are to be reliev'd in equity or there is a secret dispensation and it does not bind in my particular case or not now or it is but the law of a man and was made for a certain end or it does not bind the conscience but 't was only for Political regards or if the worst happen I will obey passively and then I am innocent Thus every man snuffs up the wind like the wild Asses in the Wilderness and thinks that Authority is an incroachment upon a mans birth-right and in the mean time never considers that Christ took upon him our Nature that he might learn us obedience and in that also make us become like unto God In his Justice and his Mercy he was imitable before but before the Incarnation of Christ we could not in passive graces imitate God who was impassible but he was pleased at a great rate to set forward this duty and when himself became obedient in the hardest point obediens usque ad mortem and is now become to us the Author and Finisher of our Obedience as well as of our Faith admonetur omnis aetas fieri posse quod aliquando factum est We must needs confess it very possible to obey the severest of the Divine Laws even to dye if God commands because it was already done by a man and we must needs confess it excellent because it was done by God himself But this great Example is of universal influence in the whole matter of Obedience For that I may speak of that part of this Duty which can be useful and concerns us Men do not deny but they must obey in all Civil things but in Religion they have a Supreme God only and Conscience is his interpreter and in effect every man must be the Judge whether he shall obey or no. Therefore it is that I say the example of our Lord is the great determination of this inquiry for he did obey and suffer according to the commands of his Superiors under whose Government he was placed he gave his back to the smiters and his cheeks to the nippers he kept the Orders of the Rulers and the Customs of the Synagogues the Law of Moses and the Rites of the Temple and by so doing he fulfilled all righteousness Christ made no distinctions in his Obedience but obeyed God in all things and those that God set over him in all things according to God and in things of Religion most of all because to obey was of it self a great instance of Religion and if ever Religion comes to be pretended against Obedience in any thing where our Superior can command it is imposture For that is the purpose of my Text Obedience is better than Sacrifice Our own judgment our own opinion is the Sacrifice seldom fit to be offered to God but most commonly deserving to be consumed by fire but take it at the best it is not half so good as Obedience for that was indeed Christ's Sacrifice and as David said of Goliah's sword non est alter talis there is no other Sacrifice that can be half so good and when Abraham had lifted up his sacrificing knife to slay his Son and so expressed his obedience God would have no more he had the Obedience and he cared not for the Sacrifice By Sacrifice here then is meant the external and contingent actions of Religion by Obedience is meant submission to Authority and observing the command Obedience is a not chusing our Duty a not disputing with our Betters not to argue not to delay not to murmur it is not this but it is much better for it is Love and Simplicity and Humility and Vsefulness and I think these do reductively contain all that is excellent in the whole conjugation of Christian Graces My Text is a perfect Proposition and hath no special remark in the words of it but is only a great representation of the most useful Truth to all Kingdoms and Parliaments and Councels and Authorities in the whole world It is your Charter and the Sanction of your Authority and the Stabiliment of your Peace and the Honour of your Laws and the great defence of your Religion and the building up and the guarding of the Kings Throne It is that by which all the Societies in Heaven and Earth are firm without this you cannot have a Village prosperous or a Ship arrive in Harbour It is that which God hath bound upon us by hope and fear by wrath and conscience by duty and necessity Obedience is the formality of all Vertues and every sin is Disobedience There can no greater thing be said unless you please to add that we never read that the earth opened and swallowed up any man alive but a company of rebellious disobedient people who rose up against Moses and Aaron the Prince of the People and the Priest of God For Obedience is the most necessary thing in the world and corruptio optimi est pessima Disobedience is the greatest evil in the world and that alone which can destroy it My Text is instanced in the matter of Obedience to God but yet the case is so that though I shall in the first place discourse of our Obedience to man I shall not set one foot aside from the main intention of it because Obedience to our Superiours is really and is accounted to be Obedience to God for they are sent by God they are his Vicegerents his Ministers and his Embassadors Apostolus cujusque est quisque say the Jews Every mans Apostle is himself and he that heareth or despiseth you said Christ heareth or despiseth me And the reason is very evident because it is not to be expected that God should speak to us by himself but sometimes by Angels sometimes by Prophets once by his Son and alwaies by his Servants Now I desire two things to be observed First We may as well perceive that God speaks to us when he uses the ministry of men as when he uses the ministry of Angels one is as much declared and as certain as the other And if it be said a man may pretend to come from God and yet deliver nothing but his own errand that is no strange thing but remember also that S. Paul puts this supposition in the case of an Angel If an Angel preach any other Gospel and we know that many Angels come like Angels of light who yet teach nothing but the waies of Darkness So that we are still as much bound to obey our Superior as to obey an Angel a man is paulò minor angelis a little lower than the Angels but we are much lower than the King Consider then with what fear and love we should receive an Angel and so let us receive all those whom God hath sent to us and set over us for they are no less less indeed in their Persons but not in their Authorities Nay the case is nearer yet for we are not only bound to receive God's Deputies as God's
imploretur remedium run to the King for remedy for therefore God hath set the Imperial fortune over humane affairs ut possit omnia quae noviter contingunt emendare componere modis ac regulis competentibus tradere that the King may amend and rule and compose every new arising question And it is not to be despised but is a great indication of this Truth that the Answers of the Roman Princes and Judges recorded in the Civil Law are such that all Nations of the world do approve them and are a great testimony how the sentences of Kings ought to be valued even in matters of Religion and questions of greatest doubt Bona conscientia Scyphus est Josephi said the old Abbot of Kells a good Conscience is like Joseph's Cup in which our Lord the King divines And since God hath blessed us with so good so just so religious and so wise a Prince let the sentence of his Laws be our last resort and no questions be permitted after his judgment and legal determination For Wisdom saith By me Princes rule by me they decree justice and therefore the spirit of the King is a divine eminency and is as the spirit of the most High God 4. Let no man be too busie in disputing the laws of his Superiors for a man by that seldom gets good to himself but seldom misses to do mischief unto others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said one in Laertius Will a Son contend with his Father that 's not decent though the son speak that which is right he may possibly say well enough but he does do very ill not only because he does not pay his duty and reverential fear but because it is in it self very often unreasonable to dispute concerning the command of our Superior whether it be good or no for the very commandment can make it not only good but a necessary good It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these necessary things said the Council of Jerusalem and yet these things were not necessary but as they were commanded to abstain from a strangled hen or a bloody pudding could not of themselves be necessary but the commandment came authority did interpose and then they were made so 5. But then besides the advantages both of the Spirit and the authority of Kings in matter of question the Laws and Decrees of a National Church ought upon the account of their own advantages be esteemed as a final sentence in all things disputed The thing is a plain command Hebrews 13. 7. Remember them which have the Rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God this tells what Rulers he means Rulers Ecclesiastical and what of them whose faith follow they must praeire in articulis they are not Masters of your Faith but Guides of it and they that sit in Moses chair must be heard and obeyed said our blessed Saviour These words were not said for nothing and they were nothing if their authority were nothing For between the laws of a Church and the opinion of a Subject the comparison is the same as between a publick spirit and a private The publick is far the better the daughter of God and the mother of a blessing and alwayes dwels in light The publick spirit hath already passed the tryal it hath been subjected to the Prophets tryed and searched and approved the private is yet to be examined The publick spirit is uniform and apt to be followed the private is various and multiform as chance and no man can follow him that hath it for if he follows one he is reproved by a thousand and if he changes he may get a shame but no truth and he can never rest but in the arms and conduct of his Superior When Aaron and Miriam murmured against Moses God told them they were Prophets of an inferior rank than Moses was God communicated himself to them in dreams and visions but the Ruach hakkodesh the publick spirit of Moses their Prince that was higher and what then wherefore then God said were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses plainly teaching us that where there is a more excellent spirit they that have a spirit less excellent ought to be afraid to speak against it And this is the full case of the private and publick spirit that is of a Subject speaking against the Spirit and the Laws of the Church In Heaven and in the air and in all the regions of Spirits the Spirit of a lower Order dares not speak against the Spirit of an higher and therefore for a private Spirit to oppose the publick is a disorder greater than is in Hell it self To conclude this point Let us consider whether it were not an intolerable mischief if the Judges should give sentence in causes of instance by the measures of their own fancy and not by the Laws who would endure them and yet why may they not do that as well as any Ecclesiastick person preach Religion not which the Laws allow but what is taught him by his own private Opinion but he that hath the Laws on his side hath ever something of true Religion to warrant him and can never want a great measure of justification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Laws and the Customs of the Country are the results of wise Counsels or long experience they ever comply with Peace and publick benefit and nothing of this can be said of private Religions for they break the Peace and trouble the Conscience and undoe Government and despise the Laws and offend Princes and dishonour the wisdom of Parliaments and destroy Obedience Well but in the last place but if we cannot do what the Laws command we will suffer what they impose and then all is well again But first who ever did so that could help it And secondly this talking of passive Obedience is but a mockery for what man did ever say the Laws were not good but he also said the Punishment was unjust And thirdly which of all the Recusants did not endeavour to get ground upon the Laws and secretly or openly asperse the Authority that put him to pain for doing that which he calls his duty and can any man boast of his passive Obedience that calls it Persecution he may think to please himself but he neither does or sayes any thing that is for the reputation of the Laws Such men are like them that sail in a storm they may possibly be thrown into a Harbour but they are very sick all the way But after all this I have one thing to observe to such persons That such a passive Obedience as this does not acquit a man before God and he that suffers what the Law inflicts is not discharged in the Court of Conscience but there is still a sinner and a debter For the Law is not made for the righteous but for sinners that is the punishment
deceive us and turn Religion into words and Holiness into hypocrisie and the Promises of God into a snare and the Truth of God into a ly For when God made a Covenant of Faith he made also the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law of Faith and when he admitted us to a Covenant of more mercy than was in the Covenant of works or of the Law he did not admit us to a Covenant of idleness and an incurious walking in a state of disobedience but the mercy of God leadeth us to repentance and when he gives us better promises he intends we should pay him a better obedience when he forgives us what is past he intends we should sin no more when he offers us his graces he would have us to make use of them when he causes us to distrust our selves his meaning is we should rely upon him when he enables us to do what he commands us he commands us to do all that we can And therefore this Covenant of Faith and Mercy is also a Covenant of Holiness and the grace that pardons us does also purifie us for so saith the Apostle He that hath this hope purifies himself even as God is pure And when we are so then we are justified indeed this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law of faith and by works in this sense that is by the works of faith by faith working by love and producing fruits worthy of amendment of ife we are justified before God And so I have done with the affirmative Proposition of my Text you see that a man is justified by works But there is more in it than this matter yet amounts to for S. James does not say we are justified by works and are not justified by faith that had been irreconcileable with S. Paul but we are so justified by works that it is not by Faith alone it is faith and works together that is it is by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the obedience of faith by the works of Faith by the Law of faith by Righteousness Evangelical by the conditions of the Gospel and the measures of Christ. I have many things to say in this particular but because I have but a little time left to say them in I will sum it all up in this Proposition That in the question of justification and salvation faith and good works are no part of a distinction but members of one entire body Faith and good works together work the righteousness of God That is that I may speak plainly justifying faith contains in it obedience and if this be made good then the two Apostles are reconciled to each other and both of them to the necessity the indispensible necessity of a good life Now that justifying and saving faith must be defined by something more than an act of understanding appears not only in this that S. Peter reckons faith as distinctly from knowledge as he does from patience or strength or brotherly kindness saying Add to your faith vertue to vertue knowledge but in this also because an error in life and whatsoever is against holiness is against faith And therefore S. Paul reckons the lawless and the disobedient murderers of Parents man-stealing and such things to be against sound Doctrines for the Doctrine of faith is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Doctrine that is according to godliness And when S. Paul prayes against ungodly men he adds this reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all men have not faith meaning that wicked men are Infidels and Unbelievers and particularly he affirms of him that does not provide for his own that he hath denyed the Faith Now from hence it follows that faith is godliness because all wickedness is infidelity it is an Apostacy from the faith Ille erit ille nocens qui me tibi fecerat hostem he that sins against God he is the enemy to the faith of Jesus Christ and therefore we deceive our selves if we place faith in the understanding only it is not that and it does not well there but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle the Mystery of faith is kept no where it dwells no where but in a pure conscience For I consider that since all moral habits are best defined by their operation we can best understand what faith is by seeing what it does To this purpose hear S. Paul By faith Abel offered up to God a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain By faith Noah made an Ark. By faith Abraham left his Country and offered up his Son By faith Moses chose to suffer affliction and accounted the reproach of Christ greater than all the riches of Aegypt In short the children of God by faith subdued Kingdoms and wrought righteousness To work righteousness is as much the duty and work of faith as believing is So that now we may quickly make an end of this great inquiry whether a man is justified by faith or by works for he is so by both if you take it alone faith does not justifie but take it in the aggregate sense as it is used in the question of Justification by S. Paul and then faith does not only justifie but it sanctifies too and then you need to enquire no further obedience is a part of the definition of faith as much as it is of Charity This is love saith S. John that we keep his Commandments And the very same is affirmed of faith too by Bensirach He that believeth the Lord will keep his Commandments I have now done with all the Propositions expressed and implyed in the Text give me leave to make some practical Considerations and so I shall dismiss you from this Attention The rise I take from the words of S. Epiphanius speaking in praise of the Apostolical and purest Ages of the Church There was at first no distinction of Sects and Opinions in the Church she knew no difference of men but good and bad there was no separation made but what was made by piety or impiety or sayes he which is all one by fidelity and infidelity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For faith hath in it the Image of godliness engraven and infidelity hath the Character of wickedness and prevarication A man was not then esteemed a Saint for disobeying his Bishop or an Apostle nor for misunderstanding the hard sayings of S. Paul about predestination to kick against the laudable Customs of the Church was not then accounted a note of the godly party and to despise Government was but an ill mark and weak indication of being a good Christian. The Kingdom of God did not then consist in words but in power the power of godliness though now we are fallen into another method we have turned all Religion into Faith and our faith is nothing but the productions of interest or disputing it is adhering to a party and a wrangling against all the world beside and when it is asked of what Religion he is of we understand
cement Governments to establish Peace to propagate the Kingdom of Christ to do hurt to no man to do good to every man that is so to minister that Religion and Charity publick Peace and Private Blessings may be in their exaltation As long as it was thus done by the Primitive Bishops the Princes and the People gave them all honour Insomuch that by a Decree of Constantine the Great the Bishop had power given him to retract the Sentences made by the Presidents of Provinces and we find in the Acts of S. Nicholas that he rescued some innocent persons from death when the Executioner was ready to strike the fatal blow which thing even when it fell into inconvenience was indeed forbidden by Arcadius and Honorius but the confidence and honour was only changed it was not taken away for the condemned Criminal had leave to appeal to the Audientia Episcopalis to the Bishops Court This was not any right which the Bishops could challenge but a reward of their Piety and so long as the holy Office was holily administred the World found so much comfort and security so much justice and mercy so many temporal and spiritual Blessings consequent to the Ministries of that Order that as the Galatians to S. Paul men have plucked out their eyes to do them service and to do them honour For then Episcopacy did that good that God intended by it it was a Spiritual Government by Spiritual Persons for Spiritual Ends Then the Princes and the People gave them honours because they deserved and sought them not then they gave them wealth because they would dispend it wisely frugally and charitably Then they gave them power because it was sure to be used for the defence of the innocent for the relief of the oppressed for the punishment of evil doers and the reward of the virtuous Then they desired to be judged by them because their Audiences or Courts did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they appeased all furious Sentences and taught gentle Principles and gave merciful Measures and in their Courts were all Equity and Piety and Christian Determinations But afterwards when they did fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into secular methods and made their Counsels vain by pride and dirtied their sentences with money then they became like other men and so it will be unless the Bishops be more holy then other men but when our sanctity and severity shall be as eminent as the calling is then we shall be called to Councels and sit in publick meetings and bring comfort to private Families and rule in the hearts of men by a jus relationis such as was between the Roman Emperors and the Senate they courted one another into power and in giving honour strived to out-do each other for from an humble wise man no man will snatch an imployment that is honourable but from the proud and from the covetous every man endeavours to wrest it and thinks it lawful prize My time is now done and therefore I cannot speak to the third part of my text the reward of the good Steward and of the bad I shall only mention it to you in a short exhortation and so conclude In the Primitive Church a Bishop was never admitted to publick penance not only because in them every crime is ten and he that could discern a publick shame could not deserve a publick honor nor yet only because every such punishment was scandalous and did more evil by the example of the crime then it could do good by the example of the punishment but also because no spiritual power is higher then the Episcopal and therefore they were to be referred to the Divine judgment which was likely to fall on them very heavily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord will cut the evil Stewards asunder he will suffer Schisms and Divisions to enter in upon us and that will sadly cut us asunder but the evil also shall fall upon their persons like the punishment of quartering Traitors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 punishment with the circumstances of detestation and exemplarity Consider therefore what is your great duty Consider what is your great danger The lines of duty I have already described only remember how dear and pretious Souls are to God since for their salvation Christ gave his bloud and therefore will not easily lose them whom though they had sinned against him yet he so highly valued remember that you are Christs Deputies in the care of Souls and that you succeed in the place of the Apostles Non est facile stare loco Pauli tenere gradum Petri You have undertaken the work of S. Paul and the Office of S. Peter and what think you upon this account will be required of us S. Hierom expresses it thus The wisdom and skill of a Bishop ought to be so great that his countenance his gesture his motion every thing should be vocal ut quicquid agit quicquid loquitur doctrina sit Apostolorum that whatever he does or speaks be doctrine Apostolical The ancient Fathers had a pious opinion that besides the Angel guardian which is appointed to the guard of every man there is to every Bishop a second Angel appointed to him at the Consecration and to this Origen alludes saying that every Bishoprick hath two Angels the one visible and the other invisible This is a great matter and shews what a precious thing that Order and those Persons are in the eyes of God but then this also means that we should live Angelick lives which the Church rarely well expresses by saying that Episcopal dignity is the Ecclesiastick state of perfection and supposes the persons to be so far advanced in holiness as to be in the state of confirmation in grace But I shall say nothing of these things because it may be they press too hard but the use I shall make of it upon occasion of the reward of the good and bad Steward is to remind you of your great danger For if it be required of Bishops to be so wise and so holy so industrious and so careful so busie and so good up to the height of best examples if they be anointed of the Lord and are the Husbands of the Churches if they be the Shepherds of the flock and Stewards of the houshould it is very fit they consider their danger that they may be careful to do their duty S. Bernard considers it well in his Epistle to Henry Archbishop of Sens If I lying in my Cell and smoaking under a Bushel not shining yet cannot avoid the breath of the winds but that my light is almost blown out what will become of my Candle if it were placed on a candelstick and set upon a hill I am to look to my self alone and provide for my own salvation and yet I offend my self I am weary of my self I am my own scandal and my own danger my own eye and mine own belly and my own appetite find me work enough and therefore God help
therefore tell what to advise in this particular but that every Spiritual Guide should consider who are tender Consciences and who are weak Brethren and use all the ways of Piety and Prudence to instruct and to inform them that they may increase in Knowledg and Spiritual Vnderstanding But they that will be always learning and never come to the knowledge of the Truth they that will be Children of a hundred years old and never come to years of Discretion they are very unfit to guide others and to be Curates of Souls but they are most unfit to reprove the Laws and speak against the Wisdom of a Nation when it is confessed that they are so weak that they understand not the fundamental Liberty which Christ hath purchas'd for them but are servants to a Scruple and affrighted at a Circumstance and in bondage under an Indifferent Thing and so much Idolaters of their Sect or Opinion as to prefer it before all their own nobler Interests and the Charity of their Brother and the Peace of a whole Church and Nation To You my Lords and Gentlemen I hope I may say as Marcus Curius said to a stubborn young man Non opus Vos habere cive qui parere nesciret the Kingdom hath no need of those that know not how to obey But as for them who have weak and tender Consciences they are in the state of Childhood and minority but then you know that a Child is never happy by having his own humour if you chuse for him and make him to use it he hath but one thing to do but if you put him to please himself he is troubled with every thing and satisfied with nothing We find that all Christian Churches kept this Rule They kept themselves and others close to the Rule of Faith and peaceably suffered one another to differ in Ceremonies but suffered no difference amongst their own they gave Liberty to other Churches and gave Laws and no Liberty to their own Subjects And at this day the Churches of Geneva France Switzerland Germany Low-Countries tye all their people to their own Laws but tye up no mans Conscience if he be not perswaded as they are let him charitably dissent and leave that Government and adhere to his own Communion If you be not of their mind they will be served by them that are they will not trouble your Conscience and you shall not disturb their Government But when men think they cannot enjoy their Conscience unless you give them good Livings and if you prefer them not you afflict their Consciences they do but too evidently declare that it is not their Consciences but their Profits they would have secured Now to these I have only this to say That their Conscience is to be enjoyed by the Measures of Gods Word but the Rule for their Estates is the Laws of the Kingdom and I shew you yet a more excellent way Obedience is the best security for both because this is the best conservatory of Charity and Truth and Peace Si vis brevi perfectus esse esto obediens etiam in minimis was the saying of a Saint and the World uses to look for Miracles from them whom they shall esteem Saints but I had rather see a man truly humble and obedient than to see him raise a man from the dead said old Pachomius But to conclude If weak Brethren shall still plead for Toleration and Compliance I hope my Lords the Bishops will consider where it can do good and do no harm where they are permitted and where themselves are bound up by the Laws and in all things where it is safe and holy to labour to bring them ease and to give them remedy but to think of removing the Disease by feeding the Humor I confess it is a strange Cure to our present Distempers He that took clay and spittle to open the blind eyes can make any thing be collyrium but he alone can do it But whether any humane Power can bring good from so unlikely an Instrument if any man desires yet to be better informed I desire him besides the calling to mind the late sad effects of Schism to remember that no Church in Christendom ever did it It is neither the way of Peace nor Government nor yet a proper Remedy for the cure of a weak Conscience I shall therefore pray to God That these men who separate in simplicity may by Gods mercy be brought to understand their own Liberty and that they may not for ever be Babes and Neophytes and wax old in trifles and for ever stay at the entrances and outsides of Religion but that they would pass in interiora domûs and seek after Peace and Righteousness Holiness and Justice the Love of God and Evangelical Perfections and then they will understand how ill-advised they are who think Religion consists in Zeal against Ceremonies and speaking evil of the Laws My Lords and Gentlemen what I said in pursuance of publick Peace and private Duty and some little incidences to both I now humbly present to You more to shew my own Obedience than to remind you of your Duty which hitherto You have so well observed in Your amicable and sweet concord of Councels and Affections during this present Session I owe many Thanks to You who heard me patiently willingly and kindly I endeavoured to please God and I find I did not displease You but he is the best hearer of a Sermon who first loves the Doctrine and then practises it and that You have hitherto done very piously and very prosperously I pray God continue to direct Your Counsels so that You in all things may please him and in all things be blessed by him that all Generations may call You blessed Instruments of a lasting Peace the Restorers of the old Paths the Patrons of the Church Friends of Religion and Subjects fitted for Your Prince who is Just up to the greatest Example and Merciful beyond all Examples a Prince who hath been Nourished and Preserved and Restored and Blessed by Miracles a Prince whose Virtues and Fortunes are equally the greatest A SERMON Preached at the opening of the PARLIAMENT SERM. V. 1 Sam. 15. latter part of verse 22. Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams First part of ver 23. For Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft and Stubbornness is as Iniquity and Idolatry IN the World nothing is more easie than to say our Prayers and to obey our Superiors and yet in the World there is nothing to which we are so unwilling as to Prayer and nothing seems so intolerable as Obedience for men esteem all Laws to be Fetters and their Superiors are their Enemies and when a command is given we turn into all shapes of excuse to escape from the imposition For either the authority is incompetent or the Law it self is Statutum non bonum or it is impossible to be kept or at least very inconvenient and we
of good and evil Qui pauca considerat de facili pronunciat it is a little learning and not enough that makes men conclude hastily and clap fast hold on the Conclusion before they have well weighed the Premises but Experience and Humility would teach us Modesty and Fear 3. In all disputes he that obeys his Superior can never be a Heretick in the estimate of Law and he can never be a Schismatick in the point of Conscience so that he certainly avoids one great death and very probably the other Res judicata pro veritate accipitur saith the Law if the Judge have given sentence that sentence is supposed a truth and Cassidor said according to the sentence of the Law Nimis iniquum est ut ille patiatur dispendium qui imperium fecit alienum Our Obedience secures us from the imputation of evil and Error does but seldom go in company with Obedience But however there is this advantage to be gotten by Obedience that he who prefers the sentence of the Law before his own Opinion does do an act of great Humility and exercises the grace of Modesty and takes the best way to secure his Conscience and the publick Peace and pleases the Government which he is bound to please and pursues the excellencies of Unity and promotes Charity and Godly Love whereas on the other side he that goes by himself apart from his Superior is alwayes materially a Schismatick and is more likely to be deceived by his own Singularity and Prejudice and Weakness than by following the Guides God hath set over him And if he loses Truth certainly he will get nothing else for by so doing we lose our Peace too and give publick offence and arm Authority against us and are scandalous in Law and pull evil upon our heads and all this for a proud Singularity or a trifling Opinion in which we are not so likely to be deceived if we trust our selves less and the publick more In omnibus falli possum in obedientia non possum said S. Teresa I can in every thing else but in Obedience I can never be deceived And it is very remarkable in my Text that Rebellion or Disobedience is compared to the sin of witchcraft Indeed it seems strange for the meaning of it is not only that a Rebel is as much hated by God as a Witch but it means that the sins are alike in their very natures quasi peccatum divinationis saith the Vulgar Latine they that disobey Authority trusting in their own Opinions are but like Witches or Diviners that is they are led by an evil spirit pride and a lying and deceiving spirit is their Teacher and their answers are seldom true for though they pretend the Truth of God for their Disobedience yet they fall into the deception of the Devil and that 's the end of their soothsaying And let me add this That when a man distrusts his Superior and trusts himself if he misses Truth it will be greatly imputed to him he shall feel the evil of his error and the shame of his pride the reproach of his folly and the punishment of his disobedience the dishonour of Singularity and the restlesness of Schism and the scorn of the multitude but on the other side if he obey Authority and yet be deceived he is greatly excused he erred on the safer side he is defended by the hands of many vertues and gets peace and love of the Congregation You see the blessings of Obedience even in the questions and matters of Religion but I have something more to say and it is not only of great use to appease the tumultuary disputations and arguings of Religion which have lately disturbed these Nations but is proper to be spoken to and to be reduced to practice by this Honourable and High Court of Parliament That which I am to say is this You have no other way of Peace no better way to appease and quiet the Quarrels in Religion which have been too long among us but by reducing all men to Obedience and all questions to the measures of the Laws For they on both sides pretend Scripture but one side only can pretend to the Laws and they that do admit no Authority above their own to expound Scripture cannot deny but Kings and Parliaments are the makers and proper expounders of our Laws and if ever you mean to have Truth and Peace kiss each other let no man dispute against your Laws For did not our blessed Saviour say that an Oath is the end of all questions and after depositions are taken all Judges go to sentence What Oaths are to private questions that Laws are to publick And if it be said that Laws may be mistaken it is true but may not an Oath also be a Perjury and yet because in humane affairs we have no greater certainty and greater than God gives we may not look for let the Laws be the last determination and in wise and religious Governments no disputation is to go beyond them 2. But this is not only true in Religious prudence and plain necessity but this is the way that God hath appointed and that he hath blessed and that he hath intended to be the means of ending all questions This we learn from S. Paul I exhort that first of all Prayers and Supplications and Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all men for Kings for all that are in Authority For all for Parliaments and for Councils for Bishops and for Magistrates it is for all and for Kings above all Well to what purpose is all this that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty Mark that Kings and all that are in Authority are by God appointed to be the means of obtaining unity and peace in godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all the true and godly worshipings of God no Unity in Religion without Kings and Bishops and those that are in Authority 3. And indeed because this is God's way of ending our Controversies the matter of Authority is highly to be regarded If you suffer the Authority of the King to be lessened to be scrupled to be denied in Ecclesiastical affairs you have no way left to silence the tongues and hands of gainsaying people But so it is the Kings Authority is appointed and enabled by God to end our questions of Religion Divinatio in labiis Regis saith Solomon in judicio non errabit os ejus Divination and a wise sentence is in the lips of the King and his mouth shall not erre in judgment In all Scripture there is not so much for the Popes infallibility but by this it appears there is divinity in the Kings sentence for God gives to Kings who are his Vicegerents a peculiar spirit And when Justinian had out of the sense of Julian the Lawyer observed that there were many cases for which Law made no provision he adds If any such shall happen Augustum
the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand Where besides that the wise man and the wicked are opposed plainly signifying that the wicked man is a Fool and an Ignorant it is plainly said that None of the wicked shall understand the wisdom and mysteriousness of the Kingdom of the Messias 4. A good life is the best way to understand Wisdom and Religion because by the experiences and relishes of Religion there is conveyed to them such a sweetness to which all wicked men are strangers there is in the things of God to them which practise them a deliciousness that makes us love them and that love admits us into Gods Cabinet and strangely clarifies the Understanding by the purification of the Heart For when our Reason is raised up by the Spirit of Christ it is turned quickly into experience when our Faith relies upon the Principles of Christ it is changed into Vision and so long as we know God only in the ways of man by contentious Learning by Arguing and Dispute we see nothing but the shadow of him and in that shadow we meet with many dark appearances little certainty and much conjecture But when we know him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the eyes of holiness and the intuition of gracious experiences with a quiet spirit and the peace of Enjoyment then we shall hear what we never heard and see what our eyes never saw then the mysteries of Godliness shall be opened unto us and clear as the windows of the morning And this is rarely well expressed by the Apostle If we stand up from the dead and awake from sleep then Christ shall give us light For although the Scriptures themselves are written by the Spirit of God yet they are written within and without and besides the light that shines upon the face of them unless there be a light shining within our hearts unfolding the leaves and interpreting the mysterious sense of the Spirit convincing our Consciences and preaching to our hearts to look for Christ in the leaves of the Gospel is to look for the living amongst the dead There is a life in them but that life is according to S. Paul's expression hid with Christ in God and unless the Spirit of God be the Promo-condus we shall never draw it forth Humane Learning brings excellent ministeries towards this it is admirably useful for the reproof of Heresies for the detection of Fallacies for the Letter of the Scripture for Collateral testimonies for exterior advantages but there is something beyond this that humane Learning without the addition of Divine can never reach Moses was learned in all the Learning of the Egyptians and the holy men of God contemplated the glories of God in the admirable order motion and influences of the Heaven but besides all this they were taught of God something far beyond these prettinesses Pythagoras read Moses's Books and so did Plato and yet they became not Proselytes of the Religion though they were learned Scholars of such a Master The reason is because that which they drew forth from thence was not the life and secret of it Tradidit arcano quodcunque Volumine Moses There is a secret in these Books which few men none but the Godly did understand and though much of this secret is made manifest in the Gospel yet even here also there is a Letter and there is a Spirit still there is a reserve for Gods secret ones even all those deep mysteries which the old Testament covered in Figures and Stories and Names and Prophesies and which Christ hath and by his Spirit will yet reveal more plainly to all that will understand them by their proper measures For although the Gospel is infinitely more legible and plain than the obscurer Leaves of the Law yet there is a Seal upon them also which Seal no man shall open but he that is worthy We may understand something of it by the three Children of the Captivity they were all skill'd in all the wisdom of the Chaldees and so was Daniel but there was something beyond that in him the wisdom of the most high God was in him and that taught him a learning beyond his learning In all Scripture there is a spiritual sense a spiritual Cabala which as it tends directly to holiness so it is best and truest understood by the Sons of the Spirit who love God and therefore know him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every thing is best known by its own similitudes and analogies But I must take some other time to speak fully of these things I have but one thing more to say and then I shall make my Applications of this Doctrine and so conclude 5. Lastly there is a sort of Gods dear Servants who walk in perfectness who perfect holiness in the fear of God and they have a degree of Clarity and divine knowledge more than we can discourse of and more certain than the Demonstrations of Geometry brighter than the Sun and indeficient as the light of Heaven This is called by the Apostle the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is this brightness of God manifested in the hearts of his dearest Servants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I shall say no more of this at this time for this is to be felt and not to be talked of and they that never touched it with their finger may secretly perhaps laugh at it in their heart and be never the wiser All that I shall now say of it is that a good man is united unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a flame touches a flame and combines into splendor and to glory so is the Spirit of a man united unto Christ by the Spirit of God These are the friends of God and they best know Gods mind and they only that are so know how much such men do know They have a special Vnction from above So that now you are come to the top of all this is the highest round of the Ladder and the Angels stand upon it they dwell in Love and Contemplation they worship and obey but dispute not and our quarrels and impertinent wranglings about Religion are nothing else but the want of the measures of this State Our light is like a Candle every wind of vain Doctrine blows it out or spends the wax and makes the light tremulous but the lights of Heaven are fixed and bright and shine for ever But that we may speak not only things mysterious but things intelligible how does it come to pass by what means and what Oeconomy is it effected that a holy life is the best determination of all Questions and the surest way of knowledge Is it to be supposed that a Godly man is better enabled to determine the Questions of Purgatory of Transubstantiation is the gift of Chastity the best way to reconcile Thomas and Scotus and is a temperate man alwaies a better Scholar than a Drunkard To this I answer that in all things in
ages past and troubled themselves with tying untying knots like Hypocondriacks in a fit of Melancholy thinking of nothing troubling themselves with nothing and falling out about nothings and being very wise very learned in things that are not and work not and were never planted in Paradise by the finger of God Mens notions are too often like the Mules begotten by aequivocal and unnatural Generations but they make no species they are begotten but they can beget nothing they are the effects of long study but they can do no good when they are produced they are not that which Solomon calls viam intelligentiae the way of understanding If the Spirit of God be our Teacher we shall learn to avoid evil and to do good to be wise and to be holy to be profitable and careful and they that walk in this way shall find more peace in their Consciences more skill in the Scriptures more satisfaction in their doubts than can be obtained by all the polemical and impertinent disputations of the world And if the holy Spirit can teach us how vain a thing it is to do foolish things he also will teach us how vain a thing it is to trouble the world with foolish Questions to disturb the Church for interest or pride to resist Government in things indifferent to spend the peoples zeal in things unprofitable to make Religion to consist in outsides and opposition to circumstances and trifling regards No no the Man that is wise he that is conducted by the Spirit of God knows better in what Christs Kingdom does consist than to throw away his time and interest and peace and safety for what for Religion no for the Body of Religion not so much for the Garment of the Body of Religion no not for so much but for the Fringes of the Garment of the Body of Religion for such and no better are the disputes that trouble our discontented Brethren they are things or rather Circumstances and manners of things in which the Soul and Spirit is not at all concerned 3. Holiness of life is the best way of finding out truth and understanding not only as a Natural medium nor only as a prudent medium but as a means by way of Divine blessing He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Here we have a promise for it and upon that we may relye The old man that confuted the Arian Priest by a plain recital of his Creed found a mighty power of God effecting his own Work by a strange manner and by a very plain instrument it wrought a divine blessing just as Sacraments use to do and this Lightning sometimes comes in a strange manner as a peculiar blessing to good men For God kept the secrets of his Kingdom from the wise Heathens and the learned Jews revealing them to Babes not because they had less learning but because they had more love they were children and Babes in Malice they loved Christ and so he became to them a light and a glory St. Paul had more Learning then they all and Moses was instructed in all the Learning of the Egyptians yet because he was the meekest man upon Earth he was also the wisest and to his humane Learning in which he was excellent he had a divine light and excellent wisdom superadded to him by way of spiritual blessings And St. Paul though he went very far to the Knowledge of many great and excellent truths by the force of humane learning yet he was far short of perfective truth and true wisdom till he learned a new Lesson in a new School at the feet of one greater then his Gamaliel his learning grew much greater his notions brighter his skill deeper by the love of Christ and his desires his passionate desires after Jesus The force and use of humane learning and of this Divine learning I am now speaking of are both well expressed by the Prophet Isaiah 29. 11 12. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a Book that is sealed which men deliver to one that is learned saying Read this I pray thee and he saith I cannot for it is seal'd And the Book is delivered to him that is not learned saying Read this I pray thee and he saith I am not learned He that is no learned man who is not bred up in the Schools of the Prophets cannot read Gods Book for want of learning For humane Learning is the gate and first entrance of Divine vision not the only one indeed but the common gate But beyond this there must be another learning for he that is learned bring the Book to him and you are not much the better as to the secret part of it if the Book be sealed if his eyes be closed if his heart be not opened if God does not speak to him in the secret way of discipline Humane learning is an excellent Foundation but the top-stone is laid by Love and Conformity to the will of God For we may further observe that blindnesse errour and Ignorance are the punishments which God sends upon wicked and ungodly men Etiamsi propter nostrae intelligentiae tarditatem vitae demeritum veritas nondum se apertissime ostenderit was St. Austin's expression The truth hath not yet been manifested fully to us by reason of our demerits our sins have hindred the brightness of the truth from shining upon us And St. Paul observes that when the Heathens gave themselves over to lusts God gave them over to strong delusions to believe a Lie But God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy said the wise Preacher But this is most expresly promised in the New Testament and particularly in that admirable Sermon which our blessed Saviour preach'd a little before his death The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things Well there 's our Teacher told of plainly But how shall we obtain this teacher and how shall we be taught v. 15 16 17. Christ will pray for us that we may have this Spirit That 's well but shall all Christians have the Spirit Yes all that will live like Christians for so said Christ If ye love me keep my Commandments and I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter that may abide with you for ever even the spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him Mark these things The Spirit of God is our teacher he will abide with us for ever to be our teacher he will teach us all things but how if ye love Christ if ye keep his Commandments but not else if ye be of the World that is of worldly affections ye cannot see him ye
cannot know him And this is the particular I am now to speak to The way by which the Spirit of God teaches us in all the ways and secrets of God is Love and Holinesse Secreta Dei Deo nostro filiis domus ejus Gods secrets are to himself and the sons of his House saith the Jewish Proverb Love is the great instrument of Divine knowledge that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the height of all that is to be taught or learned Love is Obedience and we learn his words best when we practise them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Aristotle those things which they that learn ought to practise even while they practise will best learn Quisquis non venit profectò nec didicit Ita enim Dominus docet per Spiritus gratiam ut quod quisque didicerit non tantum cognoscendo videat sed etiam volendo appetat agendo perficiat St. Austin De gratia Christi lib. 1. c. 14. Unlesse we come to Christ we shall never learn for so our Blessed Lord teaches us by the grace of his Spirit that what any one learns he not only sees it by knowledge but desires it by choice and perfects it by practice 4. When this is reduced to practice and experience we find not only in things of practice but even in deepest mysteries not only the choicest and most eminent Saints but even every good man can best tell what is true and best reprove an error He that goes about to speak of and to understand the mysterious Trinity and does it by words and names of mans invention or by such which signifie contingently if he reckons this mystery by the Mythology of Numbers by the Cabala of Letters by the distinctions of the School and by the weak inventions of disputing people if he only talks of Essences and existencies Hypostases and personalities distinctions without difference and priority in Coequalities and unity in Pluralities and of superior Praedicates of no larger extent then the inferior Subjects he may amuse himself and find his understanding will be like St. Peters upon the Mount of Tabor at the Transfiguration he may build three Tabernacles in his head and talk something but he knows not what But the good man that feels the power of the Father and he to whom the Son is become Wisdom Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption he in whose heart the love of the Spirit of God is spred to whom God hath communicated the Holy Ghost the Comforter this man though he understands nothing of that which is unintelligible yet he only understands the mysteriousnesse of the Holy Trinity No man can be convinced well and wisely of the Article of the Holy Blessed and Vndivided Trinity but he that feels the mightiness of the Father begetting him to a new life the wisdom of the Son building him up in a most holy Faith and the love of the Spirit of God making him to become like unto God He that hath passed from his Childhood in Grace under the spiritual generation of the Father and is gone forward to be a young man in Christ strong and vigorous in holy actions and holy undertakings and from thence is become an old Disciple and strong and grown old in Religion and the conversation of the Spirit this man best understands the secret and undiscernable oeconomy he feels this unintelligible Mystery and sees with his heart what his tongue can never express and his Metaphysicks can never prove In these cases Faith and Love are the best Knowledg and Jesus Christ is best known by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and if the Kingdom of God be in us then we know God and are known of him and when we communicate of the Spirit of God when we pray for him and have received him and entertained him and dwelt with him and warmed our selves by his holy fires then we know him too But there is no other satisfactory knowledge of the Blessed Trinity but this And therefore whatever thing is spoken of God Metaphysically there is no knowing of God Theologically and as he ought to be known but by the measures of Holiness and the proper light of the Spirit of God But in this case Experience is the best Learning and Christianity is the best Institution and the Spirit of God is the best Teacher and Holiness is the greatest Wisdom and he that sins most is the most Ignorant and the humble and obedient man is the best Scholar For the Spirit of God is a loving Spirit and will not enter into a polluted Soul But he that keepeth the Law getteth the understanding thereof and the perfection of the fear of the Lord is Wisdom said the wise Ben-Sirach And now give me leave to apply the Doctrine to you and so I shall dismiss you from this attention Many ways have been attempted to reconcile the differences of the Church in matters of Religion and all the Counsels of man have yet prov'd ineffective Let us now try Gods method let us betake our selves to live holily and then the Spirit of God will lead us into all Truth And indeed it matters not what Religion any man is of if he be a Villain the Opinion of his Sect as it will not save his Soul so neither will it do good to the Publick But this is a sure Rule If the holy man best understands Wisdom and Religion then by the proportions of holiness we shall best measure the Doctrines that are obtruded to the disturbance of our Peace and the dishonour of the Gospel And therefore 1. That is no good Religion whose Principles destroy any duty of Religion He that shall maintain it to be lawful to make a War for the defence of his Opinion be it what it will his Doctrine is against Godliness Any thing that is proud any thing that is peevish and scornful any thing that is uncharitable is against the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that form of sound Doctrine which the Apostle speaks of And I remember that Ammianus Marcellinus telling of George a proud and factious Minister that he was an Informer against his Brethren he says he did it oblitus professionis suae quae nil nisi justum suadet lene he forgot his Profession which teaches nothing but justice and meekness kindnesses and charity And however Bellarmine and others are pleased to take but indirect and imperfect notice of it yet Goodness is the best note of the true Church 2. It is but an ill sign of Holiness when a man is busie in troubling himself and his Superiour in little Scruples and phantastick Opinions about things not concerning the life of Religion or the pleasure of God or the excellencies of the Spirit A good man knows how to please God how to converse with him how to advance the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus to set forward Holiness and the Love of God and of his Brother and he knows also that there is no Godliness in
spending our time and our talk our heart and our spirits about the Garments and Outsides of Religion And they can ill teach others that do not know that Religion does not consist in these things but Obedience may and reductively that is Religion and he that for that which is no part of Religion destroys Religion directly by neglecting that Duty that is adopted into Religion is a man of Phancy and of the World but he gives but an ill account that he is a man of God and a Son of the Spirit Spend not your time in that which profits not for your labour and your health your time and your Studies are very valuable and it is a thousand pities to see a diligent and a hopeful person spend himself in gathering Cockle-shells and little Pebbles in telling Sands upon the shores and making Garlands of useless Daisies Study that which is profitable that which will make you useful to Churches and Commonwealths that which will make you desirable and wise Only I shall add this to you That in Learning there are variety of things as well as in Religion there is Mint and Cummin and there are the weighty things of the Law so there are Studies more and less useful and every thing that is useful will be required in its time and I may in this also use the words of our Blessed Saviour These things ought you to look after and not to leave the other unregarded But your great care is to be in the things of God and of Religion in Holiness and true Wisdom remembring the saying of Origen That the Knowledge that arises from Goodness is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something that is more certain and more divine than all demonstration than all other Learnings of the World 3. That 's no good Religion that disturbs Governments or shakes a foundation of publick Peace Kings and Bishops are the Foundations and the great Principles of Unity of Peace and Government like Rachel and Leah they build up the house of Israel and those blind Sampsons that shake these Pillars intend to pull the house down My Son fear God and the King saith Solomon and meddle not with them that are given to change That is not Truth that loves Changes and the new-nothings of Heretical and Schismatical Preachers are infinitely far from the blessings of Truth In the holy Language Truth hath a mysterious Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet it consists of three Letters the first and the last and the middlemost of the Hebrew Letters implying to us that Truth is first and will be last and it is the same all the way and combines and unites all extreams it ties all ends together Truth is lasting and ever full of blessing For the Jews observe that those Letters which signifie Truth are both in the figure and the number Quadrate firm and cubical these signifie a Foundation and an abode for ever Whereas on the other side the word which in Hebrew signifies a lye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secher is made of Letters whose numbers are imperfect and their figure pointed and voluble to signifie that a Lye hath no foundation And this very Observation will give good light in our Questions and Disputes And I give my instance in Episcopal Government which hath been of so lasting an abode of so long a blessing hath its firmament by the Principles of Christianity hath been blessed by the issues of that stabiliment it hath for sixteen hundred years combined with Monarchy and hath been taught by the Spirit which hath so long dwelt in Gods Church and hath now according to the promise of Jesus that says the gates of Hell shall never prevail against the Church been reâ—â—ored amongst us by a heap of Miracles and as it went away so now it is returned again in the hand of Monarchy and in the bosom of our fundamental Laws Now that Doctrine must needs be suspected of Error and an intolerable Lie that speaks against this Truth which hath had so long a testimony from God and from the Wisdom and Experience of so many Ages of all our Ancestors and all our Laws When the Spirit of God wrote in Greek Christ is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if he had spoken Hebrew he had been called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet he is Truth the same yesterday and to day and for ever and whoever opposes this holy Sanction which Christs Spirit hath sanctified his Word hath warranted his Blessings have endeared his Promises have ratified and his Church hath always kept he fights against this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emet and Secher is his portion his lot is a Lie his portion is there where Holiness can never dwell And now to conclude to you Fathers and Brethren you who are or intend to be of the Clergy you see here the best Compendium of your Studies the best abbreviature of your Labours the truest Method of Wisdom and the infallible the only way of judging concerning the Disputes and Questions in Christendom It is not by reading multitudes of Books but by studying the Truth of God It is not by laborious Commentaries of the Doctors that you can finish your work but by the Expositions of the Spirit of God It is not by the Rules of Metaphysicks but by the proportions of Holiness And when all Books are read and all Arguments examined and all Authorities alledged nothing can be found to be true that is unholy Give your selves to reading to exhortation and to Doctrine saith St. Paul Read all good Books you can but exhortation unto good life is the best Instrument and the best Teacher of true Doctrine of that which is according to Godliness And let me tell you this The great Learning of the Fathers was more owing to their Piety than to their Skill more to God than to themselves and to this purpose is that excellent Ejaculation of St. Chrysostom with which I will conclude O blessed and happy men whose Names are in the Book of Life from whom the Devils fled and Hereticks did fear them who by Holiness have stopped the mouths of them that spake perverse things But I like David will cry out Where are thy loving-kindnesses which have been ever of old Where is the blessed Quire of Bishops and Doctors who shined like Lights in the World and contained the Word of Life Dulce est meminisse their very memory is pleasant Where is that Evodias the sweet savour of the Church the Successor and Imitator of the holy Apostles Where is Ignatius in whom God dwelt Where is S. Dionysius the Areopagite that Bird of Paradise that celestial Eagle Where is Hyppolitus that good man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that gentle sweet person Where is great St. Basil a man almost equal to the Apostles Where is Athanasius rich in vertue Where is Gregory Nyssen that great Divine and Ephrem