questioned as a faithfull keeper of the Text which she must be if the Text hath not been faithfully kept no sober man will question her as a faithfull interpreter thereof and so the Church will have authority sufficient to confute all Heresies and to compose all schisms but to deny the Text to have been preserved inviolable and incorrupt especially in the sense and Doctrine if not in the very words and titles of it is to deny the Churches faithfulness in preserving it and the Churches veracity in deriving it and consequently to deny the Churches authority in expounding it for if she hath given us a false Text how can we think she will give us a true gloss wherefore we must abhor this tenent not onely because it fills the mouth with blasphemies but also because it fills the heart with uncertainties a thing as dreadfull in Religion as detestable in common sense for every true Christian is bound to beleeve an absolute certainty of the Christian Religion and consequently that neither the authority of the Scripture may be doubted which hath given the rule of Religion nor the authority of the Catholick Church which hath derived that rule to us and is intrusted by our blessed Saviour to continue and derive the same rule to all mankinde to the worlds end Saint Luke justifies both in the preface to his Gospel where he professeth that he therefore put the Gospel in writing that Theophilus might know the certainly of those things wherein he had been instructed S. Luke 1. 4. Whence naturally follow these two inferences First that writing is a more sure way of instruction then preaching there is the authority of the Scripture Secondly That the word being written is supposed to be preserved as it was written unless we will say that Saint Luke writ his Gospel onely to instruct Theophilus but not Christians of after ages there is the authority of the Church Saint Luke makes the Gospel thus written and thus preserved the rule of certainty and how shall our ungodly or uncharitable scruples make it the rule of uncertainty CHAP. IV. That though the substance and exercise of Religion be different in themselves yet they ought not to be accounted so now in our profession and much less made so in our practice for that whosoever is not sure of the exercise of his Religion will not much regard the certainty that is in the substance of it IT is not enough for a man to set his heart to seek the Lord that he may confirm himself in the true Religion but he must also set his face to seek the Lord that others may be confirmed by him tu conversus confirma fratres it concerns not onely every true minister but also every true member of Christ and thou being converted strengthen thy brethren S. Luke 22. 32. And how could he strengthen them but by having a profession agreeable to his faith and a practise agreeable to his profession for they could not b◠strengthened by Saint Peters faith as it was internally in his heart but as it was externally in his communication and in his conversation and indeed this was the ready way for Saint Peter and is for every Christian not onely to strengthen his brethren but also to strengthen himself For though the substance of Religion is written in Gods book yet is it not written in that mans heart who hath not a tongue to profess it and a hand to practise it wherefore it nearly concerns every good Christian to be ready to say with Saint Paul be his accusers never so importunate and his judges never so unjust Acts 24. 14. But this I confess unto thee that after the way which they call heresie so worship I the God of my fathers beleeving all things which are written in the law in the prophets A Text that joyns the substance and the exercise of Religion both together and consequently must teach us so to joyn them for as we cannot have better words for our profession so we cannot have a better example for our practise I will therefore accordingly enlarge my self upon them that our Religion may be the same with Saint Pauls not onely in substance but also in profession and in practise And I hope the Divinity will not be the worse because it is like to be propounded by way of Sermon upon a Text for ministers may now adays speak Gods truth more plainly in the apostles names then in their own and this is a truth that would be plainly spoken because it so nearly concerns the glory of Christ and the salvation of Christian souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Saint Cyril ep ad Celestinum papam in actis concilii Ephes. pars prima If Christ be evil spoken of how shall we that are his ministers hold our peace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and if we hold our peace now what shall we be able to say in the day of Judgment and clearly our Saviour Christ is now evil spoken of not onely in the holy circumstances of Religion as times places and persons consecrated to his name but also in the very substance of it in his holy word and Sacraments nay in his own most holy prayer by some men that would be thought to promote Religion in its substance whiles they discountenance and baffle it in its exercise that is to say both in its profession and in its practise both in the profession of the apostolical Christian faith and in the practise of the immediate worship of Christ. Wherefore let us consider what Saint Paul if he were present would say to these men for I will say no more then his words do warrant me and by consequent shall under my unpolished writing but onely produce his sayings as that prophet did to Iehoram king of Judah who gave him a letter from Eliah after he was assumed into heaven for Eliah was taken up into heaven in the time of Iehoshaphat as appears 2 Kin. 2. 11. and Elisha had in that kings reign succeeded Eliah as appears 2 Kin. 3. 14. where for Iehoshaphats sake Elisha regardeth the request of the king of Israel to procure water for his perishing army but this writing came from Eliah to Iehoram the son of Iehoshaphat reigning in his fathers stead after he had committed that horrid massacre upon his brethren 2 Chr. 21. 4 12. and Iunius in his notes gives this reason for it sic oportuit impium regem ab absentibus reprehendi qui praesentes non fuisset passurus Thus was it fit that the wicked king should be reproved by one that was absent who would not endure the reproofs of those that were present And R. David is of the same opinion as indeed Iunius in his Notes doth frequently borrow many expositions from the Jewish D◠not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the allegorical but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the literal interpreters whereof Kimchi is judged the very best he gives us this gloss this writing from
nature and therefore partaketh of Gods properties both incommunicable and communicable may be thought an impertinent discourse by some because it deals in speculatives and perchance an impious discourse by others because it may seem to destroy practicks and so joyn hands with the sacrilegious profaneness of this age which trades wholly in destructives not onely in regard of man but also of God himself Yet since the end of Religion is to bring man to God it cannot be amiss to see how near the work thereof conduceth to that end and it may be proper if not necessary to shew the excellencies of Religion that mens eyes being dazled with the admirable beauty their hearts may be inflamed with the divine perfections of holiness For Holiness and Religion are one and the same thing essentially though they are different in our apprehensions therefore S. Peter calling upon us to be religious calleth upon us in these words 1 S. Pet. 1. 15 16. But as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be ye holy for I am holy where it is evident that we are called upon for holiness from the Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ the love of God the Father and the communion of God the holy Ghost not onely by the authority of God the Father For it is written and by the example of God the Son But as he which hath called you is holy but also by the communion of God the holy Ghost Be ye holy for I am holy as if he had said Holiness can have no fellowship with impurity therefore unless you will be holy you must not onely renounce the authority of God commanding the example of God conducting but also the fellowship of God conversing and communicating with you For the force of the argument consists in the proper nature of God and our relation to and with God Accordingly I cannot better shew the excellencies of Religion then by shewing how near its holiness comes to the very nature and essence of God himself and then none will doubt but the Angelical Doctour did rightly say Nomen sanctitatis duo videtur importare Munditiem firmitatem that holiness imports two things purity for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is one far removed from the corruptions of the earth and constancie for so sanctum or sancitum lege firmatum are all one and there is an absolute necessity of both these in that man that will be truly religious for he that will be joyned to the most High must be far removed from the things below there 's the purity and he that will be joyned to the first Beginning and last End which is wholly immoveable must be firm and immoveable in his conjunction there 's the constancy Therefore saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 38. Certus sum quòd neque mors neque vita separabit me à charitate Dei I am sure and certain not onely I am perswaded that neither death nor life shall be able to separate me from the love of God He that knows it is all one to love Religion and to love God will never be separated from its love and he that knows Religion to be the service of God will easily acknowledge that such as is the master such is his service And therefore all Divines agree in this that one and the same true Divinity but some have likewise said that one and the same commandment making the first and second but one doth teach us the true knowledge of God and of Religion the proper service of God for Religion is nothing else but the immediate worship of God Religio distinctiùs non quemlibet sed Dei cultum significat saith S. Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 10. cap. 1. If we say Worship we may possibly mean a civil or a moral worship but if we say Religion we can mean no other but Divine worship or the immediate worship of God And therefore there is no one attribute of God but shews in some sort the nature of the true Religion for such as God is in Himself such also is the Religion that serveth and pleaseth Him I will accordingly endeavour with Gods grace to shew the nature of Religion from the very nature of God yet with such a method as shall not seek to satisfie the curious by its exactness but onely to establish the conscientious by its godliness always remembring that when God shews a mortal man his glory as he did to Moses Exod. 33. 23. though he may see much yet much more there is which cannot be seen nor can any Divine whatsoever see so much of God as he doth desire nor can he express so much as he doth see It is enough therefore if I draw such a scheme of Gods attributes as is fittest to instruct my self and others in the nature of true godliness God is a Spirit and so is his service altogether spiritual S. John 4. 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth There must be nothing in his worship of carnal inventions and much less of carnal affections for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Rom. 8. 6. wherein we have described in few words the true and the false Religion the one is spiritual the other carnal they are both described 1. In themselves to be minded for religion calls for the soul whether we serve God or Mammon 2. In their causes the cause of the one is flesh of the other spirit 3. In their effects the effect of the one is life and the assurance of it peace the effect of the other is death Religion then it self is to be minded it always engageth the soul and the true Religion is to be spiritually minded eagaging the soul according to the dictates of Gods holy Spirit And indeed Religion hath the chiefest properties of a spirit For 1. A spirit is invisible and imperceptible by the sense so is the true Religion the natural man perceives it not 1 Cor. 2. 14. and S. Paul calleth the things of Religion spiritual things Rom. 15. 27. The Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things and 1 Cor. 9. 11. If we have sowen unto you spiritual things Take heed then of a carnal eye in Gods worship that loves to look upon an image but much more of a carnal affection that loves to look upon it self 2. A spirit hath life in it self and giveth life unto the body so Religion hath life in it self and giveth life to those that are religious S. John 17. 3. This is life eternal that they may know thee the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent The true knowledge of God in Christ which cannot be without a practise answerable to it is the true Religion and that is life eternal both formally in it self and effectually in regard of us Christ is not onely the truth
kingdoms was taken for a good debt and a sufficient title to the land of Canaan which was from thence called The land of promise wherefore we may say safely with great confidence with greater comfort that Gods promise obligeth him not less but rather more then our promises can oblige us for we may promise in materia indebita or modo indebito in an unwarrantable matter or after an unwarrantable manner so that either he that hath made the promise may be bound to recall his word or he to whom it is made may be bound not to claim it either of which is enough to disannul the justice of a debt but we are sure God cannot promise any thing not really and compleatly good in the matter and in the manner and therefore his promise must needs be laid hold on as a debt worth claiming and more worth the having so that we cannot but look upon him as obliged to a most substantial and real performance of all his promises And yet still here is nothing but mere Grace not so much as merit of congruity for though a promise becomes a debt in God no less then in man yet that debt is a debt onely of favour not of justice and God is obliged to pay it onely in faithfulness which he oweth to his own truth not in justice which he oweth to our works or to our deservings Wherefore let a promise of Grace go for a debt but let it go for a debt of Grace not for a debt of justice that God may be bound onely to himself and not to us for as it was onely his own mere grace that first made him give us bond so it is onely the same grace that at last makes him keep it a grace that ought rather to supply us with arguments for devotion then for disputation for since it is evident that being enemies we could never have reconciled our selves it cannot be obscure that now we are friends we ow to him more then to our selves both the enjoyment and the continuance of our reconciliation And this is the most comfortable doctrine that can be preached to those who have rather wounded hearts then itching ears that would rather hear sound then pleasing divinity for such men must needs be desirous to have God more magnified then themselves and are contented to expect their salvation from him as well as with him for seeing themselves unable to make satisfaction for the least of their sins they dare not hazard their salvation upon the greatest of their righteousness but are willing to say with S. Paul For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Rom. 5. 10. It was the death of his Son that wrought our reconciliation and it is the life of his Son that worketh our salvation by grace we are saved and this grace is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ because purchased by him derived from him and continued through him but yet this grace cannot so well be known by it self for so it is like God the authour of it altogether invisible as by its effects and they are five according to Aquinas Sunt autem quinque effectus gratiae in nobis quorum primus est ut anima sanetur secundus ut bonum velit tertius ut bonum quod vult essicaciter operetur quartus est ut in bono perseveret quintus est ut ad gloriam perveniat 12ae q. 111. art 3. There are five effects of grace in us the first is that it heals the soul of its natural maladie or distemper whereby it is prone onely to evil the second that it makes us will what is good the third that it makes us do the good which we have willed the fourth that it makes us persevere in doing that good the fifth that it brings us to glory to enjoy God the fountain of goodness so that in short where we finde most goodness both in the will and in the deed there we may be sure is most grace and where least goodness least grace and where no goodness no grace And this is also the truest touchstone of Religion whereby we may discern gold from dross which oftentimes glitters as much in the shew but yet stil comes far short in the value the glory may be alike in both but the goodness is far different That Religion which makes the best men will upon this account be found the best Religion and that made S. Augustine so zealous to describe the manners of the true Church as himself professeth lib. 1. Retract cap. 7. Jam baptizatus cùm Romae essem Manichaei jactarent de falsa fallaci continentia vel abstinentia quâ se ad imperitos decipiendos veris Christianis praeferunt scripsi duos libros unum de moribus verae Ecclesiae alterum de moribus Manichaeorum When the Manichees did brag of their false and fallacious continence or abstinence and upon that pretence did much deceive the ignorant people as if they forsooth had been the onely true Christians I thought it high time to write two books one of the manners of the true Church the other of the manners of the Manicheans his drift was from the good manners to finde out the good Religion whether it were in the Manichees or in the Church and he tells us that the Manichees did extoll themselves among the ignorant multitude chiefly by these two dâ—vices by crying down the Scriptures and by crying up themselves and their own great continencie Their first device was to cry down the Scriptures as if they had found a more perfect way of Religion then the word of God had taught them and concerning this the Father gives his definitive sentence lib. de moribus Eccl. Cathol cap. 9. Convictorum hominum ultima vox That this is the last plea of men that are convinced but will not be converted And again he saith the same in effect by way of interrogation which before he had said by way of definition Nescitis quantâ imperitiâ lacessitis libros quos soli reprehendunt qui non intelligunt soli intelligere nequeunt qui reprehendunt Are you indeed so ignorant as not to see what a madness it is to revile those books which onely they reprehend who do not understand and onely they cannot understand who will needs reprehend them August lib. de moribus Eccl. cath cap. 25. Their second device was to cry up themselves and particularly their own continency that though their auditores their common sort had wives yet their electi their choice ones had none and concerning this the same Father answers thus lib. de mor. Manichaeorum cap. 19. Vidi ipse plures quam tres Electos simul post transeuntes nescio quas foeminas tam petulanti gestu adhinnire ut omnium trivialium impudicitiam impudentiamque superarent that even their elect ones did pretend to much more
THE TRUE CATHOLICKS TENURE OR A good Christians certainty which he ought to have of his Religion and may have of his salvation By EDVVARD HYDE D. D. Sometimes Fellow of Trinity Colledge in CAMBRIDGE and late Rector Resident of Brightwell in Berks. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. EPHES. 5. 1. Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ. CAMBRIDGE Printed by John Field Printer to the University 1662. To the Right Honourable EDWARD Earl of Clarendon Viscount Cornbury Baron of Hindon Lord High Chancellour of England and Chancellour of the Universitie of OXFORD My Lord YOu will pardon the boldness of this Dedication from one who is unknown to your Lordship when you have considered the consanguinitie or near relation of the Authour of the ensuing work to your most Noble person If we add to this a forcible tie or obligation of love his Autonomy his bearing the same name with your Lordship both as man and Christian likewise his assimilation or likeness to your Honour in the high accomplishments of Nature and Grace he being for his steadie loyalty to his King his fidelitie to the Church and stupendious science in all kinde of learning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may say of him what S. Chrysostome saith of another a prodigie amongst men admired by the most and beloved of all good Christians weighing all these particulars in the balance of my private thoughts I from them drew this conclusive perswasion that if my deceased dear Friend were now living and to put the ensuing Treatise the childe of his brain out to nurse he would have ventured upon your Lordships patronage who may style this learned work your own and it justly own you for its parent as being the copy of your soul and picture of your life what is delineated and set down in it by way of doctrine or precept your Lordship hath drawn out in the lines of your life by practice for it contains a lively pourtraiture of a good Christian and loyal Subject A Separatist may deceive himself by dividing these two and flatter his deluded soul with a perswasion that though he bears not in his heart a respectfull love to his Sovereign he may scale heaven upon the ladder of a bare title or with the outward badge of an empty name in that he is called Christian and challengeth Christ as his with his daring tongue Let such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-deceivers peruse without partiality or prejudice the following Treatise and they will learn a better lesson it will inform them of this truth that loyaltie and Christianitie like that Eros and Anteros in the Fable are so twisted and linked together that as one cannot live or be without the other so he that is false to his King cannot be true to Christ our Saviour who in his word enjoyns us to be good Subjects in obeying our Kings just commands whom God hath set over us as he requires of us to act the parts of good Christians which is to imitate him in humilitie and charitie in sobrietie and meekness in pietie and Patience in love and obedience in brotherly kindness to all even to those that are under us That this holy frame of spirit may be wrought in the hearts of all his Majesties Subjects as it is in your Lordships it is and ever shall be the hearty prayer of Your Lordships most humble Servant R. Boreman To the Christian Reader GReat is the impietie yet greater if possible is the inconstancy of this our age God justly delivering us over to inconstancy because we have delivered our selves over to impietie The whole book of God tells us but of one Ahab that sold himself to work wickedness but our own sad experience if not our guilty Consciences must needs tell us of many thousands that are now riding Post to that market They chose new gods then was war in the gates Judg. 5. 8. expresseth the least part of our present sin and future punishment for we are daily choosing new gods to increase our sin and there are daily new wars raging amongst us nay within us to increase our punishment wars not onely in our gates to waste our estates but also in our hearts to waste our Consciences we have been a long time forsaking our God and now we are labouring to forsake our selves we would not when we might follow the dictates of Religion and now we cannot if we would follow the dictates of Reason or the directions of common sense we were at first perverse and would not know Gods minde we are now become stupid and do not know our own of this fancie to day of another to morrow and as it was in Jobs messengers The last is the worst or as it is in the outragious billows of the tempestuous waves the first do toss and shake but the last do drown and sink us and all is from fancy in stead of certainty in matters of Religion I say from fancy for the humour that is now most predominant settles not deep enough to be called perswasion stays not long enough to be called a resolution Good Lord is this to be Reformed Christians not to be firm not to be real Christians for they alone are the Real Christians all others are merely fantastical who sanctifie the Lord God in their hearts and are ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh them a reason of the hope that is in them with meekness and fear 1 S. Pet. 3. 15. There is not one word in all this text but drives at the certainty of Religion 1. It must be fixed in the heart not slaunting in the head 2. It must sanctifie the Lord God who as Lord changeth not and as God loves not those who are given to change especially for the worse 3 It must put us in a readiness to give an answer to every man that shall ask a reason of the hope that is in us which cannot be effected without great judgement and deliberation in the choice of our Religion and greater constancy and resolution in the practice of it for we must not onely answer every man that shall ask us but also answer by giving a reason of our hope that is we must answer by convincing him that asks us if he gainsay our hope or at least by confirming our selves against all his gainsayings for in vain do we talk of an hope of salvation that is in us from the belief and practise of our Religion if our Religion be so unsettled as to be shaken by the storm of a persecution or so uncertain as to be blown away by the breath of an argument the hope of salvation which we have or may have from the true Religion is a hope so fixed as to make us withstand persecutours much more to withstand sophisters for though it fills us with meekness in regard of our own infirmities and with fear in regard of our own impieties yet it fills us with
courage in regard of Gods goodness who hath promised salvation to those that sanctifie him in their hearts by good resolutions and in their mouthes by good professions and in their lives by a good conversation and it fills them with constancy in regard of Gods truth and faithfulness who cannot but perform his promise This is the Tenure of a true Catholick he holds both his Religion and Salvation upon certainty not upon conjecture his Religion he holds upon the certainty of Gods most holy word for nothing else can furnish his mouth with a satisfactory answer to silence much less with a sufficient reason to convince his adversary and his Salvation he holds upon the certainty of Gods most faithfull promise for nothing else can furnish his heart with comfort or establish it with courage to satisfie and content himself and agreeable to this as far as concerns the certainty of Religion upon which alone is founded the certainty of salvation is Vincentius Lirinensis his description of a true Catholick Ille verus germanus Catholicus est qui divinae Religioni Catholicae sidei nihil praeponit non hominis cujusquam Autoritatem non Amorem non Ingenium non Philosophiam non Eloquentiam sed haec cuncta despiciens in fide stans permanens amplectitur quicquid universaliter Antiquitas Ecclesiam Catholicam tenuisse cognoverit He is a true and genuine Catholick who prefers nothing above divine Religion and the Catholick faith not the Authority of any man not Love not Wit not Philosophy not Eloquence but despising all these and standing fast in the faith doth embrace whatever he knows was universally and anciently held by the Catholick Church From this description it is easie to gather who are the true Catholicks viz. those Christians First Who in their Religion prefer causes above persons who pretend not to infallible Doctours but make sure of an infallible doctrine who look after Gods not mans Authority as the foundation of their faith for else they cannot stand so fast in it as to despise the Authority Love Wit Philosophy Eloquence of man in comparison of the Oracles of God Secondly Who in their communion prefer persons above themselves that is Gods Trustees above their own humours regard not any novelty or singularity but make much of antiquity and universality or in a word those who are immoveable in the Catholick Truth that they may persist in the true Christian Religion and who are obedient to the Catholick Church that they may persist in the true Christian communion Accordingly my business in this Treatise shall be to shew First The certainty of Religion in its substance that notwithstanding all our present impieties on all hands men may know when they have the true Christian Religion Secondly The certainty of Religion in its exercise that notwithstanding all our present inconstancies men may know when they have the true Christian Communion and when this Certainty of Religion both in its substance and exercise is compassed and atchieved which is the work then the certainty of salvation will be an undeniable consequent which is the reward of good Christians But till I come to my preaching I think it needfull to give my self to praying for though we may get the knowledge of Religion by preaching yet we cannot get the certainty much less the comfort of that knowledge but by praying so ill a course have those Divines taken of late to make this people gain the certainty of their Religion who have turned all praying into preaching for he that prays what the congregation knows not doth rather preach then pray as â—o his congregation for they can onely hear â—s judges they cannot joyn as Communicants in his prayer well he may teach them to pray after him but he cannot cause them to pray with him for though they may wish yet they cannot pray but in the assurance of faith and they cannot have the assurance of faith upon uncertainty and there is nothing but uncertainty in ignorance the ignorance of intention disposition and an erring direction of him that prays and the ignorance not onely of the substance and nature but also of the scope and drifts of his prayer If any faith can be exercised here it must needs be wholly implicite such a faith as we justly blame in the Papists and therefore most unjustly force upon Protestants a faith that hath no particular evidence of what it is to do and therefore can have no particular assurance of what it doth But whilest I have fallen upon others prayers I have almost forgot mine own God of his infinite mercy look upon us once more shew us the light of his countenance that we seeing our new building is upon the sand which is never the surer for being cemented with bloud may return again unto the Rock our Saviour Christ the onely foundation of our souls that is the onely way to make atonement for our impieties and finding the want of the Master builders or most artificial workmen may return also to his Church which also is built on that foundation for that is the best if not the onely way to get a remedy for our uncertainties that so coming to the infallible certainty of our Religion both in its substance and in its exercise we may also come to the most comfortable certainty of our salvation and from the certainty pass to the enjoyment from the assurance pass to the inheritance thereof through the Authour and Finisher both of our Religion and of our salvation our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This being the main scope of this small treatise ought to be the fervent prayer of its Authour who knoweth this lesson is not to be learned by recommending his book to you but by recommending your souls to God for 't is not all the preaching in the world though the whole world should turn preachers not onely with swords in their hands but also with Authority in their mouthes and with grace in their hearts I say it is not all the preaching in the world can bring you to this saving knowledge of Christ and of your self but onely praying and since you will not abide your Church to pray you may be the better contented to let his reviled Ministers continue and increase their prayers for you because you have the greater need though the lesser ability and power to pray truly and heartily for your self as either praying without Christs intercession or praying against his word but sure praying without Christs Communion because praying without if not against his Church 'T is hard to be a wilfull Separarist from your Church and not to be thus peccant in your prayers but you are all for preaching Christ whilest I am rather for praying him that is for such sound and set prayers as by their matter assure me of his intercession and by their form assure me of his communion and I am sure that with Mary I have chosen the better part though
with Martha you do make the greater noise for Christ learned by preaching if at all so to be learned onely sills the head and ofttimes unsettles the brain but Christ learned by praying fills the heart and never fails to establish it he that is come to this establishment is the onely true Christian for he is sure that he doth God good service and leaves it to others onely to think that they do so he that hath but a putâram for the ground of his doings can have but a nonputâram for the Apology of his misdoings If a man do but onely think that he is in the right he can onely say for himself I did not think I was in the wrong and that in ordinary matters is the apology of them that want wit but in matters of Religion it is the apology of them that want common honesty for what is imprudence in regard of the world is impiety in regard of God there it is unwise to be under an uncertainly or mistake but here it is unconscionable there it is insipiency but here it is irreligion For what shall we say Are those taxed by our Blessed Saviour for want of discretion or rather for want of Conscience who by killing Gods servants think they do God service S. John 16. 12. Since therefore it may be so dangerous onely to think we do God service let us in the first place make sure of it especially then when we more particularly profess to serve him for if indeed and in truth we do him true and laudable service we shall have the comfort of his servants here the joy of his salvation the reward of his servants hereafter the enjoyment of his kingdom this is that which he desires to preach to you but much more to pray for you who is Your Brother and Servant in our Common Saviour EDVV. HYDE The Contents of the several Chapters in the Ensuing Treatise CHAP. I. The assurance of our Religion in the order of Nature is before the assurance of our salvation and that the Apostles endeavour was to beget in all Christians the assurance of Religion against Heathenisme Judaisme mixture of Judaisme and depravation of Christianity What we want of Religion we want of salvation The neglect of Religion ends in Irreligion CHAP. II. The Certainty of Religion may be without the Assurance of it by reason of our Profaneness Hypocrisie and Perversness though scarce by reason of our Ignorance And that perversness is the way to the worst kinde of Irreligion or Atheisme CHAP. III. Of the Substance and the Exercise of Religion the difference between them in regard of the Authority Certainty and Immutability CHAP. IV. That though the Substance and the Exercise of Religion be different in themselves yet they ought not to be accounted so now in our Profession much less made so in our Practice for that whosoever is not sure of the Exercise of his Religion will not much regard the certainty that is in the Substance of it CHAP. V. The Assurance we have of the Substance of Religion in that it is spiritual and resembles God the Authour of it in his incommunicable properties of Simplicity and Infinity as also in his Immutability and Eternity which are the two consectaries of Infinity and also in his Omnipotency All-sufficiencie and Omnisciencie which are the three consectaries of Eternity CHAP. VI. The Assurance that we have of the Substance of Religion in that it resembles God in his communicable properties as Truth Goodness Purity and Liberty CHAP. VII The Assurance we have of Religion for that it resembles God in his Attributes of Justice Grace and Mercy CHAP. VIII The Assurance we have of Religion in that it makes us reverence and fear God ascribing the honour due unto his name and of the ten proper names of God collected by S. Hierome CHAP. I. The certainty of our Religion not to be gotten by Speculation but by Practice That the Apostles endeavoured to beget in all Christians a certainty of the Christian Religion against Heathenisme Judaisme mixture of Judaisme and depravation of Christianity What we want of Religion we want of Salvation The neglect of Religion ends in Irreligion THe certainty of salvation in the judgement of those who most earnestly contend for it even with more earnestness then discretion may be desired but cannot be attained without the certainty of Election and the chief proof of our Election is from our perseverance in Religion Thus the Apostle proves that God had not cast off his people whom he did foreknow from this Answer of his to Eliah I have reserved to my self seven thousand men which have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal that is to say who have not been guilty of Apostacie in this general defection of the Jews of which thou complainest but do still persist and persevere in the true Religion If God would have his prophets know he had Elected the Israelites because they had not fallen from his worship shall we think we can be otherwise assured of our Election then by making sure of our Religion Therefore whosoever hath bowed the knee unto Baal cannot rightly conclude that God hath Elected him but rather that God will cast him away because he hath first cast God away And will ye know what is this Baal let Beza tell ye Baal Patronum significat vel eum in cujus aliquis est potestate Baal signifieth a Lord and Master that hath power over any man so then a Religion that pleaseth my Master on earth but not my Father in Heaven is a bowing unto Baal He that will be Gods servant must acknowledge no other Master but onely God both for the Rule and the Practice of his Godliness and this man alone will be sure not to fall away from Gods service wherefore the best assurance we can have that God will not forsake us is that we do not forsake him for none can be assured of his goodness but they that continue in it his own Spirit thus attesting But towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off Rom. 11. 22. For Religion is as the way salvation is as the journeys end and a man must first make sure of his way before he can make sure of his journeys end I am the way the truth the life saith our blessed Saviour S. Joh. 14. 6. And he gives this reason of that saying No man cometh to the Father but by me As Christ is the way to his Father so the true Religion is the way to Christ we must all first come to Christ before we can come to God and we cannot come to Christ but by the true Christian Religion for though Religion in general is a knitting of the soul to God yet the Christian Religion which we must look to be saved by is a knitting of the soul unto God in and through our Saviour Christ. For since the great distance made
offend many of those that manifestly oppose the truth and immortally injure their brethren by turning them out of the road of salvation to look after some new by-paths no less doubtfull then perilous for if St. Paul did wish himself accursed from Christ for his brethren his kinsmen according to the flesh Rom. 9. 3. then none that takes upon him St. Pauls calling but is bound to have so much of St. Pauls zeal as to think the salvation of souls his greatest blessing and to make it his chiefest aim and he that doth the one will certainly do the other and consequently not regard the causless displeasure of many if he may take the right course to save but one and without doubt this doctrine doth immediately tend to the salvation of all which adviseth men to take heed of hypocrisie in professing Religion and of apostacy in renouncing it or of schisme in receding from it for schisme is a particular apostacy even as a apostacy is a general schisme For the onely way to be assured of our future communion with God in happiness is to be assured of our present communion with God in holiness and we cannot be assured of communion with the Father of lights unless we walk as children of the light It is in effect St. Iohns argumentation 1 Epist. c. 1. v. 5 6 7. He that saith he hath communion with God must walk in the light But all we that profess our selves Christians do say we have communion with God in and by our Saviour Christ Therefore we must all walk in the light We that do profess our selves Christians as we do say that we have communion or fellowship one with another so we do much more say that we have communion with God not inviting men to our civil but to our Christian communion and unless we make good that saying we cannot make good our own Christian profession for he that hath communion with Christ hath communion with the Son of God and he that hath the Son hath the Father also 1 Joh. 2. 23. Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father therefore Turks and Infidels and Antitrinitarians do not worship the same God with us Orthodox Christians but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also therefore Orthodox Christians in having Christ are sure they have communion with God For although these latter words He that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also be not in the Greek originals either of Greek or Latine Church for which cause they are by our Interpreters inserted in different characters from the text who did not desire to follow Beza where Beza did not follow the Church yet they are in the Vulgar Latine and are owned by Clemens of Alexandria in his comment upon this Epistle as it is recorded in Bibliothecâ Patrum and also by the Syrus Interpres and indeed are in effect owned by the Spirit of God himself for that they are virtually included in the former words by the rule of Contrariety or Opposition for by the same reason that whosoever denieth the Son hath not the Father it is most undoubtedly true that whosoever confesseth the Son hath the Father therefore all our labour must be that we may have the Son for in having him we are sure to have the Father And this is the grand doctrine of all the New Testament this is the main Gospel-truth that the Apostles maintained against all sorts of gainsayers in their time and they have left us their writings that we should also maintain it unto the worlds end That the Christian Religion is the only way to eternal salvation This their doctrine was strongly opposed in their days by four sorts of men 1. By the Gentiles not yet converted for they still maintained their heathenisme 2. By the Jews not yet converted for they still maintained their Judaisme 3. By the Jews not fully converted for they still maintained a mixture of Judaisme with Christianity they mingled together the Jewish and the Christian Religion 4. By the Christians converted but withal partly perverted for they brought in untrue professions and ungodly practises into their Christianity they corrupted and depraved the Christian Religion and the Apostles were accordingly very carefull as to confute these heresies so also to confirm and establish the contrary truth whence it is that all their writings are wholly taken up either in those confutations or in this confirmation For though the truth it felf is but one yet the controversies concerning it were no less then four and the Apostles thought it necessary not only to establish the truth in it self that it might appear truth but also to establish it in our hearts that it might appear truth to us that is truth without controversie not only a mystery of Godliness but also a manifest and confessed mystery 1. Tim. 3. 16. Wherefore it will not be amiss for us to see the state of the several Controversies that so we may the more clearly see the more firmly embrace the more constantly profess the truth The state of the first Controversie which the Apostles had with the Gentiles consisted of these two questions First whether there were a life everlasting to be looked for after this life Secondly whether that life everlasting were to be obtained by continuing in the idolatry of the heathen or by turning to the Religion of the Christians And in both these questions the truth of the Christian Religion is declared or rather demonstrated against the heathenish superstition out of the principles of natural reason and that truth summ'd up by St. Paul 1 Thes. 1. 9 10. How ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come There is a resurrection from the dead therefore the soul dies not with the body but lives eternally and this eternal life is not to be gotten by serving Idols but by serving the living and true God and there is no serving him but by waiting for his Son from heaven Thus was the Christian Religion justified against Heathenisme which afforded the first Controversie The state of the second Controversie which the Apostles had with the Jews not converted consisted but of this one Question Whether eternal life and salvation was to be obtained by the Jewish or by the Christian Religion And we finde the Apostles still proving out of the Old Testament the Ground of the Jews Religion and so acknowledged by themselves without the least doubt or contradiction that salvation was not to be had by Moses but by Christ so S. Peter in his several Sermons Acts 2. and 3. and 4. Christus Messias that Christ was the Messias the Saviour of the world is the subject of them all This he proves Acts 2. for that he had given the holy Ghost and was risen from the dead and both his proofs are out of the Old
Testament which they acknowledged the rule of their Religion one out of the Prophet Ioel the other out of the Prophet David The same Doctrine he proves again Act. 3. by a miracle restoring a lame man to his feet in the name of Jesus Christ but because the Jews were so wedded to Moses that no miracle was like to divorce them from his doctrine but such as himself allowed therefore S. Peter doth likewise alledge Moses his own testimony v. 22. For Moses truly said unto the fathers A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people Yea and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after as many as have spoken have likewise foretold of these dayes As if he had said I teach you no new doctrine concerning the Messias but such as Moses and all the Prophets have taught you before Moses himself bid you hearken to him no longer then till God should raise up that new Prophet unto you in his stead and I hope you will hearken to Moses if you will not hearken to me here is a miracle done in the name of Iesus of Nazareth which shews he came from God here is the testimony of your own Moses that he should come and that you should hearken unto him you must deny your own senses if you deny the miracle you must deny your own faith which you so zealously profess if you deny Moses so that you cannot deny Christ Jesus to be the Messias if you will but stick to your own senses and to your own Faith And this manner of arguing was very necessary to convince the Jews who were wholly addicted and devoted unto Moses and therefore not to be drawn from him to Christ but by the cords of his own testimony For we see S. Iohn 9. 29 30. That the Pharisees excommunicated the blinde man for alledging a single miracle to advance the authority of Christ they pleade for Moses v. 29. We know that God spake unto Moses and against Christ As for this fellow we know not whence he is the blinde man answers their plea for Moses in answering their plea against Christ vers 30. Why herein is a marvellous thing that ye know not from whence he is and yet he hath opened mine eyes and again vers 32. Since the world began it was not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blinde If this man were not of God he could do nothing As if he had said you prove that Moses was from God by the miracles he wrought and I say here is a greater Miracle then any of his working therefore I am as sure of Gods speaking to this man and being with him as you can be that God spake to Moses and was with him yet we see that this miracle being alledged without Moses did not convert them and that makes S. Peter here alledge Moses himself for their conversion and the allegation is so clear that no eye but may see it so undeniable that no mouth but must confess it nor can any Jew now beleeve Moses against Christ but he must first beleeve Moses against himself The like doctrine is again preached by the same Apostle in his next Sermon Act. 4. 10 11 12. where he confidently avoucheth the lame man to have been healed by the name of Jesus and that by the same Jesus onely they must expect to be eternally saved and this he proves unto them by the testimony of the prophet David The like is also the doctrine of S. Stephen's Sermon Act. 7. the sum whereof is briefly this that Abraham and the Patriarchs worshipped God rightly before Moses was born or the Tabernacle and Temple were built and therefore the foundation of the true Religion is not to be sought for from Moses nor the exercise of it from the Temple Moses himself confessing that his Rites and Ceremonies were to last but for a time even till Christ should come who was that Prophet whom the Lord would have them so to hear as never to expect any other after him The like is also the doctrine of S. Paul's Sermon Act. 13. where he proveth That Jesus is the Christ and that all the Prophesies of the Old Testament lead to his death and resurrection For that by him alone all that beleeve are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses Therefore the Iews must embrace the Christian Religion or be still under an imperfect and insufficient Religion In a word this is not onely the doctrine of S. Paul but also of all the other Apostles in their several Epistles of which this is the Argument That man is not justified by the works of the Law but onely by Faith in Iesus Christ or which is all one that neither justification nor salvation may be hoped for by the observation of the Iewish but onely of the Christian Religion Accordingly the subject matter of all their Epistles consists of these two Heads First of Promises that concern eternal life Secondly of Precepts as the necessary conditions to obtain those Promises which Promises and Precepts are as it were the two integral parts of the whole Gospel And thus was the Christian Religion justified against Iudaisme which afforded the second Controversie and was the more largely to be discussed and the more fully to be decided that we seeing the undoubted grounds of our Christian Religion may the more earnestly endeavour to be good Christians and by that means help to convert the Iews The state of the third Controversie which the Apostles had with the Iews not fully converted consisted of this one Question Whether the Christian Religion alone without any mixture of Iudaisme was the true way to Salvation And they all agreed that it it was and that the Law of Moses was but as a School-master to bring us unto Christ. And therefore though the Apostles did at first permit and ordain some practices of Iudaisme yet was it onely for that time by way of Condescention to gain the Iew not to last for ever by way of Constitution to oblige the Christian Therefore that decree of the Apostles Act. 15. 29. is looked upon by some Divines as meerly local binding onely the Church of Antioch for S. Paul shews it did not binde the Church of Corinth in the meats offered unto Idols and therefore not in bloud nor in things strangled by the same analogy 1 Cor. 8. 4. But it is looked upon by all Divines as meerly temporal binding no Church any longer then was necessary for the gaining of the Iews Thus excellently Aquinas 1. 2 ae qu 103. art 4. ad 3. Ad literam ista sunt prohibita non ad observandum ceremonias legis sed ad hoc quod possit
was alwaies thus from the beginning and must be to the end so that the Apostles did many things by way of Condescention to the Iews which they would not have drawn to the countenancing of Iudaisine for that they intended no Galemofry of Religion no mixture of Iudaisme and Christianity but an utter abolition of Iudaisme and an absolute establishment of Christianity though the abolition of Iudaisme was to be brought to pass not in an instant but by degrees Ut cum honore mater Synagoga sepeliretur as S. Augustine speaks that their mother Synagogue might be laid in her grave with honour and without offence And thus was the Christian Religion justified against the mixture of Judaisme which afforded the third Controversie The state of the fourth Controversie which che Apostles had with the Christians converted but withal partly perverted consisted of as many questions as there were present errours against the truth or abuses against the purity of Christian Religion the errous were confuted by the Apostles and the abuses were rectified And thus was the Christian Religion justified against Heresie and against Profaneness First it was justified against all other false professsions and afterwards against its own false professours For it had been absurd to perswade men to a Religion that was not able to justifie it self against all Religions and men whatsoever because a Religion that cannot justifie it self is much less able to justifie those that profess it a Religion that cannot justifie cannot save a Religion that cannot save is a Religion but in word onely not in power for what man would ever torment his body were it not to save his soul Who would ever forsake the pleasures of the flesh were it not to enjoy the comforts of the Spirit therefore must the Christian Religion be looked on as the way to salvation that men may be carefull to walk in it and as the onely way that men may be fearfull to walk out of it For what they have of Religion that they have of salvation whether really or phantastically and what they do want of the one that they do also want of the other Accordingly S. Peter adviseth us all to make our calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. For though our Election be firm in it self we may bless God it is so especially since we are fallen under such strong delusions as might deceive if it were possible even the very Elect I say though our Election be firm in it self as being grounded on Gods immutable purpose yet is it daily more and more to be confirmed in us by making more and more sure of our calling that is to say of our calling to righteousness or of our Religion in daily bringing forth more and more the fruits of righteousness for we cannot make sure of Glory but by making sure of Grace nor can we be sure of Grace but from the fruits and effects of Grace which are the remission of sins and the purgation from sin according to that excellent gloss of Oecumenius upon the Apostles benediction to the Hebrews in his last words of that Epistle Grace be with you all Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace be with you that is The Remission of sins and the purgation from sin be with you or to speak more to our present custome and capacity the blessings of Justification and of Sanctification be with you for Justification is the Remission of sins and Sanctification is the purgation from sin and the work of Grace is to expel sin by justification and by sanctification to expel sin in its guiltiness or obligation to punishment by justification and to expel sin in its pollution or obligation to more sinfulness by sanctification for sin hath a two fold obligation upon the sinner it obligeth him to punishment by its guiltiness it obligeth him to more sins by its pollution and the work of Grace is to oppose sin in both these respects and the means whereby Grace effecteth this great work is the Christian Religion which is truly and properly our calling as we are Christians and callethus to the forgiveness of our sins by faith in Christ there is the justification and calleth us to the amendment of our sinfull lives by repentance from dead works there is thesanctification Wherefore to make sure of our Calling is to make sure of Grace and to make sure of Grace is to to make sure of our Christian Religion which alone produceth the works of Grace and how we may do this the same Authour teacheth us in the same place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If we do not wrong Gods goodness by sinning or by neglecting that is by Commission or by Omission by sinning against the light of Grace or by neglecting the power and means of Grace which two have without doubt occasioned all the grand mistakes and miscarriages of several Christian Churches in point of Religion They either sin by Commission against the light of Grace or by Omission against the power and means of Grace and at last come to make a new Religion by turning their old sins into new Tenents This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To sin against God and to neglect him to sin against him by Commissions and to neglect him by Omissions to do either is to wrong his grace and goodness much more to do both which as it may serve for a good caveat to all Christian Churches in general so also to every Christian man in particular for our Commissions are the great impediments of our justification because though the sons of men will yet the Son of God will not justifie a sinner that continueth in his sins our Omissions are the great impediments of our sanctification because though the spirit of errour may call him a Saint yet the Spirit of Grace will not sanctifie him or make a Saint of that sinner who neglects and contemns the means of Grace and these Commissions and those Omissions commonly go both together in the loss of Religion but the Omissions go generally before the Commissions As S. Paul saith of the Apostate Christians in his time Rom. 1. 21. and the same doctrine will hold true of all Apostates to the worlds end That when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankfull there 's their Omissions But became vain in their imaginations and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image c. There 's their Commissions And upon these follows the loss of their Religion ver 28. As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate minde 't is first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they did not approve then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were given over to such a minde as could not approve that which came from God this is a reprobate minde a minde void of judgement an undiscerning understanding which is sure to have sin with it and damnation after it for so saith the prophet Wo unto them
that call evil good and good evil Isa. 5. 19. here is truly the reprobate minde in its sin for it calls evil good and good evil and in its punishment for it is under a curse Wo unto them So again Prov. 17. 15. He that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just whether Person or Thing or Action for the adjunct is put without any one of these particular subjects to shew it belongs alike to all even they both are an abomination to the Lord Their sin is in their own false judgement their punishment in Gods true judgement who judgeth them as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing profane unclean abominable not to be endured by God or man Let me then pray that I may cordially and sincerely study not onely the knowledge but also and much rather the practise and exercise of the true Christian Religion lest the neglect of the practise and exercise bring me to the dislike and contempt of my Religion and I begin to finde fault with my Church when I should finde fault with my self all men being apt to condemn that which they do neglect that they may justifie their own neglects for to finde fault with the true and laudable exercise of Religion is to call good evil which was all we did at first and then it will be just with God to deliver me over to so much Irreligion as to call evil good which is that we do now CHAP. 2. The certainty of Religion may be without the assurance of it by reason of our Hypocrisie profaneness and perversness though scarce by reason of our ignorance and that perversness is the way to the worst kinde of Irreligion or Atheisme REligion may be sure in it self and yet may not be sure to us It is in it self the certainty of all certainties yet it is often in too too many men the more is the pity if against their will the more is the shame if with their will one of the greatest uncertainties in the world For there may be a certainty of the object or of the thing when there is little or no certainty of the subject or of the person that is in plain English the certainty may be great yet the assurance little or none at all and so it is in this case for Religion hath without doubt the greatest certainty of the object or or of the thing because that wholly depends upon Gods immutabilitie or unchangeableness there is the greatest certainty but it hath ofttimes the least certaintie of the subject or of the person because of mans great hypocrisie and greater inconstancy there is the least assurance for this is the common bane of Religion that men do profess it hypocritically and therefore cannot profess it constantly they seek a Religion that will rather save their estates then save their souls and consequently will more settle their conditions then their consciences thus they are first hypocrites and then they cannot stick to be apostates for there is in hypocrisie Simulatio sanctitatis defectus sanctitatis saith Aquinas first the pretence of Religion and then also the defect or want of it for what is meerly in pretence is certainly not in being and Religion could not be pretended were it not wanting onely in hypocrites the pretence appears first but at last also the want or defect of godliness so that were their Religion unfeigned it would not be inconstant but because they have hypocrisie so far as to profess religion out of custome they cannot have constancy so far as to persist in their profession out of conscience we have the pattern of both kinds of professours real and formal in the first chapter of Ruth The one in Ruth the other in Orpah For the pleasure the delight of this world saith unto us all as Naomi said to her two daughters in law Go and return each to her mothers house and the formal professours do as Orpah did leave their mother the Church the onely true Naomi because she is Gods delight when she is in distress Orpah non Religione sed humanitate socrum secuta est saith Iunius Orphah followed her mother not out of Religion but meerly out of common courtesie therefore she turns back again so do all those that are of any Christian Church rather for good manners then for a good perswasion rather for custom then for conscience but the real professours who have followed Religion out of conscience and therefore have their consciences established in Religion are ready to say to their Church as Ruth said to her mother Naomi Whither thou goest I will go and where thou lodgest I will lodge thy people shall be my people and thy God my God As if she had said I will never leave the land of Israel nor the communion of the God Israel for so Aben Ezra glosseth her words Thus she resolves verse 16. and she strengtheneth her self in this resolution verse 18. for so it is in the Hebrew she strengthened her self which we fitly translate she was stedfastly minded for they who most strengthen themselves in good resolutions are most stedfastly minded and will not be guilty of unstedfastness and thus do all they strengthen themselves who have not onely a speculative but also an affective knowledge of Religion who do not onely know what they do in the worship of God but also love what they know They taste and see that the Lord is good Ps. 34. 8. and by that spiritual gust know themselves to be in the way of blessedness and consequently will not be diverted or turned out of that way Thus we see there may be a certainty of Religion without an assurance thereof but if there be so the fault is our own that we are Hypocrites or formal professours looking after the outside rather then the inside of Religion that is looking more after the form then after the power of godliness for the form of godliness may happily direct us to a conformity with men which is like to be as changeable as their humours but it is the power of godliness alone that directs us to a conformitie with Christ and makes us as it were unchangeable conforming us with our Saviour and confirming us in our selves that is to say in our own consciences wherefore from the form we must go to the power and that will make us pass from conformity to conscience not so as to loose the conformity but so as to keep the conscience for which cause the school Divines do teach that divinity is not onely a speculative science in teaching the knowledge of God there 's for the conscience but also a practical science in commanding and ordering the actions of men there 's for the conformity and as it is a science so it hath in it self that certainty which belongs to sciences nay it hath a greater certainty saith Alensis then any other science whatsoever for asking this question An modus sciendi in Theologiâ sit certior quà m in
is nothing else but that doctrine and practise which is made up of these two integral parts the knowledge and the worship of God in Christ the one uniting our understanding to the first truth the other uniting our will to the chiefest good both together perfecting the communion of the soul with God so that of these two parts consists het substance of Religion But because Religion in the general doctrine of it may onely fill the head with empty speculations all tending to fancy and to curiosity not the heart with holy affections and heavenly desires which may tend to the sanctification of our sinfull souls here and the salvation of our sanctified souls hereafter It is most necessary that all Christians make sure of a profession of Religion agreeable to their doctrine and of a practise agreeable to their profession and these two will compleat the exercise of Religion which is no other but the application or accommodation of the substance thereof to Time Place and Person that is to say the profession of the knowledge and the practise of the worship of God And this difference we may observe between the substance and the exercise of Religion First the substance of Religion is all immediately from God but the exercise of Religion in many things depends upon the authority of man Sacrificare est de lege naturae determinatio sacrificiorum ex institutione saith Aquinas that men should offer sacrifice to God is of the law of nature but that they should offer these kinds of sacrifices or in these places or in these set times or after this set form and manner depends wholly upon institution either Divine as among the Jews or Humane as among the Gentiles But we may not shoot at Rovers in so narrow a compass the law of nature is not sufficient to teach us the substance of Religion but we must learn that from the law of God For though it be the dictate of natural reason that men should exhibit worship to God as their first beginning and last end yet the true determinate worship that God accepts depends wholly upon Gods own institution and revelation So Aquinas 22 ae q. 81. art 2 Cultum aliquem Deo exhibere est de dictamine rationis at determinatum verum exhibere pendet ab institutione divini juris That man should worship God is the dictate of natural Reason but that he should worship him rightly and truely depends wholly upon supernatural revelation the one is matter of Instinct the other is wholly matter of divine Institution And surely though many men now adays make very bold with God yet there is scarce any petty master of a private family amongst us who would not take it in high disdain that any but himself should teach his family how to serve him Let us then not think but the great Lord of Heaven and earth alone teacheth his servants to do unto him true and acceptable service for fear we fall under the sentence of that condemnation S. Mat. 15. 9. But in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men If the Saviour of the world reject thy Religion how canst thou hope to be saved by it and surely he rejects that Religion as altogether vain and unprofitable which takes mans institutions and inventions for any part of Gods worship or he would never have added that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in vain to the words of the Prophet for whereas Isaiah saith Their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men Isa. 29. 13. our Saviour thus explains his saying by way of addition In vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men And truly although in the exercise of Religion the outward order and decency depends much upon the constitutions of men yet is that outward order and decency no substantial part of the Religion nor may it so be taken unless we will profess and say that we have a Religion of our own making and then what remains but that if we have made our Religion we should also make our God It is to be confessed that great is the liberty of Christian Churches in matter of ceremony but those who will make ceremonies matter of Religion do in effect take away that liberty by turning it into a necessity and do change the nature of indifferency by supposing it indispensable if not making it so But herein Aquinas his observation is very judicious In lege novâ quae est lex amoris vel libertatis dari tantum praecepta de operibus quae cum gratiâ necessariam habent convenientiam vel repugnantiam caetera verò quae non habent relicta esse determinationi humanae arbitrio superiorum si ad communem utilitatem pertinent c. That in the Gospel which is the law of love liberty God hath given precepts only concerning those works which have a necessary conveniency or repugnancy with grace that is works which immediately concern either sin or righteousness but other things that do not immediately concern either sin or righteousness are left to the determination and disposition of man for if they be of publique interest they are left to the judgement of our superiours either Ecclesiastical or Civil if they be of private interest they are left to the judgement of every mans own private reason Itaquè non ut de Sacramentis it a de Sacramentalibus hoc est de dispositionibus ad Sacramenta vel conficienda vel suscipienda lex nova habet praecepta divina sed determinatio ipsorum est Ecclesiae relicta à Christo. Therefore though we have in the Gospel explicit and direct commands about the Sacraments themselves yet have we not so about the Sacramentals that is about those Rites and dispositions which are necessary either to the giving or receiving of them but the determination of such Rites and Ceremonies is left by Christ unto his Church The Iew indeed was confined by the text in the manner of exercising his duty towards God by the Ceremonial Law and towards his neighbour by the Iudicial Law but the Christian is not so he hath documents only concerning the substance or matter not concerning the form or manner of his duty either to God or man for such determinations hath Christ left wholly to his Church as not belonging in themselves to Vertue and Religion but onely to Decency and Order Non enim ad orationem prout est actus virtutis Religionis de se pertinet ut fiat tali certo loco vel tempore aut cum illâ certâ corporis dispositione neque ad restitutionem quae est actus virtutis justitiae pertinet ut fiat in duplum vel in quadruplum sic de similibus As for example It belongs not to prayer as it is an act of Vertue and Religion that it be performed in such a certain place or time or with such or such a posture of the body and it belongs not
to restitution which is an act of justice that it be either twofold or fourfold Therefore the duties themselves are onely commanded in the Gospel but the manner of their performance is not under command And this is the first distinction or difference betwixt the substance and the exercise of Religion that the substance of Religion is all immediately from God but the exercise of Religion in many things depends upon the authority of man Secondly The substance of Religion requires an infallible or a Theological certainty grounded onely upon the word of God but the exercise of Religion is contented with a moral certainty depending upon the testimony of man Which being a proposition of great extent yet of greater consequence shall accordingly be first divided and then explained I say therefore The substance of Religion that is any thing of Faith Hope or Charity requires an infallible or Theological certainty grounded onely upon the word of God Here Dubius in fide infidelis est is a sure rule he that doubts in the faith is an infidel and again Certitudo unius partis tollit probabilitatem alterius is another excellent rule The certainty of one part takes away the probability of the other As the certainty of Christs institution of both kinds in the holy Eucharist takes away the probability of receiving in one kinde after his institution the certainty of praying in faith to God the Father Son and holy Ghost takes away the probability of praying in faith to any but the blessed Trinity But the exercise of Religion is often content onely with a moral certainty nor indeed can we have any other certainty either of times places or persons but meerly moral and humane Here the rule is good Non est opus infallibili certitudine sed sufficit moralis humana quae secum patitur haesitationem suspicionem de contrario In such cases there is no need of a Theological or infallible certainty but it sufficeth that we be guided by a moral or humane certainty which allows of many doubts and suspicions to the contrary as for example that God is to be praised for the nativity of his Son is grounded upon Theological certainty for the angels sang praises to him for it S. Luke 2. But that he is to be praised for it on the twenty fifth day of December is grounded onely upon moral certainty because antiquity hath accounted that for the very day of his nativity And it is no wonder that we can have no better assurance of Christmas day since we can have no better of the Lords day which we are sure is of apostolical imitation if not of apostolical institution for we cannot be otherwise assured that we keep not the second or third or fourth day in stead of the first day of the week but onely from humane testimony and yet he that should have no better assurance of the resurrection of Christ whereon is grounded the duty of the day would scarce deserve to be thought or called a Christian. Time place and person may admit of doubts but faith hope and charity admit of none the reason is these latter are of the pure substance the former belong onely to the exercise of religion Thirdly the substance of religion is unchangeable but the exercise of Religion hath passed under a great and notorious change it was the same faith hope and charity that saved the Jew which now saveth the Christian but the way of exercising all three of them was much different in the Jewish and in the Christian churches Aquinas in his 22 ae q. 2. ar 7. determines this question affirmatively Utrum explicitè credere mysterium incarnationis Christi sit de necessitate salutis apud omnes whether explicitely to beleeve the mystery of the incarnation of Christ be necessary to salvation in regard of all men and he thus demonstratively proves his determination Illud propriè per se pertinet ad objectum fidei per quod homo beatitudinem consequitur via autem hominibus veniendi ad beatitudinem est mysterium incarnationis passionis Christi Dicitur enim Act. 4. Non est aliud nomen datum hominibus in quo oporteat nos salvos fieri ideo mysterium incarnationis Christi aliqualiter oportuit omni tempore esse creditum apud omnes That properly and of it self belongs to the object of faith by which a man obtains eternal blessedness but the way for a man to come to bliss is the mystery of the incarnation and passion of Christ for so it is said Act. 4. 12. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved therefore the mystery of Christs incarnation was to be beleeved in some sort at all times and of all men that were to be saved And he tells us that the Romane histories make mention of a man taken out of his grave in the time of Constantine the great with a plate of gold upon his breast wherein these words were engraven Christus nascetur ex virgine ego credo in cum O Sol sub Irene Constantini temporibus iterum me videbis Christ shall be born of a virgin and I do beleeve in him O Sun in the time of Irene and Constantine thou shalt see me again This he brings as a proof that such of the Gentiles as were saved did beleeve in Christ. The proof perchance may be questionable but the doctrine cannot be so for even Adam in his innocency had an explicite faith in the incarnation of Christ as the onely means to bring him to the consummation ofglory though happily not till after his fall he had an explicite faith in the passion and resurrection of Christ to deliver him from the guilt and punishment of his sins And if the explicite belief of the mystery of Christs incarnation be so necessary to salvation we are little beholding to those men who forbid the commemoration of that mystery and the testification of that belief but however thus we see Omnes sideles usque ab Adamo re quidem ipsâ Christianos fuisse saith Eusebius lib. 1. cap. 1. That the Christian Religion was always the same in substance though not in exercise and the same Religion both of Jew and Christian Ratione objecti formalis non ratione objecti materialis in regard of the formal though not in regard of the material object of faith the same God worshipped by them both if they were true worshippers and with the same acts of faith hope and love to beleeve in him to trust in him and to obey and serve him but yet a far different form and manner of profession of faith and exercise of worship And thus Justin Martyr cleareth the truth of the Christian Religion to Tripho the Jew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We do not think you had one God and we have another nor do we trust in any other God but yours for there is no other even the God of Abraham of
Isaac and of Jacob onely we trust in him not by Moses nor according to the law but by Christ and according to the gospel for the law which was given in Horeb is now antiquated for it was given onely to you Jews but the law which we serve God by is a law given to all nations of the world and is to abide to the worlds end for Christ is given unto us as the law and as an everlasting law his Testament as a faithfull Testament to remain for ever after which no law no commandment is to be expected or may be received Thus far Justin Martyr to the Jew because thus far the Apostle had stated the question to the Martyr and indeed to all Christians in the epistle to the Hebrews the sum whereof is briefly this that Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God coequal and coessential with the Father and the holy Ghost is perfect God and perfect man in the unity of the same person and is that onely eternal King Priest and Prophet which God in the fulness of time gave unto his Church to govern instruct and sanctifie it for ever and this he proves by the promises before the law by the types and figures under the law and by the general consent of all the prophets And therefore in this same Christ the Christian Church hath already a perfect knowledge of God in this world and shall have a perfect enjoyment of him in the world to come and therefore may expect no other Doctrine either for sanctification here or for salvation hereafter Now in that the old Testament is alledged to prove and confirm the New it is evident that the substance of Religion is one and the same in both Testaments unless we will suppose the Spirit of God to have made use of unfit and unproper proofs a thing not agreeable with the spirit of a prudent man who gains his knowledge by succession of time and much less agreeable with the Spirit of the omniscient and onely wise God who seeth all things at once in the looking-glass of eternity and if the Spirit of God confirm the new Testament by the old and hath left both the old and the new Testament to confirm us then it is evident that no Christian can seek to weaken or diminish the authority of either Testament but he must be an enemy to his own confirmation in the Christian faith Wherefore among all the contestations contentions that have been in the Church of Christ that controversie doth least become Christians and doth most shake the foundation of Christianity which doth seek to undervalue the authority of the word of Christ for if there be no infallible certainty in the word of Chrst it is impossible there should be any infallible certainty in the Christian Religion therefore they are the greatest enemies to the certainty of the Christian Religion who seek to add to the Church by detracting from the Scripture for if the Scripture hath not a most undoubted authority the Church can have none at all for sure we are the Scripture was delivered to the Church without any faults or corruptions and therefore we are bound not onely in common charity but also in common prudence and justice to beleeve that the Church hath so kept it because all the faults of the Text are to be layed upon the Church to whose care and trust God did commit the keeping of the text for God requireth two things of his Church first to be a faithfull keeper then to be a faithfull interpreter of his word and if we will needs say she hath not been faithfull in the keeping how can we choose but say she may be as unfaithfull in the interpreting of the word of God So that they are the greatest schismaticks that ever were who under pretence of extolling the authoritie of the Church do question nay debase the authoritie of the Scriptures for these men have begun an everlasting schisme which must needs last as long in the Church as there shall be any Christians so well perswaded of Gods truth as to think it was worth the registring and of the books wherein it was registred as to think them worth the keeping And Cassander himself seems to be of this opinion in his consultation of Religion in the chapter of the Church I cannot deny but the chiefest cause of this calamitie and distraction of the Church is to be ascribed to them who being puffed up with an empty kinde of pride of ecclesiastical power did contemn and repel those who rightly and modestly admonished them wherefore I think there is no firm peace to be hoped for unless they begin the reconciliation who began the distraction that is unless they who are set over the ecclesiastical government do remit somewhat of their excessive rigour and do yield somewhat to the peace of the Church and hearkening to the instruction and advice of many pious men do correct some manifest abuses according to the rule of Gods word and of the ancient Church from whence they have lately swerved I will set down the words in Latine for their sakes who do understand the Authour as well as I have the sense of them in English for their sakes who do desire to understand their Religion Non negarim praecipuam causam hujus calamitatis distractionis Ecclesiae illis assignandam qui inani quodam fastu ecclesiasticae potestatis inflati rectè modestè admonentes superbè fastidiosè contempserunt ac repulerunt Quare nullam firmam pacem sperandam puto nisi ab iis initium fiat qui distractionis causam dederunt hoc est nisi ii qui ecclesiasticae gubernationi praesunt de nimio illo rigore aliquid remittant Ecclesiae paci aliquid concedant multorum piorum votis monitis obsequentes manifestos abusus ad regulam divinarum literarum veteris Ecclesiae à quâ deflexerunt corrigant Cassander in consult de Rel. ad Ferdin 1. Max. 2. Imp. cap. de Ecclesiâ His judgment is plainly this that the Scripture is to rule and govern the Church and that to advance the authority of the Church against the authority of the Scripture much more above it is to give the occasion of a calamitous if not of a remediless schisme and distraction a distraction not possibly to be remedied till this irreligious tenent which is the cause of it be renounced and it is high time though the tenent it self be yet scarce one hundred years old for all good Christians that wish better to Christs interest then their own to renounce it and leave raising objections against the holy Scripture thinking to set up the Church by pulling down the word of God for besides that both Scripture and Church by their joynt authorities can never make us too sure of our Religion it is not possible for the Church to stand if the Scripture fall but they must needs both fall together Whereas let the Church not be
Eliah saith he was delivered after Eliah was ascended but the meaning is that the thing had been revealed by Eliah to one of the prophets who commanded him to write it in a book and give it to Iehoram tell him that it was a writing sent to him from Eliah that so Iehoram thinking the writing sent to him from heaven might humble his heart So will I here present our back-sliding age with a reproof from S. Paul that hath been so many years dead because I see that back-sliders do not regard the reproofs of their ministers who are now living and I cannot but hope if I have not willingly mistaken the Apostle that no cōsciencious godly man such as we all pretend to be will willingly mistake me We must then look on S. Pauls profession in this place as a true Christians profession because it is a profession of his Christian Religion consisting of two parts of his worship of his faith which are the two essential or substantial parts of Religion sides cultus faith in God and the worship of God though the faith be put last in the order of the words yet is it first in the order of nature for because S. Paul beleeved all things which were written in the law and in the prophets therefore did he worship the God of his fathers But before our Apostle shews the substance of his profession what it is he doth shew the necessity of it why it is for the necessity of his Christian profession is imported in these words But this I confess unto thee that after the way which they call heresie as well as the substance of it in these words so worship I the God of my fathers beleeving all things which are written in the law and in the prophets And indeed as it is the great duty so it should be the great labour of every Christian to keep his heart true unto his Saviour to keep his tongue true unto his heart to keep his heart true to Christ that he may be unmoveable in the love of his Religion and to keep his tongue true unto his heart that he may be unmoveable in the profession of that love and for both these we have here an excellent president So worship I the God of my fathers beleeving all things which are written in the law and in the prophets There his heart is true to his Saviour in the substance of Religion and before that but this I confess unto thee that after the way which they call heresie so worship I There his tongue is true to his heart in the profession of it for he looks upon the profession of his Religion as a necessary duty not to be omitted for fear not to be dissembled for shame I unto thee hints both these I a prisoner at the bar to thee a iudge upon the bench for Saint Paul was here arraigned as a felon for his Religion which hath been allways the portion of the godly for the wicked presidents and princes could not but say we shall not finde any occasion against this Daniel except we finde it against him concerning the law of his God Dan. 6. 5. I say Saint Paul had been indicted and was here arraigned as a felon or a delinquent that in the midst of a general refusal or denial of Christ he durst own to be a Christian and would be constant in the profession of his Christianity and he shews that notwithstanding all the affronts offered him and the aspersions cast upon him yet his profession being truly Christian was such as he might not be afraid would not be ashamed of I unto thee is enough against the fear which they call heresie is enough against the shame Let us put on the armour of proof against the fear and we shall need of no mask or vizard against the shame And surely this Ego in the Text Saint Pauls example is warrant enough not to be afraid for so saith the holy Ghost by his mouth Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ 1 Cor. 11. 1. Every man is bound to follow his Church where that follows his Saviour but because this refractory age thinks it the nearest cut to go to Christ to run away from his Church it will not be amiss to shew how our blessed Saviours example did move Saint Paul that so both examples together may the more forcibly move us not to be afraid to make profession of our Religion For so it is recorded of our blessed Saviour that before Pontius Pilate he witnessed a good confession or a good profession 1 Tim. 6. 13. can we be called before worse tyrants then Felix and Pilate Can we look for better examples then Saint Paul and our blessed Saviour the one the teacher the other the King of Saints lo Saint Paul professed his Religion before Felix our blessed Saviour before Pilate and both them professed it when there was the greatest danger of that profession when they were in danger of their lives not onely of their livelyhoods for professing it if the tyranny cannot be greater why should the profession be less for so Saint Chrysostome sets down the profession of Christ before Pontius Pilate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I came to be a witness to the truth or a martyr for it a witness to the truth in times of peace and prosperity a martyr for the truth in times of opposition and apostasie so should every Christian think and say that he was not born as a man much less new-born as a Christian for himself but for his Saviour to be a witness to he truth For if this principle of Religion were doctrinal in our hearts to beleeve it it would also be practical in our lives to perform it but we beleeve not the doctrine and therefore regard not the practise the faith is first dead then the work so saith the prophet He that beleeveth in him shall not make haste Isa. 28. 16. id est ex impatientiâ infidelitate ad res praesentes non confugiet saith Junius He that beleeveth in him shall not make such haste as out of impatience and infidelity to comply with the present occasions or opportunities more to keep his estate then to keep his conscience as those miscreants did v. 15. who said we have made a covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement when the overflowing scourge shall pass through it shall not come unto us for we have made lies our refuge and under falshood have we hid our selves Iunius thus rightly explaineth their wicked meaning we are as secure as if we had made a covenant with death we have done as much as wise men can do and more then honest men will do to preserve our selves to make an agreement with those that are too strong for us we have cast up our banks against the overflowing scourge and though you call it lies and falshood which we have done yet we know it
therefore they revile reproach that as if it were impious against God fitter to infect souls then to save them seditious against the State fitter to make factions then to compose them and ignominious in it self fitter for Nazareth then for Jerusalem and rather to be called a Sect then a Religion but he knows it to be the onely way of sanctification of peace of glory and will not be discountenanced in it by their reproaches and much less driven from it by their menacies which is the resolution of every one that desires to be a man after Gods own heart and the performance of every one that is so Psal. 119. 61. the bands or the companies Hebr. the ropes the cables that are so twisted together as not to be unravelled and much less to be broken the bands of wicked men have robbed me have made a prey of me but I have not forgotten thy law If neither fear could drive Saint Paul nor shame could keep him from the profession of his Religion it is evident that he thought it necessary by a double necessity the necessity of command and the necessity of means conducing to the end necessitate praecepti necessitate sinis First the profession of our Religion is necessary in regard of the precept for we have the command of Christ for it S. Mat. 10. 32. whosoever therefore shall confess me before men him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven But you will say this onely concerns his person and who is such a reprobate as to deny his Saviour therefore see S. Mar. 8. 38. you will finde it doth also concern his doctrine whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinfull generation of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels If godly and devout and efficacious forms of prayer be not Christs words shame upon his Church for obtruding them if they be Christs words shame upon schismaticks for rejecting them if the apostles Creed be not Christs word how came it to be universally received and professed in Christs Church if it be how may it be disused or despised by any Christians Lastly if Christs own most holy prayer be not his words let us leave it out of the text if it be how can we leave it out of our prayers nay how dare we multiply cavils and blasphemies in stead of arguments or objections against the use of it for all pretence of excuse is here taken away let the adulterous and sinfull generation be ashamed of it but let not the righteous and the faithfull servants of Christ be so Though the whole generation adulterate the truth in corrupting the doctrine of it yet we must keep it undefiled though the whole generation bid defiance to the truth by neglecting and reviling the practise of it yet we must continue in our uprightness though the whole generation be adulterous and sinfull going a whoring after their own inventions and turning away from Christ yet that is not ground enough for us to bear them company For it is equally necessary for every Christian to profess the true Religion when he is thereunto called and to abandon idolatry and superstition that idolatrous decree might no more be obeyed which forbad Daniel to pray to the true God then that which commanded the three children to worship a false god In this case the omission is dangerous as well as the commission for the omission denies God whom it doth not worship as the commission blasphemes God by false worshipping and therefore we ought not to be terrified from the true Religion for fear of the lions ready to devour and break us in pieces no more then we ought to be terrified into the false Religion for fear of the fiery furnace ready to burn us to ashes And this Divinity we may learn not onely from the prophet Daniel in the captivity but also from the prophet Jeremy before it who of purpose to forewarn and forearm the Jews against the temptations of their bondage did put down that verse in Syriack Jer. 10. 11. whereby they were to reprove the Babylonians for their idolatry whereas all the rest of his prophecy is in Hebrew so little were the Iews to be ashamed or afraid of owning their Religion and their God in Babylon that they were to reprehend the Babylonians for their idolatry even in their own language and in their own territories and dominions and we that look upon the Scripture as a perfect rule of Faith and Life must look upon these prophets as teaching us how to behave our selves in persecution or adversity no less then we look upon the rest as teaching us how to behave our selves in peace or prosperity For so Kimchi himself tells us upon the fore-named verse of the prophet Ieremy that it was writ in Syriack to the intent the Iews might be ready to answer the Babylonians in their own language if in their captivity they should tempt them either to serve false gods or to deny the true for saith he this saying of God did the prophet Ieremy send to the children of the captivity that they might have it ready to answer the Chaldeans Secondly the profession of our Religion is necessary in regard of the end not onely in regard of Gods command but also in regard of our own salvation for we cannot have Christ without it so saith the Apostle Heb. 4. 14. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens Iesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession The inference must be this if we hold not fast our profession it is because we have not yet this High Priest to make intercession for us and without his intercession we cannot come boldly to the throne of grace the same exhortation he repeats again Heb. 10. 21 22 23. and reenforceth it with the same reason not for want of variety to express himself for he was called Mercury because he was the chief speaker Act. 14. 12. but to keep us from variety or rather inconstancy in our profession wherefore thus he argueth we cannot draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith unless we hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for the words are spoken consequenter by way of consequence and from the eversion of the consequent the argument is undeniable to the eversion of the antecedent Therefore they who are not true to themselves holding fast the profession of their faith cannot easily be true to their Saviour by drawing near to him with a true heart in full assurance of faith and accordingly he saith not Let us hold fast our faith which is onely internal but Let us hold fast the profession of our faith which is external It is not enough to say that we keep the one unless we also can shew that we keep the other And what then can be
the reason that so many men daily fall from the profession of the faith but meerly a twofold ignorance though they pretend to knowledge one of themselves another of their Saviour They are ignorant of themselves know not their spiritual state or condition know not when they are on the mount when they are called to the state of grace and therefore say not with Saint Peter Lord it is good for us to be here And they are ignorant of their Saviour acknowledge him not as the Captain of their salvation or they would never forsake his colours they look no further then the outworks of Religion look not into the foundation of it for if they did they would be unmoveable the foundation moves not no more can he be moved that sticks and cleaves to the foundation O thou which art the way the truth and the life the way wherein we should walk the truth to direct our goings and the life to reward us at our journeys end Forgive us our strayings and straglings out of thy way direct us in thy truth and never leave directing us till thou bring us to everlasting life to bless praise thee our most mercifull Redeemer with the Father and the holy Ghost world without end Amen Thus we see the necessity of being constant in our Christian profession if we will either hear St. Pauls doctrine or follow his example Let us in the next place observe the substance of that profession that we may be unshaken and unmoveable in our constancy For Religion is best when it comes nearest God as having holiness from his purity and peace from his unity so also having duration and perseverance from his enternity Accordingly St. Pauls Religion depends altogether on God and therefore in the profession and practice of his Religion we are sure to meet with nothing but with unquestionable true godliness for the substance of his profession is twofold professio cultûs professio fidei a profession of worship so worship I a profession of faith beleeving all things c. Concerning his worship it is evident he had the true Religion for he worshipped God and he had also the ancient Religion for he worshipped the God of his fathers His Religion was the true Religion in modo colendi in objecto cultûs in the manner of his worshipping and in the object of his worship First in the manner of his worshipping for it was with great fear and reverence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he which is a word derived from much trembling but whether it be so in the word or no is not material it must be so in the thing for it is the very nature of true Religion to fear God and therefore the one is expressed and explained by the other Deut. 6. 13. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him if there be no fear there can be no service if there be no reverence there can be no Religion Unless the Centurion and they that were with him had feared greatly they had never honoured Christ by saying truly this was the Son of God S. Mat. 27. 54. A Religion without fear cannot pierce the heart to make room for God much less open the mouth to glorify him and therefore the prophet Jeremy calling upon the Jews to return to their Religion labours to fill their hearts with the fear of God Jer. 5. 22. Fear ye not me saith the Lord will ye not tremble at my presence Secondly St. Pauls Religion was also the true Religion in objecto cultûs in the object of his worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I worship God Divineiy S. Aug. Quod colit summus angelus id colendum ab homine insimo what is worshipped by the highest angel that is to be worshipped by the lowest man angels then are fellow-worshippers with men not objects of their worship And as it is with Adoration so also with Invocation for they both alike tend to the acknowledgement of the Supremest excellency the one by Deed the other by Word the one by bowing to his Majesty the other by calling upon his Mercy And Bellarmine himselfe confesseth That the Invocation of Saints was no part of the Old Religion in the Old Testament because saith he the Patriarchs and Prophets before Christs death were not admitted immediately into glory In carceribus inferni detinebantur But is it not safer to say that Invocation being the highest honour we can give may not be given save onely to the most Highest by the Religion either of the old or of the new Testament for there is neither precept nor example nor promise for the Invocation of any but of God alone in all the book of God so that we cannot Invocate either Saint or Angel in Faith and whatsoever is not of Faith is sin Rom. 14. 23. And if our Prayers be turned into sin which was a curse prophetically intended onely against the person of Iudas for betraying our blessed Saviour Psa. 109. v. 7. nor can we have share in the curse unless we have a share in the treachery I say if our prayers be turned into sin what shall we do to pray for the forgiveness of our sins if so be that we still sin in praying So neerly doth it concern all Christians to be sure that their Religion be as St. Pauls was true in the Object of their worship And by the same reason that his Religion was the true it was also the ancient Religion Doceant Adamum Sabbatizâsse was an excellent challenge against those who maintained the morality of the Jewish Sabbath Let them shew it was a part of Adams Religion or they will never be able to prove it ought to be a part of ours for the same religion that saved him must save us if it be the truest it will appear to the first so is it here with S. Pauls religion as it was the true so was it also the ancient Religion for he worshipped the God of his fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Patrio Deo meo saith the vulgar Lat. My Fathers God and my God whereby he had both the credit and the comfort of his Religion First S. Paul had the credit of his Religion that it had been tryed by so long experience for so many years together and had justified it self in that tryal Religion like an aged-man requiring our esteem by being gray-headed and that practice of godliness being most venerable which is likest God in being the Ancient of dayes Dan. 7. 9. And we of this Church of England can have no better plea for our selves and ought not to use a worse then to say that our Religion is the same Religion with our Fathers though not the same Superstition with it wherein they had left their first Fathers the Apostles and the Primitive Christians therein onely have we left them for we profess with those Holy men Ezra 5. 11. We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and build the house that
but also the life S. John 14. 6. And so also are his words S. Iohn 6. 63. The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life no parting Christs words from Spirit nor Spirit from life and again verse 68. Thou hast the words of eternal life Let nothing go for Christs word which is not spirit and life and so spirit as to give life wherefore if you see a Religion a fraught with beads pictures crucifixes and such outward ordinances be afraid of it for these and the like are mens carnal inventions meer carnal images this is not Religion but superstition Again if you see a Religion fraught with envy malice hatred uncharitableness spiritual pride perversness profaneness licentiousness disobedience novelty singularity be afraid of it for these and such like are mens carnal practises carnal imaginations this is not Religion but faction such as the Apostle casteth down 2 Cor. 10. 5. And the prophet seems to prophesie against Ier. 43. 13. For what are the images of the house of the sun amongst us but the humorous imaginations of those that abuse the light of the Gospel And this trial or proof of the true Religion is substantial it concerns the very nature and essence of it even as to be a spirit is the very nature and substance of God there are other proofs that are also essential proofs of the true Religion though they be not taken from the substance of God but from his properties and so that is the truest Religion whose properties come nearest to the properties of God I will give you a short scheme of both together that seeing God himself in your Religion you may love it with all your soul with all your minde and with all your strength because so you are bound to love your God God cannot be known any further in his substance then that he is a Spirit and so accordingly is the substance of the true Religion wholly spiritual But the greatest knowledge we have of God the onely eternal Spirit is by his properties and by his attributes his properties are internal perfections belonging to him as a Spirit meerly in regard of himself as Simplicity Immutability and the like his attributes are as it were external perfections belonging to him in regard of his creatures as he is the God of the spirits of all flesh as Mercy Justice Liberality and the like or if you desire not to distinguish between Gods properties and his attributes you may say that the properties of God are either such as remove from him all kinde of imperfection that is in the creature as Simplicity which removes from him composition Immutability which removes from him Changeableness Immensity and eternity which remove from him Circumscription or Confinement the one of place the other of time and these are called incommunicable properties because they are not communicable to any creature Or the properties of God are such as do assign to God all manner of perfection First in his understanding as Wisdome and Truth Secondly In his will as Goodness and Liberty Thirdly In his power of action as Omnipotency and these are called communicable properties because they are communicated to the creature and are to be found in the creature though in a proportion and perfection infinitely short of what is in the Creatour God blessed for ever Thus angels and men have Truth and Goodness and Power though not an Unerring truth not an All-sufficient goodness not an Almighty power but they have not Simplicity Infinity Immutability Eternity which are the incommunicable properties And herein consists the supereminencie of the true Religion above any creature whatsoever that it shareth even in these incommunicable properties of God even in his Simplicity Infinity Immutability Eternity And first it shares in his Simplicity now the Simplicity of the divine essence is such that it admits of no composition at all neither Physical composition of matter and form nor Logical of subject and accident nor Metaphysical of act and power whereas the purest spirits that are admit of Logical and Metaphysical composition though not of Physical God onely excepted who admits of neither So Aquinas pr. part qu. 40. Propter divinam Simplicitatem est duplex identitas in divinis eorum quae in rebus creatis differunt quia enim illa excludit compositionem subjecti accidentis quicquid attribuitur Deo est ejus essentia quia autem excludit compositionem formae materiae in divinis idem est abstractum concretum Because of the simplicity of the divine essence there is a twofold identity in God which is not in any creature First an identity of essence and attributes because there is in him no composition of substance and accident Secondly an identity of abstract and concrete because there is in him no composition of form and matter and all action proceeding from form it is evident that he who is the agent in and of himself can be nothing else but a pure form without any mixture of any matter Nam quod est primò per se agens patet quòd sit primò per se forma 1 par qu. 3. art 2. So likewise Religion admits of no compositiou but must still remain in its own Simplicity for 1. There is in Religion no Physical composition of matter and form some will make Decency the accidental form of Religion others the Evangelical counsels the essential form and perfection of it but both are mistaken for the same holiness is the Religion of the Christian that was of the Jew though not the same beauty of holiness There is no separating the essential matter of Religion from the essential form of it and what is not intrinsecally holy that is both materially and formally cannot properly be said to be a substantial part of Religion Some look upon faith hope and charity as the formal part upon the other duties of the Decalogue as the material part of Religion but indeed such considerations are meerly notional they are not real for no man can reject an article of faith but he must also reject a commandment nor can any man wrong any commandment but he must also wrong an article of faith thus can you not expunge or deprave any commandment that contains your duty towards God but you must expunge or deprave some article of faith concerning him so also of the second table he that depraves any one of those commandments depraves those articles of faith that concern the Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints Lastly he that denies or depraves that part of Gods law which concerns himself without any relation to his neighbour doth also deny or deprave some of those articles of faith that concern himself as The forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting As for example you cannot think that any common drunkard or unclean person doth so much as seriously consider much less truly believe the Resurrection of his body
dominion Both these grand factions from several principles inferring one and the same conclusion because both by their additions deprave the truth of the Text so that if we will needs allow that our glosses may be additions to the rule we must of necessity overthrow the rule and by not allowing Religion to be all-together at once we shall come to make it none at all It is not to be denied but Religion hath had and may have additions in regard of men but not in regard of it self Si de prophetia loquamur in quantum ordinaturadfidem Deitatis sic quidem crevit secundùm tres temporum distinctiones scil ante Legem sub Lege sub Gratia non autem quatenus per eam humanum genus in suis operibus dirigitur saith Aquinas 22 ae qu. 174. art 6. Prophesie may be said to have received increase as to Articles of Faith towards God for he hath revealed himself more fully under the Gospel then under the Law and more fully under the Law then before it but not as to duties of life either towards God or towards man The Christian knows and beleevs more then the Jew because Christ is more fully revealed unto him then to the Jew but yet Christ is still the same to both The same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13. 8. The same before the Law yesterday Under the Law to day and under the Gospel for ever One Christian may know and beleeve more then another nay more then himself for as he increaseth in years so also in knowledge and faith yet the truth of the Christian Religion is but one and the same at all times onely more fully understood at one time then at another for which reason God requires a preparation of minde in every true beleever to be ready to beleeve more when it shall be revealed to him to be Gods truth and to do more when it shall appear to him to be for Gods glory The first part of this position concludes it impossible that there should be any certain catalogue of the fundamentals of Faith not onely for all men but also for one and the same man at all times because that may be revealed to one which is not to another nay to one man at this time which was not at that time The second part of this position concludes it necessary that the Evangelical Counsels should sometimes become a piece of the Law namely If the case be put that a man can in any of those particulars of Voluntary poverty Obedience or Chastity shew or exercise more fully and sincerely his love of God and therefore saith S. Hieroms gloss upon S. Matth. 19. 20. All these things have I kept from my youth up Mentitur adolescens The young man lies for if he had indeed kept this Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self he would not have been grieved for being commanded to sell all and give it to the poor no more then he was grieved for keeping all unto himself And Origen tells us it was written in some other Gospel that he had met withall in Hebrew but sure not of sufficient authority to discountenance the Greek for Aquinas that tells us this storie saith Si placeat alicui suscipere illud If any man please to receive it That when the young man began to scratch his head at this saying the Lord replied unto him How doest thou say thou hast kept the Law which requireth to love thy neighbour as thy self and behold many of thy brethren the children of Abraham are ready to die for hunger upon the dung-hill whiles not onely thy bodie but also thy house is full even to superfluitie Aquin. 22 ae qu. 189. art 1. resp ad 1. We must therefore say with Gulielmus de sancto Amore in libro de periculis Ecclesiae Paupertatem praecipit non actualem sed habitualem scil si gloria Christi id postulârit ut cùm ait Luc. 14. 26. Si quis venit ad me non odit patrem non potest esse meus discipulus non praecipit parentes contemnere sed tantùm si Christo se opponant That this is not a counsel but a command whereby our blessed Saviour commandeth though not actual yet habitual povertie though not a real yet a ready forsaking of all if the glory of Christ should so require as when he saith S. Luk. 14. 26. If any man come to me and hateth not his father he cannot be my disciple the command is but conditional to wit If his father oppose his Saviour there he must go from the one to come and cleave to the other And so Aquinas himself states this question saying Nullus est actus perfectionis sub consilio cadens qui in aliquo eventu non cadat sub praecepto quasi de necessitate salutis existens 22â—e qu. 124. art 3. ad 1. There is no act of perfection under an Evangelical Counsel but may in some case fall under a precept as being necessary to that mans salvation And in this particular case of voluntary poverty he saith thus Abrenunciatio propriarum facultatum in actu est quoddam perfectionis instrumentum sed secundùm praeparationem animi pertinet directè ad perfectionem 22 ae qu. 185. ad 2. For a man to renounce his property actually that he may betake himself wholly to meditation and prayer doth conduce instrumentally to perfection but for him to renounce it potentially in the preparation of his minde doth appertain directly to perfection that is to the perfection of Christianitie and so in effect he saith thus much He that will not part with his estate when Christ calls for it is far from shewing himself a good Christian. How little this precept is now observed by those who see their poor brethren readie to starve for Christ both at home and in forein countreys and yet neither lay their miseries to heart nor lay their hands to their relief Christ doth now see and will hereafter judge when he will not onely say Depart ye cursed to those that made them hungry thirsty and naked but also to those that let them continue so St. Mat. 25. 41 42. and good reason for such men forget their brother Ioseph in the pit sitting down to eat and drink while he is ready to perish they forget themselves and renounce their own bowels they forget their God and renounce his commandments not onely as enforced by right of dominion for being Lord of all he might call for all without shewing any other cause for it but also as being enforced by the light of reason for it is observable that Saint Paul useth more arguments to stir up the Corinthians to a liberal contribution for the poor Saints at Jerusalem then he useth to the stirring them up to any other Christian duty whatsoever for he hath concerning this duty almost two whole chapters together 2 Cor. 8 and 9 chap. and almost as many arguments as verses in those
or by the bounds of any place though all spirits are confined to and by the limited bounds of their own essence save onely one which is the God of spirits He acknowledgeth not any bounds of essence cannot confine himself much less doth he acknowledge any bounds of place to be confined by another And this boundless Infinity of God appears in three respects for God may be said to be infinite or incomprehensible three manner of ways Cogitatione nostrâ Essentiâ suâ Communicatione essentiae in our apprehension in his own essence in the communication of his essence 1. Cogitatione nostrâ God may be said to be infinite and incomprehensible in our apprehensions as 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him From whence we cannot but argue thus Si non Divina multò minùs ipse Deus If not the things God hath prepared have entred into the heart of man much less God himself that prepared them Hence Aquinas denies that any created understanding can see the essence of God by a vision of comprehension 1. par qu. 12. ar 1. the reason is because his Infinity makes him incomprehensible and truly for our parts we must confess that we rather know of God what he is not then what he is so far are we from fully knowing him And so is it also with Religion we cannot know it at all till God hath enlarged our souls and after that enlargement we cannot know it perfectly for if we could admirabilis amoris excitaret sui we should be so in love with it as to love and desire nothing else for so it is with the Saints and Angels in heaven who fully knowing the excellency of loving and praising God can do nothing else but love and praise him 2. Essentiâ suâ God may be said to be infinite in his own essence and being and this Infinity of God is evidenced in his Omnipresence or Ubiquity whereby he is so present here as to be present every where and this belongs not to Angels no nor yet to the glorified body of Christ though united to his Deity for a bodie cannot lose its property which is to be in a place but it must also lose it self and no longer remain a body But this doth in some sort belong to Religion for what is spoken of Christs coming to judgement may also be fitly spoken of his coming into the soul of man S. Matth. 24. 27. As the lightning cometh out of the East and shineth even unto the West so shall also the coming of the Son of man be And indeed this alone is it which both makes proves the Church to be Universal or Catholick because the Spirit whereby it is quickened governed hath this ubiquity S. John 3. 8. The winde bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit Spiritus spirat ubi vult The Spirit breatheth where it listeth is not confined to a corner in Africa as said the Donatists nor to a chair at Rome as saith the Papist nor to a Family of Love as saith the Catharist and this argument alone is able to evince That Religion is of God not of man because of its Universal presence for such have been the distempers of men that there is now scarce any one visible Church in the Christian world which will allow any true Religion out of its own communion and what men do not easily allow they do easily wish so that not to allow it to be so is in effect to wish it were not so and consequently If Religion did depend upon the will of man for its enlargement it would in short time be confined to a very narrow compass of the world But blessed be God it is far otherwise and we may say of Religion as the Schole hath said of God the Authour of it it is every where by its essence and by its power and by its presence by its essence to fill the soul and to enlarge the heart by its power to over-rule the affections and by its presence to overlook and guide the actions and as Religion is thus always present to us though few take notice of it so the Religious man is always present to himself the good Christian imitating his Saviour Christ who is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Semper eadem may be the Motto of the soul that is truly Religious though not as to its action for even our prayers are not always the same though our necessities are but sometimes with greater sometimes with lesser fervency yet as to its resolution a sanctified man always resolves for the best though he doth not always perform what he resolves and he is always ready to give an answer of the hope that is in him if you look upon him in his resolution though if you look upon him in his action he may sometimes scarce seem to have any hope of eternity or if he have may seem not to regard that hope Wherefore it is best for us to believe that Religion is always present to it self and always present with us calling upon us to fear God and to keep his commandments for this belief will make God himself always present with us to sanctifie us here and to save us hereafter and will make us delight in the presence of his grace till we come to enjoy the presence of his glory Thus the Apostle saith that our blessed Saviour hath undertaken to present us holy unblameable and unreprovable in the sight of God Col. 1. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make us stand by in a readiness and Saint Iude recommends all faithfull souls to him that is able to present them faultless v. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make them stand in his presence he will not make them stand there who do not care to appear there what we most love we most willingly fancy as present with us so he that truly loves God most wishes his presence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is a great reverence which belongs to the presence of a man that overlooks us much more to the watchfull eye of eternity the Sun of righteousness and his overlooking countenance and over-spreading light if shame will not let us offend against a man on whom we can have but an accidental dependance for a temporal and momentany being how much more will it keep us from offending against God on whom we have an essential dependance both of our being and of our well being for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eye-service to men is forbidden Eph. 6. 6. because our masters on earth cannot be always present with us so that eye-service to man is but meer hypocrisie and dissimulation but it is not so towards God our master in heaven who is always present
with us so that the best way to serve him cordially is to serve him with eye-service considering that he always looks upon us and therefore we ought always to act as in his presence Excellently the Casuist Reiginaldus Adjumenta operandi bonum in ordine ad nosipsos sunt consider are Christum ut mandantem spectantem adjuvantem The main helps that encourage any man in regard of himself to do that which is good is the consideration of Christs presence as if he were actually standing by him to command to observe and to assist him that he commands me to obey observes me in my obedience and assists me in obeying whosoever truly hath this consideration of Christ cannot but have his heart full of true Christianity and he that hath his heart full cannot have his mouth or his hand empty for out of the aboundance of the heart not onely the mouth speaketh but also the hand acteth and worketh But Gods Infinitie though it most appear to us in his Omnipresence yet is it the immediate property of his essence which being a pure act or form admits of no materiality to limit and to confine it and so also are the duties of Religion in some sort infinite in their very essence for nothing is proportionable to God but what is infinite and like himself and therefore it is said Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect St. Mat. 5. 48. God justly requires a perfection of degrees in all duties of Religion though he graciously accepts a perfection of parts it is well for us that the truth and sincerity not the measure and degree of our faith or repentance puts us in the state of salvation for else we should not onely be always doubtfull of that state but also very often come short of it and yet in truth our faith and repentance and obedience is infinite as it is in Gods acceptance though not as it is in our performance for though it be performed in much unrighteousness yet it is accepted in an infinite righteousness even the righteousness of the eternal Son of God 3. Communicatione essentiae Thirdly and lastly God may be said to be infinite in the communication of his essence which he hath communicated in an infinite variety to infinite sorts of creatures which all have their being onely from him So also Religion is infinite in this respect that it can never be enough communicated he that is truly converted himself will make it his whole work to strengthen his brethren according to that advice of our blessed Saviour St. Luke 22. 32. which having been given to St. Peter in his own person cannot but more peculiarly belong to all his successours then many things else that are more zealously claimed by most of them and how then may the Scriptures be denied to the people in a tongue they know or prayers be obtruded to them in a tongue they know not since the Scripture communicates Religion from God to man and prayer expresseth the desire of that heavenly communion Wherefore that of the Trent Council Sess. 22. cap. 8. Nè tamen oves Christi esuriant pastores frequenter aliquid in missâ exponant c. Least the flock of Christ should be hunger-starved the priâ—st ought often to expound the missal is in effect a tacit Confession that though Religion ought to be effectually communicated to the people to feed their souls unto the full yet they are resolved it must not be so but that they shall still wholly depend upon the priests for a little broken bread whereas all that know good to be naturally diffusive of it self most willingly acknowledge that Religion the greatest good of this world and the onely practise of the next the more it hath of goodness the more it ought to have likewise of the diffusion The third incommunicable property of God is his Immutability for as God changeth not in his essence I AM hath sent me unto you Exo. 3. 14. so he changeth not in his government or dominion of souls I am the Lord I change not Mal. 3. 6. he changeth not as our Lord and we cannot pretend to change as his servants for Religion hath also its share in this Immutability in which sense I perswade my self Iustin Martyr called Abraham a Christian and Socrates too though a heathen yet observing some of that righteousness all which we Christians do or should observe and he proves that the Christian Religion is that whereby God was then and is now truly worshipped and glorified what the heathen had of idols they had of Paganisme what of moral duties or of reasonable service they had of Christianity for there is no reason why the martyrs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may not agree with the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12. 1. So likewise the Iews and the Christians have the same Religion in substance though not in ceremonies or circumstance or the old Testament could not be brought so appositely to prove the doctrines of the New or Moses have been said to bear the reproach of Christ Heb. 11. 26. and so likewise all Christians have one and the same Religion though they have many different professions the Christian Religion being altogether unchangeable one and the same in all places and at all times and what is otherwise will be found either to be superstition or faction or matter of order but in no case matter of Religion it being impossible that what is truly Christian in one place or time should be made either Antichristian or Unchristian in another And this property of Immutability Religion partakes in a higher degree then the sublimest spirit in the highest order of Angels for they are all changeable by a power without them though not by a power within them but Religion is not so God himself cannot make another Religion or service of himself then that which he hath already made I mean as to the substantial and internal nature of holiness consisting in the immediate duties of Religion Aliquid dicitur mutabile dupliciter uno modo per potentiam quae in ipso est altero modo per potentiam quae est in altero Aquin. par 1. qu. 9. what is absolutely unchangeable cannot be changed by any power either within or without it self so is God so is the service of God Religion which God cannot change no more then he can change himself that is no more then he can change his truth that taught it his justice that prescribed it his excellent majesty that still requireth it his infinite mercy that still accepteth it for it was Gods own Spirit that spake those words by the mouth of Gamaliel Acts 5. 38 39. If this counsel or this work be of men it will come to nought but if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it and upon serious examination we shall finde it most true in our Christian Religion what hath been either in the doctrine or practise thereof meerly the counsel
Thou art God from everlasting that is without beginning and thou art God to everlasting that is without end And so also is Religion Eternal both from everlasting and to everlasting from everlasting in the reason of it because it is a service or reverence due to God by vertue of his excellent Majesty and consequently that due is Eternal with his very Being but onely to everlasting in the practise of it because there was no creature from everlasting to practise it how then should we exceedingly desire to know Religion how to love it how to practise it whereby alone our souls are prepared to believe Eternity and to enjoy it and to employ it an irreligious soul could it possibly get to heaven would not know what to do there for there is nothing but the practise of Religion or praising God Rev. 19. 1 5 7. Again as God in that he is Eternal oweth his Beginning and Continuance to none but onely to himself and as Eternity because it is from it self is therefore without a Beginning and because it is of it self is therefore without an end so true Religiō hath in some sort its Being from it self for it is bonum in se it is good in and by it self and therefore hath its subsistence in and by it self let the whole world turn Atheist as it is turning apace yet the true Religion will still be the true Religion there may be in the practise of Religion many things good because they are commanded but in the substance of Religion the internal goodness is the reason of the external command so that Religion is indeed a beam of that light which proceedeth from the Father of Lights shewing unto Angels men what they are to know love and do and so leading them both to the Light everlasting for as God himself is so is his service and therefore I could not better explain the properties of Religion then from the properties of God Onely God hath his properties immediately flowing from his own essence but Religion partakes of these mediately from God as it is his service God hath these properties not onely Formally in himself but also Originally from himself Religion hath them Formally in it self but Originally from God Thus hath Religion all those properties of God which are incommunicable to the Creature and thereby appears to have in it self more of Divinity then any Creature whatsoever either in Heaven or in Earth for these being the properties of the true Religion in it self shew it to be spiritual far above the nature of all created spirits whereby themselves draw nearer to the God of Spirits in their affections then in their natures If therefore thou O man desire to be truly Religious thou must desire to be spiritually minded and the way to be so is to have a kinde of Simplicity or Incomposition that is a sincerity of the soul in the love of God To have a kinde of Immutability that is a Constancy to have an Immensity that is a servent Zeal and Alacritie which will not endure to be straitned or confined and to have an Eternity that is an unwearied perseverance in the Faith and Fear and Love of God Nay indeed these same properties are already in thy soul if thou be truly Religious for then thou art spiritually minded and thou canst not but have an uncompounded soul by sincerity of its service not dividing thy affection betwixt God and Baal betwixt Christ and Belial Thou canst not but have a constancy in his service which will let thee be no Changeling a thing as monstrous and abominable in the second as in the first birth thou canst not but have an alacrity and fervency of spirit which will not be circumscribed or confined either to or by time or place neither to a Conclave at Rome nor to a Consistory at Geneva nor to a Conventicle in England for as Christianity it self is not confined so neither the soul as 't is Christian but joyns in Communion with all Christians that ever were or that are or that shall be in the honour and love of Christ thy house is too little thou wilt to the Church nay the Church is too little thou wilt to the Catholick Church the whole Church Militant thy spirit shall be with theirs when theirs is with Christ nay the Catholick Church is too little here on Earth thou wilt up to that part of it which is triumphant in Heaven for Christian duties as they are practised here will cease with our lives therefore the Christian soul will look after such duties as she may practise in Heaven and at least in habit if not in act will even here be eternally Religious as we are divinely taught by our own Church saying with a most Catholick spirit It is very meet right and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee O Lord holy Father Almighty everlasting God thereby shewing us the Immensity of Religion That it is not to be circumscribed to or by any place for it is meet that we give thanks in all places and also the eternity of Religion that it is not to be confined to or by any time for it is meet that we give thanks at all times Eternity being the blessedness we look for the means whereby we compass it must needs be eternal not onely in the efficient cause God himself but also in the instrumental cause that is Religion And since Omnipotency All sufficiency and Omnisciency are but three branches of Eternity It is necessary before I come to the Communicable Properties that I speak of them for God in that he is Eternal is Omnipotent since there could be no other fountain of power unless we would make two Eternals and the same God as he is Eternal is All-sufficient for having his being of himself he must needs also have it perfectly in himself and lastly the same God as he is Eternal is also Omniscient for it is the Property of Eternity to have all things present to it as to be always present to it self wherefore it will be worth our while briefly to consider these Properties as they are in God and as they are also in Religion the service of God and first of the Omnipotency Gods Omnipotency or Almighty Power appears especially in two things First that he hath power to do all that he will Secondly that he hath power over all when he will had he not the First he could not be Almighty in himself had he not the second he could not be Almighty in our esteem the first tends to the Execution the second to the Declaration of his Almighty power The text doth ordinarily prove them both together as 1 Tim 6. 15. the Son of God is called the blessed and onely Potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords The onely Potentate that hath power to do all that he will and hath also power to do all when he will as King of kings
man should be wiser then his enemies for none are enemies to good men that have not first lost their wits as well as their honestie therefore he addeth further I have more understanding then all my teachers v. 99. And lest we should still object That the teachers are not always the wisest especially if they teach too soon before they have been diligent learners he addeth yet further I understand more then the ancients v. 100. that is then those that have been longest learners before they became teachers That 's the most profitable wisdome which makes a man wiser then his enemies for it keeps him from being circumvented that 's the most honourable wisdome which makes a man wiser then his teachers for it gives him a preeminence of understanding far above his condition that though he is called to be a learner yet he is enabled to be a teacher Lastly that 's the most infallible wisdome which makes a man wiser then the ancients for that gives him a preeminence of understanding above the condition of mortality which can attain to no greater wisdome then such as is gained by long travel of study confirmed by longer experience of years so that if we desire that wisdome which is most profitable most honourable and most infallible we must do as this holy man did converse more with God then with men for so he professeth v 104. Through thy precepts I get understanding we may see that understanding is to be gotten by studying the precepts of men but we cannot get it savingly but by studying the precepts of God for the prophet Daniel saith The light dwelleth with God Dan. 2. 22. and S. John saith He that loveth his brother abideth in the light what is this light but the truth or the true Religion which hath these two properties of light that 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it enlightens and reproves it enlightens the understanding by the knowledge of God it reproves the will the affections and the actions for the practise of evil Secondly Religion is in effect Omniscient because it makes us know all things besides our selves that is all things that are proper and profitable for us to know things wherein are the true comforts of this life the true blessings of the next so saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 15. The spiritual man judgeth or discerneth all things the more he is spiritual the more he is able to discern the more he increaseth in Religion the more he increaseth in true wisdome and knowledge as the man in the Gospel when his eyes were first opened mistook men for trees but afterwards when he was perfectly cured he could distinguish both aright so the spiritual man at his first conversion hath but a confused knowledge of the things necessary to his salvation but afterwards he comes exactly to judge and to discern them all nor will his faith whereby he knows in part leave him till he come by degrees to a clear vision Let several knowing men all rejoyce in the excellencies of their several knowledges but let this be the priviledge onely of the religious man That he alone knows whom he hath beleeved and whom he may trust for he alone is able to know how God disposed of him before his life and how he will dispose of him after his death CHAP. VI. The assurance that we have of the substance of Religion in that it resembles God in his communicable Properties as Truth Goodness Purity and Liberty IT is the special priviledge of the good Christian that the same Religion doth make him imitate God here which will make him enjoy God hereafter for the same God who is the Authour of Religion is also the best pattern of it because Religion resembles him not onely per modum vestigii but also per modum Imaginis not onely as having his footsteps for so every creature represents the Creatour but also as having the exact lineaments and pourtraitures of his very Image so that Gods Service is best known by the knowledge of himself and the Properties of the true Religion are best declared by declaring the Properties of God The Incommunicable Properties have been already spoken of his Simplicity Infinity Immutability Eternity and the three branches or adjuncts thereof his Omnipotency All-sufficiency Omnisciency I now come to the communicable Properties of God which are especially these three Truth in his Understanding Goodness in his Will and Activity in his operative faculty answerable to his Truth and Goodness for the Intellective faculty is vain without the Affective the Affective without the Operative and therefore according to the proportion and perfection of the one is also necessarily the proportion and perfection of the other God first knows then wills then works As he knows so he wills not Irrationally As he wills so he works not Ineffectually And so is Religion very Intellective and very Affective and very Active or Operative these three properties are all joyned together Deut. 4. 6. Keep therefore and do for this is your wisdome and your understanding where we have wisdome for the Intellective keeping or observing for the Affective and doing for the Operative faculty of the soul Accordingly Divines tell us there are some vertues that are Catholick or Universal belonging to the whole worship of God in general and having alike influence upon all the Commandments or upon all the duties of Religion whether they concern God immediately in himself or mediately in his Image and these Catholick vertues are Wisdome and Prudence in the Understanding Integrity Alacrity and Constancy in the Will and Zeal and Perseverance in the action that Election Affection Action may all joyn together to glorifie him who is the first Truth to direct our Election the last Good to satisfie our Affection and the chiefest Excellency to excite and provoke our Action Wherefore it is the property of Religion to make a man more judicious more affectionate and more industrious then he was before though he had never so piercing a Judgement never so strong and vehement Affections never so industrious an Action For the soul of man though it consist of these three faculties the Intellective or knowing the Affective or desiring the operative or working the Intellective faculty whereby it knows what is to be done the Affective whereby it desires to do it and the Operative or Active whereby it sulfils that desire in doing yet this very soul doth not cannot rightly know or desire or do till it be throughly instructed exalted and quickned by Religion nay on the contrary all the while it continues irreligious it is stupid in knowledge perverse in affection and sluggish in action for though there is in all spirits a power of knowing what is true of desiring what is good and of effecting what they desire yet we cannot but acknowledge that these three faculties in all men who have their spirits clogged with sinfull flesh are very much weakened by sin and consequently must
labour that they may be strengthened by piety and godliness yet will I not enter upon a particular enumeration of Gods communicable Properties I have been too long already upon this argument much less upon a particular explication of them for it will be sufficient for my purpose which is the advancement of the true Religion in the hearts and lives of men if I briefly insist onely upon these three to which all the rest may be reduced and they are Truth in his Understanding Goodness in his Will and Purity in his Action for we cannot better consider Gods Activity then in the Purity of his Action unto which we must also annex a short discourse of Liberty as belonging to all three that is to say to Understanding and Will and Action And these three Properties of Truth Goodness Purity as they are eminently in God and evidences of his perfection so are they also eminent in Religion the service of God And first of the Truth of God and of Religion God is true by a metaphysical and by a moral Truth First By a metaphysical Truth as having the true knowledge of all things Psa. 139. 2. thou understandest my thoughts long before God understandeth our thoughts before they are the angels not when they are and therefore they are defective in truth because defective in understanding for Truth metaphysically is a conformity of the thing with the understanding and accordingly our blessed Saviour is particularly called the Truth as being the Omniscient Wisdome of God and the eternal Understanding of the Father even as the holy Ghost is the eternal Love both of Father and Son Secondly God is True by a moral Truth as having his Affection Expression Action agreeable to his knowledge and that in three respects 1. As Truth is opposed to Falshood for God neither wills nor speaks an untruth 2. As Truth is opposed to Dissimulation for God neither dissembleth nor deceiveth 3. As Truth is opposed to Inconstancy for God changeth not his judgement in truths declared or determined he changeth not the event in truths foretold or prophesied for in promises he keeps his word and his truth if man perform the conditions in threats he may not keep his word and yet keep his truth because they are but conditional And as for deceiving the Prophets Ezek. 14. 9. and 1 King 22. 23. we generally and truly answer Tradit diabolo decipiendos he delivereth them over to the devil to be deceived by him so saith the Text Because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should beleeve a lie that they all might be damned who beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes. 2. 10 11 12. a text that gives us a fearful but yet a full account of all those strong delusions among men which led directly to the Father of lies the first step was a voluntary unrighteousness in not loving the truth the second step is a strong delusion in beleeving a lie the third step God keep them from treading in that who have trodden in the two former is a necessary damnation both for not loving the truth and for having pleasure in lies but still God is true though every man be a liar for God deceiveth the Prophet Ez◠14. 9. as he hardeneth the heart Exod. 10. 1. permissivè non efficienter permissively no◠efficaciously by not inhibiting or not purging those ill qualities that are already is the heart not by infusing any ill qualities into it and therefore though he saith I have hardened Pharaohs heart yet he saith unto us Harden not your own hearts and accordingly he threatneth in Ezekiel to destroy such a prophet from the midst of his people whose heart was hardned so fa◠as to deceive himself and others whereas he could not in justice destroy him onely for being that which himself had made him nay this permission is most plainly set forth in that parable of 1 Kin. 22. for all that God doth there is onely to let the evil spirit go forth that is not to inhibite him from going and deceiving not to send him down from heaven For it is evident that the evil spirit never did and never can come into heaven again since he was first thrown down from thence And thus briefly God is True Metaphysically and Morally Metaphysical truth consisting in the right apprehension of things as they are in themselves Moral truth in the right affection and profession of things as they are apprehended and this profession is either in word by veracity or in action by sincerity or in continuance of action by constancy so that moral truth is opposed to falshood because 't is the same with reality to dissimulation because 't is the same with sincerity and to wavering and floating because 't is the same with certainty And this same metaphysical and moral truth is also in Religion passing from the Master into his service for the Father seeketh such to worship him who worship him as he is that is who worship him in spirit because he is a Spirit and who worship him in truth because he is the Truth S. John 4. 23 24. The worship in spirit points at the metaphysical truth of Religion which requires a true apprehension of God the worship in truth points at the moral truth of Religion which requires an Affection Profession Action agreeable to that true apprehension and for both these hath our own Church taught us to pray Collect 7th Sunday after Tri. Graff in our hearts the love of thy Name Increase in us true Religion nourish us with all goodness and of thy great mercy keep us in the same Do you look for the metaphysical Truth of Religion 'T is in the knowledge of Gods Name which must be presupposed before the love of it since no man can love what he doth not know that you know God by his true Name such as himself hath proclaimed Exod. 32. 5 6 7. or that you apprehend God as he is not set up to your self an idol in stead of God as do all those who worship not the Father by the Son in the unity of the Spirit Again do you look for the moral truth of Religion 'T is in the love of Gods Name that you love him according to your knowledge or that you have your affection agreeable to your apprehension for to know God and not to love him is in effect to proclaim you do not truly know him since the same God is the first Truth and ground of our knowledge and also the last good and cause of our love and you may here likewise finde this moral truth of Religion in all respects First in its Reality for it is the very true Religion opposed to falshood or superstition 't is indeed Gods Name Secondly in its Sincerity or Fidelity for it is all Goodness not onely in the tongue but also in the heart
drunkard or unclean or profane person doth in effect deny the Forgiveness of sins and the Resurrection of the body Wherefore when Almighty God requireth every Christian to be true or faithfull unto the death that he may receive a crown of life Revel 2. 10. he requires of him a double truth or faithfulness not onely that he be true and faithfull in his Belief but also and much rather that he be true and faithfull in his life First God requires a faithfulness in our Belief by a right apprehension of Gods word not adding thereto nor diminishing therefrom for that is forbidden from the beginning of the Law as Deut. 4. 2. to the end of the Gospel as Revel 22. 18 19. not adding thereto by Superstition nor diminishing therefrom by Faction for as the superstitious seeks to flatter his God Religiosi sunt Deorum amici Superstitiosi Deorum adulatores so the factious seeks to flatter himself do thou thy duty and let alone thy flattery for it is not safe for thee to flatter thy God and much less to flatter thy self Secondly God requires faithfulness in our affection life and conversation that we may be saithfull professours of his truth and as faithfull witnesses to it for a man may be Gods witness by speaking by living by dying and he that is commanded to be faithfull unto the death that is to be faithfull in dying if God call him to it is already supposed to be faithfull in speaking and in living for he that bids thee be fathfull unto thy death doth surely suppose thee already faithfull in thy life and commands thee to continue so and this faithfulness is shewed by thy words in confessing and that 's veracity by thy deed in professing or practising and that 's fidelity and by thy perseverance unto the death both in words and deeds and that 's constancie This is the truth of Religion both formally and efficiently formally in regard of it self and efficiently in regard of us that as it is true in it self so it also makes us true and faithfull at all times and in all respects and if you further desire to know how far any Christian Church hath followed or doth follow this truth you may try it by this touch-stone which being infallible in reason cannot be erroneous in Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle lib. 4. Eth. cap. 13. Greece is not so happy as to afford us a name for this moral truth and may justly own to be Graecia mendax upon that account but he that hath that vertue is called by Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A true man both in life and word and is to be known by these three properties that he is full of equity will do no man wrong is full of authoriey will ask no mans leave whereas the hypocrite is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himself for all others but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all others for himself and lastly is full of modesty will ask no mans praise and therefore will set forth himself though in true colours yet with the least varnish so also is the true Religion first it is full of justice and equity for it looks onely after Gods glory not after this worlds advantages and therefore declares things as they are not as they conduce to mens interests secondly it is full of authority in all words and deeds still like it self neither dissembling what is nor pretending what is not that it may please men rather then God but saith with S. Paul For if I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ Gal. 1. 10. thirdly 't is full of modesty rather delighting in extenuations of its own worth then in amplifications of it for though hypocrisie be a great talker a greater boaster yet Religion doth very much abhor all vain babbling and much more all vain boasting Not walking in crastiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the truth commending it self in every mans conscience in the sight of God 2 Cor. 4. 2. and therefore any Christian Church whatsoever that either turns Religion into State policy making Christs interest subservient to its own or that changes its Doctrine to please its new lords and masters or that boasts too much of its own Purity and Perfection as if none could be Christians but in outward communion with it none good Christians in comparison of it must in these respects be said not to be 〈◊〉 true Church for though it be Metaphysically a true Church yet is not so morally not according to moral truth for that it wants either equity or authority or modestie or all three that is to say it wants some necessary attendant of moral truth And here I had rather bewail then examine rather deplore then detect the present condition of many Christian Churches It is enough that the now so much despised and persecuted Church of England cannot have it justly laid to her charge that either she laboured to inter-weave her own with Christs interest much less to advance her own interest above his for want of equity or did not deal plainly with those Churches that did so for want of authorite or did revile other Reformed Churches which surely had not been infallible could not be impeccable for want of modesty and my hope is that a Church so full of Moral truth no less then of Metaphysical as it hath the God of Truth to own it so it will in due time finde the God of Power to vindicate to restore and to defend it however I doubt not but many good Christians had rather suffer in her afflicted communion then reign in the prosperity and glory of those who either do cause or do not regard her affliction In the mean time I cannot but pass this for a general animadversion That since onely the true Catholick is the true Christian and he hath two oposites the pseudo-catholick who is peccant in excess and the anti-catholick who is peccant in defect it fares with these two opposites as it fares with those two extreams that oppose the moral truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The proud boaster loves to make shew of more then is so doth the pseudo-catholick who obtrudes more for Religion then can be proved Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the dissembler is quite contrary for he denies things that are and dimininishes what he doth not deny so doth the anti-catholick who denies that to be Religion which God hath made so and diminisheth what he cannot deny 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the same Authour the boaster and the dissembler both are to be blamed because neither is so true a man as he ought to be yet more the boaster then the dissembler So also in Religion the pseudo-catholick seems farther from the truth for his superadditions then the anti-catholick for his diminutions for he that avoweth uncertainties for certainties brings a suspicion upon his faith even in most undoubted truths whereas he
quia nondum expertus eram vel quantum mali eorum auderet impunitas vel quantum eis in melius mutandis conferre possit diligentia Disciplinae and indeed this course then pleased me not because I had not yet seen the experiment either how much mischief their uncurbed licentiousness would produce or how much the diligence of a severe discipline would conduce to their amendment so St Augustine and yet all this while the coaction or compulsion doth in truth reach no farther then to conformity and order it reacheth not to Religion which can no more be driven into the hearts of hypocrites by the power of the lawfull Magistrate then it can be driven out of the hearts of true beleevers by the outragious persecutions of Tyrants and Atheists so that we must conclude that though none are more exposed to violence then religious and godly men for he that would needs make his beloved Son perfect with sufferings will not make his unworthy servants perfect without them yet Religion it self is wholly exempted from all violence being the Queen Regent of heaven and earth to give commands both to angels and men but to receive commands of neither CHAP. VII The assurance we have of Religion for that it resembles God in his attributes of Justice Grace and Mercy IN the last place we come to the attributes of God which are as it were external perfections belonging to him in regard of his creature though not to be truly and fully known from our creation but from our redemption for no one attribute of God is rightly understood by those who are not of the Church of God not his Justice for they know not God in himself that he is of purer eyes then to look on iniquity not his Mercy for they know not God in his Son in whom alone he sheweth mercy not his Wisdome for they know not God in his word the fountain of all true wisdome not his Truth for they know not God in his promises and cannot say he is faithfull that promised Heb. 10. 23. and so of the rest they that are not of Gods Church cannot know his attributes because they are not to be known from our creation but from our redemption and they that are most truly of Gods Church that is to say non numerò sed meritò as Aquinas hath distinguished not onely by outward profession but also by inward affection do most truly understand Gods Attributes they clearly see the severity of his Justice requiring a full satisfaction for sin they clearly see the goodness of his Mercy accepting of satisfaction from his Son when he could not have it from his servant they clearly see that vast Wisdome which found out this way to save man when he was lost and they clearly see that unchangeable Truth which both calls and brings him to salvation But I will follow my former method and insist onely on the chief Attributes to which the rest have relation and may therefore have reduction and these Attributes are three Justice Grace and Mercy Justice whereby he renders to every man according to his works Grace whereby he freely gives what is wanting to us and Mercy whereby he freely forgives what is due unto himself these I say belong to God in relation to the creature for though his Iustice flow from his Truth yet he could not shew that justice either in punishing or in rewarding were there not a creature to be punished or rewarded so likewise his Grace in giving and Mercy in forgiving though they flow from his Goodness and his Liberty which they deny who will not let him have mercy on whom he will have mercy yet he could neither shew his Grace in giving nor his Mercy in forgiving were there not an indigent creature to want his giving and a sinfull creature to want his forgiving The first of these Attributes is Iustice which we must first contemplate in God and then in Religion as it is his service God is just by universal and by particular Iustice First By universal Iustice and that in two respects both in regard of himself as willing and doing all manner of right Shall not the judge of all the earth do right Gen. 18. 25. and also in regard of us being the rule of all justice in man Ye judge not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the judgement 2 Chron. 19. 6. Secondly God is just by particular Iustice retributing to every man according to his works Rom. 2. 6. who shall render to every man according to his works and v. 5. the day of judgement is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the day of Gods righteous judgement because it is all one in him to judge and to judge righteously thus did S. Chrysostome qualifie the mistake or rather rectifie the abuse which was in some inconsiderate men from Gods decree of election Thou sayest that God hath predestinated and I say that God is a righteous judge and will reward thee according to thy deservings But 't is objected against Gods universal justice that he commanded some things contrary to his own Law as Abraham to slay Isaac and the Israelites to spoil the Egyptians the one against the sixth the other against the eighth commandment 'T is answered by some Divines Generali derogans speciali voluntate that God did in these cases derogate from his general will by his special will but we may not easily approve this answer because Gods will cannot clash with it self and therefore he may not be said to command that by his special which he forbids by his general will and consequently God in commanding Abraham to kill his son did not make murder lawfull but made that killing no murder by passing upon Isaac the sentence of death and commanding the Israelites to spoil the Egyptians did not make it lawfull to rob and steal but made that spoiling no robbery since he who was Lord of all had translated the right of property and this is most acutely dicussed by the Master of subtilties Scotus in lib. 1. sent dist 44. Quando in potestate agentis est Lex rectitudo Legis potest tale agens ordinatè rectè agere aliter quà m Lex illa dictat quia non subest illi Legi sic ejus potentia absoluta non est inordinata When the Law and the justice of the Law are both in the power of the agent we need not then fear any obliquity in the action whether he act by his ordinary or by his absolute power for if by his ordinary power he act not according to the law by his absolute power he can make the law to be in that case no law and where there is no law there is no transgression this rule being allowed which cannot be denied we shall little need to patronize Gods justice in commanding Abraham to kill his son who was guilty of death nor yet in delivering over his own Son to the death of the cross who knew
execution of justice yet is it from the affection of charity not the affectation of tyranny for the Church desires it not for her own sake but for their sakes who indeed want it and are in danger of perishing eternally for the want of it men that either have sinned notoriously or at least are inclined so to sin whilst they use their liberty for an occasion to the flesh Gal. 5. 13. or for a cloak of maliciousness 1 Pet. 2. 16. and 't is most evident that such men ought to be punished out of justice but are punished clearly out of charity for they are therefore put to open penance and punished in this world that their souls might be saved in the day of the Lord and that others admonished by their example might be the more afraid to offend But the less the Church can now exact this penance of us the more ought we to exact it of our selves and the rather because every notorious offender wrongs three together his God his neighbour and himself his God by his disobedience his neighbour by his disturbance himself by his distemper so that it matters not which he most condemns in himself whether his injustice or his irreligion since the same two integral parts of justice are also the two integral parts of Religion viz. to flee evil and to do good as Religion challengeth all the soul both in its intellective part to embrace God as the first Truth in its affective part to cleave to God as the last good so also doth justice challenge all the soul it challengeth the understanding to know which is the right way it challengeth the will to follow it Justitia quoad legem regulantem est in ratione seu intellectu sed quoad imperium quo opera regulantur secundùm legem est in voluntate saith Aquinas Justice as it propounds or prescribes the rule is seated in the reason or in the understanding but as it commands our obedience to the rule prescribed so it is seated in the affection or in the will whence it comes to pass that few are the number of the just as also of the religious because none can be either truly just or religious but he alone whose whole soul is sanctified but he alone who is rectified both in his reason and in his affection both in his understanding and in his will and it is no less then the work of a whole age both for Gods grace and for mans industry to rectifie either and hence it is that God is specially called the God of the just ex speciali curâ cultu from the special care he hath of them to protect them here and to reward them hereafter and from the special worship or service he hath from them none doing him service but the religious and none being religious but the just But whence then so much injustice among Christians even too much for the heathen that know not God to practise and for the infidels that beleeve not God to profess I answer merely from the want of Religion in which want they are too too often the greatest sharers who are or might be the onely possessours for Pagans can have but a negative want of godliness such as they could not compass not having the true light of God to shew it but Christians have moreover a privative want of godliness such as they might and should have compassed had they not bid defiance to that light which shewed it which makes the Spirit of God pronounce a severe sentence against them from the mouth of S. Peter saying It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness or the way of justice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the way of Religion then after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them they are in a very bad condition who know not the way of righteousness but they are in a far worse who do know it but will not follow it they are under a fearfull doom who never turned to the holy commandment but their judgement will be intolerable who have wilfully turned from it and it is to be feared that God will ere long take from some Christians their Religion if he do not speedily give them more justice for he will not long endure that men should speculatively honour his Name but practically blaspheme it wherefore it is to be supposed that he will either make such Christians as regard not justice more just in their actions or less religious in their protestations that he will make them either afraid to violate the commands of Christ or ashamed to pretend to the profession of Christianity The next attribute we are now to consider in God is his Grace whereby he freely gives what is wanting to his creature for Grace is the participation of the divine nature and therefore above the condition of every man that hath it and much more above his deserts unless we will needs say that men may deserve to partake of the divine nature because they have corrupted and abused their own and this grace as it is in God is the actual communication of his goodness whereby he diffuseth himself to the sons of men as they are capable to receive him and never leaves to derive into them heavenly influencies till he hath instated them in the eternal bliss of heaven which goodness of God is more particularly revealed unto us in that covenant of Grace which God freely and favourably made with us when we were his enemies and therefore will certainly fulfill now we are his friends Ero Deus tuus seminis tui I will be thy God and thy seeds after thee for which promise there was no reason but his own undeserved grace though now his promise be a good reason of his performance and yet still his grace will approve it self to be free grace though we acknowledge that his promise hath made him a debter and where there is a debt there may seem to be matter of justice not of grace for we may not limit this universal proposition Promissum cadit in debitum A promise becomes a debt by distinguishing upon him that makes the promise and saying 'T is to be understood of the promises of men but not of God Promissio creaturarum non Dei as saith Paraeus in Ursinum pag. 158. for in truth Gods promise is more truly and universally a debt then the promise of any creature whatsoever because his promise is always of that which is really good for us and therefore undoubtedly claimable by us whereas the creature may promise what is not really good and consequently what we may not care to claim as for example All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me was a large promise but yet could not be made a debt because it could not be made worth the claiming whereas Gods promise to Abraham but onely of one small corner of those
when their bodies were most tormented and straitned their souls were most comforted and enlarged and the prison doors being opened and the prisoners bands loosed by the singing of a Psalm shew the great power of the key of David that the readiest way to get out of prison is to make use chiefly of that key which will turn thraldome it self into liberty and therefore cannot but turn liberty into a blessing for surely such men who can make heaven where it is not can much more enjoy heaven where it is they who can finde liberty in their captivity cannot but finde a great blessing in their liberty which they esteem to consist not so much in their free egresses and regresses unto men as in their frequent approaches and addresses unto God wherefore let my soul be evermore busied in contemplating Gods eternal mercy and my heart in loving it and my mouth in praising it that when I am driven to such exigencies as least to enjoy my self I may then finde such opportunities as most to enjoy my God Let me alwaies be saying with Israel I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of thy temporal mercies and much less of that eternal mercy which caused them I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies whether shewed me as a natural man or as an Israelite and a Christian or as a true Israelite and a good Christian whether mercies that concern the state of nature or the state of grace or the state of glory I am not worthy of the least of them all and what then shall I offer thee for the greatest I will offer mine heart for an holocaust I will offer the calves of my lips for a sacrifice of praise and thanks-giving that though I cannot deny in my self the greatest unworthiness yet I may never discover the least unthankfulness for though my being unworthy did not keep me from receiving Gods mercies yet my being unthankfull will keep me from retaining them it being alike against the very nature of mercy to look for recompence and not to look for acknowledgments nor can there be a truer acknowledgement of Gods undeserved goodness towards us then by ascribing all that we have are and hope for to his mercy this one thing alone is to us as God even all in all 't was creation when we were not 't is preservation now we are 't is glorification in what we hope to be Mercy is illumination to those in darkness Confirmation to those in weakness Comfort to those in sadness Health to those in sickness Liberty to those in prison Clothing to those in nakedness Joy to those in life and Life to those in death he that can truly and heartily ask for mercy cannot want a prayer to shew his necessities and shall not want a remedy to redress them for he hath both the Spirit and the gift of Prayer the Spirit of prayer in the zeal and sincerity of his affection the gift of prayer in the congruity and fitness of his expression Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on me S. Luk. 18. 38. was enough to open the blinde mans eyes to see his Saviour his heart to beleeve in him his mouth to glorifie him we may from those few words observe the Spirit of Prayer in the earnestness of the supplicant and the gift of prayer in the fitness of his supplication so that neither did he stint the Spirit by confining himself to a set form of words for he cryed saith the Text shewing the earnestness of his affection nor did he quench the Spirit by confining himself to the very same words till he had obtained his answer for he cryed so much the more saith the Text approving the fitness of his expression thereby intimating that they might justly have been ashamed who rebuked him for praying not he who maugre all their rebukes and taunts would not be driven from his premeditated and set form of prayer I will also use the same prayer in all my wants distresses will not doubt but as this form is already to me the opening of my mouth or rather of my heart to pray so it shall be also the opening of heaven to let in my prayers that they may have immediate access to him whose mercy is himself who therfore delights in mercy as in himself Thus have I briefly spoken of mercy as it is in God and now come as briefly to shew how mercy is also in the true Religion the service of God for in this above all is the true Religion to be discerned distinguished from faction for all false faith is faction whether it be addicted to blindness or to perversness to superstition or to separation the true Religion is alwaies most inclinable to mercy but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel Prov. 12. 10. where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is translated the wicked hath its derivation from commotion or agitation and doth most properly signifie those wicked who are turbulent seditions and factious even their tenderness is hard-heartedness even their mercy is cruelty whereas a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast rather then not shew mercy he will shew it to his beast though in some respects uncapable of mercy in others unworthy of it thus then it is the righteous is mercifull to his beast the unrighteous is not mercifull to his brother so near a conjunction is there betwixt righteousness and mercy faction may often pretend to piety but never to mercy but the true Religion admits of no piety without mercy wherein it follows both the pattern and the precept of its Founder who hath left his minde concerning this matter no less then thrice upon publick record once in the old twice in the new Testament in the old Hos. 6. 6. For I desired mercy and not sacrifice and as he desires so he accepts for to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices saith the Prophet Isaiah at the very same time while your hands are full of bloud Is. 1. 11 15. In the New Testament S. Mat 9. 13. But go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice and again S. Mat. 12. 7. But if ye had known wha◠this meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice ye would not have condemned the guiltless where our Saviour Christ requires of all that will be his disciples that is good Christians In the first place to look after mercy 1. in its nature and then in its exercise 1. In its nature here is mercy with sacrifice by way of conjunction mercy in sacrifice by way of command and mercy above sacrifice by way of comparison I will have mercy and not sacrifice affords all these three Expositions 2 In its exercise for we are bid Go and learn what this meaneth Our Saviour sends us all to his School and he sends none onely to look on like idle spectatours
unto God blind lame and sick prayers but in so doing we do rather in truth offer him defiances then prayers we do rather contemn then worship him unless we will say that God is less honoured with the Christians prayers then he was with the Jews sacrifices or that we have a greater priviledge granted us that we may more securely dishonour him Again if we seriously consider that there is an incomprehensible mysterie in this incomprehensible majestie three persons in one God we will labour for such prayers as may be suitable with the properties of the persons no less then with the majestie of the Godhead thus if we consider the power of the Father the wisdome of the Son the charity of the holy Ghost we will earnestly desire to have our mouths and our hearts filled with powerfull wise and charitable prayers not guilty either of emptiness or of indiscretion or of faction but however it is necessarie that in all our prayers we invocate One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance for the Father Son and holy Ghost are equally to be worshipped and equally to be glorified nor may we communicate with other Christians in their prayers who worship not one God in three coequal and coeternal Persons no more then we may with Turks and Jews who worship an idole in stead of God for S. John in saying Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father 1 S. John 2. 23. hath plainly taught us that Turks and Jews do not worship the same God with us Christians and since we do certainly worship the true God it must needs follow that they do worship an idole in stead of God wherefore doubtless all Anti-Trinitarians are idolaters for though many of them talk much of the spirit yet they have kept him onely in their mouths but thrust him out of their Creed and consequently in vain do they pretend to godliness whiles they fight against God for they cannot truly honour him in their prayers whiles they falsly conceive of him in their belief not acknowledging Three Persons Father Son and holy Ghost in one immortal invisible and onely wise God The fourth Name of God alledged by S. Hierome is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod Septuaginta virtutum Aquila exercituum transtulerunt saith he which the Septuagint translate Powers but Aquil a translates Hosts And this name we find Isa. 6. 3. Holy holy holy the Lord of Hosts which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Cherubims the true ground of the hymn called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Church for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but a declaration of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holy O God Holy O Powerfull Holy O Immortal is but an exposition of this Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth and who can say Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth and not say also Heaven and earth are full of the majestie of glory and who can confess that heaven and earth are full of Gods majestie and not earnestly desire that his own soul may not be empty of it And indeed this Name of God the Lord of Hosts is able to strike terrour into their hearts who make it their work to terrifie all the world multitudes of armed men who have violence in their mouths to threaten and swords in their hands to act their threats for 't is not their multitudes or their strength can bear them out in their impiety and injustice since there is far greater strength there are far greater multitudes with God then with them even all the hosts of Heaven and earth Let this consideration move me to take that care of my soul which the approach of an army would me to about mine estate that I may take heed above all least I be spiritually plundred for what have I worth the keeping if I have lost my Saviour and how shall I not lose my Saviour if I lose my Religion Let therefore those angry fellows of the children of Dan ransack me as they did Micah Iudg. 18. yet shall they never get any power over my Religion nor shall it ever be said They have taken away my God for I am commanded by my Saviour who best knew the right way of salvation not to fear those hosts which kill the body and are not able to kill the soul but rather to fear him who is Lord of hosts and is able to destroy both body and soul in hell and will certainly so destroy all those hosts that oppose him if they impenitently persist and persevere in their oppositions Let me thus in my greatest frights think more of spiritual then of carnal Terrours and though I may perchance be almost frighted out of my wits yet I shall be sure of this that I shall not be frighted out of my Religion The fifth Name of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod nos excel sum dicimus saith the same Saint Hierome the most High and this Name is recorded Gen. 14. 18. where it is said that Melchisedeck was the Priest of the most High God and thus let me with the heavenly host say Glory to God in the Highest S. Luke 2. 14. let me always think of his Highness who is no less above heaven then above earth He is in the Highest I am in the lowest in a twofold deep in duplici prosundo inobedientiae miseriae as S. Gregory said of Jonas when he was swallowed up in the whales belly in the depth of disobedience and in the depth of misery and therefore in the depth of misery because in the depth of disobedience Out of these depths have I called unto thee O Lord Lord hear my voice and let thine ear consider well the voice of my complaint that I may be delivered out of the depth pf misery and let not thine eye be too extreme to mark what is done amiss that I may not be confounded in the depth of disobedience so shall I say with great admiration and greater consolation Who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth Psal. 113. 5 6. the higher he dwelleth the lower he humbleth himself to behold me the greater is his condescension the greater is my consolation let me then delight in my devotions as being the only means to bring down my Saviour to raise up my soul. The sixth Name of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 QUI EST unfit me I AM hath sent me unto you Exod 3. 14. and again I AM that I AM. This Name of God should make me constant in my Religion zealously to practise it at all times and resolutely to maintain that practise in the worst times for my Master in calling himself I AM forbids me to be a changeling in his service and indeed true Christianity is able to say with Christ Before Abraham was I AM John 8. 58. for the same
who will not shame his Religion here nor himself hereafter must with the Psalmist have respect unto all the Commandments Psal. 119. v. 6. then shall I not be a shamed when I have respect unto all thy Commandments or so shall I not be confounded neither internally in mine own conscience nor externally before the world nor eternally before the dreadfull tribunal of Christ and this threefold confusion cannot possibly be avoided by any Christian Church or man but by having respect unto all Gods Commandments To all 1. In toto universali in their full number 't is as Anti-Christian to leave out the fifth as to leave out the second Commandment as heretical to leave out the thirteenth as to leave out the ninth Chapter to the Romanes 2. In toto Essentiali in their full Obligation there is as great an obligation upon the fifth as upon the fourth though the one may chance be cryed up to pull down the other 3. In toto Integrali in the several particular duties that depend either upon their number or upon their vertue and obligation of which we must observe our Saviours Diuinity in the mouth of his Apostle S. James 2. 10. whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point i e. impenitently by not repenting of his sin or doctrinally and magisterially by justifying it is guilty of all the reason is because he keeps the rest for his convenience not for his Conscience his convenience the great cynosure of this new Reformation and it is no less an Evangelical then 't is an an Angelical Truth uttered by Aquinas 22 ae qu. 5. art 3. that 't is impossible for him who pertinaciously disbeleeves one Article of faith to beleeve any of the rest though with his mouth he may confess them all Nam caeteros omnes non tenet per sidem simpliciter veritati primae inhaerendo sed propriâ voluntate judicio 'T is so in the Decalogue as 't is in the Creed a willfull belief is no true faith a willfull Religion is no true Religion for true Religion depends wholly upon Gods not upon mans will but least some mens furious zeal should chance over-rule S. James his Epistle the same divinity hath also proceeded from our Saviours own mouth and his mouth must instruct us or his bloud will not save us S. Mat. 5. 19. Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of heaven he that shall thrust a Commandment out of his life not onely personally but also doctrinally shall teach men so shall be thrust out of heaven for his pains he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven call your selves what you will the godly the faithfull the well-affected the Saints Christ will call you the least in his kingdom if you thrust Allegiance out of your Church which is not one of the least but one of the greatest Commandments the first of promise with God though the last of performance with you Allegiance that respects so many Commandments that 't is impossible but it should most nearly respect the Conscience Wherefore I must needs be most heartily sorry that I cannot say with S. Paul Act. 28. 19. I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar not that I had ought to accuse my Nation of for I have too much to accuse my Nation of in the High Court of Justice that I cannot appeal unto Caesar the poor Church of England in whose behalf I speak this was not long since calumniated to be a Mary Magdalene for her devils but now sure there is great reason she should be so for her tears having little else left her to do though yet more to suffer but to mourn and weep and if any say unto her Woman why weepest thou she is ready to answer as that Mary once did because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him S. Joh. 20. 13. I have been wholly excluded from all their consultations and actions both concerning his death and burial they have taken away my Lord my Lord the King a King that understood Divinity more exactly then the most learned expressed it more appositely then the most eloquent witness that heavenly piece which shews him to have been more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more truly golden in his mouth then in his Crown and practised it more strictly then the most conscientious amongst his best Divines a King which infinitely propagated the true Christian Faith by his life but much more justified it by his death for shew me all ye Christian Churches in the world since you have learned to mix man with God your own Interest with his in your Religion which of you all have had the happiness to have such a King live in your Religion I am sure none of you all have had the honour to have such a King if you have had a King to dye for it be his death never so much the sin and reproach of the Nation 't is such a sin such a reproach as not all the Ocean that surroundeth us can wash away yet 't is the Justification and glory of the Church that he confirmed that same true Protestant Faith by his death which he had ever professed and defended in his life as Christ did Christianity in its first plantation so did he in its best Reformation seal it with his bloud the greatest conquest the Church of England can ever get over its enemies so far is she from being conquered by them in contriving it for as that wrangling Disputant whom no arguments could convince was quite silenced by him that said though I cannot dispute for my Saviour yet I can dye for him So hath King Charles silenced all the enemies of this poor Church many indeed by disputing but many more by dying Reason enough why in common gratitude beside special duty we should not easily forget our Allegiance much less disclaim it least of all renounce it but there are yet more particular reasons which immediately concern the Conscience and those you may gather from the ensuing discourse which is a collection of diverse Sermons that were once truly a word in season though now they are not or may seem not to be at least in their opinions who will needs be too much judicious and too little consciencious but the Apostle will justifie the Authour in the press as well as in the Pulpit having his out of season for the one as well as his in season for the other 2 Tim. 4. 2. though he desire rather to justifie his Church then himself and condemn himself for all save onely for the integrity of his affection to God and his Church to the King and his People that the infatuated sons of the earth may no longer so scuffle to possess this world as ever to hazard the quiet possession of it and that they may no longer so
possess this world as to hazard their interest in the next it being S. Pauls express Maxime they that resist much more if they impenitently persist in that resistance shall receive to themselves damnation here then is a Looking-glass for the good Subject to see his duty the bad his guiltiness the one to receive the comfort of a good the other to feel the burden of a bad Conscience the expressions were at first plain and the method easie upon force because a Countrey-auditour may easier be posed then instructed and they ought to be no other now upon choice because a censorious Reader may sooner be instructed then ashamed The discourse was at first abruptly broken off with the Kings life but 't is since compleated in regard of length though in no other respect would the malice of bloud-guilty and bloud-thirsty men which is already compleat in all other respects were also compleat for the length and duration of it But O my soul come not thou into their secret and God keep them from coming into thine for in their anger they slew a man yea more then a man a King and in their self-will they digged down a wall enough to make an everlasting breach in this distracted Kingdom cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel Gen. 49. 6 7. when and where Simeon and Levi Laity and Clergy are partners in such a grand iniquity then and there this is Gods sentence against them and must be his Churches Prayer but I have nothing to say to them onely hope they will not be angry with me if I still pray for their conversion though I may not quietly preach for it This small Tractate speaks to and of those onely who still keep the old true Protestant Religion of the Church of England and with it their Allegiance and their Conscience and the spokes-man verily perswades himself that he is the meanest not of seven but of seventy seven thousands of Israel the true Sons of the Church that have not bowed their knees unto Baal Baal Berith that is Baal for a Covenant in his holy pretensions but since turned into Baal-Peor that is Baal for the mount Peor to over-top all through the pride of his spirit or Peor in the other sence to corrupt all through the Libertinism of his flesh in his unholy performances Baal Peor he is without question though beyond example for all that have joyned themselves to this Baal have not onely eat the offerings of the dead Psa. 106. 28. but also of the Living and 't is most notorious that those of that unhappy City which first began these troubles and that they might do it with some colourable pretence commonly called the most Orthodox Divines Baals Priests are now themselvs by the just judgement of God made Baals bondslaves and those of the Ministry who were most defamed with that ignominious and false aspersion are by the mercy of God the chiefest if not the onely men of their order who would rather lose all then be Baals Chaplains they were frightned with the consideration of that Text which once made Origen break out with tears and speak rather with his eyes then with his tongue in the Pulpit Psa. 50. 16 17. verses Lord how many dumb Sermons should we have now adays by those who would be thought the onely Preachers if they would as he did lay that Text unto their hearts but unto the ungodly saith God why dost thou preach my Laws and takest my Covenant in thy mouth whereas thou hatest to be reformed and hast cast my words behinde thee when thou sawest a thief thou consentedst unto him c. See who they were that most hated a Reformation amongst us even they who though they did cry it up yet did practise it down they who did see a thief yea such a thief as impudently answered the Prophets question Mal. 3. 8. will a man rob God and put it out of question and yet consented unto him no wonder if such men have let their mouth speak wickedness and with their tongue have set forth deceit no wonder if the next verse also concern many of them thou satest and spakest against thy brother yea and hast slandered thine own mothers son her truest her best her eldest Son and withall most of her true younger Sons but 't is not a slander can frighten them from their Religion who fear God rather then men Illi mors sibilus cui plausus vita they served not God as hypocrites and therefore have not fallen from his service as Apostates such men are still of the same Church though they cannot so publickly profess it and of the same Religion established in that Church and to them this Treatise belongs which though it be not elegant enough to be their Mothers the Churches Apology yet 't is true enough to be the Churches doctrine for that never taught other then true Allegiance to Gods on earth then true Conscience to God in heaven and never thought that the one could be without the other so that the true Church of England may still with Bishop Jewell in his Apology give solemn thanks to Almighty God Quòdin Angliâ Regia Majest as non minuitur but it must be with relation to its Religion not to the men that have pretended it the Religion of the Church of England is for Obedience and Faithfulness to Kings in the highest degree though some outward professours of that Religion have been as highly for disobedience and unfaithfulness much more then we could have imagined because much more then others ever practised but let not any man say that to be an Apostle hath Treason in it because one of the twelve was a Traitour especially since our Defender of the Faith hath also defended the true professours of our Church in that his Seraphical Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most unquestionable image of himself of his Piety of his Patience and of his Charity a book infinitely above the spirit of any man but a King and as much above the Piety of any King but such a Christian King so throughly conversant with Christ not onely in his doings but also in his sufferings not onely in the innocency of his life but also in the persecutions of it Eâ—pectore mult is tribulationibus macerato prodiêre Psalmi saith Musculus The Psalms of David the sweetest of devotions flowed from the bitterest Marah the bitterness of his soul so our David could not have made such Cherubical ditties fitting the best of Angels had he not been persecuted and reviled by the worst of men this discord gave occasion to that heavenly Musick but I shew my defect of Allegiance whiles I thus labour to express it that book is above all the acknowledgements of Allegiance and can stoop no lower then the Conscience Come and see a Miracle here all ye whose eyes are so wide open to see
both for the one may relate to the inward Conscience the other may relate to the outward condition So in my Text after the Oath of God an argument of piety to work upon the Conscience here is a whatsoever pleaseth him an argument of power to work upon the condition For he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him and therefore Isacides gives this gloss upon the whole verse Be not so hasty or foolish as if thou wert planet struck for so the word signifies as once to think thou canst go out of his sight or slie to any place where he hath not power to reach thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To a place where he hath no dominion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For he hath power and dominion in every place Quis nescit long as Regibus esse manus And stand not in an evil thing or an evil word for 't is in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies both that is saith Jarchi Stand not out in a contestation against him for if he hath a minde to revenge himself upon thee he hath power to do it For where the word of a King is there is power that is saith the same Authour for the word of God blessed for ever gives a King power and who may say unto him What doest thou but this concerns the next grand doctrine of the Text the doctrine of Supremacy in the last verse Where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what doest thou Which words may well set forth the doctrine of Supremacy because they contain in them the definition of the Supreme Power on earth What it is and the disposition of it Where it is First the definition of it What it is 'T is such a power as hath no other above it Who may say unto him What doest thou Secondly the disposition of it Where it is It is in Kings Where the word of a King is there is power so then the Supremacy of a King consists in these two things First That there is all power with him Secondly That there is no Power above him First That there is all power with him Where the word of a King is there is power power indefinitely not some power not half power not this or that power to shew that All power is there that is All lawfull power for power against law or without justice is meer impotencie God can give no such power and 't is he that gives the power in the Text therefore we must say All power it being ill to play the sophisters with mans but worse with Gods law nor is it lawfull to distinguish where the law distinguisheth not according to the known rule Ubi lex non distinguit ibi non est distinguendum this sophistrie first brought the worshipping of Saints and Angels nay of images into the Church even by distinguishing where God did not distinguish so did those in the second of Nice elude the Text Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He put this Onely upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 since called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon Religious and divine worship which is due to God himself not upon an inferiour sort of worship which we may lawfully exhibit to Saints and Angels and their images Concil Nic. 2. Act. 4. And again The Scriptures do not forbid us to worship images but to worship them as God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conc. Nic. 2. Act. 5. The same sophistry is still continued by some whose great learning is not a sufficient authority to maintain their false Religion in eluding not expounding the second commandment saying Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image i. e. not the image of Venus Jupiter Bacchus or those Heathen gods but thou mayest make thee a graven image of Christ or the Christian Saints or of the Angels and worship them just such a consequence and just such divinitie will be here if we will needs distinguish where God distinguisheth not he saith Where the word of a King is there is power he distinguisheth not what power if we will needs say yes there is some power but not the sole power or some Supreme power but not all the Supreme power we shall make God in effect speak require contradictories in the same commandment as the Papists in the second make him approve as well as forbid Idolatry so we in the fifth shall make him allow as well as forbid Rebellion for if there be but some power in the King 't is enough if there be but some obedience in the people and if there be not a sole Supreme power in the King there must be another Supreme power besides him which may lawfully resist him in his own Dominions which is to frame a monster in nature Duo prima in eodem ordine two firsts in the same rank and order but much more is it to frame a hideous monster in grace making the same commandment require us to obey and yet allow us to resist the Higher powers which is impossible to our humane reason and much more to Gods divine Religion wherefore we must say that by power is here meant All power which is to be confined onely by the Kings word not his Subjects by the place of his Dominion not by his partners in it Where the Kings word is there is power his word is not every where no more is his power but his word is where he hath right to command and consequently there He hath also power to execute his commands so that the words of the Text Where the word of a King is there is power do naturally speak thus much in effect All lawfull power in his own Dominions is so with him as that no power can be without him but by usurpation no power against him but by rebellion no power above him but by both for all lawfull power is with him and therefore what power soever is without him or against him or above him must needs be unlawfull if it be without him 't is unlawfull by Usurpation because it invades his right if it be against him 't is unlawfull by Rebellion because it resisteth his Authoritie if it be above him 't is unlawfull both by Usurpation for invading and by Rebellion for resisting and therefore the Apostle Rom. 13. 1. calleth him powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plural number not one single power but many powers and yet he speaks of one single Person He is the minister of God he beareth the sword and that single Person a King for 't is such a one as receives tribute v. 6 I say the Apostle calleth the Supreme or Sovereign power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Powers not onely plurally because 't is a multiplied power or many powers in one but also indefinitely because 't is an unlimited power All power in one unlimited I say in regard of any persons