— l. 2. c. 9. * Erasâ—us * Hor. Hieroglyph * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quaest. 51. in Exo◠†Quet Resp. 142. ad Orthodox * Gen. 15 1. Psal. 3. 3. Ps. 28. 7. Ps. 33. 20. Prov. 30. 5. Psâ—l 47. 9. †Aristâ—t Eth. l. 6. c. 1. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad Princ. Ineruditum * Netzib * Lib. 1. Tit. 2. viz. De Origine Juris Civiâ—is omnium Magistratuum †Prov. xx 27. * Etiam Principibus Regibus non ut magnis electis viris sicut fas est sed ut Diis adulatio falsa blanditur Minut Eâ—lix * Reges in ipâ—os imperium est Jovis Sen. Trag. †Omne sâ—b â—egno grâ—viore regnum â—st laâ—â— * 1. Cor. ix 26. * 2 Chron. xxvi 19. * Hactenus quasi de Principe reliqua uâ— de Monstâ—o nâ—râ— â—anda sunt Sueton. * Lord Bacon Essay 19. * Ut caeterorum hominum ita Principum eorum etiam qui Dii sibi videntur aevum omne breve fragile est * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Omnium consensu capâ—x imperii nisi imperâ—sset †Is ordo vitio vacato caeâ—â—ris specimen esto Ciâ— de Leg. l. 3. * Philos. Transâ—ct †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vit. Oâ—atâ—r * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euâ—ipid †Tibi non magis quam Soli latere contigit c. 〈◊〉 ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dâ—o Caâ—â— Hist. Rom. l. 5â— * Qâ—od exemplo â—it id etiam jure fieri putant Cic. Epist. 3. lib. 4. †Quales in Republica Principes essâ—nt tales reliquos sâ—lâ—re esse Cive◠‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Vita Moâ—is 1 Vita Principis censâ—ra est eaque perpetua ad hanc diriginâ—ur ad hanc convertimur nec tam Imperio nobis opus est quam Exemplo 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 1. 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyr. Inst. l. 8. 5 〈…〉 l. 3. c. 20. * Deipnosoph l. 4. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Geograph l. 17. * Luxuriae se tâ—adiderat Regisque mores omniâ— seâ—uta regia Iâ—aque non amici tantum pâ—aefectique verum etiam omnis exerciâ—us c. †Lib. 36. * Antiochi coecam amentem luxuriam exercitus imitatus Lib. 9. c. 1. * Pernisiosius de Repub. merentur vitiosi Principeâ— quod non solum vitia concipiunt ipsi sed ea infundunâ— in civitatem neque solum obsunt quod illi ipsi corrumpuntur sed etiam quod corrumpunt plusque exemplo quam peccato nocent Lib. 3 de Legib. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. †Haeâ— est conditio Principum ut quicquid faciunt praecipere videantur Quintil 8. Declam * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xiphiliâ— * Nicephor l. 7. c. 34. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Plut. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— Orat. * Psal. 51. 12. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 1 Cor. iii. 11. †Ephes. ii 20. * Colloqu Mensal * Rom. xv 20. 1 Cor. iii. 10. Gal. ii 18. Eph. ii 22. Col. ii 7. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chryson * Exod. xxxi 3 c. †◠Cor. iii. 10. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dialog cum Tryph. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Gal. i. 14. * Cont. Faust I. 13. c. 15. * Ambros. Offic. 1. 20. †Eccles Hist. I. 2. c. 9. * Genesis and Exodus †Psalms and Isaiah * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 Epist. l. 4. * Euseb. Eccles. Hist. * 1 Cor. xiv 19. †2. Kings iv 34. * Can. 75. †Matth. xxiii 3. ‖ T it i. 6. * John v. 35. * T it i. 9. * 2 Tim ii 15. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret. Eccl. 〈◊〉 l. 5. c. 28. * à Gon ed cubiius * Lib. 5 p. 217. †In Homer Odys O. * Selden de Dis Syr. Syntag. 2. * Ode 14. * Tibul. lib. 1. Eleg. 8. 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tyrus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rupes 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 built her self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a strong Hold. 3 Antiqu. Jud. l. 11. And Cont. Apion l. 1. 4 Isai. xxiii 17. 1 Isai. xxiii 17. 2 Diodor. Sic. l. 17. Plutarch vit Alex. M. Curtius l. 4. 3 Arrianus 4 Diodorus Curtius * Prov. iii. 16. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xenophon * Tob. iv 13. †Prov. vi 26. * Chap. viii ver 4 8. †Prov. xxii 16. * Luke xvii 28 29. * ver 8. * Ignat. Epist. ad Philip. Hilar. Can. 7. in Matth. Chry. 〈◊〉 Hom. passim