towards His Church For He enliveneth all the members of it from the greatest even to the least and gives them not the power and authority only as Princes give their subjects but the very strength and ability to act communicating to each of His faithful ones such a measure of His Spirit as is necessary for sensation and motion and all the other functions of heavenly life as St. Paul teacheth us in the Epistle to the Ephesians and more at large in the First to the Corinthians Eph. 4. 1 Cor. 12. Moreover the Head hath this advantage above the rest of the body that it is of a more exquisite constitution and temper than the other members according to the rule that nature prudently observes in general which is to frame those things best that are designed to the choiâ—est employments Kings and Captains do deserve also the name of Heads in this respect their dignity being very high-raised above their subjects But their advantage in this particular is nothing in comparison of that which JESUS CHRIST hath above His Church not only by His being incomparably more holy more wise and more powerful than any of all the faithful but especially in that He is GOD blessed for ever Finally as you see the Head is placed highest in the body of man this scituation being necessary for its commodious exercising the functions of its government a thing that Kings and Princes imitate dwelling ordinarily in Palaces and sitting on Thrones raised above the houses and seats of their subjects so JESUS CHRIST hath this advantage but in a far greater degree sitting on high in the Heavens upon the Throne of GOD above the whole Church both militant and triumphant And whereas He conversed sometime on earth that was only for a while and by dispensation for the good of His body which obliged Him to do it even as the head boweth down it self somtimes when the necessity of any of its members doth require it But the proper and natural place of JESUS CHRIST is that lofty Sanctuary of immortality where He now appears in highest glory from thence governing by His Spirit all the parts of this mystical body of the Church both those that are in Heaven and those that are yet on earth Thus My Brethren you see wherein this dignity of our LORD JESUS doth consist and with how much reason St. Paul expresseth it here and otherwhere by saying that He is the head of the Church Whence evidently follows what the Apostle also evidently says that the Church is the body of CHRIST For if JESUS CHRIST be call'd the Head thereof for having and exercising towards it all the functions and prerogatives of a natural Head towards its members it is clear that the Church must also be called His body since this whole Divine society depends on JESUS CHRIST and receives of Him all the light all the aptitude all the sense and motion that it hath Upon this doctrine of the Apostle we have divers things to consider before we pass any further First by fixing this position he timely fortifies the Colossians against that errour which we shall find Him expresly opposing hereafter the errour of those that would subject the faithful to Angels and to Moses introducing into the Church the worshipping of the one and the Pedagogy of the other For since the Son of GOD is the Head of this sacred society who seeth not that it ought to depend on Him alone that 't is to Him it oweth its obedience and service and of Him it ought to receive its discipline and guidance But it must also be observed that the Apostle giveth this title to JESUS CHRIST with a design to glorifie Him enroling it among the other praises of His Soveraign dignity Indeed since the Church is the most Divine society in the world since it is acompany of Kings of Priests and of Prophets the Assembly of the first-fruits and a new world much more excellent than the old a world immortal and incorruptible it is evident that to be the Head thereof is a quality more sublime then to have been the Creator and Prince of the Universe at first Whereby you see in the third place how unrighteous to say no more the rashness of those is who give this name to another beside JESUS CHRIST acknowledging a mortal man for the true Head of the universal Church Let them colour this usurpation how they will they shall not be able to justifie it This is evidently to despoil JESUS CHRIST of His royal robe and to take the Diadem from Him which none but He can bear They alledge that the Scripture verily communicates to others beside JESUS CHRIST the names of Pastor of Priest and of Teacher and of Light and such others It is true but it never gives that of Head of the Church to any but Him And the difference of these titles is evident the former signifying charges whereof the faithful do exercise some portion and some shadow whereas that of Head of the Church signifies the Supremacy which is incommunicable to any other but the Son of GOD. As you see that in a State the name of Prince and of Governour and Captain and others of like sort are not given to the King only they pertain to others also But no other may be called the Soveraign or the Head of the State besides Him without incurring the guilt of Sacriledge or Treason Yet they endeavour to excuse them and say they make the Pope but the ministerial and subordiate Head not an essential and soveraign one But this is nothing but words arising from their interest and not founded in the truth of things There is no Prince that would be satisfied with such language if any one of his subjects that had made himself the head and Monarch of His State should alledge for his excuse that he had no intention save to pass for a ministerial head In the nature of men whence this similitude is taken we see no bodies that have two heads of a different rank and if any such be found at any time they are accounted for monsters which cannot be said of the Church the most perfect master-piece of all the works of GOD. In a word it is not enough to say that the Pope is the ministerial head of the Church it must be proved We plainly read in Scripture that JESUS CHRIST is Head of the Church Let us believe it and adore Him under that quality But that there is another head in the Church be he visible or invisible be he ministerial or soveraign this we meet not with at all in the writings of the Apostles not to say that we meet with divers things in them wherewith such a doctrine is incompatible Faith is by hearing and hearing by the word of GOD. Let it therefore be permitted us to suspend our believing this other pretended head of the Church since we have heard nothing of it in the word of GOD. But that which the
passeth unto exhortation conjuring these faithful people to live well and holy forming their deportment to a Piety Honesty and Vertue worthy their vocation He endeth with some particular affairs whereof he speaketh to them and with the recommendations he presents them both on his own part and on the part of some other faithful persons that were with Him But you will better understand the whole by the exposition of each of the parts of the Epistle if the LORD grant us to compleat the same For the present we propose to our selves to consider only the five Verses we have read the two first of which contain the Inscription of the Epistle and the other three the joy and the thanksgivings of Paul unto GOD for the faith and charity of these Colossians These shall be GOD willing the two Points that we will treat on in this action The Inscription of the Epistle is couched in these words Paul an Apostle of JESVS CHRIST by the Will of GOD and the Brother Timothy to the Saints and faithful brethren in CHRIST JESVS that are at Colosse Grace be unto you and peace from GOD our Father and from the LORD JESVS CHRIST Whereas at this day the custom is to put upon Letters the name of those to whom they are written and within after the body of the Letter the Name and Sign of those that write them heretofore the use was otherwise for he that wrote did set both the one and the other Name within at the head of the Letter with a brief salutation in these words Such a one unto such a one health as we learn by a multitude of Greek and Latin Epistles which are left us in the ancient Books of the most renowned Personages of those two Nations The Apostle that lived in those Ages useth the same manner in all his Letters as you know saving that instead of wishing health and prosperity to those to whom he writes He ordinarily wisheth them Peace and the Grace of GOD and of his Son JESVS CHRIST According to this form the inscription of this Epistle containeth First The Names and Qualities both of them that write it and those they write it to and Secondly The good and happy wish wherewith they salute them The Names of those that write it are Paul and Timothy sufficiently known to all that are ever so little versed in the reading of the New Testament They are here described each by certain qualities attributed to them To Paul that of an Apostle of JESVS CHRIST by the will of GOD. To Timothy that of Brother simply The word Apostle signifies in the Language of the Greeks one deputed a person sent by some one But in the Scripture of the New Covenant it is taken particularly for those first and highest Ministers of the LORD JESUS whom He sent with a Soveraign and Independent Authority to Preach the Gospel and establish His Church in the world The highest and noblest charge GOD ever gave to men And to exercise it it was necessary First To have seen JESUS CHRIST alive after His Death that a good and lawful Testimony might be given of His Resurrection They must Secondly Have received their commission from the LORD himself immediately and in the Third place Have the Holy Spirit in an extraordinary measure with the gift of Tongues and Miracles Whence appears how ill founded they are that attribute the glory of an Apostleship to the Bishop of Rome to whom none of those three conditions do agree It is also clear that this dignity is extraordinary and was not instituted but for the first establishments of the Church the government whereof after its plantation the Apostles put in the hands of another kind of in feriour Ministers which are indifferently called in Scripture either Bishops that is Overseers and Superintendents or Presbyters that is Elders The History of the Acts informeth us that to the twelve Apostles afore ordained our LORD added besides afterward St. Paul having miraculously appeared to Him and sent Him with the same power the rest had to convert the Gentiles He assumeth therefore here this glorious Title at the entrance of this Letter and saith moreover that He is an Apostle by the will of GOD signifying that it was the express Order and Mandate of the LORD which honoured him with this Ministry and not the suffrage and authority of men differencing Himself by this means from those false Teachers and Troublers that had not been sent but by the will of flesh and blood The declaration of this His quality was here necessary for Him First To maintain His honour against the calumnies of Seducers who did disparage and black Him as much as they could under pretence that He had not lived as the other Apostles in the company of JESUS CHRIST during the dayes of His flesh and Secondly To ground the liberty He took of writing to the Colossians and of remonstrating to them their duty as well in faith as manners it being evident that the Apostles had right to use this authority over all and every of the Christian Churches To His own Name he addeth that of Timothy whom he calleth Brother as having one and the same faith and labouring about one and the same work whether it were to authorize His Doctrine the more by the consent of this holy man every word being more firm in the mouth of two or three Witnesses than in that of one alone Or to recommend Him to these believers that if he wrote to them or ever came to visit them they might receive Him as a person worthy of the fellowship of the Apostles and whose Name deserved to accompany that of Paul As for those to whom He directeth this Epistle He describes them next in these words To the Saints and faithful Brethren in CHRIST that are at Colosse I pass by as childish and impertinent the opinion of those whom it listed to say that it is the Isle and City of Rhodes He meaneth and that He calleth it Colosse because of that great and prodigious Statue of the Sun which the Rhodians had erected at the mouth of their Haven and which the Greeks ordinarily called the Colossus What need is there of these frigid and ridiculous subtilities since the Ancients shew that there was yerst in Phrygia a Province of Asia the less a City called Colosse not far from two others to wit Laodicea and Hierapolis whom the Apostle also mentions in this Epistle and recommends expresly to the Colossians the communicating this Letter to the Laodiceans when themselves should have read it Afterward this City of Colosse changed its Name and was called Cone and to it one of the famousest Writers of the latter times of Greece who is called Nicetas Choniates owed his birth taking His Surname from the place where he was born In Th saur l. 4. ch 22. and himself boasteth in one of His Works that it had been to the inhabitants of the City of Cone whence he was
last words of this Text whence it is that the Colossians had conceived so high an hope Of which saith he you have heard heretofore by the word of truth to wit the Gospel This Soveraign bliss which is reserved for us in the Heavens is so highly raised above nature that neither subtility of sense nor vivacity of reason nor even the light of the Law could discover it to us much less give us the hope thereof 2 Tim. 1.10 That same JESVS CHRIST who hath destroyed death hath brought to light life and immortality by the Gospel Before this they were either entirely unperceived or imperfectly known and hoped for It 's therefore precisely from the Gospel that we draw both the faith and the hope of them He calleth the Gospel the word of truth not as some will have it because it is the Word of JESUS CHRIST who is the Truth and the life for this exposition is more subtil than solid but because it is the most excellent of all Verities those that are learned in the School of Nature and of the Law being mean and unprofitable in comparison of those which the Gospel doth discover to us It may well be that the Apostle would also secretly oppose the doctrine of the Gospel to those of the seducers which still recommended shadows and figures as we shall hear in the following Chapter whereas the Gospel presenteth us the substance and the truth of things And it seems to be in this sense that St. John after he had said The Law was given by Moses addeth in form of opposition John 1.17 But grace and truth came by JESVS CHRIST because the Law had only dark lineaments and shadows whereas the LORD JESUS brought us the lively image the body and the truth of celestial things The Apostle remindeth the Colossians that they had already heretofore heard this Word of truth as it were to protest unto them that he would promote no novelty among them having no other design but to confirm them more and more in the holy doctrine they had already received with faith from Epaphras and other Ministers of the LORD See well beloved Brethren that we had to say to you for the exposition of this Text. It remaineth that we briefly touch at for you the principal points we should gather of it as well for the instruction of our Faith as the edification of our Charity and the consolation of our souls As for Faith 't is for it's security that St. Paul telleth us at the entrance He is an Apostle of JESVS CHRIST by the will of GOD advertising us by this quality He assumeth to receive no doctrine into our belief which hath not been annunciated by these great and highest Ministers of the LORD Let us examine the Spirits and admit only the word of the Apostles If any one Evangelize beyond what they have preached let us hold him for an Anathema We have their Scriptures Let us assuredly believe all that we read in them Let the doctrine which appears not there be suspected to us and praised be GOD that according to this rule we have banished from our Religion that which error and superstition had thrust into Christianity You know that the GOD the CHRIST the Heaven the Worship and Sacraments we preach have been given us by the Apostles of the LORD established by the Will of GOD and do appear throughout in their Gospels and in their Epistles Whereas the Mediators whom our Adversaries invocate the High Priest they acknowledge the Traditions they maintain the Purgatory they fear the greatest part of the Sacraments they celebrate the adoration of the Host the veneration of Images and the voluntary Worships which they practise are not found at all either in the Old or the New Testament Let us therefore firmly retain our Religion as instituted by the Will of GOD and constantly reject what is beyond it as come of man and not of the LORD from the Earth and not from Heaven But it is not enough to make profession of it we must plant this doctrine in our hearts by a lively belief in such sort as we may be able to say with truth That we have faith in JESUS CHRIST and charity towards all the Saints We render thanks to GOD with the Apostle for that of His great mercies He hath vouchsafed to communicate this treasure of His Gospel to us and not in vain since there are among us that have truly made their profit of these spiritual riches But the life of the greater part renders them unworthy of the praise which St. Paul here giveth the Colossians For is this to have Faith in JESUS CHRIST to serve Him so loosely as we do and testifie so little zeal for His glory so little respect to His Commandments so little belief of his documents and so little affection for the interests of His Kingdom As for Charity I am ashamed to speak of it so cooled is ours For if we loved all the faithful should we leave the life of some of them and the reputation of others without succour Should we injure them instead of defending them Should we take away their substance instead of communicating to them our own Should we black their honour instead of preserving it Would their prosperity offend us Would their miseries content us Faithful Sirs remember they are the Saints of GOD His Children and the Brethren of His CHRIST Respect those so sacred names and spare persons that have the honour to belong so nearly to your LORD He will judge you by the treatment you shall give them and write on his account the good and the evil which they shall receive from your hands recompensing it or punishing in the very same manner as if you had honoured or violated Him in His own person He will cut you off from His communion if you do not carefully regard and practise theirs and will never avouch you for His Children if you acknowledge them not for your Brethren And here alledge not to me I beseech you that you have faith I know well that this divine light cannot be in souls which are cold and destitute of Charity But suppose that this were possible I tell you and declare that all your pretended faith should you have the highest degree thereof that may be in the world without charity would be but a shadow an Idol and an illusion and as St. James saith a stinking carkass James 2.26 Do all you will Have as much faith and knowledge as you please if you have not charity you are not a Christian you are but a false and deceitful image of one Charity is absolutely necessary to the perfection of a Christian It is the badge of this holy Discipline it is the honour and the glory of it and the Apostle as you see sets it down here among it's essential parts Faith shall cease in Heaven when we shall see instead of believing But charity shall remain for ever Have then a
and felicity whereof we shall be seized on high in the Heavens It is best in my opinion to joyn these two expositions together that we may so comprehend the entire state of the whole inheritance of Saints who after they are once united to JESUS CHRIST do alwayes live in light first in that of grace during their pilgrimage on earth afterwards in that of glory Rev. 21.23 when they shall be raised up to that blessed City which hath no need of the Sun nor of the Moon because the brightness of GOD hath illuminated it and the Lamb is the light thereof 1 Thes 5.5 Phil. 2.15 Mat. 5.14 For this cause all the divine denizons of this heavenly State are called Children of light and of the day which should shine as lights in the midst of a perverse generation and be the light of the world as persons born of the light of the Spirit and of the word of God who being led by the rayes of their Sun of Righteousness walk on straight towards the supream source of lights where arrived they shall eternally dwell in that shine which will transform them into the image of their LORD from glory to glory by the power of His Omnipotent Spirit But it is time to come to the other verse in which the Apostle addeth what the Father hath done to make us thus capable of partaking in the inheritance of Saints in light He hath delivered us saith he from the power of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of His well-beloved Son By darkness the Scripture ordinarily understands ignorance and misery the two contraries of knowledge and joy which it signifies by light as we said even now For ignorance and error do hide the true and natural form of things from our understandings just as darkness doth wrap up visible objects from our bodily eyes And forasmuch as there is nothing more unpleasant to men nor more affrighting than the obscurity of darkness thence it comes that the term is also made use of to represent horrour trouble and misery So the power of darkness is nothing else but that tyranny which the Devil and sin do exercise over their slaves filling their spirits with deadly errours and brutish ignorances and their consciences either with affrightment or insensibility and training them on by little and little under this dismal yoke into the horrours of eternal death which our LORD often calleth outer-darkness where is weeping and gnashing of teeth For as knowledge and truth is a light necessary for the attainment of salvation so errour and ignorance infallibly lead to death Therefore the Devil the sworn enemy of our good blindeth men the most he possibly can spreading before them gross and thick mists which hide Heaven and its blessed brightness from them This is the summ of his craft and subtil operation The deep of his abyss doth ever vomit forth into our aire a black vapour for the rendring of our senses useless By this means he turned heretofore the Nations of the Earth from the service of their Creator obscuring and smothering by his illusions those sparkles of the knowledge of Him which they had and plunging them and holding them down in so deep ignorance that these miserable men were not ashamed Rom. 1.23 to adore the work of their own hands and change the glory of the incorruptible GOD into the resemblance and image of corruptible man and of birds and of four-footed beasts and creeping things As for justice and honesty of life this impostor had so extinguished the lights which Providence had kindled for them in their hearts and so disordered all their knowledge by his seductions that the vilest abominations passed among them for indifferent things Walking on in so thick darkness it is no wonder if they were in continual fear they knew not where they went nor whither they should come and fell at last after having pittifully stumbled and staggered into the precipice of eternal perdition And would to GOD the Prince of errour did not yet still abuse the world in the same manner Certainly the darkness of the old Paganism was not more gross nor shameful than that which covers the greater part of the earth at this very day But whereas that errour wherein the Devil keepeth men is called by the Apostle the power of darkness and not simply darkness this teacheth us that that accursed one worketh effectually in them doing with their hearts what seemeth Him good and planting all deceit and ignorance in them at his will so as these wretches cannot defend themselves therefrom This is one thing the Apostle teacheth us elsewhere as when he saith that this evil Spirit now worketh with efficacy Eph. 2.3 in the children of rebellion Not that he hath naturally any just Dominion over the souls of men but their sin brings them under His Sceptre and their hearts being of themselves full of unclean and unjust affections it comes to pass through the excess of their corruption that he never tempteth them in vain And all this imperial force he hath upon them is founded meerly on imposture on errour and ignorance so as it is with a deal of truth and elegancy that St. Paul calleth it here the power of darkness This is Faithful Brethren the sad and pittiful estate in which naturally men lye Let not the paint and lustre of their pretended wisdom and justice dazle your eyes In the sight of GOD it is but darkness whence it comes Eph. 5.8 that the Scripture calleth them darkness it self Ye were sometime darkness saith the Apostle to the Ephesians Judge hereby how horrible the errour of those is who dogmatize that liberty is so very natural to man as they cannot conceive that they can be men without it Let them Philosophise upon this subject as they please They shall never be able to shew that a man can be all at once both at liberty and under the power of darkness He that is under the power of another is not free It 's GOD alone that can enfranchise men and take them from this miserable servitude and bind that strong Tyrant who did hold them Captive It is to this Soveraign LORD that the Apostle here giveth the glory both of his own liberty and of the Colossians theirs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He saith he hath delivered us from the power of darkness Yet the Greek word which he useth in the Original hath more Emphasis signifying that He delivered us by an exerting of power drawing us and if I may so speak plucking us out of the irons we were in whereby he representeth to us on the one hand how strong and strait the bonds of our slavery were and on the other hand how excellent and admirable the power is which GOD hath displayed to bring us out of this spiritual Egypt For we experiment it daily that though nothing be more sordid and shameful than the tyranny of error Yet we all naturally love it so
and Powers let us conclude that it must be taken as in other places where it is couched after the same manner simply and absolutely that is to say taken for the first and not the second Creation If there be liberty to do otherwise and to give it any where the sense we please without other reason then that of our own fond imagination who seeth not but that by such an overture there will be no longer any thing certain or assured left in Scripture For as these Hereticks by this cavilling gloss would deprive the LORD JESUS of the glory of the first Creation another might bereave the Father of it by the same means interpreting the passages of Scripture which affirm that GOD created the world not of its first Production by which it came out of nothing into being but mearly of a Reparation or a Renovation of the Universe and in consequence hereof pretend with some Philosophers that it was surely long before it was created but not in the condition and the form it afterward obtained But GOD forbid that Christians should ever suffer impiety to have such a licence over the Word of GOD. Let us keep religiously to the truths which the Scriptures teach us and receive their language with a candid and and sincere belief Let Heresie rise in commotion and be as unquiet as it will since the Apostle the mouth of Heaven and the trumpet of GOD proclaimeth That all things were created by the LORD JESVS receive we this sacred Verity believe it and confess it so much the rather for that it is not here alone but in divers other places beside that the Scripture teacheth it us For not to repeat here that which we touch'd afore out of the Epistle to the Ephesians where it is said That the Father created all things by JESVS CHRIST what can be said more expresly or directly then that we read in the beginning of S. John where this Divine Author speaking of the Word which was made flesh and whose glory himself and his Fellow-brethren saw and who was in the beginning with GOD saith aloud That all things were made by Him and without Him was not any thing made that was made and that the world was made by Him What can be uttered or conceived more clear than what we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews where the Apostle not content to have said at the entrance That the Father made the Worlds by his Son doth say of the Son a little after what the Prophet singeth LORD thou hast founded the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the works of thine hands Hebr. 1.10 Certainly this proof is so firm that all the Devils of Hell shall never be able to pluck it from us And nothing can be imagined more bruitish than that evasion which despair hath here inspir'd the Hereticks withal Though say they the Apostle have alledged these words of the Psalm yet his intention was not to apply them to CHRIST but the following words only Thou remainest and art the same and thy years shall not fail For is not this a plain giving the Apostle the lye who directly affirmeth that it is to the Son the holy Spirit saith LORD in the beginning thou hast laid the foundations of the earth Besides if this alledging of the Psalm do infer nothing else but that the Son is permanent and shall not fail it will be impertinent and not at all suffice for the Apostle's design in this place For his aim is to exalt the Son above the Angels but if the passage he brings for this purpose do conclude only that the Son is immortal and immutable who sees not that by this reckoning he attributes nothing to Him but what agreeth to the Angels also whose nature is likewise incorruptible and immutable Since then the Scope of the Apostle is to shew that JESUS CHRIST hath qualities which appertain not to the Angels and since on the other side the passage he alledgeth doth represent nothing of that kind but the creating of the world it must of necessity be acknowledged that it is the holy Apostle's intention to apply to the LORD principally this first part of the place wherein is said That He hath founded the earth and that the heavens are the work of His hands And so you see that the Supreme Wisdom begotten of the Father before all Ages which neither is nor can be any other than the LORD JESUS doth protest in the Book of Proverbs that it was with GOD its Eternal Father Prov. 3. when He created the World to shew us that it was the Governess and Superintendant of that great work And Moses represents it to us in the beginning of Genesis as far as the nature of the time and of the Old Testament would suffer For he reporteth GOD not creating any thing but by his Word He sheweth Him speaking at every part of His Work GOD said Let there be light GOD said Let there be a Firmament GOD said Let the waters be divided and let the day land appear and so in all the rest Whence comes it that so sage a Writer makes this Supreme and unspeakable Nature speak thus for the creating of each of His Works Let the Jew toil himself to the utmost he will never be able to give us a good and pertinent reason of it John 1.1 such as may content our minds But S. John calling the Son of GOD the Word unvails this secret to us shewing us that it is by this His Word the Father did create the world And Moses to signifie it mystically and in such sort as became that time represents GOD not creating ought but by speaking Be it then concluded against the obstinate fury of Hereticks that the LORD JESUS is the Creator of all things And this is so clear that the most part of those very men that deny His Eternal Divinity have not refused to acknowledge it as they in particular who after the name of their old Leader are commonly called Arrians these avouching that it is by Him the Father created the Universe at the beginning yet forbear not to deny that He is Eternal GOD of the same Essence with the Father Wherein as I confess they shew more modesty than the rest not having the forehead to reject what the Scripture doth so clearly exhibite So I must needs say they discover less perceivance and acuteness admitting a truth incompatible with the error which they hold For if the LORD JESUS did create the world as they say in concurrence with the Scripture do confess it must of necessity be granted that He is very JEHOVAH whom in time past Israel did adore which notwithstanding is the thing that they oppose This consequence appears first from what we noted afore That the Scripture never ascribes the action of Creating to any but GOD only Secondly from that in Isaiah the title of Creator is given to the true GOD to distinguish Him from creatures
souldier The men of valour do deport themselves gladsomly on such occasions S. Paul goes yet further Rom. 5.3 He would have us to glory in such kind of tribulations and triumph because of them So did the Apostles who having been ignominiously whipt by the decree of the Council of the Jews rejoyced saith the Holy History that they were counted worthy Acts 5.41 to suffer shame for the name of JESVS I confess such joy in occurrences that would possess all other men with shame and sadness is strange I confess it is contrary to the sentiments of nature and doth exceed its strength Yet I affirm that it is just and for all that it is above the reach of our reason will be found a very rational joy That this may the better appear let us now consider the two reasons of it which the Apostle alledgeth here when he addeth And I do fill up the rest of the afflictions of CHRIST in my flesh for His body which is the Church The word and which knitteth these words with the foregoing is put here as in many other places of Scripture for one of those particles which hey call causal I rejoyce in my sufferings for you and do fill up the rest of the afflictions c. that is forasmuch as I fill up or because I do fill up what remaineth of the afflictions of CHRIST as some of the best and most learned interpreters have well observed The first of these two reasons which induced the Apostle to receive the sufferings of the Gospel with joy is taken as you see from hence even that by undergoing them he did fill up the rest of the afflictions of CHRIST in his flesh First it is clear that by the afflictions of CHRIST he doth not mean the troubles which the LORD JESUS himself did suffer in His own person during the days of His flesh whereof His death on the Cross was the last and the chief the end and crowning of them all For neither S. Paul nor any of the writers of the New Testament doth ever use the term affliction to express those sufferings of our LORD They are alwaies termed either His passion and sufferings or His tentations as in the Epistle to the Hebrews Hebr. 2.9 1 Pet. 1.11 JESVS was made a little lower than the Angels through the passion of His death And in S. Peter The Spirit declared the sufferings that should afterward come upon CHRIST and so elsewhere Secondly the afflictions of CHRIST of which the Apostle speaks in this place were not finished there remained still some part of them to be filled up whereas the LORDS's personal sufferings were perfectly compleated on the Cross so as in this behalf there remained nothing more for Him to suffer according to what Himself testified when he cryed with a loud voice before he gave up the ghost It is finished and according to what the Apostle teacheth Rom 6.9.10 Heb. 9.28 in divers places namely that CHRIST dyed for sin once that henceforth He dyeth no more but liveth unto GOD and that He was once offered to take away the sins of many Those of Rome do confess it and even complain that they should be charged with having other thoughts in the matter they acknowledge it would be gross blasphemy to say that the sufferings of the LORD JESUS by which He expiated our sins on the Cross do want any thing that should be supplied either by S. Paul or any other man What then are these afflictions of CHRIST which are spoken of here Dear Brethren they are those that the Apostle suffered for the name of the LORD and in His communion and by reason of the ministry wherewith He had honoured him For it is the stile of these divine men to give this title to all that the faithful suffer 2 Cor. 1.5 for this holy and glorious cause As the sufferings of CHRIST abound in us saith the Apostle so by CHRIST doth our consolation abound Where you clearly see is signified by the sufferings of CHRIST not that which the LORD suffered in His own person but that which the Apostle suffered for Him Phil. 3 10. And elsewhere again when he saith that he desired to be found in CHRIST to the end he might know the fellowship of his sufferings that is those sufferings by which all His faithful ones are consecrated after His example The same 2 Tim. 1.8 2 Cor. 15. he elsewhere calleth the afflictions of the Gospel and in the same manner the dying of the LORD JESUS which he saith he beareth about in his body just as he saith here that he filleth up the afflictions of CHRIST in his flesh And in my judgement it is the same that he meaneth at the end of the Epistle to the Galatians where he glorieth of bearing in his body the brandings of the LORD JESUS Gal. 6.17 because afflictions are as it were the mark that JESUS CHRIST imprinteth in the flesh of His servants the seal and badge of His house So in the Epistle to the Hebrews he termeth the low and disgraceful condition the afflictions and incommodities of the people of GOD the reproach of CHRIST Heb. 11.26 saying that Moses esteemed the reproach of CHRIST greater riches than the treasures of Egypt If you now ask me the reason of this kind of speech it is not difficult to be found For first Since it is for the name of the LORD for His cause and in his suit that the faithful are afflicted suffering according to S. Peters advice not as murtherers 1 Pet. 4.15.16 or thieves or evil-doers or busy in other mens matters but as Christians all the wounds that they receive upon this account are justly called the sufferings of CHRIST Since He is the cause and the true occasion of them it is reason to attribute them to Him and to say that they are His. Secondly There is so strict an union between the LORD and all His true members that they with Him make up but one body as the Apostle will presently tell us And by vertue of this conjunction we have part both in His glory and in some sort in His very Name as the Apostle intimateth when he compareth this mystical body to a natural body 1 Cor. 12.12 and saith that As the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so likewise is CHRIST Under the Name of CHRIST there S. Paul compriseth not only the person of the LORD JESUS but with Him the whole multitude of His faithful ones And considering them as united together He gives the Name CHRIST to this whole body which is composed of the LORD as the head and of the faithful as members Whereby it appears that all that the faithful do suffer each for his share doth make up part of the afflictions of CHRIST As you know we call those hurts ours which we receive in any one of
it And for as much as in material Edifices it is the Foundation that sustaineth all the Building thence it comes that the Scripture gives that name to our LORD and Saviour as to him upon whom this spiritual Structure doth entirely depend Other foundation saith the Apostle can no man lay 1 Cor. 3.11 than that which is laid even JESVS CHRIST And this the Prophets foretold in saying of him that God would set in Sion a chief Corner-stone Isa 28.16 Psal 118.22 elect and precious And that the stone which the builders rejected should be made head of the corner The Apostle therefore desiring to fortifie his dear Colossians against the danger of falling prosecuting this figure so common in Scripture commands them to be built up in JESUS CHRIST And the same expression he makes use of elsewhere as when he saith that we are built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Eph. 2.20 21. JESVS CHRIST himself being the chief Corner-stone it whom saith he all the building proportioned and fitly set together riseth up unto an holy Temple in the Lord. What is it then to be built up in JESUS CHRIST Dear Brethren we say an House is builded on a Rock when a Rock is the Foundation that bears and sustains it wholly A soul is builded in JESUS CHRIST when it wholly relieth upon Him so as its Faith its Hope its Love and the other parts of its mystical structure are all set upon Him and immediately fastned to Him it believeth the Gospel because 't is the word of CHRIST is assured of the remission of sins because they were expiated by CHRIST it expects the Kingdom of Heaven because he purchas'd it loveth neighbours because they are his workmanship meekly beareth affliction because it is a part of his Cross in sum layeth and setleth upon him alone the designs the thoughts the enjoyments and the expectations wherein consisteth both its present life and that which is to come One so built up in JESUS CHRIST is right that wise man commended by our Saviour's own mouth Mat. 7.24 2â— who buildeth his House on a Rock so as no violence is able to effect its fall For indeed what can overthrow a soul seated on this Rock of Ages which is so firm and unmoveable for ever Where is the tentation or the persecution that can beat it down What is built upon this Foundation is not subject to natural accidents It 's a celestial and an eternal Edisice But the misery of men and the true cause of their weakness and ruin is that they build elsewhere either wholly or for the greatest part The World is the ground whereon they set and raise up the designs of their lives and this ground being nought but weak and floating Sand the first force that assaults them brings them down and their fall saith our Saviour is great Lastly The Apostle expresseth in proper terms what he had represented under these two Metaphors adding and established in faith For it is properly by faith that we are rooted in JESUS CHRIST and 't is by it also that we are founded and built up in him all these phrases signifying only the spiritual union and conjunction which we have with the LORD the sole tye whereof faith is Let us labour therefore continually to confirm our faith if we would resist the enemy Let us meditate the truth of the Gospel study all its mysteries taste the excellency of it Let us carefully hear and read that word wherein GOD hath reveal'd it to us By it faith hath its being as the Apostle tells us Rom. 10.17 Faith comes of hearing and bearing of the word of God Whence you may judg how contrary to the Apostle's injunction the command of the Church of Rome is who will not grant that the faithful should read Scripture How shall they be confirmed in faith if they have no commerce with this sacred word the only parent and nurse of faith How again can they without it acquit themselves in that which the Apostle commands in the second place even that we abound in faith It is not enough that we be established in it that we have of it for necessity he would have us furnish'd even unto plenty possess'd of a great and rich measure of it have this sacred light to go on still encreasing and augmenting as he saith elsewhere from faith to faith Some are of the mind that this word must be reserred not singly to the thing but also to the sentiment that we have of it As if the Apostle's meaning were when he speaks of abounding in faith that we should account our selves to have abundantly in the faith of JESUS CHRIST alone all the saving-knowledg we can desire without needing the addition of ought any other way This exposition is elegant and ingenious and very pertinent to the Apostle's design But because it is followed by few and the former is more simple I will not insist upon it In fine the Apostle adds in the third and last place giving of thanks abounding in faith saith he with thanksgiving His scope is that we do tenderly resent the excellency and plenty of the benefits which are communicated to us by the Gospel and do remember the spring whence they flow to wit the sole Grace of GOD who taking us out of the darkness of error and ignorance wherein we were plunged hath made us enter into the Kingdom of Light by the power of his Word and Spirit that we may continually render him our grateful acknowledgments of it Besides that this duty is most reasonable of it self it is also necessary to ensure the faith of the Gospel unto us For as on the one hand GOD augmenteth his gifts to the thankful so he taketh them away from the unthankful withdrawing his light from their souls and giving them up to themselves as you know he threatneth ingrateful Churches to take his Candlestick from them And the Apostle informs us elsewhere that to them who receiv'd not the love of the truth he sendeth the efficacy of error so as they believe a lye which is the most dreadful punishment wherewith he avengeth himself on the iniquity of men Dear Brethren that we fall not into so dismal a judgment let us possess this treasure of knowledg which GOD hath given us in his Son with all the gratitude we can humbly blessing him for that he hath vouchsafed to impart a thing so precious and of such saving-importance unto us to us I say who were so unworthy of it Let it be all our love and all our glory Let others boast of their might and their skill of their riches and their greatness As for us glory we only in the knowledg of GOD and of his holy Gospel the sole supream happiness of man Let us be jealous of this holy Doctrine keeping it pure and sincere and carefully taking heed of the Leaven of Superstition and Error Let us be content with our LORD JESUS
wherein he represents to us some of the principal uses we ought to make of it Ye teaching saith he and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs singing from your heart unto the LORD All the terms he useth in the first part are worthy of not a little consideration First his calling the Word of GOD which was deliver'd by the Prophets and Apostles and is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament the Word of CHRIST The Word of CHRIST both because He is the subject and the end of it as also for that He is the Author of it who inspir'd it by His Spirit into His servants in the same manner as the Apostle elsewhere termeth all the afflictions of the new and of the ancient Church Hebr. 11. even to those which Moses and the Israelites suffered in Egypt the afflictions and reproach of CHRIST because CHRIST is both the cause for which the faithful are afflicted and also the Director of their afflictions who sends 'em them and governs them by His Providence Whence it clearly follows that He is GOD since all Scripture is by inspiration of GOD and that He did subsist in the time of the Patriarchs and of all the ancient Church against the impiety of those Hereticks who deny the Divinity of our LORD and pretend that He had no subsistence in Nature until He was born of the Blessed Virgin Further in the next place we are to weigh in what manner the Apostle recommends unto us the study of this Word He saith not Let it be among you let it be read let it be known of you but using a term of much more force and efficacy than all that amounts unto he willeth that this Word of CHRIST do dwell in us Dwelling you know is properly affirmed of men and doth import their making their abode in this or that place their living and being ordinarily and almost alwayes there R. Moses Ben. Maim in More Nevo Chim l. 1. c. 25. Hence it comes as the the Learnedst of the Jewish Doctors hath well observ'd that the Scripture useth this word figuratively to signifie the constant and setled abiding of one thing in another though the thing which is said to dwell in the other be not animate and that other which it is said to dwell in be not properly a place or a space that containeth it As when Job execrating the day of his birth wisheth among other things that clouds may dwell upon it meaning that that day be continually covered with clouds that it never be without that sable and sad veil and as he explains himself that darkness and the shadow of death do for ever pollute it Though to speak properly it cannot be said that clouds which are inanimate things do dwell any where and much less dwell in a day or upon a day which is not a place or comprehensive space but a part of time And it is also in this figurative way that we must take all those passages of Scripture in which GOD His dwelling somewhere is spoken of as when He protesteth in Exodus and elsewhere often Exod. 29.45 Lev. 26.12 1 Cor. 6.16 that He will dwell in the midst of the Children of Israel a particular which the Apostle applyeth also to the Church of the New Testament the meaning is that His Majesty and His Providence should alwayes be with the faithful and never forsake them though to speak properly the LORD who is an infinite Essence and filleth Heaven and Earth without being enclos'd by them dwelleth no where It 's in this figurative sense that the Apostle here doth use the word dwell and verily with much grace and emphasis when He saith Let the Word of CHRIST dwell in you His intention is that it be constantly and setledly in you that it be an inmate with your hearts and lips that it never leave them And as our Souls dwell in our Bodies to quicken them and to govern all their motions in like manner that this Divine Word be the soul of your hearts abiding day and night there to conduct and regulate all your actions that it be as well known and as familiar to you as the persons that dwell at your house and pass their whole time with you But the Apostle not content with so vivid an expression addeth yet another term to signifie more fully how studiously we ought to fill all the faculties of our Souls with this Word of the LORD Let it dwell in you saith he richly that is abundantly and as the French Bibles have it plentiously in such sort as there may be neither any part of its mysteries which is not found in you its promises its commands its assertions its prophecies its instructions being all entertained and not one of them excluded nor any part of your selves but this Divine gâ—est is admitted to lodge and abide in your understandings memories wills affections deportments that it appear in your whole life and shine forth there in such a manner as every one may perceive it It 's also hereunto that the last words which he addeth in all Wisdom do refer wherein he shews us the end and the immediate effect of this dwelling of the Word of GOD in us namely the rendring us wise unto salvation and the giving us all the wisdom that 's necessary to glorifie GOD and obtain eternal happiness He would have it dwell so abundantly in us that we might derive from it all the knowledge it gives both of the things we should believe and of things we should do to be sav'd For it 's this he usually meaneth by that Wisdom which he recommendeth unto us And because this knowledge hath many parts of which some are useless without the rest thence it comes that he saith not simply let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in Wisdom but in all Wisdom to shew us that it is not enough to study some part of this Heavenly knowledge This it may be might have been sufficient for men under the Old Testament who were but in a minority a Christian being come to mature and full age ought to know all the will of GOD all His counsel and all that admirable Wisdome which He hath revealed to us by His Son and unfolded in His Scriptures Thus you see Dear Brethren what the meaning is of this precept of the Apostle In it now we have a great many things to observe And first his procedure in that having begun discourse of our Sanctification and not inclining to enlarge upon it further for the present he remits the faithful for learning the rest not to the voice of the Church but to the Word of CHRIST an evident sign that it 's not the Church as those of Rome pretend but Divine Scripture which is supream directress of the faithful It is true that Pastors are serviceable unto their instruction but it is as Ministers only and not as Masters nor do they Minister of
she may reign at her care by the favour of darkness And if she would have sincerely represented her motives in this ordinance of hers there should have been not the Preface we even now reported but such a one as this to wit it being evident by experience thaâ— the reading of the Bible is very prejudicial to her interests giving men the hardness to reject the authority and Doctrine of her Pope who is not only not found any where in this Word of GOD but even contrarieth it in divers instance for these reasons it hath seem'd good to her to shut up and restrain the knowledge of it as much as she can since the abolishing it altogether is both impossible and scandalous This is their true meaning this their true motive And in very deed you see how in conclusion they straiten this reading as much as possibly they can First they will not have men read any version of the Scripture though never so good and faithful and exactly made out of the Original Texts except it have as they speak some Catholique for its Author that is one or other of those people who being passionate for the Romane cause would weaken the words of the Scripture the most they may and sometimes even audaciously corrupt them for their own advantage as you may plainly perceive by the example of him who passing the bounds of the modesty of all others hath not long since put the express term Mass a stranger to all Scripture into the Book of the Acts of the Apostles and written at the third Chapter that the Prophets and Teachers which were in the Church of Antioch did say Mass against the Warrant of the Original and of all ancient Versions the Syriac the Arabick and the Latine it self canoniz'd by the Council of Trent every of which does say conform to the Original that those persons served or Ministred to the LORD against the example of the vulgar versions of the Roman Communion as that of the Doctors of Lovain that of Benedict and of Frison and others and in fine against the evidence of the thing it self this latter version falsly supposing that there could be no Divine Service but it 's pretended Mass Judge by this scantling what the versions of the Bible made by these good Catholicks are like to be But however altered and disguised in favour of them these versions be they yet fear them still well knowing that it is not easie so to sophisticate this Heavenly word but that it will alwayes have vertue enough left to confound their errors Therefore they add another restriction that for the reading of such Bibles there must be had a License and in writing not from the Parish Priest this sufficeth not but from the Bishop of the Diocess or from the Inquisitor an office in the Modern Church which is no more found in Holy Writ than the office of their Mass And yet they do not leave them an absolute disposal of the matter but oblige them to secure themselves first by conference and deliberation with the Curates of the Petitioners that they are persons whom the Word of GOD will do no hurt to that is will not make them disgust the Roman Religion which is at the bottom all the danger that they apprehend Christians do you not tremble to hear that these Masters forbid what the Apostle gives you order to do a thing that JESUS CHRIST Himself commands you when He sayes Search the Scriptures and that their dispensation must be had to do what JESUS CHRIST and His Apostle enjoyn you The Apostle sayes Let the Word of CHRIST dwell in you and these Gentlemen cry on the other side No meddle not with it Cast not your eyes on it Have not so much as the Book in your Houses which is far indeed from getting it to dwell in your hearts except one of our Bishops or of our Inquisitors give you permission for it Oh new and unheard of Theology That a Christian must have a dispensation from Rome or one of her Ministers to obey JESUS CHRIST and cannot do what S. Paul commands him except the Pope's Officers give him a permission in writing Can men more openly debase the authority of CHRIST and His Apostle Sure what 's commanded is a duty and that which is permitted especially what one is obliged to have a permission for in writing is a thing contrary to our duty as every one knows and as you may see by the practice of Rome it self where permission to eat flesh in Lent is indeed demanded but not to cat fish in the Carneval because according to their Laws the first is contrary to a Christian's duty and not the second If then a Christian must have a permission to read the Bible it is evident that the reading of it is a matter of some contrariety to a Christians duty that of it self it is unlawful and prohibited Again if such reading be duly commanded it must of necessity be said that every one is obliged to it at least every faithful man or woman that can read and that they no more need any one's permission to read the Bible than to give an alms or to comfort an afflicted person or to obey their Father or their Prince S. Paul's command as you see is express Let the Word of CHRIST dwell in you It 's then our duty to read it and meditate it It 's then a manifest enterprize against the Apostles authority to bind us up that we may not read it without any man's permission who ever he be It 's a changing of what Paul hath ordained It 's a taking it out of the rank of duties where he had let it and a placing it among transgressions It 's a making that to pass for prohibited which the Holy Apostle hath commanded there being no place for a permission but in things which the Law of GOD or of men have forbidden Can a stranger thing be ordained Yet they stoop not here For fearing least such a permission though difficult and strait and depending upon the will of their Officers should yet prejudice their Religion if any use were made of it they withdraw welnigh altogether the power to grant it which they gave the Bishop and the Inquisitor afore Index libr. prohibit observ circa 4. Regul For in the observation which they add upon this fourth Rule they declare expresly that the meaning is not there is by it any power attributed of new to Bishops or Inquisitors or to the Superiors of Regular Societies to give leave to any to read or buy or keep the Bible or any piece either of the Old or of the New Testament or so much as summaries or historical abridgments of the Books of Holy Scripture in any vulgar tongue whatever because say they they have hitherto been deprived of the power of giving such permissions by the Roman holy general Inquisition and it must be inviolably observed See I beseech you a most manifest illusion
with all the Elogies they merit Surely the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews naming Timothy whose praise and great advantages in the work of the ministry and in all vertue every one sufficiently knows calls him simply his brother Timothy The other on whose behalf he salutes the Colossians is Demas In the Epistle to Philemon written at the same time with this and in which he maketh mention or most of the persons here named he placeth Demas with Mark and Aristarchus and St. Luke among his fellow-labourers whence it appears that he was a Minister of the word of GOD of the order of those who served for helpers to the Apostles and are stiled Evangelists But after he had for a space ran well after he had appeared with praise among the lights of the Church alas he lost in the end this fair crown of glory St. Paul who vouchsafed to give his name such an honourable rank in two places of his Epistles in a third tells this lamentable story Demas saith he hath forsaken me having lov'd this present world 2 Tim. 4.10 and is departed unto Thessalonica From this doleful example let us all learn Dear Brethren and particularly such of us as GOD hath called to the holy Ministry to stand on our guard and to mortifie in our selves worldly lusts as avarice the love of life and pleasures ambition and such like passions which ruined Demas And if the Dragon cast down some of the stars that shined in the heaven of our Churches if the flesh and the earth the food and the fulness of Egypt and the false grandeurs of Chaldea cause them unworthily to quit the design and the hopes of mystical Canaan let us not be scandalized at it We are not better then the Apostles If all the light of their wisdom and miracles could not keep Demas from becoming bankrupt of the truth we ought not to think it strange if there happen to be among us some whom belly and vanity do precipitate into the like fault notwithstanding the clearness and evidence of our holy doctrine But it is time to pass into the second part of our Text in which the Apostle orders the Colossians three things first to salute those of Laodicea on his behalf secondly to communicate this Epistle of his to them and thirdly to advertise Archippus of his duty Salute saith he the brethren that is the Christians which are at Laodicea and Nymphas and the Church which is in his house This Nymphas dwelt either in the City of Laodicea it self or in the Countrey near it as some in my opinion do without necessity suspect The Apostle names him in particular because doubtless he was one of the most considerable persons of the flock at Laodicea and St. Paul's affirming that he had a Church in his house doth sufficiently testifie the zeal of his piety This Church was not a place in his house where the Assemblies for religious exercises were for the Scripture never useth the word Church in this sense which is now common among Christians but it is his houshold and the persons whereof it consisted who all made profession of Christianity with him and were confirmed and edified therein by his instructions and good examples Whence appears the vanity of the pretension of those at Rome who acknowledge no Church to be but which braves it in the world and carries with it the pomp of multitude and prosperity The Church of JESUS CHRIST is found where ever He is known and served and adored according to His Gospel within the enclosure of the walls of an house in the very caverns of mountains and coverts of the wilderness whither the Holy Spirit expresly foretelleth us that the Spouse of the Lamb shall be sometimes constrained to retire The second order which the Apostle gives the Colossians is considerable When this Epistle saith he hath been read among you cause that it be also read in the Church of the Laodiceans and read ye also the Epistle from Laodicea First his willing that this Epistle of his be publickly read in the assemblies of these two Churches doth shew us that the Scriptures of GOD were given us to the end all the people of CHRIST Clerks and Laicks small and great should hear and read them and not to be put into the hands of one certain sort of persons only as if this treasure did belong to none but them And hence appears the abuse of those who read the Scriptures to their people but in a language they understand not which is as bad yea in my opinion worse then if they read them not at all For not to read them is simply to bereave the people of the profit they might make of them whereas to read them in an unknown tongue is not only to deprive them of their edification but moreover to mock them and no less offend GOD by perverting His word in such a manner from its due tâ—e and end What shall I say of their outrage who accuse these Divine books of ambiguity of obscurity of seeming contradictions and errours Who say that the reading of them is dangerous and more apt to corrupt and embroil the faithful then to instruct or edifie them O holy Apostle why didst thou put so dangerous a book into our hands a book full of thorns and void of fruit Why didst thou order them to read it in their assembly to impart it unto neighbouring Churches and enjoyn them to read it also Why didst thou not fear the infecting the Spirits of thine innocent Disciples and the insnaring of them in some heresie by the darkness of thy riddles or the sowing of some disorder in their hearts by the ambiguity of thine expressions Dear Brethren the Apostle answers that his Gospel is clear that it is not covered but to unstable spirits and such as are engaged in some evil passion that this Epistle is not any seed of errour but a remedy against seduction a vessel full not of poysons but of preservatives and antidotes But I perceive what the matter is The Scriptures seem to these Gentlemen dangerous because saying nothing of their Pope nor of their Mass nor of the worship of their Saints and Images nor of their Purgatory and such other points nay saying many things which are evidently contrary unto them they easily induce those that read them with respect to beleeve that these doctrines have been invented by men and were never taught by JESUS CHRIST and His Apostles This book troubles them because they find not their reckoning in it it is obscure because what they love do's not there appear It is ambiguous because it pronounceth nothing clearly or expresly for the opinions which they are resolved never to forsake Furthermore this imparting of St. Paul's Epistle unto the Laodiceans unto which the Colossians were obliged by his order shews us that there ought to be an holy and charitable commerce between the Churches of JESUS CHRIST in reference to spiritual things
That a Church which hath received any grace from GOD which tendeth to edification should not envy it to others but affectionately communicate unto them all that may serve for their instruction And this communion ought to have place particularly between neighbouring Churches as those of Coloss and of Laodicea were And it 's upon this example and upon the reason on which it depends that the uniting of the Churches of the same Provinces and resorts in the same Classes and Synods is founded a thing instituted and observed from the beginning of Christianity down to our days and still very profitably practised and kept up among us by the goodness of GOD. This mutual communication of neighbouring Churches appears yet further in that the Apostle orders the Colossians in the third place to read also the letter from Laodicea after their imparting to them his When this Epistle saith he hath been read among you cause that it be also read in the Church of the Laodiceans and read ye also that which came or was written from Laodicea It is demanded what this second Epistle whereof he speaks should be Many Theologues of the communion of Rome do answer that it was a letter which St. Paul wrote to the faithful of Laodicea at the same time he wrote this to the Colossians whence they conclude that this piece being lost as well as divers other writings of Prophets and Apostles it cannot be pretended that the Canon of holy Writ is perfect and doth contain all things necessary unto our salvation Others again from thence infer that it is the Church which gives the Scriptures the authority they have among Christians since of the Epistles of St. Paul it hath left this in particular out of the Canon of Divine Books and retained only those fourteen which are in our hands But there is nothing found nor solid in their arguing which concludes ill and presupposeth what is false For suppose the Apostle had written an Epistle to the Laodiceans and that it were lost as I would not avouch that St. Paul and his fellow-brethren the Apostles never wrote any thing to any particular person or to any Church but what is arrived down to us suppose it I say who told them that this loss makes the Canon of our Scriptures defective Who told them that there was in that letter some Article of Faith necessary unto our salvation which is not found in the other parts of the Bible we now have Again who taught them thence to conclude that it is the Church who authorizeth the Divine Books I grant she is the keeper and depositary of them as the Synagogue sometime was of the Books of the Old Testament according to the Apostle's saying that unto them were committed the Oracles of GOD and that it belongs to her charge to preserve them and read them and recommend them to every one But that it is the authority of her voice and testimony which gives them the price and value they have either in themselves or in reference to faithful souls this in my opinion cannot be said without outraging the Majesty of their Author by making the divinity of the instruments of His wisdom to depend upon the phantasie of men As the Romans heretofore submitted the worship and divinity of their Gods unto the Decrees of their Senate They were not Gods except it so pleased men If it were certain that the Apostle had written an Epistle to the Laodiceans and put it in the hands of the Church it should be concluded not that she hath the power to authorize what Divine Books she pleaseth but rather that she hath hugely failed of her duty in having so ill kept an heavenly jewel But the worst yet is that all they talk about this pretended Epistle of St. Paul to the Laodiceans is a vain conceit and hath no other foundation but their imagination I well know that in our Fathers days * Faber Stapulensis a Learned man did publish one under that name having found it in three or four Libraries But the piece is so gross and so ridiculous that it hath been rejected equally on all hands as the work of an impostour who abusing his leisure forged this trifle and shamelesly fathered it upon St. Paul Some of the Ancients do also make mention of a Script bearing the same name whether it were different from this or did resemble it But the Ancients that speak of it do all unanimously decry it as an Apocryphal Book and issued out of an heretical Shop and framed at pleasure after St. Paul's death Tertuld 5. c. 1â— contra Marcion And in truth one of the first Writers of the Latine Church do's declare that a famous Heresiarch named Marcion had changed the Title of the Epistle of St Paul to the Ephesians and instead of this name which it alwayes bore in the Church impudently called it the Epistle to the Laodiceans and read we do Heres 43. contiâ— Marcion in the Epistle to the Ephesians those words which Epiphanius reporteth to have been cited by Marcion out of the Epistle to the Laodiceans This hath given * Gretius a certain Writer occasion to fancy that St. Paul indeed sent and addressed the same Epistle to the Laodiceans which at the same time he wrote to the Ephesians these two Churches having had need of the same remedies and that its this Epistle the Apostle means in this place willing the Colossians to take a copy of it and read it in their Assembly All this would pass if it were at all grounded but it is too much considence or credulity to think to perswade it us upon the credit of Marcion the most impudent impostor that ever troubled the Church and one that in particular played with the Books of the New Testament contracting them maiming them and changing themat his pleasure with an infernal license Besides this supposition accordeth not with St. Paul's words For he doth not all say as these persons pretend that the Epistle in question was written to the Laodiceans True it is the Latine Interpreter hath rendred it the Epistle of the Laodiceans but this would signifie as every one seeth that the Laodiceans had wrote it and not that they had receiv'd it either from the Apostle or from any other Yet though the Latine would suffer this rude gloss it is clear the original cannot be made to bear it without undertaking as these new Doctours do truly with presumption enough to change the words of it which we find uniform in the Greek Copies and which the Ancients observed there above twelve hundred years ago For they clearly import as our Bibles have faithfully translated and represented that this Epistle had been written or sent from Laodicea so that we must necessarily ununderstand them with the ancient Greek Fathers of an Epistle written not to the Laodiceans but from their City Now the Apostle telling us no more of it either here or elsewhere we need not wonder that
that the Apostle did the honour to write this Epistle S. Paul qualifieth the Christians at Colosse Saints and faithful Brethren He calleth them Saints a name he ordinarily giveth to all true Christians and which belongeth to them indeed forasmuch as GOD separating them from the rest of men by the effectual working of His Word and by the Sacrament of His Baptism cleanseth and purifieth them from the filth of Sin and delivereth them from the servitude of the flesh and consecrates them to His own name and service to be to Him a peculiar people addicted to good works Whence it comes that the whole body of the faithful is called in the Creed The Holy Church Mark this well my Brethren and make account that you cannot be Christians except you be truly Saints Suffer not your selves to be abused by the deceitfulness of those who promise you this glorious Name provided only you make profession to believe in CHRIST and that ye will live in the Communion of their Church how naught and impious soever ye be other wayes the body of the LORD is too lively and precious to have dead and rotten members I confess if you have the industry to hide your Vices under the false appearances of an outward profession you will gain thus much that men will give you the name of Christians and reckon you among the members of the Church as it might well be that among those whom the Apostle honours here with the Name of Saints and faithful there were some hypocrites But GOD who seeth the secrets of our hearts and upon whose judgement our whole condition doth depend will never count you Christians or members of his Son if you be not truly Saints Paul likewise and the Church who by a charitable judgement call you now Disciples of the LORD will change their opinion and rank you with profane men and worldlings when they shall discover your Hypocrifie The Title Faithful which the Apostle gives in the second place to the Colossians is common to all true Christians too and is taken from that Faith they give to the Gospel of the LORD The word Brethren that follows signifieth the holy communion they had with the Apostle and with all other believers of whatsoever quality or condition they were as persons all begotten of the same Father namely GOD all born of the same Mother Jerusalem from on high all partaking of the same Divine Nature all nursed in the same spiritual family bred up in the same hopes destined to the same inheritance consecrated by one and the same Discipline In fine He adds in CHRIST because it is of Him and by Him and in Him that we have all this Sanctity Faith and Fraternal union the titles whereof he hath given to the Colossians After having thus denoted and qualified the persons He writes unto He wisheth them according to His custom Grace and Peace from GOD our Father and from the LORD JESVS CHRIST By Grace He meaneth the favour and good will of GOD with the saving gifts and divine assistance wherewith he gratifieth those He loveth in His Son By Peace He signifieth that of GOD which is nothing else but the calm and tranquility of a soul that looketh to the LORD with assurance having remission of its sins by JESUS CHRIST and is delivered by the effectual operation of His Spirit from the importune tyranny of the lusts of the flesh It may yet well be that beside this first and chiefest peace the Apostle intendeth also that of men a sweet and calm estate exempt from their hatred and persecutions that they might without justling them or being troubled of them lead a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty You should also know that in the stile of Scripture the word Peace signifieth generally all kind of welfare and prosperity to which sense it may without inconvenience be interpreted in this place But he wisheth them these benefits From GOD our Father and from our LORD JESVS CHRIST From GOD because He is the first and highest spring of all good the Father of lights from whom cometh down every good gift From JESVS CHRIST for that He is as the channel by which the benefits of GOD stream down upon us it being clear that without the death and resurrection and in a word without the mediation of JESUS we could have had no part in the least of the Graces of GOD. He calleth GOD our Father because He hath adopted us freely in His Son and it is properly upon this relation that He communicateth His Grace and Peace to us whence it cometh that JESUS CHRIST hath given us order to call Him our Father in the prayer He hath taught us He calleth JESUS CHRIST the LORD because he is our Master who hath all power and authority over us as well by the right of Creation as by that of Redemption Such is the Inscription of this Epistle Let us come now to the second point of our Text wherein the Apostle congratulates the Colossians for the part they had in JESUS CHRIST We give thanks saith he to GOD for you who is the Father of our LORD JESVS CHRIST praying alwayes for you having heard speak of your faith in JESVS CHRIST and of the charity you have towards all the Saints for the hope that is reserved for you in Heaven which you have before heard of by the word of truth to wit the Gospel Here is as the Preface or Exordium of the Epistle which extendeth as far as the thirteenth Verse wherein the Apostle by the true praises he giveth the piety of the Colossians winneth their benevolence and declares to them His affection to prepare them for a right and faithful reception of the instructions he will hereafter propose to them as proceeding from a soul desirous of their salvation He protesteth therefore to them First In general that as often as himself and Timothy prayed GOD for them they did it with most humble thanksgivings for the happy estate wherein in Spirit they saw them Next he toucheth more particularly the grounds of this thanksgiving and proposeth three of them First The faith of the Colossians Secondly their charity and in the third and last place the inheritance reserved in Heaven for them Three particulars which comprize all the felicity of man The part He taketh in the happiness of the Colossians teacheth us one of the most necessary offices of our charity which is to interess our selves in the affairs of our Brethren to mourn with them that mourn to rejoyce with them that joy and be as nearly touched with their good and evil as our own Far from our practice be the envy and malignity of worldlings to whom the prosperity of others giveth trouble and their adversity gladness who feed themselves with their miseries and are sad at their mercies But the Apostle sheweth us moreover by this his example that the joy we have for the good of our neighbours should be elevated unto GOD who
is the only source thereof to render Him thanks for it This is the just and reasonable Tribute this liberal LORD demandeth of us for so many benefits as he communicateth daily to our Brethren and our selves If our lowness and poverty render us incapable of other acknowledgement let us at least faithfully acquit us of this so easie an one and so rightful and say with the Prophet Psalm 116.12 13. What shall I render to the LORD All his benefits are upon me I will take the cup of deliverances and call upon the Name of the Eternal One. Let us study with so much the more care to render this sacred due to the LORD by how much more black and detestable the ingratitude of men is in this behalf Far from blessing Him for the benefits he doth their neighbours they scarce give Him thanks for those they receive of Him themselves They impute them to their own industry or fortune and as saith the Prophet Sacrifice to their Drag for the good successes that betide them yea some so insensible there are as it is not godliness it self but they give the glory of it to their own will and the strength of their free determination But it is not enough to render thanks to GOD for our Brethren there must be also prayer for them For as it is He that gives them all the good things they possess So there is none but himself that can preserve or augment them to them and thus our thanksgivings should be ever followed or accompanied with Petitions as the Apostle sheweth in saying that be giveth thanks to GOD for the Colossians praying alwayes for them The Title He giveth to GOD calling Him the Father of our LORD JESVS CHRIST is not put here in vain but to distinguish and specifie the object of our prayers and thanksgivings The appellation of GOD under the Old Testament was The GOD of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob the Patriarchs with whom He contracted the Old Covenant and to whom He promised the New Now His Name is the Father of JESVS CHRIST by whom He hath abolished the Old Testament and accomplished the New Besides hereby St. Paul remindeth us of that we can never enough meditate that it is by the mean of this sweet and charitable Saviour GOD hath communicated Himself to us and if we have the honour to be His children 't is by JESUS CHRIST of whom He is properly the Father having not adopted Him as us but begotten Him from all eternity of His own substance by reason whereof that also which He assumed to Himself in the Womb of the Virgin hath the same glory according to what the Angel said The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee said he to the Holy Virgin and the Vertue of the Highest shall overshadow thee Luke 1 35. whence also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of GOD. But the Apostle addeth in his process what were those blessings of the Colossians for which himself and Timothy so assiduously rendred their thanks to GOD the Father of our Saviour Having heard speak of your faith in JESVS CHRIST saith he and of the charity you have towards all the Saints He had never been among them as He will say hereafter putting them after the opinion of most Interpreters Col. 2.1 in the number of those Who had not seen his presence in the flesh Therefore he saith it was by hearing that he understood of their faith and charity Here is faithful Sirs the true matter of our joyings and thanksgivings for our neighbours not that GOD hath given them vigour of health abundance of riches the favour of the great the glory of fame the knowledge of Sciences and such other worldly good things which to say the truth are but figures dreams and shadows that secure no person as we daily see either from diseases of the body or death or from trouble and disquiet of conscience or true misery But indeed for that Heaven hath revealed JESUS CHRIST to them and shed into their souls that holiness without which none shall see GOD. For these two Graces Faith and Charity comprize within their compass the whole Kingdom of GOD. Faith is the entrance thereof and charity the accomplishment The one cleareth our understandings the other sanctifieth our affections The one is the light of the soul the other is the heat thereof The one believeth and the other loveth The one beginneth and the other finisheth the happiness of our life Now Faith respects indeed generally the whole doctrine of GOD revealed in His Word believing it undoubtedly true but yet it fixeth particularly on the Promise He hath made us to give us Eternal Life in JESUS CHRIST His Son 'T is this properly that renders Faith saving and vivifying Without this it would not differ at all from the faith of Devils who believe there is a GOD and tremble at it But this love of GOD which it apprehendeth and embraceth giveth it salvation and enables it to produce in us all that 's necessary for getting in to the celestial Kingdom according to the assertions of JESUS CHRIST and His Apostles in divers places of the Scripture that whosoever believeth in the LORD is already passed from death to life That there is no condemnation for him and that being justified by faith we have peace with GOD. Hence St. Paul to describe here true faith addeth expresly these words Faith in JEVS CHRIST He sheweth us in like manner the object of Charity by saying The Charity you have towards all the Saints that is as we have intimated afore towards all Christians all the faithful I confess that Charity extendeth it self to all men generally there being none to whom we owe not love and on occasion the offices which a true and sincere affection is apt to produce since all men are the Works and Images of GOD since in Adam they all have one common nature with us and all are called to the participation of faith and of eternity in JESUS CHRIST by the Gospel which without distinction or exception inviteth all Nations and persons to repentance and grace But so it is notwithstanding that Charity embraceth not all men equally It hath divers degrees in it's affections and loveth it's neighbours more or less as it perceiveth more or less in them the marks of the hand of GOD and the tokens of His CHRIST and Spirit Seeing therefore they appear no where more clearly than in the Saints that is in true believers it is evident these make the first and principal part of the object of Charity Gal. 6.10 according to what the Apostle saith elsewhere Let us do good to all but principally to the houshold of faith Besides that Union we have with them a much more strict and intimate one than with any others their necessity also doth particularly oblige us thereto the hatred and persecution of the world putting them for the most part in such
here to the Colossians opposing it to that of the Law the rudiments whereof some endeavoured to re-establish among them Secondly we must observe what is the object of this knowledge the knowledge saith he of the will of GOD. All men naturally desire to know and I avouch that every knowledge is beautiful and grateful and there is none truly such but addeth some ornament to our understanding Yet it must be confessed that they are for the most part incapable of giving us the perfection and happiness we desire and which is necessary for our nature Such are all mundane sciences found out and cultivated by the sages of the World not only their Philosophy about nature and the motions of the Heavens and the Elements and about the properties and effects of things animate and inanimate but also that part of their Doctrine which more neerly respecteth us and explaineth what our carriage should be both in particular and in respect of those that govern us or are governed of us either in the family or in the State For to say nothing of the variety and extream uncertainty of their opinions which change every day and float continually in infinite doubts after having passed an whole life in this study and made the greatest progresses that may be no man is by it either more content or more happy or more assured All the pretended light of their School will not be able to dissipate in us either the horrour of death or the fear of the Judgement of GOD. It is only the knowledge of the LORD that can free us of it and by consequence it alone is necessary for us the rest will not render us either more happy if we have them or more miserable if we have them not It 's then this alone which the Apostle wisheth unto the Colossians But we must yet consider in the Third place that He wisheth them the knowledge not of the nature or the Majesty or the other essential properties of GOD but of His will For as to the essence of this supream and incomprehensible LORD as to the infinite and immense greatness of His power as to the ineffable manner of His understanding and the marvels of His judgement it is not necessary for us to know them clearly It is sufficient for us to adore them and many have lost themselves in lusting to sound them It is His Will that we must know to attain salvation as the true rule of our duty and His judgement He hath fully declared it to us by the Ministry of His Heralds the Apostles and Prophets who have published it by word of mouth and configned it in writing in the Holy Books which they have left us There it is that we must seek it and not in the discourses of vain men There we shall find it manifested as far as is necessary for us to know and do it It hath two principal parts faith and obedience For the will of GOD as the Apostle understands it here is nothing else but that which GOD would have us believe Joh. 6.40 and do to be happy For faith His will is saith our LORD that whoever seeth the Son and believeth in Him have eternal life and be raised up at the last day 1 Thes 4.3 For action This is the will of GOD saith the Apostle even your sanctification These are the two first and principal heads of the will of GOD to which all other instructions in Scripture do referr It 's in the knowledge of these things that St. Paul prayeth GOD the Colossians might be perfect and accomplished He addeth in all wisdom and spiritual understanding We call them Wise men in the world that know how to compass their ends that use means fit for this purpose and skilfully avoid all that might put them from it so dextrously conducting their affairs that of two things the one follows either they finish that which they desire or if they prosper not in it it is some mishap and not their fault that is the cause of such ill success But because they propose unto themselves ends vain and evil and unprofitable to their happiness thence it comes that how wise soever they be esteemed by the world all their industry yet is to say true but folly and errour Those then on the contrary are wise after the Spirit who constantly hold the right course of piety guiding themselves in it with such skilfulness that they beware of scandals and all that might set them off from their mark avoiding what is contrary to it and practising what is useful And though the world commonly account them extravagant yet so it is that their conduct proves to be true wisdom since at the end and after all it will be found that none but they attain unto salvation It is then this skilfulness which the Apostle termeth here a spiritual wisdom both because it respecteth the things of the Spirit that appertain to a Celestial and spiritual life as also for that it is a gift of the Spirit of GOD coming from on high from the Father of lights neither the sense nor the reason of Nature being capable of giving it to any knowledge of the Divine will is as it were the matter and subject of wisdom Wisdom is as it were the use and employing of the knowledge of GOD. For to be wise after the Spirit it is not enough to know what is the will of GOD There must be use of this knowledge first by laying down for a certain and unmoveable maxime that it is in it our bliss consisteth and consequently that therein we must bound our desires Secondly by practising what we know of this Divine will aiming at the mark it sheweth us and employing to attain it the means it prescribeth us watching and labouring continually thereto For certainly that servant in the Parable who knew his Masters will and did it not was nothing less than wise As for the spiritual understanding which the Apostle wisheth in the last place to the Colossians it is a quick and exquisite prudence to judge aright of things that are presented and discern the good from the evil the true from the false and the real from the apparent and this gift as you see is also a fruit of the knowledge of GOD and consisteth only in an exact application of what we know of His will to the doctrines and counsels which the flesh and its Ministers set before us to turn us out of the way of salvation It 's this was wanting to Eve when she was seduced by the Serpent and to the Galathians when they were abused by those impostors the Apostle fearing lest the same should betide the Colossians to divert this fatal blow supplicates the LORD to give them understanding necessary for the happy severing the false colours the paintings and baits of untruth from the simplicity that is in CHRIST Therefore he demandeth not of Him only that they might be filled with the knowledge of His
this flesh wherewith we are cloathed there do escape us but too many let us combat our own weaknesses and have recourse unto the grace of GOD who pardoning us what is past will fortifie us for the future But the Apostle after having enjoyned us in general that our life be worthy of the LORD toucheth next the principal duties whereof we must acquit us to live in this sort and addeth first that we do please Him entirely that is that in all things we seek to please the LORD endeavouring nothing but what may be acceptable to Him that this be the aim of our life Whence appears that the first point of a life celestial and truly worthy of the LORD is to take His will for our supream rule by it squaring all our thoughts words and actions For this is that the Apostle signifieth when He saith we must entirely please Him that is in all things in all the parts of life both in what respects the sentiments of our hearts and in what concerns the words of our mouths or our other external actions This is as the soul of the service of God You serve a man or your selves and not the LORD when it is to content your selves or some other that you act The best action and in its self most holy loseth its worth and value when the design of pleasing GOD is wanting in it Let us then banish from our life first all those things which GOD hath not instituted For how fair an appearance soever they have we cannot assure our selves that they please the LORD if He hath not ordained them Let us not suffer our selves to be beguiled by the paint and false lustre of humane devotion Since the question is of pleasing GOD we must give our selves to the study and practice of that which Himself hath expresly commanded us in His word As to this I am most certain it 's a thing acceptable to Him But for that which superstition or the pretended wisdom of men hath invented I cannot be assured whether it please the LORD or no. Then next in the very performance of the things He hath commanded us let us have regard still to please Him Offer we not our Sacrifices but to His Deity alone If our actions be also acceptable to men in good time be it It is gain we may take with contentment But how ever they take it have we still for our end to please the LORD Provided that our oblations are grateful to Him let the world judge of them as it will We have that we sought and it sufficeth us to have contented the eyes of our Master Let us renounce our own wills and regard His only wishing daily that it might be done of us and all other Creatures as the LORD JESUS hath commanded us The Apostle adds in the second place the productions of Christian life Frustifying saith he in every good work This necessarily follows from the affection he but now recommended to us For if we study to please the LORD entirely since it is only good works that can be acceptable to Him it is evident we shall give our selves to them continually But the Apostle useth in it a remarkable term saying to signifie this production that we fructifie in every good work The Scripture often compareth the faithful to Trees because they are planted by the hand of GOD sprung from His celestial and incorruptible seed that is His word and you know how the Prophet in the first Psalm represents us a good man and one fearing GOD under the image of a Tree planted by a stream of living water yielding its fruit in its season and crowned with a green and grateful feuillage which never fadeth And elsewhere he compares him to a flourishing and fruitful Palm-tree Psa 92.13 14 15. Joh. 15. Rom. 11 in the Courts of the LORD JESUS CHRIST saith in St. John That He is the Vine and we are the Branches and St. Paul compares the Israel of GOD that is the whole Society of His children to a true Olive whereinto each of them is grafted to partake of its sap and fatness Sutably to these Allegories it 's with much grace and reason that the Apostle makes use of the word fructifie to signifie the production of our good works That immortal juice which hath been shed into us from on high by the Word and Spirit obligeth us to this secondity it not having been communicated to us but to produce in us the fruits of righteousness and holiness It 's this the LORD expects from His mystical Vineyard demanding of it this just recompence of the care He takes to husband it And as we love trees which do not unprofitably take up our ground but besides leaves and blossoms bear us a quantity of fruits so is it with the heavenly Vineyard-keeper He seeks for fruit on His mystical trees He condemneth to the fire the fig-tree that bears none He loveth and purgeth that which beareth any Good works are the fruits He requireth of us yea every sort of good works Fructifying saith the Apostle in every good work Nature giveth not to any of the Trees 〈◊〉 it produceth the faculty of bringing forth more than one kind of fruits only because the seed of which they grow is earthly and material But grace which generateth the LORD's mystical plants of a seed spiritual and divine makes them capable of bearing infinite fruits of every sort This the Apostle calls good works commanded of GOD in His word useful to the advancement of His glory and the edification of our Neighbour Let no one flatter himself as if the vain greenness of leaves the outward profession of Christianity would suffice Him to be numbred among the plants of the LORD He acknowledgeth for His the trees only that bear fruit There is more yet It 's not enough to bear one certain kind of fruits there must be fructifying in every good work Your alms will serve you for nothing if they be not accompanied with the fruits of honesty and sanctification In vain shall you have been adorned with meekness and gentleness if you have not also chastity and beneficence In fine the Apostle willeth in the third and last place that we increase in the knowledge of the LORD See faithful Brethren how this Holy man every where joyneth together knowledge and action faith and charity He begs of GOD that the Colossians might be compleated in wisdom and spiritual understanding to the end saith he that they may walk in a fashion worthy of the LORD and fructifie in every good work But for fear they should imagine they had no more need to study after knowledge He comes to it yet again and addeth increasing in the knowledge of God For as our sanctification is never perfect here below so there wanteth alwayes something in our knowledge There must be endeavour equally after the one and the other And as the light of knowledge carrieth and fitteth us to the practice of
naturally Let us learn then in the second place to give the LORD alone the whole glory of all that we are in His Son as in reality it belongs to none but Him He hath not only given us this rich inheritance the purchase of the blood of His Son CHRIST He hath even given us the capacity to enter into it and possess our part of it Besides His making us the present He hath also given us the strength to receive it For it is not with the inheritance of GOD as with the honours of earthly Princes these fall often into the hands of persons most uncapable to possess them That Divine honour of the Heavenly inheritance is given to none but those that are capable of it that is who have the conditions requisite for having part in it to wit faith and repentance But the same GOD who hath prepared the heritage for us gives us also the preparation which is necessary for entring into it according to what the Apostle saith elsewhere 2 Cor. 3 5. Joh. 6 44. It is GOD who is our capacity or sufficiency and what our LORD Himself averreth in St. John No man can come unto me except the Father who hath sent me draw him This again is that which the Apostle intendeth Phil. 2.13 in the Epistle to the Philippians That it is GOD who produceth in us with efficacy the will and the deed according to His good pleasure 2 Cor. 5.5 Eph. 2.10 1 Cor. 3.9 And elsewhere he compriseth this whole work of the grace of GOD in one only word saying It is He that formeth us for the self same thing Therefore he calleth us in one place the workmanship of GOD and His Creation in JESVS CHRIST and in another His husbandry and His building Whence it doth appear that the offer of grace which is made to all by the Gospel if there be nothing else doth not give us part in the heavenly inheritance I grant it is sufficient in its self and would produce its effect in man if the badness of his heart had not blinded him But this deplorable blindness he hath obstructeth the effect which these offers of the divine Grace should produce Wherefore GOD himself maketh us capable of them by that inward operation of His Spirit wherewith He accompanieth the preaching of the Gospel in the hearts of His elect by reason whereof they are called the taught of GOD. Joh. 6.45 It 's this teaching which renders them capable of entring into the communion of His Son according to what He saith in St. John Whoever hath heard and learned of the Father Ibid. cometh unto me Thus He made Lydia capable of having part in his inheritance opening her heart to understand the things Paul spake as the sacred History doth report It 's without doubt in the same manner He also made both St. Paul and these Colessians and all the rest of the faithful capable of the same effect enlightning them within and leading captive their hearts into the yoke of the Gospel In fine we may again observe how contrary to Apostolick doctrine the presumption of those is who vaunt them of meriting salvation If there be any thing in us to which merit is attributed without doubt it is our capacity and sufficiency that we are meet to partake of the Kingdom of GOD. But this very thing is a present from GOD for which we owe Him most humble thanks How then and by what right can we in justice demand pay and wages for it Would it not be altogether as if a patient should enter action against his Physitian and compel him to recompence the being cured by his art Or a poor man demand wages of us for receiving our almes or a prisoner for having been redeemed with our money Let a man turn and transform things as much as he will it is clear that gratification and merit are incompatible and that He who is of right obliged to render thanks cannot without folly pretend to have merited by that very thing for which he renders thanks Our sufficiency and capacity is a gift of GOD or it is not If it be a gift of His why pretend you that it is meritorious If it be not why doth the Apostle thank our LORD for having made us capable to have part in His inheritance The word Inheritance which the Apostle employeth here evidently confirms the same truth as an ancient Doctor of the Church hath well observed Chrysostom it loc Why is it saith he that the Apostle useth the word Inheritance To shew us that no man obtaineth the Kingdom of Heaven by his own works or performances But as an Inheritance depends upon happiness and not upon merit so is it in this matter None can exhibit a form of life and conversation exquisite enough to be worthy of the Kingdom The whole proceedeth from the gift of GOD. To proceed I doubt not but St. Paul took this term from the Old Testament wherein the Land of Canaan destined and given to the Children of Israel for an inheritance according to the promises made to their Fathers was the figure of this blessed spiritual and divine life in possession whereof GOD putteth us by the Gospel of His Son beginning it here below by the consolation and sanctification of His Spirit and reserving to complete it on high one day in the Heavens by the communication of His immortal glory For as each Israelite had his portion in the Land of Canaan the same in substance with the rest but diversly qualified so each believer hath his share in celestial life yet after such a manner as though for the main they all possess the same life nevertheless it is diversly proportioned and relished to each of them Again as none but the Children of Abraham had right and title to that ancient inheritance So there are none but the Children of the promise which are born of the word of GOD and not of flesh or of blood that have part in the new For this cause the Apostle entitles it The inheritance of Saints Away ye unbelieving and profane It is not for you that GOD hath prepared this glorious inheritance Deceive not your selves 1 Cor. 6.10 Neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor the Effeminate nor Thieves nor Covetous persons nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extertioners shall have part in the Kingdom of GOD. It is designed for Saints alone The portion of the profane and ungodly is elsewhere during this generation in the world and in its wretched delights and when it shall pass away in the lake of fire and brimstone But the Apostle having stiled that salvation which GOD communicateth to us in His Son the Inheritance of Saints addeth further in light As light is in Scripture the symbole of two things knowledge and glory so it may be taken here two wayes either for the knowledge of those divine things which GOD revealeth in His Gospel or for that soveraign joy
the heart to offend still a LORD so charitable so admirable How is it that His so divine beneficence doth not transport our spirits doth not win to His service all the thoughts and affections and motions that we have Christians all the acknowledgement He demands of you for so much good done you is but that you live holy Refuse Him not so just and so reasonable a due He hath made you to partake of the inheritance of Saints Be not ye so ingrateful as to mix with the profane Be ye separate from them and have no communion with the impurity and ordure of their vices Despise not as Esau the title you have to so precious an inheritance Let it be dearer to you than all the perishing provisions and delights of the earth none of which is better than that pittiful pottage of Lentils for which the profane man did truck away His birth-right This inheritance is in light Live then as children of light Let your conversation be all radiant with those divine and heavenly vertues which the Gospel of your Saviour recommendeth unto you The darkness is now passed The Sun of righteousness is at his full height Let that infamous power of darkness under which you sometime groaned have no more authority over you Open all your understanding that you may perceive the glory of the LORD and suffer no more abuse by the illusions of errour Labour to encrease your light being still at the Scriptures of GOD the living spring of all spiritual illumination the inexhaustible treasure of saving knowledge But let this light shine also in your manners For it 's to no purpose to renounce the darkness of superstition if you remain in that of vice 1 Joh. 2.11 He that hateth his Brother saith St. John is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth for darkness hath blinded his eyes Remember you are no longer in the School of Satan the Prince of darkness You are in the Kingdom of the Son of GOD. Have thoughts and do actions worthy of so glorious a condition Let it purifie your life of all stench and sordidness Let it elevate your hearts above mortal things and set them in Heaven the residence of this Divine royalty But Dear Brethren as this Text doth oblige us to a singular studious pursuit of Sanctification so openeth it to us a living source of consolation and joy For if we knew our blessings and that wonderful grace which the Father hath shewed us what were there more happy than we We have part in the heritage of Saints The kingdom of the beloved Son of GOD hath been given us O great and magnificent portion Let the world boast of and adore its gold its honours and its delights as much as it listeth we have that better part which alone is sufficient to make us eternally happy though we should be deprived of all the rest Christian if the world bereave you of what you have in its fee and jurisdiction consider it cannot take from you the inheritance of Saints If it deny you its Leeks and Onions and Flesh-pots it shall not be able to debarr you from that divine light which shineth on you and which in spight of all its attempts shall conduct you to your bliss-ful Canaan If it take from you its honours if it drive you even out of its earth it shall not be able to wrest the Kingdom of the Son of GOD from you nor sequester that dignity and glory which you possess in it This is not a corruptible Kingdom it 's not like those of the earth that are subject to a thousand and a thousand disgraces miseries and mutations It 's an immortal Kingdom firmer than the Heavens so abundant in glory and in goodness that it changeth all those who have part in it into Kings and Priests Faithful Brethren content we our selves with so advantageous a portion Let us enjoy it for the present by a lively and an establisht hope sweetly bearing the incommodities of this small journey we take to get to it and patiently expect that blessed day on which our Heavenly Father having finished the work of His grace will raise us all up into His glory and put on our heads the crownes of life and immortality which he hath promised us in the eternal Communion of His well-beloved Son To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit the true and only GOD blessed for ever be all honour and praise to Ages of Ages Amen THE VI. SERMON COL I. Ver. XIV Vers XIV In whom we have redemption by His blood to wit the remission of sins DEar Brethren As the true and thorough knowledge of that great Redeemer whose remembrance we are at this day to celebrate is the only foundation of the piety and salvation of men in like manner on the contrary ignorance of His person of His offices and of His benefits is the source of those errors and abuses which have corrupted religion and consequently of that unhappiness into which the unbelieving the profane the superstitious and the heretical do fall We may say to all these people Joh. 4.10 as our LORD sometime did to the woman of Samaria If you knew who He is that speaks to you in our Gospel you would ask of Him the refreshment and consolation of your souls and He would give you living water 1 Cor. 2.8 springing up to everlasting life And as St. Paul said of the ancient Jews that if they had known the wisdom of GOD they would never have crucified the LORD of glory So may we say to all the enemies of Godliness in general that if they knew JESUS the Wisdom and Word of the Father they would not wrong either His truth or those that make profession of it JESUS rightly and throughly known believed and apprehended is enough to expell errour doubt superstition vice and death from our hearts and to establish truth peace joy holiness and salvation in them Accordingly you see that Paul the master of the whole world the Minister of truth the teacher of life and happiness for the executing of this high commission and opening the eyes of His gentiles and bringing them from the power of Satan unto GOD protesteth he determined to know nothing among them but JESUS CHRIST Crucified He findeth in this rich and inexhaustible subject all that was necessary for him to convert Infidels to confirm believers to comfort the afflicted to reduce the strayed and recover such as had erred He finds in it wherewith to confute the Philosophy of the Pagans wherewith to abase the presumption of the Jews wherewith to instruct the ignorant and to convince the intelligent It 's with the sole science of this JESUS that He plucketh men off from idolatry and sets them free from the slavery of vice It 's with the same again that he reformeth the abuses and cureth the wounds which errour hath caused in the Church It is his weapon against enemies without
and against the seditious within It 's with this Science he buildeth the House of GOD it is with the same also that he cleanseth and keepeth it pure Whatever the enemy be that appears he sets against him nothing at all but his Crucified JESUS For even as in nature no sooner doth the Sun appear in our horizon opening its beautiful and brightsome visage to the world but the shade and cloudiness that filled the air doth immediately vanish away so in the Church when the LORD JESUS ariseth in the hearts of men there shedding abroad the riches of His saving light and shewing His fairness to open view at the same instant errour and abuse do disappear being unable to sustain the force of this divine brightness and as the Psalmist sings on another occasion If He arise His enemies are dispersed and they that are against Him flee before Him He driveth them away as wind doth the smoke This then is the only assured means either to preserve or recover truth and the purity of heavenly doctrine even to propose JESUS CHRIST incessantly to the faithful and diligently shew them all His riches all His Vertue and His Grace This is the Apostle's method Thus he doth on all occasions still reducing his Schollars to JESUS CHRIST So you see in the Epistle to the Hebrews that he might put-by the shadows of the Jewish Law wherewith some of that Nation endeavoured to darken the Gospel he sheweth them at the beginning the majesty and divinity of the LORD JESUS setting Him up above men and Angels on the Throne of a super-eminent glory Thus he doth in this Epistle and indeed he combateth here a like errour For after he had saluted the Colossians and given them some tokens of the affection he bore them as you heard afore he now beginneth to speak to them of JESUS CHRIST discovering His Divine glory and the fulness of His goodness to them that being content with so rich a treasure they might not go beg either the succour of Moses or the assistance of Philosophy for the saving of their souls It is precisely at the Text we have read that he beginneth this excellent discourse For having before thanked GOD for the grace He had shewed the Colossians in translating them into the Kingdom of His well-beloved Son he takes occasion from thence to speak of Him adding In whom we have deliverance by His blood to wit the remission of sins This is the great benefit we have received from GOD by means of JESUS CHRIST Then he describeth in connexion herewith the excellency and divinity of His person Who is saith he the image of the invisible GOD the first-born of every creature But for this time we will content our selves with the first point the meditating whereof as you see My Brethren is very suitable to the action of the Holy Supper to which we are invited wherein the remission of sins which we have in JESUS CHRIST is sealed to us by His Sacrament wherein the blood by which He hath purchased it is represented and communicated to us wherein JESUS the Author of this benefit is pourtrayed before our eyes as broken and dead for us and as feeding us to everlasting life Lift we up then our hearts with religious attention that having rightly comprehended both the greatness of the grace of GOD and the excellency of His CHRIST we may present Him souls lively affected with sense of His goodness and may receive in consequence of it that joy and blessed life which He promiseth to all those that shall approach Him with such a disposition To aid you in so necessary a meditation I will examine if the LORD please what the Apostle teacheth us concerning the benefit which we receive of God in His Son saying that we have in Him deliverance by His blood to wit the remission of Sins In these words he briefly pointeth out who is the Author of deliverance even JESUS CHRIST what is the deliverance it self namely the remission of sins what the means is by which JESUS CHRIST hath obtained it for us even by His blood and lastly who they are that receive it from GOD namely we that is to say the Faithful He had said afore that GOD hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into His Kingdom Now he sheweth us by whom He effected that great work adding that we have deliverance in JESUS CHRIST He is the Author of our redemption our only deliverer the Prince of our salvation But whereas the Apostle saith that it is in Him we have deliverance this may be taken two wayes both of them good and commodious First as signifying that it is by Him we have been delivered For it is an Hebrew manner of speech frequent in Scripture to say in instead of by And after this sense the Apostle declareth how it is by JESUS CHRIST His Son that GOD hath accomplished the work of His good pleasure towards us having constituted Him the Mediator of mankind who according to the will of Him that sent him perfectly executed all those things that were necessary to put us in possession of salvation But this word in may also be taken in the sense it hath in our vulgar language as signifying our spiritual communion with the LORD by reason whereof we are said to be in Him and He in us 1 Jo. 2.2 For though He be the Propitiation for the sins of the whole world and the worth of His sacrifice so great as that it abundantly sufficeth to expiate all the crimes of the universe and although the salvation obtained by Him be offered in effect and by His will unto all men yet none actually enjoy it but those that enter into His communion by Faith and are in him by that means as that clause of His covenant expresly importeth Joh. 3.16 GOD hath so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life 1 Jo. 5.12 When it is that St. John protesteth aloud He that hath the Son hath life He that hath not the Son of GOD hath not life which is as much as if He had said He that is in JESUS CHRIST hath life and he that is not in Him hath not life according to what our LORD Himself said to His Apostles Joh. 15.3 Out of me ye can do nothing So you see this sence is good and clear and containeth an excellent doctrine That to enjoy salvation by JESUS CHRIST we must be in Him Nevertheless because the Apostle in this place designeth to shew us what the LORD hath done for our salvation rather than what He requireth of us for our participating thereof I would more readily take the words the first way in whom that is by whom we have deliverance And this indeed is the commonest exposition which the most and best Interpreters both ancient and modern do follow Let us next consider what the benefit of
and believing that the Son of GOD is another person than the Father let us confess that His Divine nature is the same with that of the Father that is to say that He is one only and the same GOD with Him blessed for ever since without this the doctrine of the Apostle that JESVS CHRIST is the image of GOD cannot be fully and firmly established But let us now consider how and why he here termeth GOD the Father whose image JESUS CHRIST is invisible Sure the Divine nature is spiritual as our LORD said to the woman of Samaria that GOD is a spirit And every spiritual nature is invisible it being clear that the eye seeth no objects but such as are corporeal such as have some figure and colour and do cast forth from them some kind of species into the air and into other diaphanous and transparent bodies through which they gliding with incredible swiftness come to strike our senses things these that have none of them any place in spiritual and immaterial substances For this cause Moses when He would yer-while teach the Israelites that GOD had nothing gross or material in His essence nothing that might be represented by the workmanship of the pencil or the chizel in visible images doth expresly remonstrate to them that on the day He manifested Himself giving them the Law upon Mount Sinai Deut. 4.12 Deut. 4.15 16. they heard indeed a voice speaking but saw no likeness at all beside that voice Whence he concludeth that they should take good heed they made no graven image or likeness representing any kind of thing no effigies of any form whatsoever to be of religious use to them as a pourtrait of GOD as most Nations then did and to this day still do This truth is clear and undoubted nor was it ever contested but by the Anthropomorphites who attributed to GOD an humane body and members an extravagancy long since condemned and abolished in all Christendome But the Apostle here terming GOD invisible doth not meerly intend that neither our eyes nor our other senses can apprehend the form of His nature He signifieth also that our very understandings cannot comprehend it and that it is hidden from all our conceptions For it is frequent in Scripture to put seeing for knowing and to signifie the apprehensions and conceptions of the mind by the names of the senses of the body And it is thus we must take what the Apostle saith elsewhere that GOD the King of ages 1 Tim. 6.16 is invisible and in another place that He dwelleth in inaccessible light and that no man hath seen nor can see Him The Angels themselves how high soever their understanding be above ours yet cannot comprehend the true form and nature of this supream and most glorious Majesty because His essence is infinite and no finite subsistence is capable of conceiving an infinite being And therefore the Seraphim Isa 6.2 in Isaiah standing before GOD covered their faces with two of their wings to testifie that they could not bear the splendour of His glory I grant that through His grace we do know something of His nature and it 's this the Scripture meaneth when it saith of Moses and other believers that they saw and beheld Him more or less according to the divers degrees of the knowledge He gave them of Himself the highest of which degrees will be that we shall attain unto in the Kingdom of Heaven and the Holy GHOST to express it to us 1 Joh. 3.2 1 Cor. 12.12 sayeth that we shall see GOD as He is that we shall see Him face to face and know Him as we were known But how fair and clear and excellent soever all this knowledge be which faithful men and holy Angels have of GOD either in this world or in the other it is not to speak strictly a seeing that is an apprehension which reacheth and conceiveth the true and proper form of it's object so as this remains still firm that GOD to speak properly is invisible But why doth the Apostle ascribe this quality unto GOD the Father particularly in this place Dear Brethren he doth it very pertinently and thereby sheweth us how it is by JESUS CHRIST His Son that GOD hath manifested Himself to us For there is a secret opposition between the word image and invisible GOD is invisible saith the Apostle but JESVS CHRIST is the image of Him This eternal Father hath a nature so sublime and so impenetrable by any sense of ours that without this His image which shines forth in His Son neither men nor Angels would have known ought of Him He had remained eternally veiled up in that inaccessible light in which He dwelleth without being known of any but Himself But now He hath vouchsafed to manifest unto us that which may be known of Him by this eternal and most perfect image of His person that is to say by His Son For first it is by Him He made the world the Theatre of His wonders And it 's by Him also He conserveth it and governeth it in so admirable a manner It is to Him likewise that we must refer the revelations of GOD under the Old Testament It 's the Son as most of the ancient Doctors of the Church have very well observed that appeared unto Abraham and the rest of the Patriarchs that led Israel through the wilderness and inspired its Prophets But the Apostle in this passage hath respect particularly and propery to the manifestation of GOD in the fulness of time when his eternal and essential image did discover all His glory to the Jews first and afterwards to the other Nations of the world rendring it of invisible as it was in it self visible in that flesh which He vested Himself with in the Blessed Virgins womb It was then properly that the Son appeared before our eyes as He is in reality from all eternity the image of the invisible GOD the resplendency of His glory and the engraven mark of His person For the office of an image is to represent that to us which it is the figure of Now it was principally in this last manifestation that the Son made us see all the wonders of His Father the abysses of His justice and of His mercy the depths of His wisdom and His infinite power which the world knew not before The Creatures of this universe do shew us only the edges as it were and the footsteps and the bigger lincaments of them JESUS CHRIST hath unfolded and laid open to our view the whole substance and form of them The world and the Law it self were but imperfect draughts and obscure shadows JESUS CHRIST is that enlivened image in which the Majesty the nature and the goodness of GOD do appear with all their fulness But it is high time now to come to the other point wherein the Apostle having compared JESUS CHRIST with GOD His Father of whom he is the image considereth Him with respect to the
Creatures and expresseth the relation He hath to them by saying that He is the first-born of every Creature This passage hath diversly exercised the Hereticks Those of them who deny that the Son of GOD subsisted at all in nature before His being born of the Holy Virgin perceiving that these words place Him before all the Creatures to salve their errour do corrupt the word Creature and will have it signifie in this place the faithful that believed the Gospel of our LORD Wretched unbelief to what extravagancies dost thou lead miserable men For what deliration can produce a thing more empty within and even less apparent without than this exposition First it rendreth the Apostles conception frigid and impertinent If you believe these people the Apostle advertiseth the Colossians that JESUS CHRIST was born before men believed what He Preached Is not this a great secret and highly conducing to the Apostles design Then again who gave them the Authority they assume to change the sense of the words of GOD St. Paul saith that the LORD is the first-born of every creature By what right do they restrain a subject of so great and vast extent to the faithful alone The faithful say they are created anew of the LORD Who doubts it St. Paul teacheth us Eph. 2.10 2 Cor. 5.17 that they are the workmanship of GOD created in JESVS CHRIST unto good works and elsewhere that if any one he in CHRIST he is a new creature But it followeth not thence that the word Creature put purely and singly as here must be taken for the disciples of JESUS CHRIST and His Apostles only The Scripture never useth so to speak As for the eighth Chapter to the Romans where they pretend that the Apostle signifieth the faithful alone by all the Creatures which sigh Rom. 8.21 and are in travel together this is a new dream no less absurd than the former it being clear by all the circumstances of the passage that those creatures there are not the children of GOD but of another sort St. Paul plainly distinguisheth them saying of those that they also shall be delivered Rom. 8. â—2 that they may have part in the glorious liberty of these and that not only they but we also that is all the faithful who have the first-fruits of the Spirit do sigh in our selves All those Creatures are no other than the Universe the Heavens and the Elements which shall one day be set free from the vanity they now groan under and which they were made subject to by sin That which they alledge out of the third of the Revelation is no whit more to the purpose JESUS CHRIST stileth Himself there the beginning Rev. 3.14 or principle of the Creature of GOD. But nothing obligeth us to take the creature of GOD in this place for the faithful alone any more than in the other The LORD meaneth all the things which GOD hath created either in the first or in the second world He being the principle of the one and the other according to what he had said in the same Book generally and indefinitely I am Alpha Rev. 1.8 and Omega the first and the last Besides though the Creature of GOD should signifie the faithful in this place yet it would not follow that the words every Creature here must be taken for the faithful alone as when the Scripture calleth them sometimes men of GOD it followeth not from thence that to signifie the faithful alone a man may say All men The term of GOD is put there for an adjective Epithet as the Grammarians call it according to the use of the Holy tongue the creature of GOD that is a divine and celestial creature a quality which evidently restraineth the sense of the word Creature to which it is annexed unto the most excellent kind of creatures that is the faithful Whereas St. Paul saith here simply every creature without adding of GOD or divine or any other word that might contract and limit the signification of the general term Creature to one of its species only that is the faithful Rejecting therefore these mens gloss as impertinent and contrary both to the Apostles scope and stile we say that by every creature he meaneth what the Scripture and all the languages of men do ordinarily signifie by these words namely created things the Heavens and the Earth and all that in them is But here rise up the Arians another sort of Hereticks who infisting upon this interpretation conclude hence that the Son of GOD is a creature since He is called the first-born of them alledging that the first-born is of the same nature with His brethren and adding to fortine their pretention that in effect the supream wisdom Prov. 8.22 which is no other than the Son saith in the Proverbs that GOD created it in the beginning of His wayes before He made any of His works which is nothing else as they affirm but what St. Paul saith here that the Son is the first-born of every creature and they adjoyn also that which is said in the Epistle to the Hebrews Heb. 3.2 that JESVS CHRIST is faithful to Him who made Him that is as they pretend to GOD who created Him But GOD forbid we should rank Him with creatures to whom the Scripture ascribeth the glory of having created them all and unto whom it commandeth us to give that supream adoration which is due to GOD alone and not to any creature The Apostle in this very place which they abuse putteth a most evident distinction between the Son and other things For whereas he calleth them creatures he saith of the Son that He is not the first-created as should have been said if He were of their order but the first-born an evident sign that He received His being of the Father by a divine and ineffable generation and not by creation As for that which they cite out of the Proverbs not to urge another exposition of it the original text importeth that GOD possessed wisdom in the beginning of his ways as our Bibles have well rendred it and not that He created it as the Greek interpreters have unrightly taken it And whereas St. Paul saith in the Epistle to the Hebrews that GOD did make CHRIST he meaneth not that He Created Him a conceit which would be quite beside his purpose but that He ordained and set Him up High Priest in His Church 1 Sam. 12.6 Even as when Samuel saith that GOD made Moses and Aaron He signifieth that He established them in the charges they bore among His people And it 's in this sense we must understand St. Peters language in the Acts Act. 2.36 that GOD hath made JESVS both LORD and CHRIST that is hath ordained Him unto these great dignities And so from these passages it duly follows that the Son of GOD was called the Annointed and setled in His office of Mâ—diator which we do confess but not that His
first-born of every creature He simply meaneth that He is the Master of them and not as the hereticks pretend that He is a Creature as they are and only created before them For the reason which St. Paul annexeth taken from His having created them concludeth rightly that He is Master of them but not that He was created Himself Otherwise it must by the same means be said that the Father who created all things was also created Himself a blasphemy which the most shameless hereticks would abhorr For if the Apostles discourse be good and pertinent as all Christians confess thus must His reasoning be Whoever hath created all things the same is the first-born of every creature But the LORD JESUS hath created all things He is therefore the first-born of every creature There you see clearly that this first proposition Whoever hath created all things is the first-born of every creature cannot be true save in this sense that He is the master of every creature but it is evidently false in the sense that the hereticks take the words first-born of every creature that is created before every other creature it being clear that the Father who created all things is eternal and sure was not created It must therefore of necessity be said that the Apostle by the first-born of every creature doth mean their LORD and Master Otherwise His discourse would not be pertinent But having sufficiently justified in our last action and cleared this conclusion of St. Pauls that the Son of GOD is the first-born of every creature let us consider now the reason of it he alledgeth drawn from hence viz. that He created all things and that they are all for Him and all subsist by Him that is to say He is the Author the End and the Conserver of them It is a truth of infinite importance in Christian Religion both of it self and for its own merit as also for the great contradictions it hath suffered at all times from the enemies of the Divinity of JESUS CHRIST both ancient and modern who have put to it all their force that they might either overthrow or at least shake it For this cause we are obliged to examine the present Text wherein it is so statelily founded with so much the more care and that we may omit nothing which is necessary for the clearing of it we will consider in the first place what the Apostle saith of the Son of GOD that All things were created by Him and for Him and that He is before all things and that they all subsist by Him Next we will view in the second place the division he maketh of all these things which the LORD created some they that are in Heaven others they that are in earth some visible others invisible as Thrones Dominions Principalities and Powers These shall be if the LORD will the two parts and as it were the two Articles of this Action May it please GOD to guide us by His Spirit in so sublime a meditation and to enable us by His grace to refer it to His glory and to our own edification and consolation In the former of these two Articles the Apostle as you see saith first that All things were created by JESVS CHRIST secondly that they were all created for Him in the third place that He is before all things and lastly that they all subsist by Him For though these four points be near a kin and necessarily linked the one with the others yet they are distinct at the bottome and ought to come under consideration severally there being neither of them but doth contribute somthing particular to the glory of our great GOD and Saviour JESUS CHRIST The first is plain that All things were created by JESVS CHRIST For where is the Christian who understands not this and knows not that to create doth signifie in the use of Scripture to make a thing either of nothing or of a matter which had no disposedness to the form that it receiveth And forasmuch as there is none but the Divine Power that is capable of such an action or operation thence it comes that this word is never attributed to any but GOD only There 's none but He that doth create things For this cause among the other Titles which are given him for marks of His glory He is stiled The Creator this Title appertaining unto Him alone When the Apostle then saith here and twice repeats it That all things were created by the Son he signifieth that it is of Him they received all the being they have that it is He who by this Noble and Divine manner of working which the Scripture calls Creation brought them from non-being to a being who by His infinite power produced the matter of which they consist prepar'd it and fitted it as it now is investing it with those forms and admirable qualities on which all the motions of their nature do depend that is to say in one word The LORD JESUS is the Creator of the Universe It was not possible to express this truth more clearly And thus it is that all Christians always understood this passage until those new Enemies of the Divinity of our LORD who blasphemously say that He hath no actual subsistence in the world but since His birth of the holy Virgin they not able to bear so respendent a light have endeavoured to obscure it by the fumes of their frivolous and false glosses They say therefore that the word Create signifieth in this place mearly to reform and re-establish things to put them in a better estate than they were in and not to bring them out of nothing and give them their whole being They will have it that the Apostle by saying All things were created by JESVS doth intend not the first Creation of the World when arising out of nothing it receiv'd its natural being and form from the Creator But the Renovation of the World wrought by the Preaching of the Gospel and by the word of the Apostles whom the LORD sent to reform the Nations and to put things in an incomparably better and more happy estate than they were in before Enslav'd they were to the Empire of Sin and Satan whereas by the Doctrine and Power of the LORD JESUS they have now been consecrated to God and sanctified to His glory Unto this I answer That it 's true the World was renewed by the Gospel inasmuch as this holy Doctrine did abolish both the Ceremonies of Moses's Discipline and the false Religions of the Heathen and formed in the whole earth a new people that serve God in Spirit and in Truth being created in righteousness and holiness I acknowledge also that this Renovation is the work of a Divine Power and could not have been effected by any Humane or Angelical strength by reason whereof it may and ought to be called a Creation it being evident that there was need of no less vertue to reform the World than to create it And finally I
we now behold upon it It s in this sence that the Apostle St. John gives the name of the Fulness of CHRIST to that total abundance of perfections and divine graces which dwelt in Him His wisdom His justice His sanctification and His redemption when he saith that of His fulness we all have received Joh. 1.16 And it is after the same manner that S. Paul hereafter by the fulness of the Godhead meaneth all the qualities or properties of the Divine Nature its Understanding its Wisdom its Omnipotency it 's Goodness and Infinite Justice saying That in JESVS CHRIST dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Col. 2.9 It is therefore in this sense also as seems to me that we must take the word Fulness in this Text referring it to the things whereof the Apostle had even now spoken when he affirmed That JESVS CHRIST is the Image of the invisible GOD the First-born of every creature by whom all things were created and do subsist the Head of the Church the Beginning and the First-born from the dead holding the first place in all things For these qualities as you see are the perfections and excellencies partly of the Divine Nature and partly of the Humane the former namely His being the Image of GOD and the Master and Author of the Creatures pertaining to the Divine the latter to wit His being the Head of the Church and the First-born from the dead to the Humane so as when the Apostle after these things addeth now For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell it is as much as if He had said For it was the Fathers will that there should appear in His CHRIST a rich and a compleat abundance of all Divine and Humane perfections all the beauty dignity and excellency that replenisheth heaven and earth that adorneth the nature of GOD and of men And so the question which Interpreters debate whether this Fulness should be referred to the Divinity or to the Humanity of our LORD is cleared for this Exposition comprizeth them both the eternal Wisdom and Power of the one with all its attributes the Sanctity and Charity of the other with all the graces which have been given it without measure This is the All-fulness that dwelleth in JESUS CHRIST And the word Dwelleth hath here a great deal of Emphasis For in the stile of Scripture it signifies an abode not transient and for a time only but such as is firm constant and durable So that the Apostle saying That all fulness dwelleth in CHRIST doth thereby shew us that this rich abundance of all Divine and Humane perfections shall eternally be in Him not as the Divine Glory and Majestie erewhile was in the Tabernacle of Moses and in the Temple of Solomon where it lodg'd but for a space not as the irradiations of the Deity in the souls of the Prophets which they fill'd but for some hours finally not as the graces and perfections that do for some years only enrich the bodies and spirits of mortal men old age and a thousand other accidents and in the end death it self quickly despoiling them of the same which makes the sacred Writers say that the comliness of flesh and the fashion of this world passeth away and that it is like to flowers and herbs in whom beauty tarrieth but a few days time without delay plucking it from them and defacing all the lineaments of it Our CHRIST is an eternal Temple which the Glory of GOD filleth both continually and for ever It doth not meerly lodge there it dwelleth there as in its true and incorruptible Sanctuary Never shall the same be void of it This Fulness shall abide eternally in Him But the Apostle saith That it was the good pleasure of the Father that this fulness should dwell in Him By the good pleasure of the Father he meaneth according to the ordinary stile of Scripture the determination and order of the Eternal wisdom of GOD. For CHRIST did not violently snatch up this glory nor did He assume it to Him of Himself He receiv'd it by the will of the Father who gave Him and sent Him into the world pouring into Him all the treasures of His graces that we might draw from His fulness all the good we need for our happiness But further it must be remembred that the Apostle considereth the LORD JESUS here as CHRIST and Mediator and not simply as the Son of GOD he considereth Him in regard of His Office and not in respect to His first and original nature for if you look upon Him this second way it is clear that being GOD Eternal with the Father He receiv'd of Him His Divine Essence with all its fulness not by any Decree of His will or of His good pleasure but by a natural communication that is to say by an Eternal Ineffable and Incomprehensible generation The Creation of the world is a work of the good pleasure of GOD the Generation of the Son is a natural act of the Person of the Father The first was done in time the other is before all time The world which is the effect of Creation had a beginning of being the Son who is the fruit of the foresaid Generation is Eternal without beginning as well as without end of days But this Son who is GOD by nature is CHRIST by the will of the Father for the name CHRIST signifies an Office and not strictly an Essence or a Nature Originally this Office was not fastned to the Person of the Son He might have been the Son without being our Mediator and had subsisted so indeed if the sin of man had not intervened or if the Justice of GOD had left us in the misery whereinto sin had precipitated us But this good and gracious LORD having had compassion on us and resolved thereupon to bring us up from those deeps of death in which we lay did ordain a Mediator who might effect this great work and invested Him with all the qualities and perfections that were necessary for this end It 's therefore precisely under this respect that the Apostle considers JESUS CHRIST here when he saith It was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell He thereby meaneth it was the Fathers will that in this Sacred Person of the Mediator who was established and destinated for our salvation all perfection richness grace and excellency should meet together Divinity and Humanity filled with the infinite aboundance of all the qualities and properties that pertain to them concur Such being His good pleasure He chose His Son GOD co-eternal and co-essential with Himself who uniting all the riches of His Deity with the Humane nature He assumed constituteth one only person in the bosom of which dwelleth all this fulness that is necessary for the charge of Mediator Whence it appears how vain the cavil of Hereticks is who conclude from this passage that the Deity of the
Son is not Eternal and co-essential with the * As the whose Church believeâ— Fathers but created and made by the will and good pleasure of the Father For the Apostle doth not speak here of the original of the perfections that are found in CHRIST but of their being united and met together in one and the same subject I acknowledge it is by the good pleasure of the Father and by the order of His will that the Godhead of the Son dwelleth in the Mediator But it thence follows that this Godhead of His is an effect of the Fathers will It was before it filled the Mediator The same Father who by His will united it to our flesh for the making up together with that flesh the person of CHRIST had communicated it to His Son from all Eternity by a natural act of His Eternal understanding that is to say by a Divine Generation Now it is not in vain that the Apostle here advanceth this assertion That it was the good pleasure of the Father all fulness should dwell in HIS CHRIST But he doth it with design to * Or settle confirm our Consciences in the Religion of the LORD JESUS only For these Colossians as we shall see hereafter were tamper'd with by Seducers who mingled the Mosaical Ceremonies with the Gospel and the worshipping of Angels with the service of the LORD the Apostle therefore doth here timely fortifie these Believers against this error and that by two excellent Reasons the first taken from the dwelling of all fulness in JESVS CHRIST Poor men saith he what seek you for either in Moses or in Angels we have all in JESUS CHRIST There is no good no perfection nor excellency either in GOD or in the Creature but dwelleth in this Soveraign LORD Having Him we have no need at all to go unto others since in Him we find all The other Reason is taken from the Will of GOD the supreme rule of Religion the only thing that is sufficient to settle the agitation and natural distrust of our Consciences As for JESUS CHRIST saith he it was the good pleasure of GOD that in Him should all fulness dwell The Father hath set up Him to be the spring of our salvation But as for Moses and Angels we do not see that ever it was the will of the Father to give them such a dignity Dear Brethren now that our faith is fought against with the like errors let us arm it also with the same reasons If the Adversary send us to Angels and Saints let us answer him that the LORD JESUS sufficeth us that having Him we can want nothing since all fulness dwelleth in Him I will not enquire for the present what these Angels and Saints are whom you recommend to me whether they have indeed that merit and that righteousness and that authority which I need for the expiation of my sin and for opening the house of GOD to me How rich and how abounding soever you represent them to me I may let pass their store this CHRIST whom I embrace having all fulness dwelling in Him Let them be all that you please they will want however some part of that infinite plentifulness which overfloweth in our CHRIST And how zealous soever you be for their glory yet you durst not presume to say that all fulness dwelleth in them How great is your imprudence to go hither and thither a groping in pits and cisterns while you have near you such a living and inexhaustible fountain Grant that the worshipping of Saints is not criminal which yet it evidently is it is notwithstanding superfluous forasmuch as it hath nothing in it but we find the same better in the fulness of JESUS CHRIST But the other consideration which the Apostle sets before us here is of no less force That it was the good pleasure of the Father all fulness should dwell in His CHRIST My Faith yea our Adversaries attends on the will of GOD. This will is its object and its rule I cannot rellish either Doctrine or Service that is not conform thereto Tell me how you know it is the good pleasure of GOD that this fulness of merit and power which you ascribe somtimes to Saints departed somtimes to your Pope and his Ministers doth indeed dwell in them As for the LORD JESUS whom I adore and in whom I seek all my bliss the Father hath proclaimed from Heaven That He is His welbeloved Son His Scriptures declare That He hath committed all judgment to Him and That all fulness dwelleth in Him But as for those others whom you have taken for objects of your Devotion and to whom you have recourse for your salvation you cannot shew me any thing semblable of them Certainly then it must be vouched that all your Devotion in this behalf is but a Will-worship founded only on your own passion and the fancy of your Leaders not upon the good pleasure of the Father It is strange fire that hath issued out of the earth and not been kindled from Heaven Such as cannot without crime either enter into or be used in the Sanctuary of GOD. But I return to the Apostle who having said That it was the good pleasure of the Father all fulness should dwell in CHRIST doth add And by Him to reconcile all things in Himself both those that are in Heaven and those that are in the earth This is the great Master-piece of the good pleasure of GOD the end for which His will was that the fulness of all Divine and Humane perfections should be seated in CHRIST And this is that which the particle and used by the Apostle doth signifie It doth not meerly connect the two parts of his discourse but importeth moreover the consecution and the dependance of the latter on the former as if He had said It was the good pleasure of the Father that in JESUS CHRIST should all fulness dwell and so reconcile or to the end that He might reconcile all things by Him For all this fulness which the Father would that His CHRIST should have dwelling in Him was necessary for His effecting this Reconciliation There needed he should have the power and the holiness and the wisdom of the Divinity and together with it the humility and the obedience and the meritorious sufferings of the Humanity that he might finish this design He could not have been able to re-unite Heaven and Earth with less preparations Let us see then what this work is this Reconciling the Apostle speaks of of all things Terrestrial and Celestial in GOD by JESVS CHRIST It is clear by the Scriptures that JESUS CHEIST hath by His death reconciled men unto GOD so as He hath appeased His wrath and opened to us the Throne of His grace as the Apostle teacheth us in divers places and particularly in the Epistle to the Romans Rom. 5.10 11. 2 Cor. 5.18 where he saith That we have been reconciled to GOD by the death of His Son and
the other Even such is the case of true Believers and such as are but temporary Persecution and offence do not make the difference which is seen between them when the former do retain the Gospel and the others quit it This event only sheweth that the one were GOD's wheat and the others but chaff according to what S. John saith of Apostates They went out from us because they were not of us 1 John 2.19 that it might be made manifest that all are not of us The same is to be further seen evidently in the Parable of the Sower where the LORD saith expresly Mat. 13.13 19 21. that he that persevereth had heard the word and understood it and receiv'd it in an honest and good heart Whereas He saith of them who do revolt that one heard but understood it not another had no root in himself An evident sign that their disposition was different at first before the perseverance of the one and the fall of the others Whence appears how impertinent the Argument is which our Adversaries draw from the Apostacy of the latter to prove that the faith of the former may fail and on the contrary For if the wind carry away the chaff it doth not therefore follow that it shall also bear away the corn and if the storm beat down an house that 's planted on two or three stakes it is not to be said it may do as much to an House that 's founded on a rock If the blade that shoots forth and grows up suddenly in the sand without any bottom happen to wither at the first extreme heat that smites it this implieth not that the like may betide the corn which is deeply rooted in a good and fertile soil The other point which we have to observe is the assurance of true faith excellently represented here by the Apostle in these words which are full of a singular Emphasis If you continue in the faith being founded and firm contrary to what is taught in the Church of Rome that faith is in a continual agitation so as a Believer can have no assurance that he is for present in the state of Grace and much less yet that he shall persevere in it for the future In Conscience can it be said of these people as the Apostle saith here of the LORD 's true Disciples that they are firm and founded How may it be seeing they incessantly float in doubt and uncertainty and are miserablely in suspence between the hope of heaven and the fear of bell I pass by that other error of theirs which is yet more contrary to the Apostle's Doctrine namely their maintaining that the choicest faith may fail If it be thus how can it be affirm'd that those that have it are founded and firm Let us then hold fast the truth that 's taught us here and in divers other places of Scripture to wit that true faith abideth always and being founded on the Merit and the Death and the Intercession of JESUS CHRIST doth never fail The wind makes but the chaff to fly away it prevails not upon good grain It overthrows only the trees that are feeble and ill grounded It leaveth in their place those that stand upon good and deep grown roots And as an Ancient sometime said Tertul. de Paersc We may not account them prudent or faithful whom Heresie hath been able to change None is a Christian but he that persevereth to the end But I return to the Apostle who for the fuller Explication of this firm and not to be shaken faith which he requireth in us for the obtaining of salvation addeth further And if ye be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel Justly doth he joyn Hope unto Faith these two virtues being so straitly link'd together that they mutually succour each other and one cannot be had or lost without the other For first Hope is the suit of faith expecting with assurance the fruition of the the things that we believe so as when the perswasion that we have of them comes to totter it is not possible but the hope which was founded on it must come to ruine Again in the combats which we sustain for the faith hope is one of our principal supports while it is firm and vigorus in us it repelleth without difficulty all the strokes of the Enemy opposing to the fear of the evils wherewith he threatneth us and to desire of the good he promiseth us the incomparable excellency of the glory and felicity which we look for in the other world He that hopes for heaven cannot be tempted by the paintings and appearances of the earth For this cause the Apostle in another place compares hope to an Anchor which penetrating within the vail fastned and grounded in Heaven holdeth our vessel firm and steady amid the waves and agitations of this tempestuous Sea whereon we sail here below And it 's this in my opinion which the Apostle aims at here that the faithful might be established in the faith he willeth them to have still in their hearts the hope of heavenly bliss and never to suffer this Sacred and Divine Anchor to be taken from them They are in safety while it holds them fast But for the better expressing it he calleth it peculiarly The hope of the Gospel that is the hope which the Gospel hath wrought in us the expectation of those good things which it promiseth And so you see he referreth Hope to the Gospel as to its true and genuine object All the hopes that we conceive from other grounds are vain and failing There are none but those which embrace the promises of JESUS CHRIST that are firm and solid and such as never confound them that wait for them The Gospel promiseth us first the entire expiation of our sins and the peace of GOD in JESUS CHRIST His Son They therefore that seek this benefit in the Ceremonies and Shadows of the Law as the Galatians somtime did and the false Teachers who would have seduced the Colossians or that seek it in their own merits and the merits of Creatures they all I say and all that are like them let themselves be carried away from the hope of the Gospel Then again the Gospel promiseth us eternal life in the heavens by the grace of GOD in His Son Those therefore quit the hope thereof also who seek their felicity either in the earth or in heaven otherways than by the sole mercy of the LORD Whereby it doth appear how very pertinently S. Paul doth recommend this hope of the Gospel unto the Colossians For in the combat wherein they were engaged it was sufficient to preserve them from all the attempts of the Impostors What have I to do saith this Hope with the observation of your Disciplines or the quirks of your Philophy since I abundantly have in my Gospel all the good things which you vainly promise me But because it is ordinary with false Teachers to abuse the name
miraculous School illuminated and consecrated by His Spirit Who could doubt but that it was from the mouth of this holy man that the Mysteries of GOD should be learned and that what was contrary to His Doctrine ought to be judged false and vain I confess his Mission was extraordinary and miraculous and is not to be made a precedent for others Yet notwithstanding what he here saith of it affordeth us two Instructions which reach all Pastors generally The first is that they should never intrude themselves into this Sacred Office if GOD call them not so as they may say with good conscience as Paul doth in this place that they have been made Ministers of the Gospel It is true JESUS CHRIST now speaketh not to men from heaven as He yerst did to S. Paul to call them unto His work But so much He doth that He maketh us perceive His will first by the moving of His Spirit within us which never faileth to incite us to His work when GOD calleth us thereto and secondly by the voyce and authority of His Church that is to say of His faithful people to the Body and Community of whom He hath given the power to apply the right of this Ministry to such as they discern meet for it as the examples of the primitive Church registred in the Book of the Acts and elswhere do shew us And as for Ordination as it is called which is done by the Imposition of the hands of other Ministers already established I confess it also ought to intervene for the compleating and crowning of the call accordingly you see it is seriously practised among us But I add that it is not yet so absolutely requisite but that in case of extreme and invincible necessity as in places and times when there are no true Ministers of JESUS CHRIST found to give it the call of the Church that is of a body of faithful people may suffice to a valid instituting of a Pastor the person supposed to have the ability and inclination requisite for such a charge The other particular that we have to learn here is That all Pastors of what rank soever they may be are Ministers and not Masters of the Gospel It 's the title which the Apostle here assumeth according to the Declaration he makes elswhere that he hath no dominion over the faith of believers 1 Cor. 1.24 but is an helper of their joy The duty of a Minister is to propose what hath been committed to Him what he hath received of the Master If he go beyond it and will have his own will and his private imaginations bear sway he is no longer a Minister he doth the act of a Master and consequently sets up a tyranny since the Church neither hath nor can have any lawful Master but JESUS CHRIST This dear Brethren is th◠which we had to deliver upon this Exhortation of the Aposile to the Colossians Make account that it is to you also he directs it Amid the scandals which Satan casteth in the way of your faith and the temptations he offereth to turn you out of it have still in your hearts and in your ears this Sacred voyce that says aloud from heaven to you Continue in the faith being founded and firm and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which ye have heard and which hath been preached to every creature under heaven whereof I Paul have been made a Minister Oppose the authority of this Divine command to the Seducements and illusions of the world to the flatteries and babble of Sophisters to the suggestions and lusts of the flesh From what Coast soever counsels contrary to it do come whether from within or from without judge them impious and abominable And blessed be GOD who hitherto so settled you in the belief of His Word that neither the forcible attempts of open Enemies nor the fraud of false friends hath been able to remove you at all But dear Brethren it is not enough to have stood fast hitherto There must be preparing for more combats to come after those that are past For we have to do with Enemies with whom we must look for neither peace nor truce They will be still setting on work one Engine or other and if repulsed on one side will not fail to attaque us immediately on another Be we therefore in like manner still upon our guard Let us have no less zeal and constancy for our our preservation then they have rage and resoluteness for our ruine Fortifie we our faith daily Arm it with Armor of proof Found it on the Eternal Rock and so fasten it that nothing may be able to pluck it out of our hearts To this purpose let us continually read and meditate that heavenly Word whence we have drawn it Let us fill our souls with this Divine wisdom and render it familiar to us Let us instruct our youth in it Let us make it to abound on all hands among us Let it be the matter of our mutual entertainments and the most usual subject of our cogitations For as an ancient yer while said very prudently Chrys Hom. 〈◊〉 de Lazaro The reading of the holy Scriptures is an excellent and an assured Preservative to keep us from falling into sin and ignorance of the Scriptures is an huge Precipice a deep gulf of Perdition In the design of our perseverance let us particularly make use of the two means which S. Paul here furnisheth us withal The one that the Gospel which we have heard hath been preach'd in the whole world the other that it is the same which was committed to our Apostle It 's in the belief of this Gospel that he would have us abide firm It 's to this faith that he promiseth the peace of GOD His Favour and His Eternity GOD saith he hath reconciled you to Himself that He might present you holy without spot and unreproveable if indeed you continue firm in the faith and are not moved away from the hope of the Gospel From whence it follows that if we have this Gospel among us we may certainly assure our selves that by retaining it we shall obtain the peace and the Salvation of GOD. The only question therefore is Whether the Doctrine which we have embraced be truly this Gospel or no If it be I have no further search to make I am content to have found what is sufficient for me that I may appear before my GOD without confusion and receive of Him life everlasting But that the Doctrine whereof we make profession is the same Gospel that Paul preached the same that he and the other Apostles sowed in the world and which the world overcome by the force of its truth did in the end receive and adore This I say is so clear that I do not think the Devil himself as hardned in impudence as he is can deny it For the GOD whom we serve and the CHRIST whom we adore and His Merit in
that are necessary to salvation And it 's to this the Apostle reduceth it when he restraineth the perfection he speaks of to JESUS CHRIST that we may render every man perfect in JESVS CHRIST saith he It 's to His abundance that we owe our perfection forasmuch as He giveth us what we have of it by His Spirit and supplyeth what we want of it by the riches of His merit The Apostle considers the Believer's perfection here in its whole extent that is in regard both of faith and of holiness I confess he doth particularly intend the first of these For it seems to me evident that he hath an eye to the errour of the Seducers who added the observation of the Mosaical Law the worshipping of Angels and such other Traditions to the instructions of the Gospel as if the faith of Christians were imperfect without them S. Paul to overthrow this pernicious dotage doth seasonably lay firm that the Preaching of the Gospel is enough to render every man perfect who receiveth it with saith that there is no need either of Moses or of Angels no need of the Ceremonies of the one or of the services of the other that JESUS CHRIST in whom we are abundantly sufficeth without the adjunction of any other But though this be the Apostles direct aim yet in that perfection which he speaks of together with entireness of faith he doth comprise pureness of manners and of worship which inseparably depends on it and without which that faith cannot possibly be perfect Such is the sense of these words of S. Paul from which we may learn two things before we go further on The first is the perfection and sufficiency of the doctrine Preached by the Apostles For since the end to which it tended was to make the hearer of it perfect it is evident that it had in it all that was necessary to convey this perfection there being no likelyhood that GOD would have put a means into the hands of His servants which was not sufficient to reach their end such a fault being incompatible with His infinite wisdom and power But it is evident that the Apostles Preaching would not have been able to make the faith of their hearers perfect if they had omitted in Preaching any one of those particulars the believing whereof is necessary to salvation It must be concluded therefore that they omitted not any one of them Whence it is clear by the same argument that all the traditions which men advance at this day are unprofitable For what service can they do us since we may be perfect in JESUS CHRIST without them It cannot be said that they were a part of the things which the Apostles Preached First the very men that defend them dare not affirm it of the most of them it being notoriously known that they rose up by little and little very long after the Apostles times Secondly because S. Paul himself describeth to us the matter of his Preaching We Preach CHRIST saith he confining it wholly as you see to the mysterie of our Saviour with which these Traditions have no more alliance than those of the Seducers had which he will afterward refute who sought to mingle divers Ceremonies and the worshipping of Angels with the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST And lastly because the Apostle elsewhere gives to Scripture the same sufficiency which he here ascribeth to his Preaching saying 2 Tim 3.16 17. that All Scripture is by the inspiration of GOD and is profitable for doctrine c. that the man of GOD may be perfect But it is clear that these pretended traditions do appear no where at all in Scripture Sure then it is also manifest that they are no way necessary to make our faith perfect But by the same grounds it is apparent again how contrary to S. Paul the doctrine of Rome is For whereas he saith that the design of his Preaching was to make every man perfect in JESVS CHRIST Rome on the contrary alloweth this perfection only to Clerks in the first place and next unto Monks not reckoning that the people whom by an odious name which S Paul never gives but to Pagans or the profane they call Seculars and men of the world in opposition to men of the Church can or should seek to arrive at persection And the presumption of Monks is grown so high that there are no longer any but persons hooded and cloathed in their mode that are called Religious men or Religious women as if every man who is a true Christian were not also truly religious and again they call their condition only the state of perfection as if all the rest of the faithful were but abortives and imperfect productions And though this vanity be so out of measure injurious to all other Christians yet their Partisans do suffer it and seem for the most part of them well pleased with it imagining under this pretence that there are none but Monks obliged to be perfect and that as for themselves who are in the world it is not their part to aspire so high and in effect the greater number do so freely dispense with themselves in the case that truly there is reason to call them Seculars indeed But the holy Apostle here overthrows in two words the arrogance of the one and the security of the other As for the former when he telleth us he Preacheth the Gospel that he might render his hearers perfect he clearly shews us that for our guidance to perfection we have no need of the Rules either of Francis or Dominie or Bruno or Loyola or the other many pretended Regulars who as it were outvying one another daily set forth some new discipline to the World The LORD JESUS hath provided long ago for our perfection giving us a most compleat and very easie rule to attain it after which it is an exorbitant rashness to resolve the establishing of another Follow that rule Christian embrace that and proceed constantly in the way of holiness which it hath prescribed you and be confident that so doing you shall not fail of being perfect though you wear not Francis's Frock and Hood or Loyola's little Band. But the Apostle here no less condemneth the security of those that are called Seculars than the vanity of such as stile themselves Religious For he saith expresly and universally that his design is to render every man perfect in CHRIST JESVS He will have no other Disciples He owneth none for his Schollers but such as aim at perfection such as vow it and labour after it daily If you remain Secular and in state of imperfection his Preaching hath not wrought it's effect in you and as you have not part in that perfection to which he would form you in this life no more shall you have part in that to which he desireth to conduct you in the next life There is but one sort of Christians even such as having believed the Gospel do mortifie the deeds of the body and
the senses or the reason of men yet the truth of them is so evident so beautiful and so well marked that as soon as the clouds of those passions and prejudices which hide it from us are removed from before the eyes of our understanding by the hand of the holy Spirit â—t beams forth and shines into our hearts with exceeding brightness and makes it self to be believed and embraced for what it is indeed Thus must it be known with certainty and not with doubting that we henceforth be no more children Ephes 4.14 wavering and carried to and fro with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and by their cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive as the Apostle speaks elswhere Whereby you see how false the opinion of Rome is which makes the belief of Christianity to depend upon the authority and testimony of her Prelates I pass by the extream weakness and vanity of this pretended foundation which hath been verify'd by a thousand experiments Whatever it be in other respects this is manifest that since they fasten the people's knowledg there they must of necessity confess that their faith ought to change if any change do happen in the doctrine of their Prelates whence it follows that then it is not certain nor assured nor such a knowledg as the Apostle requireth in us whose property is such that though Paul himself or Angels from heaven should come and preach the contrary it would abide not withstanding even under such a supposal still firm and unmoved and rather anathematize Apostles and Angels from heaven than let go that Divine verity which it hath believed and known so strong is the sense it hath of its excellency But the Apostle having thus described the nature of true faith or a Christian's understanding doth lastly confine it within the bounds of its true subject when he adds the knowledg of the Secret of our God and Father and of Christ This restriction is necessary because seducers do boast of their traditions too as if they were a piece of wisdom worthy of our faith and it may not be doubted but that the false teachers against whom the Apostle intends to dispute did deal in such manner To arm us against their vanity he declares expresly that the understanding he requireth of us is a knowledg not of what Philosophers do talk in their Schools about the nature of the world nor of what Seducers do bring forth from their vain imaginations but only of the Gospel of our LORD JESUS CHRIST without which there is nothing but error and folly He calls it a Secret or a Mystery because it was a verity hidden with GOD and incomprehensible to our minds as we have said otherwhere He saith that it is the Secret of GOD our Father both because He is the Author of it who hath reveal'd it to us of His Grace and because He hath manifested Himself therein discovering to us in the Gospel all that we need to know of His nature and will for attaining to Salvation He adds in the end and of CHRIST for the same reasons it being evident that it is the LORD JESUS who brought this holy doctrine from the bosom of the Father and set it in our view by the Ministry of His Servants and that also it is He who is the principal Subject of it as our only Mediator without whose conduct and merit it is impossible to have any part in true happiness It s of this mystery of CHRIST JESUS that the Apostle desired the Colossians might have a full firm and distinct knowledg for to abide knit together by charity and by this means enjoy a true and solid consolation This is the treasure which he is afraid least they should lose It 's to preserve it to them that he undergoâ—th so much pain and so many combats Dear Brethren his desire teacheth us our duty Since we aspire to the same happiness that the Colossians afore us have done since we serve the same Master and live under the same Discipline let us labour to get and keep for ever the same good things which the Apostle wisheth them GOD of His great mercy offereth them liberally to us and the fault will be ours if we do not partake of them â— for the Knowledg of his Mystery He presenteth us the treasury of it in His hoâ— Scriptures This source of light is not shut up and inaccessible unto you as it to a great part of the world and even to many that call themselves Christians but opened and made obvious Draw out of it the wisdom of heaven reading studying and searching those Divine books night and day We do not envy you this sweet and happy communication as the Pastors of our adver saries dea with their flocks We could wish as yerwhile Moses did that all GOD's people werâ— Prophets It 's a science that admitteth all ages all sexes and all conditions of men the Author of this holy doctrine having so temper'd it as it is accommodated to the capacity of every sort of persons There are in it deeps to exercise and humble the greatest Spirits there are facilities to instruct and content the least It is an abyss where Elephants may swim and a shallow where Lambs may wade But as all are capable of this science so there is no person but it is necessary for It 's the key of the Kingdom of heaven the spring of piety the root of sanctity the seed of true life Study it carefully Hearken to the teaching of it here meditate on it at home with deep intentiveness beseeching GOD with prayers and tears to open your hearts and write His doctrine in them Content not your selves with having learned some points of it Take no rest till you know all its wonders till you have attained not simply understanding but all riches of understanding as the Apostle here speaketh Urge not to me that vain and cold excuse which is in the mouths of many that you are not Ministers and therefore need not be so knowing These Colossians were Ministers no more than you and yet you see what the Apostle doth desire for them and afterwards he will enjoyn that the word of CHRIST do dwell plenteously in them in all wisdom Why are you less exposed to temptations for your not being Ministers are the Devil and the World less ardent or less obstinate in setting upon you We are all engaged in the same war and have all need of the same arms Is it Captains only and Officers that ought to be armed Is it not necessary for private Soldiers The knowledg of the Mysteries of the Gospel is the armor of all Christians and the Scripture is the publick Magazine whence both one and the others should fetch it But that it may do you service at your need this knowledg must be also deeply radicated in your hearts you must have it with a full assurance as the Apostle saith It should not sleightly
Paul's or the other Apostle's preaching can they ever shew us that Mass and that Purgatory and that worshipping of Saints and in one word any of those other Articles which they retain and we have relinquished Every one seeth how all these things do vary from the Lord JESUS CHRIST and make void his Cross and his Kingdom causing men to seek the expiation and purging away of their sins other-where than in His Sacrifice and attributing to Creatures the honour of Invocation and of presiding over the whole Church which belongs to Him alone But that other mark which S. Paul gives of the Doctrine which ought to be held fast doth less yet accord with them namely its having been receiv'd from the Apostles it being manifest that not one word of them is found in those holy mens writings which are the publike and authentick records of what they preached and that those traditions of Rome grew up in after-ages some at one time some at another issuing by little and little out of the forges of men according as error gathered strength as they know that read the Volumes of Antiquity without prejudice and prepossession Let our adversaries therefore leave these odious accusations They must either shew that those Doctrines of theirs which we have relinquish'd are Apostolical or confess that we had reason to relinquish them This very command of S. Paul's which they are not ashamed to object to us necessarily obliging us to adhere to that LORD JESUS CHRIST alone whom he preached and whom the Colossians believed on according to his preaching And it may not be insisted on that the Doctrine we contest with them hath been their belief for a thousand years or more Time is no prescription against any truth and least of all against the truth of CHRIST and his Apostles That which he hath pronounced continues in force for ever If any one preach ought as Gospel to you Gal. 1.8 9. besides what we have preached were it my self were it an Angel from Heaven let him be an anathema I enquire not of what date your opinions are It is sufficient for me to anathematize them that were not preached as Gospel by the Apostle Time cannot have conferred on them the advantage of being true which they had not at their rise What is not now veritable or Apostolical will never be so You are not the only men among whom Error hath grown old that gross one of Idolatry liv'd among the Pagans well nigh Two thousand years and their Rome hereto alledg'd * Symmachus her hoary hairs as well as yours doth at this day and said as now again Rome doth that it is an Undertaking ill-timed to correct old age and that to charge it with error is to affront those years It 's a thousand years and more since Mahomet's perfidy hath been up yet is never a whit the better for that You your selves observe Errors in the same antiquity whose authority you cry up so loud and you cannot deny but that those which you condemn in the communions of the Grecians of the Armenians of the Jacobites and of the Cophties are very old It 's an extreamly bad defence when men are convict of error to say that they have been a long time of that opinion How ancient soever your Doctrine is it 's young in comparison of S. Paul's since it was born after his days Neither its pretended antiquity nor any other consideration can secure it from his fulmination Since he would have us keep to that which he preached without receiving ought beside how stale and mouldy soever with age your traditions can be they all ought to perish under pain of an anathema seeing they are without the compass of S. Paul's preaching We are at this day in the same case the Colossians yer while were They stood bound by this exhortation to reject the worshipping of Angels the distinction of meats justification by the Law all that any way tended to add to that LORD JESUS CHRIST whom they had received from the hand of Paul and who had been taught them by him Let us then also freely reject the same things keep we constantly to that JESUS CHRIST whom we have received of him who did fill up all his Sermons and doth still fill up all his Epistles Content we our selves with that primitive and truly ancient Doctrine and boldly despise all the novelties that the world hath presum'd to add thereto in after-times Let us walk as the Apostle gives us order in this LORD JESUS Let Him be our only way the rule of our faith and of our manners You know the Scripture ordinarily useth this term to signifie the ordering and conduct of our life It compareth the various Disciplines and Perswasions which men follow unto Ways which lead some to one end some to another For it speaks of the way of sinners and of the way of the righteous meaning thereby the apprehensions and maxims by which they lead their lives Therefore it saith walk to signifie living or leading and ordering the life As therefore our Lord and Saviour saith that He is the Way so his Apostle enjoineth us to walk in Him that is to lead our lives both in regard of knowledg and perswasions of mind and also in respect of affections and actions according to his holy Gospel without any forsaking it to take another course judging all that varies from it to be folly how plausible soever it may appear otherways And as a prudent and advised traveller never leaves his road but puts on in it constantly till he come to his journey's end how smiling soever the Meadows look how green and fresh soever the shades be how fair and large soever the ways are that lye in view In like manner are we ordered to keep continually to the Doctrine of our Lord and Saviour and not relinquish it or assume any other of what nature or colour or appearance soever it be still resolving in our selves that whatsoever is without the dimensions of this model of Truth cannot but be dangeorus and apt if we follow it to lead us to perdition I pass by the observation which some make namely That the Apostle commanding us to walk in CHRIST doth intimate we should advance still and make progress therein For though this conception be for substance veritable it being the duty of each true believer to go forward and not pass a day without improvement 〈◊〉 piety yet it seems to me to be without the reach of the Apostle's words 〈◊〉 scope of which is simply to oblige us unto perseverance in the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST Beside what he addeth in the following verse doth sufficiently 〈…〉 commend this duty to us where he shews us after what manner we are to 〈◊〉 in JESUS CHRIST Being rooted saith he and built up in him and 〈◊〉 the faith as you have been taught and abounding therein with thanksgiving In these words he prescribeth us three things Firmness of faith the abounding
of the same and giving of thanks He expresseth the first two ways First in metaphorical terms being rooted and built up in JESVS CHRIST And next properly and without figure being established or confirmed in faith For this confirmation in faith is no other thing than the self-same that he intendeth by the words rooted and built up in JESVS CHRIST The first of these two Metaphors is taken from Trees which stand firm and easily resist the violence of winds when they have put forth good and deep roots into the earth which serve them for so many stays and bands to hold them fast whereas the Plants which have but little or no root are easily pluckt up the least gust yea the hand of a Child is enough to overthrow them The faithful are often in Scripture compared unto trees You all know the Parable of the Fig-tree in the Gospel Psa 92.13 14 and that of the Palm-tree in the Psalms The just shall flourish as the Palm-tree and grow as the Cedar in Lebanon And there 's no one in the Church but is acquainted with that dainty Tree planted by the rivers of waters which bringeth its fruit in its season and the leaves whereof doth not wither Psal 1.3 which the Psalmist gives us a picture of at the beginning of his Book for an image of a true believer Whence it comes that the Ministers who labour in the culture of these Mystical Plants are likened to Gardeners and Vine-dressers and Husbandmen such an one was he in that Evangelical Parable Luke 13.8 who prayed the Owner to supersede the sentence pronounced upon one of his fig-trees And S. Paul also expresseth his own and Apollos his labouring for the edification of the faithful in terms taken from the same subject saying that he planted and Apollos watered 1 Cor. 3.6 â— In consequence of these figurative expressions which are familiar in Scripture you see that it is with much gracefulness and a great deal of reason that the Apostle here to recommend firmness of faith in JESUS CHRIST doth say they should be rooted in Him He saith the same again elsewhere when he prayeth GOD to strengthen the Ephesians by his spirit Eph. 3.18 that saith he being rooted and founded in love they might be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length the heighth and depth and to know the love of Christ For since the faithful man is compared to a tree it is congruous to attribute to him both the production that is fruits and the parts of a tree whereof the principal is the root We say then that a tree is well rooted when its root is spread abroad and thrust far into the ground where it is planted and fastned to it so many ways that it stands upright and firm nor can be plucked up without extream difficulty Who then is the believer rooted in CHRIST Even the man whose whose soul embraceth the LORD JESUS all whose thoughts and affections are stretch'd forth and fastned to this Divine crucified Saviour who hath neither love nor desire nor affiance but for Him It is he who having rightly understood the excellency and the fulness of this rich Subject seeks all his felicity in it and withdrawing the desires the cares and affections of his heart from earth which are as it were the strings and roots of our nature by which it is fastned to its objects doth thrust them forth towards JESUS CHRIST doth unite with and bind them about Him and resteth on him alone and draweth the nutriment of his life from none other â—s you know trees by their root do receive all that juice which makes them â—â—ve shoot forth and fructifie Not to alledg any other example such a one was our Paul so fastned was he unto and so incorporated with his LORD that he liv'd in Him alone this divine ground wherein he was planted affording him all the joy all the contentment and all the life he had There is no need to fear that those who adhere to JESUS CHRIST in such a manner who are so really and deeply rooted in Him can ever be pluck'd up by any effort how violent soever it be The winds do in vain shake them tempests do beat upon them to no purpose persecutions will not be able to make them bend nor fraud nor eloquence nor the subtilty of Sophisters remove them Novelties and Curiosities do not tempt them because that sweet sap which they continually draw from their CHRIST as from a rich soil doth content them and purgeth them of that foolish and childish itching humour which openeth the ears of the weak and unstable to such things But if you be not thus rooted in CHRIST it will be no great difficulty to pluck you from the station you are in If it be not this heavenly efficacy of our LORD but either birth or breeding or the discourse or authority of men or the name of liberty or any other such like cause which keeps you in the profession of Christianity I am much afraid you will not long abide in it If your heart be in the world if it still spread its affections as its roots into perishing things if it still admire the pleasures of the flesh and the fumes of ambition and the vanity of riches your perseverance is in truth very dubious The tree that hath no root hath no hold The first gust that falls upon it bears it down And would to God experience had less justified this truth in our eyes But this is the very cause of all their change who have deserted us If you examine their lives you will find they were not well rooted in CHRIST JESUS Wonder not that they were overthrown But let us make our profit of their unhappiness obeying the Apostle And that we may abide firm for ever in the communion of this Divine LORD of ours out of which there is nothing but misery and perdition let us be rooted in him with a lively and profound faith and love Let us love and relish him only and inseparably fasten all the powers of our souls to him alone as dead and risen again for us drawing all our righteousness from his Cross and all our hope and our glory from his Heavenly state and his immortality I come to the other Metaphor here used by the Apostle to set forth the confirming of our faith in JESUS CHRIST being rooted saith he and built up in JESVS CHRIST The former was taken from Trees and this now is drawn from Buildings It is no less famous in Scripture than the other for the faithful are there oftentimes compared to Houses and particularly to Temples and the Church that is the Society consisting of them collectively is represented to us under the same image Whence it comes that the labours of the Servants of the Lord for this end are also called edifyings a word so common in this sense that there is no need we should stay to explain
known of Him Rom. 1.19 20 and that His eternal Power and Godhead invisible in themselves are yet visibly seen by the creation of the world they being considered in His works But the misery is that the Philosophers being carried away with that vanity and curiosity which was natural to them broke those bounds and would needs define things which are beyond that compass and about which Reason in the state we now are sees not one jot And here it is they necessarily fell into error and extravagancies as persons born blind would do should they intrude to discourse to us of colours Such are the Fancies of Plato and his Scholars concerning the estate of the souls of men departed from their bodies concerning the purifications he devised to convey us near the Supream Good concerning the interposition of Daemons is he calleth them that is Angels as the Scripture terms them to present our supplications to GOD and concerning the service which he ordained to be done them in consequence of this good office and a thousand other such like things Such also was the mistake of Aristotle when not content to understand the present establishment of the World he would know what it was in the beginning wherein he had no light at all concluding because in the state things now are of nothing nothing is made that therefore it was never otherwise and thereupon affirming for a certainty that the World is eternal As if we must needs judg of the first beginning of a thing by those Laws under which it lives after its settlement and should limit the power of a free Agent to the measure of the effect wrought that is as if because GOD in this frame of the World doth make now nothing without Matter therefore it followed that absolutely he could make nothing another way which is as impertinent a reasoning as if you should inferr that because a Painter hath wrought his pieces with three or four colours only it were impossible for him to draw or represent any thing any otherways In this particular Philosophy hath offended by excess undertaking more than it could compass It often erreth likewise by defect when it rejects the revelation of GOD as resolved to admit nothing that is above its own sense and reason as if a man that had never seen any other than the shining of our Fires and our Candles should contest there was no other light in the world Pride hath made the greatest part of the old Philosophers to fall into this impiety It seemed to them an abasing of their glory to acknowledg there was another School more knowing than theirs and that it was an injury to tell them GOD had discovered secrets to others which he had hid from them It was this vanity that spurr'd them on so violently against the Gospel of our LORD and Saviour at the beginning If Philosophy do modestly keep its rank if it be content with its bounds and not thrust away nor injure divine Revelation if it acknowledg it as its Mistris and be subject to it as Agar yerwhile was to Sarah welcom be it it may be received and may abide with us But if it usurp if it will needs be Mistris and command in a Family where it hath only the quality of a Bond-woman let it depart and be treated according to Sarah her speech to Abraham Drive out the bond-woman and her son GOD hath vouchsafed to reveal unto us by his Prophets and in the last times by his own Son all the Articles of Religion Philosophy ought to adore them with us It hath nothing to enjoin us in the matter From the mouth of GOD not from the mouth of Philosophy do we receive Religion As often therefore as Teachers of Error shall use the authority or artifice of the Philosophers to render their inventions plausible or probable in our eyes let us boldly despise all their subtilty Let not the names of Aristotle and Plato make us afraid let not their petty subtilties dazzle our sight We may hear them when question is only of men and of nature When GOD and his service is concern'd we ought to give ear to none but GOD and the Son of his love about whom he hath proclaimed from Heaven to us This is my beloved Son hear him It 's this the Apostle doth intend when he saith here Let no man make a prey of you by Philosophy But provided the Doctrine of our Lord and Saviour do remain sound and entire without diminution without augmentation or mixture we are not prohibited the service of Philosophy but may employ its Physicks and its Ethicks to confirm and illustrate as far as they can the truths of the Gospel its Logick to defend them against the Sophisms and Sleights of gain-sayers and in sum to adorn and embellish them we may use ought of worth that Philosophy doth afford as the Israelites heretofore adorned the Sanctuary of GOD with the Gold and Silver and Jewels of Egypt Whence you may see how in the disputes of Religion which we have with those of Rome they for their part do evidently abuse Philosophy whereas we duly employ it they abuse it For not to say that they make Aristotle reign in their Divinity-School regarding his Edicts and cherishing much jealousie of his reputation as if he were a Pillar of Religion they found Articles of their Faith upon the authority of the Sages of the world as when they prove their Purgatory by the testimony of Plato and the veneration of Images by the custom of Nations and Free-will by Philosophy and divers other things of like nature which being not to be found in the Scriptures of GOD they go seek them in the Writings of men As for us it is evident we have no positive Article in our Faith but what is in the Gospel Only when our Adversaries urge their Transubstantiation upon us having shewed that GOD hath no where revealed it to us in his word but even clearly contradicted it we call in Philosophy its self to our succour to evidence the absurdity thereof We produce its testimony in a case which clearly is of its cognizance namely the nature of an human body the place it takes up the quantity to which it is extended the quality of substantial mutations of which kind they pretend this is Whether a body made and formed Sixteen hundred years ago may still be every day substantially produced But it is high time to come to the two other Sources of the deceits of false Teachers The second is the Tradition of men as the Apostle calls it Take heed saith he that none do make prey of you by Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men The Scripture commonly gives the name of Traditions to those instructions which we receive from some other And it frequently useth the word deliver whence in the Latin Tongue that of Tradition is derived for to instruct or teach I received of the LORD saith the Apostle that
which I delivered unto you that is taught It therefore calls those Doctrines Traditions of men which have men only for their authors which come from men and not from GOD. I confess that errors derived from that Philosophy whereof he spake even now may also bear the same name since they slowed from the spirit of man and had no other source than his imagination yet the Apostle distinguisheth the one from the others for two reasons as I conceive First Forasmuch as these had some colour of abstruse wisdom being sprung from speculations in shew sublime and excellent though in reality vain and frivolous whereas the Doctrines which he here calleth Traditions had no foundation at all but the authority of those that set them up and the usage of those that practis'd them they being otherways far from all Philosophical reasons not only true and solid but also probable Secondly Because they had had some successive continuance among the people of GOD having been deliver'd by the Pharisees and other Zealots of Judaism from father to son in a series of no small length whereas that which he calls the deceit of Philosophy was not deliver'd in that manner but lately invented by these new Teachers and taken from the dreams of some Philosophers Whence it doth appear that no productions or institutions of an human spirit are receivable in Evangelical Religion neither those that are supported by some pretended reasons nor those that are founded upon use and antiquity They are all of them nothing but folly and vanity in the sight of GOD with what colour soever they be painted over And though men boast of their utility they are extreamly hurtful as pestring Consciences and busying them about things which GOD hath not ordained and turning them aside from his pure service to matters of nought Accordingly you see that our LORD JESUS CHRIST rejects and roughly thrusts away all the traditions of the Pharisees how much esteem'd soever they were for their antiquity and pretended use reproaching them that by holding fast those Traditions of men they did let loose the Commandments of GOD and applying to them those words of the LORD in Isaiah Mark 7.8 Isa 29.13 In vain do they honour me teaching Doctrines which are the commandments of men As indeed it s an unsufferable presumption that man should attempt to prescribe the form of GOD's service especially after the declaration which himself hath vouchsafed to make of his holy will nor is there one among men that would endure his servant should treat him in that manner and instead of obeying his Orders and causing others to dispatch them fall a Philosophising in his house and giving his Family a new rule to observe as if he were wiser than his Master I know well the authors of these Traditions and those that follow them are not without fine reasons to palliate their temerity But it is evident that they do the very same for substance neither is it to be doubted but a servant that should be culpable of such a vanity would alledg likewise his motive and designs to any that would give him audience But common sense dictateth to the meanest capacities that such undertaking-spirits merit not so much as to be heard especially where GOD is concern'd in comparison of whom they with all their sufficiency are but poor worms of the earth Hold we firm therefore this foundation of the Apostle That the Traditions of men ought to have no place in Religion It concerns me not to inform my self of their age whether they be the traditions of men ancient or modern It sufficeth that I know they are Traditions of men Having the Apostle's advertisement we should not be moved with any reason or splendor or antiquity they may come clothed with If you would have me receive them shew me that they are Prescriptions of GOD Institutions of his CHRIST Doctrines of his Scriptures Without this how specious soever you make them appear to me I shall ever believe it is but to make prey of me and your diligence shall have no effect but the making me suspect them so much the more In fine the Apostle addeth a third Source whence the Seducers drew both their Doctrine and the means to colour it namely that which he calls the Elements of the world I pass by the opinion of those who refer these words to the Elements of Nature Water Air Earth and Fire as if the Apostle here did tax these false Teachers of reducing the service of them which was then in full vogue among the Heathen these wretched Idolaters having yerst deified all the parts of the Universe There is not a word in S. Paul's Writings either here or elsewhere that leadeth us to such a conceit and it is not very likely that the persons he here aims at should authorize so brutal a kind of Idolatry persons who covered themselves with the Name of JESUS CHRIST and made profession at least in shew of retaining his Gospel It is clear that the Apostle in other places doth mean by the Elements of the world not these primigenial and more simple substances out of which all natural generations are framed but the ceremonies and carnal services of the Mosaick Law under which the ancient people lived until the revelation of the Messiah When we were children saith he Gal. 4.3 9. and you know he calleth all that time the Childhood of the Church wherein it was under the Pedagogie of Moses we were in bondage under the elements of the world and a little after in contempt he stileth them poor and weak elements whereto the Galatians would embondage themselves Now it is evident the error of the Galatians was that they would still be subject to the Ceremonial Law Here beneath the Text he useth the same word in the same sense If you be dead with CHRIST saith he unto the elements of the world why are you burden'd with Ordinances There is then no doubt but that in this place he doth in like manner signifie still the same thing by these words that is to say the observations and devotions of the Ceremonial Law And in effect we shall see hereafter that these seducers whom he combateth in this Chapter would hold fast that Law either in whole or in part subjecting the faithful to circumcision and divers regulations about meats and days S. Paul calleth them Elements or as our Bibles have rendred it in some places the rudiments of the world because they were the first and the lowest lessons the Church had during the time of its Childhood they were as its Alphabet For the word Elements is often so taken namely for the first lessons wherein they are taught to know their Letters which are also call'd Elements because in speech words are made up of them even as natural bodies are formed of those first and more simple substances which we properly call Elements And he calls the Jewish Church the World because its estate and its
or avarice or any of those loathsome defilements that do disfigure the whole life of worldlings The LORD JESUS who hath given us this excellent Divine Doctrine who hath founded it by his death and set it up by his resurrection who also hath in these latter times purged it afresh both of the vanities of Philosophy and of the traditions of men and of the elements of the world please to confirm us in it for ever by his good Spirit and to make it so efficacious for the sanctification of our life that after we have finished this earthly pilgrimage we may receive one day at our going forth of this vale of tears from his merciful hand the Crown of immortality which he hath promis'd and prepar'd for all true observers of his Discipline Amen The Twenty-first SERMON COL CHAP. II. VER IX Ver. IX For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily AS the Christian Religion doth consist in Principles and Practises incompably more sublime and salutiferous than any that the world ever learned in the Schools of Nature and the Law so was it delivered and instituted by an Author infinitely more excellent than any of those were who ever erected other Disciplines among men I will not insist upon the Authors of those various Religions which bore sway heretofore in the time of Paganism who though they were in esteem among Nations and raised to an high reputation of wisdom and vertue yet had the taint of an extream ignorance and vanity as their own Institutions sufficiently discover to any one that will take the pains to examine them in the light of Reason It would be injurious to the LORD JESUS the Founder and Prince of Christianity to compare him with such people But even Moses himself the great Teacher of the Hebrews and the Prophets who commented on explained and confirmed his Law are all insinitely beneath the dignity of this new Law-giver They were I grant Ministers of GOD the Mouth and Organs of his Majesty the Interpreters of his Will and Heralds of his Truth being endued as was suitable to so high Offices with an excellent sanctity a rare and extraordinary Wisdom and an heavenly Power which evidenced it self in them by miraculous effects But after all they were men and never pretended to be ranked above that feeble nature which was common unto them and us nor did receive any of those Honours which belong to the Divine whereas the LORD JESUS is so Man as he is likewise GOD blessed for ever and was so far from refusing Divine Honours that he hath expresly required them at our hands and enjoined us to adore him with the Father and to acknowledg him his Eternal Son This same difference the Apostle observes between the LORD JESUS and those other Ministers which GOD made use of in the former Ages God saith he having at sundry times and in divers manners in time past spoken unto the fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son Ebr. 1.1 Moses and the rest were Prophets of GOD JESUS is his Son The others were his Ministers JESUS is his Heir The others were faithful as Servants Ebr. 3.5 6. JESUS as Son is over the whole House In the others there did shine forth some marks of the commerce they had with GOD that Soveraign Majesty imprinting on their faces as upon Moses's in particular some sparklings of his glory But JESUS is His very Light the resplendency of his glory and the character of his Person Dear Brethren it doth highly concern us to know rightly this great dignity of our LORD and Saviour not only for the rendring to his Person the worship we owe him and of which we may not fail without offending the Father as himself hath told us John 5.23 He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father who hath sent him but also for our embracing with so much the more zeal the Religion he hath delivered us without ever admitting the perswasion that either men on earth or even Angels from Heaven can add any thing to the light the goodness and the perfection of the discipline of so great and so perfect an Author For this cause doth S. Paul here hold forth to the Colossians the Divinity of our LORD JESUS CHRIST In the precedent Verses he exhorted them to constant perseverance in the belief of his Gospel confirming themselves in it more and more and taking heed they gave no car to Philosophy and the vain traditions of seducers who endeavoured to corrupt sound doctrine by the mixing of divers inventions which they would add to it as if it were not perfect enough of it self to guide us to salvation The Apostle to bereave Error of this pretext and shew the faithful not only the sufficiency but even abounding of the Gospel represents unto them the soveraign perfection and divinity of its Author For in him saith he dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Since you have JESUS CHRIST saith he there is no need of recourse to others In Him as in a living and inexhaustible spring is all good necessary to your happiness a divine Authority to found your Faith an infinite Wisdom to direct you in all truth an incomprehensible Goodness and Power to give you grace and glory a quickning Spirit to sanctifie and comfort you All other things compared to Him are but poverty and weakness See how the Apostle fortifies the faithful in the doctrine of the LORD and in few words overthrows all that the presumption of flesh and blood may dare to set up beside or against his perfect truth For a right understanding of his words we must consider them exactly For though the number of them be small their weight is great they are rich and magnifick in sense and do contain within their narrow compass one of the noblest and fullest descriptions of JESUS CHRIST that is found in Scripture Let us see then first what all this fulness of the Godhead is whereof the Apostle speaketh And then in the second place how it dwells in JESUS CHRIST to wit bodily The LORD please to conduct us by the light of his own Spirit in so high a Meditation that of his fulness we may receive grace for grace and draw from it what may fill our souls with that life and salvation which overfloweth in him and can be no where found at all but in him As for the subject it self whereof S. Paul speaketh and in which he saith that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth none can doubt but that it is our LORD JESUS CHRIST For having said at the end of the verse immediately foregoing that the traditions of men and rudiments of the world are not after CHRIST he now addeth For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead Whence it is clear that the LORD JESUS CHRIST whom he had even then named is the Person of whom he speaks and to whom he attributes
them Whereas the whole fulness of the Godhead was and is and ever shall be in CHRIST JESUS Therefore the Apostle speaketh expresly in the present tense and saith dwelleth in Him not that it had dwelt in him that no one might imagine it did at any time retreat But how great and admirable soever the signification of the word dwelleth is the Scripture yet doth frequently make use of it to express the continual sollicitudes that the Divine Providence hath of the faithful as when it is said in so many places that GOD dwelleth in the midst of his people and when the LORD himself saith in reference to his Ark whereon he sometime manifested himself to his ancient people I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel Exod. 29.45 and will be their GOD. And when again speaking of Sion he saith It is my rest for ever there will I dwell because I have taken pleasure therein The Apostle therefore to distinguish and sever the dwelling of the Godhead in JESUS CHRIST from the now-mentioned and all other kind of its dwelling otherwhere addeth that the fulness thereof dwelleth in Him bodily He opposeth BODY to a shadow or an image as when he saith afterwards of the Ceremonies of the Law that they were shadows of things to come but the Body is in CHRIST The BODY that is the Truth and thing it self The shadow is but a slight and imperfect representation of it I think therefore that it is in this sense the Apostle saith here that the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily in CHRIST that is to say really and truly in substance and not in shadow in truth and not in figure The Godhead dwelt in time past in the Ark of the Covenant but in shadow only For it was not this Supream Majesty its self that was present there but a Symbol only and some token of its glory whereas it is the Body it self if I may so speak of the Divinity and not its shadow only that resides in JESUS CHRIST all the perfections thereof being in Him really and in their whole truth And hereby is excellently expressed to us that admirable and inessable union of the Divinity with the flesh of our Saviour which the Church ordinarily calls Personal so close an union that this Flesh and the Word which assumed it do make but one and the same Person the Human nature of JESUS CHRIST subsisting only in the Person of the Son For if it were otherwise it could not be said that the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily in CHRIST He would not have the Body of it any more than the Creatures have to whom it communicates its self He would have but some lineaments and shadow of it not the very thing For example GOD dwelt heretofore in his Ark inasmuch as he manifested his presence in it But because the things whiâ—h he set and made to be seen there were not very Nature or the self-same Perfections wherewith it is filled but some simple effects of his Power whereby the Images of some of his Perfections were in some sort delineated it is evident that it cannot be truly said that the fulness of his Godhead dwelt there bodily Thus also maâ—â—sted he himself to Moses in the Burning-bush and afterwards to the Apostles in Cloven-tongues as of fire and before that the Holy Ghost appeared in the form of a Dove But besides that these manifestations being but transient it cannot upon them be affirmed that GOD dwelt in the Bush or in the places where those other Symbols appeared besides this I say it is evident that the flame at the bush was not at all the Divine Nature or any one of its Perfections and that neither the Dove nor the fiery Tongues were any more the proper essence of the Holy Ghost or any one of his real and divine perfections all these things being but forms created of GOD and consequently Productions and Works of his wherein he represented to his Servants as in a Pourtrait or a rough-draught some slight resemblance of what he is indeed Whence it follows that though it might be said which yet may not of the places where these things appeared That the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in them nevertheless it would be false to say that it dwelt in them bodily it being clear that the things by reason whereof it should be said to have dwelt there were not the Body and the truth of his Nature but its shadow and symbol only I say the same of Prophets and of Saints and of Angels themselves to whom GOD most intimately communicates himself For the things by reason whereof the Scripture saith that he dwelleth in them are that holiness that joy and that knowledg which he works and preserves in them in a great measure Now every one seeth that neither the knowledg nor the piety nor the charity nor the joy nor the constant and uninterrupted felicity of the Saints are the very nature of GOD or the Body its self if I may so speak of his immense and incomprehensible Perfections in which the fulness of his Godhead doth consist these things are only effects and works of GOD engravings and impressions of his hand marks of his operation so as how high soever their excellency be and how exact soever the Image of GOD in these Saints is yet it cannot be said that the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in them bodily since it is clear by the things now spoken that it dwelleth in them by shadows only by the illustrious and glorious traces which his operation hath left in them and not in substance It remains then we conclude since the Apostle here expresly asserteth that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily in CHRIST that the Divinity is in him after a quite other manner than either in the Symbols by which it is represented or the Creatures on which it sheds forth its grace and glory that it so dwells in JESUS CHRIST as he hath in him not some dâ—â—â—eations and models by which it is figured forth not those qualities and dispositions alone which it worketh by the presence of its grace in the most holy of its Creatures but its very self that he hath the body and verity of it that is as the Church expresseth this mystery in one word That the Godhead is personally united with his Flesh it being not otherwise possible that the fulness of the Godhead should dwell in him bodily Now that such is this divine union of the Eternal Word with the Flesh of JESUS CHRIST doth appear First from that neither the Apostle nor any other of the Sacred Writers ever said of Saints or Angels what we here read of our Lord namely That all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily an evident sign that this is a glory which appertains to none but him alone Secondly From that the qualities the actions and the attributes of the Divinity are communicated to the Man
that was born of the blessed Virgin and reciprocally the sufferings the qualities and the actions of the Flesh that was born of Mary are attributed to the Eternal Son of GOD as when the Scripture saith That GOD hath redeemed the Church with his own blood that the Lord of Glory was crucified that JESUS CHRIST is before Abraham was that he founded the Earth at the beginning and the Heavens are the work of his hands and other like expressions Dear Brethren such is the sense of these divine words of the Apostle Admire ye the force and the richness of the Scripture which hath in so few words blasted and beaten down all the inventions and dogmatizings of Error against the Truth both of the two Natures of our LORD and Saviour and of the union of them in His Person First These words do overthrow the impiety of those who bereave JESUS CHRIST of his Divinity and reduce Him to the degree and condition either of a meer Man or of a Person raised indeed above man yet made notwithstanding and created at the beginning as well as other Celestial and Terrestrial Creatures How can such blasphemy subsist before this Sacred Oracle which proclaimeth not simply the Divinity but that the Godhead and not this simply neither but that the fulness of the Godhead yea to omit nothing that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily If He be but a Man and no more no part of this fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him neither its Power nor its Wisdom neither its Goodness nor its Justice neither its Glory nor its Eternity For none of these Divine qualities do dwell in one who is but a man We must avouch that he hath in him verily those Perfections that fill up the Godhead that is the Divine Nature or deny that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him But if you grant me as deny it you cannot without giving the Apostle the lye that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him you must of necessity confess also that he is GOD no one if he be not GOD being capable of receiving holding and having in himself the fulness of GOD. For this fulness being infinite there is none but GOD that can contain it since there is not any but he alone who is infinite Now it dwelleth all in our LORD JESUS CHRIST It must therefore of necessity be confessed That He is GOD of a Nature infinite Whereby the frigid and frivolous evasions of those impious men are refuted who taking away from JESUS CHRIST the reality and true glory of Divinity do leave him the name of it and make a titular GOD of him a GOD as they speak created and raised up a while since who hath but the title of GOD not the nature the office not the essence Who can sufficiently detest the audaciousness of these Wretches that by this impiety of theirs do overthrow all the ground-work of the Scripture which hath insinuated nothing more clearly or more expresly than the one-ness of the true GOD Who is too so jealous of his glory as that he forbiddeth us upon pain of death to give his Name or his Worship or his Attributes unto any Creature of what quality soever If JESUS CHRIST be not the true Eternal GOD Creator of the Heavens and the Earth how will you miserable men avoid this condemnation you that give him the name and the adoration of the true GOD But S. Paul lays all their subtilty in the dust by saying formally here that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily The fulness of the Godhead is not an empty name or a titular dignity It is that which fills it it is that gloriousness it is that light it is that nature that truth and that perfection wherewith the Godhead is full It 's this therefore that dwells in JESUS CHRIST the substance of a true and real Divinity not an hollow and a vain shadow it 's the thing and not the title of Deity But as the Apostle doth by these words convince the impiousness of such as bereave our LORD and Saviour of the glory of his Divinity so doth he likewise confound the extravagancy of others who deprive him of his human nature foolishly affirming that he had but a false appearance in that kind For here are two subjects clearly represented to us one that dwelleth to wit the fulness of the Godhead another in which this fulness dwelleth to wit JESUS CHRIST the one is the Temple the other is the GOD that resideth in the same the one our Saviours Human nature the other the Eternal Son of the Father Two real and veritable subjects by the wonderful uniting whereof this sacred and adorable Sanctuary of GOD is made up and composed To take away the truth either of his Godhead with the former or of his Flesh with the latter is to destroy the Fabrick Again these words of the Apostle do in like manner overthrow the error of those who have corrupted the union of these two natures in JESUS CHRIST on one hand by dividing them as did the Nestorians on the other by confounding them as did the Eutycheans For if we sever JESUS CHRIST into two Persons the fulness of the Godhead will not dwell bodily in his Flesh This Man will have but gifts of the Divinity which are as it were some draughts and lineaments of it He will not have the Truth and the very Body of it Neither may it be reply'd That the Temple in which GOD resideth is a substance different from his Person For the Body is the residence of the Soul yet Soul and Body have but one and the same subsistence and do constitute but one and the same Person So as the dwelling of the Son in his Human nature as in his Temple doth not hinder but that this Human nature of his doth subsist with him in one and the same Person Yet though we may not divide these two Natures of our LORD it doth not follow that we must mix and confound them as they do who define the union of them by the Human nature its being made equal with the Divine and will have it to be become infinite and immense and endowed really in its self with all the properties of the Divine nature The Apostle saith indeed that the fulness of the Godhead dwells in CHRIST but he saith not that his Flesh was really chang'd into the Godhead The body by being personally united to the soul doth not thereby become soul It conserveth its own nature and hath only this advantage by that strict conjunction which knits it with the soul that they subsist together and make up but one and the same person Just so the Flesh of our LORD by the Word 's dwelling in it becomes one self-same Person with it being truly the body and the soul and in one word the nature of the Son of GOD yet it still keeps its original beeing and essential properties
The LORD is a true Divinity dwelling in a true Flesh and true Flesh dwelt in by a true Divinity There is a Divinity and an Humanity truly distinct the one of them from the other and each of them retaining its own beeing and proper qualifications but there is one only and the same Person who takes His Name sometimes from the one and sometimes from the other and sometimes jointly from them both For we call Him the Son of Mary and the Seed of David by reason of His Flesh The Everlasting GOD and the Word of the Father and the Lord of Glory by reason of His Divinity Immanuel that is to say GOD with us and GOD manifested in Flesh by reason of these two natures together I confess it is a mystery that surpasseth our comprehension and a wonder that hath no parallel But neither must we measure the verities of Religion by the Ell of our understandings especially when question is of GOD whose Nature Reason it self doth confess to be infinite and incomprehensible It sufficeth that the word of the LORD informeth us it is so And though our reason cannot discern the manner how yet it being once illuminated by Divine revelation it acknowledgeth a kind of necessity of it For presupposing what the Scripture doth discover and reason approve of the desert of sin and of the infinite punishment that is due to it as also of the inflexible constancy of Divine Justice which cannot let sin pass unpunished it evidently follows that man could not have been reconciled to GOD unless his Justice were satisfied nor his Justice have been satisfied without a Sacrifice of infinite worth and merit So as it being the office of CHRIST to reconcile men unto GOD it is clear that for the effecting of this great design he must offer to the Father a Sacrifice of infinite value and consequently be GOD since nothing can proceed from a finite subject but what is also finite and none is infinite but GOD alone It was necessary therefore that all the fulness of the Godhead should dwell bodily in our Mediator Not to speak of other emoluments which this admirable union of our Nature with the Divine in the Person of JESUS CHRIST doth afford us as the assurance it gives us of the infinite love of GOD and of our salvation the title it procureth us to the merits of our Saviour whom it hath made our Brother and consequently our selves capable of being his co-heirs the consolation it sheds into our hearts of his whom we serve having an infinite power and wisdom to defend us in our combats to strengthen us in our weaknesses to preserve us against all the assaults of Hell and the World and redeem us from death the last of our enemies it being evident that if we had but a meer man for a Saviour how holy and excellent soever he might be there would remain unto us still very great and just causes of diffidence and fear Therefore blessed for ever be the Father of our LORD blessed be his love and that great mercy which induced him to send us so excellent and admirable a Mediator as hath all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily Let us receive him with faith and adore him with devotion and serve him with zeal Neither let his flesh be an offence to us It is very flesh I grant but the flesh of an Eternal GOD who under this Pavilion of his visible abasement of himself which the world otherwhile so insolently despised hath lodged all the glory of Heaven and all the fulness of the Divinity Nor let his Majesty and this fulness of the Godhead which dwelleth in him affright us He 's a great God I confess but a GOD manifested in flesh dwelling in our nature descending and humbled even to our degree and partaking of our flesh and our blood that he might bring us to himself Let us embrace with reverence that most sacred Religion which he hath brought us from Heaven And indeed iâ— the World hath followed and held fast and still in divers places doth with so much earnestness follow and hold Religions invented and erected by vain men who were full of ignorance and error what respect do we not owe to this same one that hath been given us by the hand and mouth of a person in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead Moses was but GOD's Servant and you see what respect the ancient people bore him and with what severity all disobediences and rebellions against his Ordinances were punish'd and how that poor Nation doth still at this day in vain adore the Sepulcher and Reliques of the Law which dyed and was abrogated long ago What penalties then must we expect if we despise the Doctrine of the Son who is eternally blessed with the Father Heb. 2.3 This great salvation as the Apostle elsewhere calls it which began to be declared first by the LORD All other Disciplines are perished or will in time perish Even that of Moses's did wax old and in the end was abolished But the Institutions of CHRIST shall remain for ever all-holy and all-perfect immutable and unalterable nor do they need any reformation or addition or amplification After the LORD we do not at all look for any other new Teacher to come into the world Moses promis'd another Prophet after his death to the people of GOD. JESUS CHRIST the Prophet so promised may have no Successor He doth not promise us any but only threatens us with divers seducers that would usurp His Name and counterfeit his Voice and put on sheeps cloathing to debauch his Disciples Whereupon we ought to take all those for suspicious that pretend to add any thing whatever to his sacred doctrine Besides our LORD and Saviour's own quality doth oblige us to content our selves with him and give no ear to any other For in him saith the Apostle dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Seeing he hath fulness the man can want nothing that possesseth him according to what S. John saith He that hath the Son hath life that is eternal salvation which is all that we desire This short sentence of the Apostle's is enough to secure us against the artifices of all seducers if they set before us the delicacies and subtilities of Philosophy colouring their fond imaginations with a vain semblance of wisdom let us arm our selves with this consideration That we have in CHRIST JESUS all the true wisdom that is since in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead If any man offer us ancient traditions let us remember that the Authors of them were but men who how great and holy soever they may be are all liable to error whereas the Gospel which we do embrace is his doctrine in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily and by consequence pure and divine verity As for those Ancients and those Bishops and Pontiffs whose names and authority you our Adversaries do urge
fetter'd fast for ever You shall see not Arrows broken and Cuirasses batter'd and Arms cut in pieces but Sin abolish'd and Death destroy'd You shall see the spoils not of an Army or a Countrey but of the Lords of the world and of the Governours of the darkness of this Age. Lastly You shall behold in it not the image of some petty Fortress taken by assault or composition or of some River forced or some Province subdued but Hell finally beaten Heaven gained and an Eternal World brought under the power of our victorious LORD Let us apply our selves to the fruition of this magnificent spectacle and afford it all the sense and attention that we have To this end consider we First What these Principalities and Powers are which JESUS CHRIST hath spoiled And then see in the second place how he made a shew of them and triumph'd over them on the Cross These are the two Heads we will treat upon if the LORD please in this action The Apostle ordinarily makes use of the words Principalities Powers Dominions Thrones Col. 1.16 Rom. 8.37 Eph. 1.21 and Virtues to signifie the Angels as for instance in the first Chapter of this Epistle in the eighth of the Epistle to the Romans and in the first of that he wrote to the Ephesians He gives those spiritual beeings these names both because of the strength and power they are endowed with which mightily surpasseth the virtue of material and elementary things and also by reason of the divers orders into which GOD hath distinguish'd them according to the difference of their ministrations placing some of the Angels as it were Chiefs in a superiority to others And though the sin of Devils hath corrupted the perfections of their nature yet it doth appear by divers places of Scripture that it hath not quite destroyed this Order among them Satan being set forth to us as the Head of this black band and as having other evil Angels under him so as they may in this respect be still reâ—med Principalities and Powers Nevertheless there is another reason which the Apostle had his eye principally upon in giving them these names as he himself intimateth in the sixth Chapter to the Ephesians We wrestle not saith he against flesh and blood Eph. 6.12 but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high-places Here you plainly see he calleth them Principalities and Powers by reason of that Imperiality they exercise in this world under its present state of subjection unto sin and vanity Not that such a superiority doth of right belong unto them for having rebelled against their Creator they have lost all true and lawful dignity But the sin of man having â—uslav'd him to those evil spirits hath withall made these elements subject to them whereof he was the true and natural Lord. And GOD hath permitted it so to be for the executing of his justice against sin For since that man shook off the yoke of GOD having wretchedly preferr'd the pernicious counsel of his Eneâ—y before the just commandment of his Master it is but reason he should be subject to him to whom he did betray his own liberty Such then is the order or rather the confusion of the world since the fall to wit that the Devil exerciseth an insupportable â—yranny in it governing it at his pleasure as if he were Lord of it For First He worketh upon all the ungodly with wonderful force swaying their souls unto brutal passions setting on fire their lusts and by that thick smoak which he raiseth from their hearts blinding their minds and depriving them of all the light that 's necessary for distinguishing of truth and falshood Eph 2.2 of good and evil as the Apostle doth elsewhere inform us saying that this unclean spirit doth work effectually in the children of disobedience and in another place 2 Tim. 2.26 he telleth us that he hath the wicked in his snares and makes them do his will Not that he compelleth them to evil by co-active force and how much soever they dislike it but their nature being corrupted as it is he never tempteth them without effect their souls voluntarily surrendring themselves to his pernicious perswasions Moreover he disposeth of material things turning and changing them at his pleasure raising tempests in the air seditions and warrs among men putting in commotion all that murtherous violence that makes havock of mankind and presiding over all the instruments of the creatures damage and death Heb. 2.14 By reason whereof the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews calleth Satan Him who hath the power of death And although he executeth none of his bad purposes without the permission of GOD as the Scripture clearly shews us in the History of Job where you see he toucheth neither the goods nor the children nor the person of that holy man until leave had of this Supream Majesty nevertheless because he worketh commonly in the world the greater part whereof is depraved and rebellious against GOD he seems Master of it and himself doth glory in it as when he said to our Saviour in temptation after he had shewed him all the Kingdoms of the Earth Luke 4.6 All the power and glory of these things will I give thee for to me it is delivered and I give it to whom I will And indeed for these reasons doth our Saviour stile the Devil John 12.31 and 14.30 2 Cor. 4.4 the Prince of this world as when he says Now the Prince of this world shall be cast out and so elsewhere and S. Paul calls him in the same sense the GOD of this world Represent unto your selves the world as it was under the darkness of its old Heathenism when GOD left all Nations to walk in their own ways In it the Devil absolutely domineered All those poor multitudes held he under his tyranny He had put out the eyes of their minds and in this blindness made them commit all kind of vileness and abominations He inspired into them hatred of the true GOD and of his Service and so effectually beguiled them by his fallacious illusions that he caused them to adore himself under the forms of divers Idols These same spirits are they that the Apostle intends here by those Principalities and Powers he speaks of For though the Scripture doth particularly mark out one of them whom it calleth Satan as the Head of this abominable Monarchy yet it rangeth under him a vast multitude of Spirits who all travelling upon the same design and setting on work in it all the might and industry they have do bear a part in his accursed Empire And there is great probability too that they are divided into certain bands each of which are drawn up under their particular Chiefs and do all of them depend upon Satan as their General For which reason it is that the Apostle calls them in the plural number Principalities
be more accessible unto us Joh. 14.1 6. Eph. 3.12 He proclaimeth in a thousand places that He is the way the truth and the life and that no man cometh to the Father but by Him that it is He by whom we have boldness Mat. 11.28 and access with confidence by faith in Him He calleth us unto Himself Come unto me saith He and I will give you rest And His Ministers do not only permit us to go to Him Heb. 4.16 they command and press us to do so Let us go say they with boldness to the throne of Grace that we may obtain grace and mercy to help in time of need Insteed of obeying these holy and divine calls of GOD and His Ministers you say No I will not do it I am not so presumptuous as to go either to GOD or to His Son I must beg the intercession of Angels and Saints to present me before that supream light In conscience is not this an exalting of your self above GOD Is it not a presuming that you know better than He what belongs to your duty and His service Is it not an hiding under the fine words of a feigned humility plain rebellion and disobedience to His Holy Majesty which is in effect the highest pride a creature can be guilty of since it is at the bottom a pretending that you are wiser than He and that the way He prescribes you is neither so good nor so reasonable as that which you have chosen But let us forbear any further arguing For where the Apostle speaks there is no need that we should discourse His authority relyes not on the succour of our reasons Here you see it is express against our adversaries corrupt usage He formerly condemns the thing they do For they approve and daily practise this service of Angels which S. Paul forbids us and ground it upon that same humility of spirit the pretexture whereof He hath voided and destroyed becoming doubly culpable both for rebuilding if I may so say this Jericho of superstistition which he hath domolished and for employing in it the very stones which he hath blasted from Heaven What can error say against so clear a determination By what charms can it turn away this flash of lightning from falling on its head Dear Brethren it is too much in love with its own inventions to give glory to GOD and will rather renounce His word than quit its superstitious imaginations In the present matter seeing its self pressed it hath recourse to subtilty and though it both maintain and practise the worshipping of Angels and cannot deny but 〈◊〉 the Apostle condemns those who teach and practise it yet it pretends with an 〈◊〉 â—ible boldness that it is not it the Apostle doth condemn It hath turned its 〈…〉 ways to effect this illusion all which to say the truth have more hardi 〈…〉 in them And to begin at this one the famousest of its last Advocates 〈…〉 â—ink ill satisfied in his conscience with the subtilty of his fellows hath bethought himself of a new gloss unheard of till now in all the Schools of Christianity both antient and modern born of his own conceit alone a very fruitful breeder of such productions and begotten by meer despair of his bad cause Du Perron in His Repl. to K. James p. 909. This man then affirms that S. Paul doth mean by the service or religion of Angels not as all the Fathers and all the Modern have believed the worshiping of Angels but as he all alone will have it the Law of Moses First the novelty of this gloss and the very consideration that for the space of neer sixteen hundred years not so much as one single man hath been found that was aware of it doth sufficiently shew that it is the heat of disputation and not the truth of the thing which suggested it to the author of it and the maxims of his Church he doth evidently renounce too which willeth that Scripture be not interpreted but by the Fathers whereas he laying by their exposition brings in one here that is not only undiscernable in any one of them but also directly contrary to the most Chrysoâ—â— Thâ—odoret Oâ—â—umâ—â— Tâ—â—â—philact and most renowned of their number who do understand these words of the Apostle of the worship done to Angels by those Seducers whom S. Paul doth in this place oppose But I say moreover that it is for good reason that no man ever thought upon it since in very deed it is not maintainable nor can be at all accorded either with the Apostles words or with his scope and design Not with his words for they must be interpreted according to the stile of the Authors of that tongue wherein he writes Now there are but two or three places in Scripture where the word used by the Apostle doth occur so construed as it is in this place One is in S. James Jam. 1.26 If any man among you saith he seems to be religious and bridles not his tongue but deceiveth his own soul that mans religion or service is in vain Another is in the book of the Acts where S. Paul saith that from the beginning he lived a Pharisâ—e Act. 26.5 after the accuratest sect saith he of our religion The word is found again so construed in the book of Wisdom held for Canonical by our adversaries and which though it be not such indeed yet is writ in Greek with the same language and the same stile that the Books of the New Testament are This author then makes use of the word in the same manner Wisd 4.27 The abominable service saith he or religion of idols is the beginning the cause and the end of all evil In all these places the religion or the service of any one doth signifie either the service he does to some other as in the two former passages or the service that is done to him by others as in the latter of them Here therefore except you think the Apostle swerved from the stile wherein he wrote the service or religion of Angels must of necessity signifie one of those two things either the service which the Angels do perform to GOD or the service which men perform to them The first of these two senses cannot take place by the confession of our adversaries themselves and of every sober person They must then necessarily admit the second and confess with us and with all the Ancients that by the service of Angels S. Paul intends not the Jewish religion or the Law of Moses but the religious service which these Seducers rendred to Angels under pretext of humility Moreover in what Prophet in what Apostle in what rational Author either Antient or even Modern have these men ever found this novel and extravagant manner of speaking the service of Angels that is to say the Jewish religion Verily it is called the Law of GOD because GOD instituted it the Law of Moses because
Moses was the Mediator and Minister of it the religion or service of the Jews because that people made profession of it the elements or rudiments of the world because it contained but the Alphabet and the first and lowest lessons of piety and was affixed for the most part to the corporeal things of this world But that it was ever called the religion or service of Angels we read not And as for that which those people do alledge out of â—â—â— Epistle to the Galatians namely Gal. 3.19 Heb. 2.2 that the Law was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator and its being called in the Epistle to the Hebrews the word spoken by Angels this I say doth not justifie their pretention at all For in these two places the Apostle does declare only the service which the Angels did to GOD when He gave the Decalogue upon Sinai where these heavenly Ministers accompanied Him and ordered all the Pomp of that admirable manifestation of His forming the lightnings and the thunders wherewith the Mountain did resound elevating in the air the smoke and darkness which covered it shaking its foundations and making all of it to tremble and distinguishing the thunders into those articulate words which the mouth of GOD it self pronounced So far did the operation of Angels extend and no further For as to the rest it was GOD that spake in His own Person I am said He at the beginning the LORD thy GOD and that gave and uttered all the other precepts which the Israelites heard so as the Law or the religion which He then established might well be termed the religion or the service of GOD. But it would be an evident injuring of His Majesty to call it the religion or the service of Angels since it was given neither in their persons nor by their mediation Besides though it were otherwise in this particular yet it is clear that this title would be proper to the Decalogue only and not reach that part of the Law which is called Ceremonial in the establishing whereof the Angels did not intervene at all GOD having delivered it immediately to Moses and Moses to the Israelites and yet it would be this precisely that S. Paul should understand here if His purpose were to speak of the Mosaical Law as our adversaries believe Since then this name The religion of Angels can no way belong unto it it must of necessity be asserted that it is not the Law of Moses that the Apostle means in these words But his design and the thread of his discourse is no less opposite to this gloss than his words For first having already refuted what the Seducers took from the Law of Moses in the verse immediately foregoing in these words Let no man condemn you in meat or in drink or in the distinction of feasts or of new Moons or of Sabbaths which are shadows of things to come whereof the body is in CHRIST having I say so magnificently deposited this for what cause or to what purpose should he go repeating the same again How should the Apostle be capable of such vain babling Let us say then that the errour he rejects here is diverse from that which he condemed just afore That which he condemned afore is the observation of the Jewish law or religion certainly then this is not the thing meant in this place Besides that which he addeth can no way refer unto it Let no man saith he master it over you by humility of spirit and the service of Angels intruding into things he hath not seen Where the Apostle evidently sheweth that the service of Angels enjoyned by the Seducers was founded upon hidden things and such as they could have no knowledge of either by their own reason or by Scripture whereas the Jewish Ceremonies are so clearly and so distinctly explained in the books of Moses that there is not a man but may see them there Lastly the Apostle shews us at the beginning of this discourse that these Seducers had drawn some of their observances from Philosophy which will not find place if by the service of Angels you understand the Jewish religion which as all know was delivered by Moses and not by the Philosophers 〈◊〉 p. 910. For whereas our adversaries understand the discourses of the Jews by the vain deceit of Philosophy this is absurd and rediculous in the highest degree it being evident that the Jewish Doctors are sometimes called Sages 1 Cor. 1.20 and their science wisdom as when S. Paul saith Where is the wise GOD hath made foolish the wisdom of the world But never are they called Philosophers or their Doctrine Philosophy These names being every where constantly referred to the learned men of Greece and of the Heathen and unto their Doctrine Be it then concluded in fine that the Apostle means here by the religion or service of Angels not the religion delivered to the Jews by Moses but the worship and invocation and service which these Seducers would have men address unto Angels under pretext of humility they having drawn this abuse out of the Greek Philosophers in whose Books it is still found to this day Plato one of the chief of them writing expresly that service must be done to the Daemons so called they the Angels as holding a middle place between the GODS and men and serving us for Interpreters to the Divine Nature and all his School hath â—ver thus hold and practised as doth appear by the works of the latest of his disciples And this abuse was common among all the heathen They founded it too just as the Seducers here taxed by the Apostle did and as our Adversaries do upon pretended humility of Spirit Aâ—b os p. 1807. c. 4.5 as we understand by an ancient commentary upon the Epistle to the Romans published under the name of S. Ambrose The Author speaking of the Heathen of his time sayes They are wont to make a miserable excause saying that by means of them that is of the petty Deities they served they might go to GOD as men come to a Prince by means of His Counsellors of State and His Masters of Requests But saith he a little after men go to a King by means of His Officers because after all a King is a man that knoweth not whom he may trust with His estate whereas GOD is ignorant of nothing and knoweth the disposition and actions and capacity of all men so as to obtain His favour we want not the suffrages of an Interposer there needs but a devout soul Such a one He will surely hear wheresoever he speaks to Him It 's from the sinks of this Philosophy of the World that the Seducers here opposed by the Apostle had drawn their pretended humility and their serving of Angels And our Adversaries well perceiving that for the main it cannot be denyed but such was the doctrine here condemned by the Apostle do advance another phancy of theirs telling us that in his
doctrines of men which S. Paul here casts away from our faith and that nothing will be found among the commandments and doctrines of GOD but those Services and beliefs which are received and confessed by our Churches In the Name of GOD make trial of it if so be you have not yet done it and you will see that if our Adversaries have the doctrines of men for them we have the doctrines of GOD of His Prophets and Apostles for us I pass by other doctrines of Rome for the present Only how can they defend their ordinances for the eating of no flesh during more then a third part of the year commanding the faithful to live all that time upon nothing but Herbs and Fish under pain of damnation pressing this ridiculous Law with so much rigour that they do not hold such for Christians as do transgress it and punish them not with Spiritual pains only but even with temporal unto death it self in the Countries where the Inquisition reigneth Is not this the doing with high hand what the Apostle here forbiddeth Let no man condemn you in eating or drinking and why are ye burthened with ordinances to wit Eat not taste not Whereas they say that the Apostle speaks only of the Mosaical Prohibitions of touching the dead and tasting the flesh of the Hog and Hare this we have already refuted He speaks in general of all ordinances that forbid the tasting of any sort of meat upon a Religious account And it is no way credible that he should grant the Pope or any other man whoever what he denies Moses or respect their Laws more then his Besides all the circumstances and reasons which he noteth or urgeth against the Laws of the false teachers are evidently of force against those of our adversaries Those teachers ordeined that these should be no eating nor tasting of certain meats These men do the same They recommended their abstinences upon pretence that they did humble the body and not spare it This is exactly the thing that our Adversaries affirm of theirs The Apostle alledgeth against them that they stitch'd up again the Veil of Moses which had been rent in twain by JESUS CHRIST and reduced that carnal and worldly worship into the Church which had been abrogated and abolish'd by the Cross of our LORD Is it not a Service of the same kind that those of Rome do set up a Service which consists in things purely external and corporeal to wit eating and meats S. Paul addeth that the things from which the Seducers required Christians to abstein were all such as perish'd in the using Those about which our Adversaries make Laws are they not consumed in the very same manner the flesh which they forbid the Fish and Herbs which they command In fine S. Paul rejects the Ordinances of the Seducers because they were Doctrines and Commandments of men Those of Rome to which the same quality doth adhere ought not then to be any more tolerated than they For how hardly soever the men be they durst not say that GOD appointed them They only say that they are conform to Scripture But how so while they so rudely clash with the Apostle's Doctrine in this place As to their allegation Dan. 1.8 that the Hebrew Children would not eat of the meats of the King of Babylon's Table the Scripture tells us they did it for fear of being defiled to wit because the most part of the meats of Pagans was offered to Idols Beside they doubted there might be some one of those things which were forbidden by the Law of Moses under which they lived causes as every one knows that take place no longer and are in effect very far off from the reasons of the abstinences of Rome Dan. 10.2 They produce also Daniel's three weeks during which neither Flesh nor Wine entred into his mouth They should add what the Scripture expresly reports that he did eat no pleasant bread nor anoint himself all that while because as he saith himself he was mourning Whence it follows indeed that such as are in mourning and affliction of spirit may if they see good banish all the pleasures of their manner of living even to those that are innocent permitted and ordinary as Daniel did at that time out of his own judgement and not upon any publick commandment But it cannot be thence concluded that either there was then or that there ought to be a Law for perpetuity in the Christian Church which forbids the use of meats for certain times of the year which is precisely the thing that our Adversaries pretend 1 Tim. 5.23 I pass by Timothy's abstinence who drank no Wine For there is little probability that it was through a Religious scruple he abstained Beside He was a particular person and did the thing at his own arbitriment not by the order of any publick Law And yet too S. Paul recommends to him the doing otherwise and in fine the question is now of Meats not of Wine which those of Rome do prohibit to none at all I also pretermit the Fasts of the Israelites on divers occasions as were those of Anna of David of Esther of John Baptist and his Disciples these have no Communion with the abstinences in hand We do not refuse Fasts far be it from us We do not simply and absolutely forbid even abstinence For it is equally in a Christians liberty to eat or not to eat any sort of meat whatever neither the one nor the other is a sin provided it be done in Faith and Charity All that the Apostle condemns and we with him and after him is the Tyrannie that prohibits what GOD permits and will needs make that necessary which He hath left free as also the Superstition that placeth the true service of GOD in things purely indifferent It remains then we conclude that this Law of our Adversaries is a Doctrine and a Commandment of men since it hath no foundation in the Word of GOD. But which is more it 's evidently adverse thereto For the Apostle writing to the faithful at Corinth that lived in the midst of an Heathen people in whose Markets and at whose Tables all sorts of meats were indifferently sold and served up he gives them this rule 1 Cor. 10.25 27. Eat of all that is sold in the Shambles making no question for Conscience sake And if one of them that believe not does invite you and ye be disposed to go eat of all that 's set before you making no question for Conscience sake How doth this accord with the Roman Laws that make scruple of so many sorts of meat for Conscience sake â— Tim. 4.1 2. But this holy man hath proceeded much further yet He hath not only refuted this errour He hath predicted it and given us timely Advertisement of it ranking Abstinence from meats expresly among the Articles of the false Doctrine of those Seducers whose coming he prophesied of describing them by dreadful
in the French to express what S. Paul hath set down may be so understood yet true it is the Greek word he used in the Original text is never so taken as the intelligent do know Again this kind of Voluntary service doth consist in things which GOD hath expresly commanded but the Service here meant by the Apostle not so We are to know then that the Voluntary service he speaks of is worship which GOD did not by His word oblige men unto nor ever commanded them but they present it Him meerly of their own will subjecting themselves and others to it because it so pleases them without any necessity imposed on GOD'S part who demanded no such thing of them It is Voluntary not in regard of the manner after which it is performed for in this sense as we have said the Service of true Children of GOD may be also termed Voluntary but in regard of it's institution the principle that sets it up and presseth the performance of it being not the Law or the authority of GOD but singly the will of men who of their forwardness undertake to do things to the honour of GOD and for His Service which He for His part never gave order for Whence it comes that the word is in the language of the Greeks ordinarily taken in an ill sense as importing Superstition because it is the property of this vice to invent divers Services of it's self and pretend to pay off the Deity with them But the Apostle pointing here at the thing that gave the Seducers doctrine the shew and lustre which it had it cannot be doubted but he means their Service its being Voluntary and not its being superstitious though indeed it were so too For Superstition being generally decried and known to be a vice 't is clear that in that quality it is not a thing capable of recommending any ones doctrine nor were there ever found Seducers so gross as to profess that their worship was superstitions much less to vant of it and pretend to render it recommendable thereby But Voluntary service doth charm men and please their carnal sense And false Teachers for the most part do not forbear to glory in it and alledge it for a mark of the sublime wisdome of their doctrine There are of it two sorts the one gross and shameless to the highest degree which would make that pass for Service of GOD which He not only hath not commanded but even expresly prohibited as when the Idolaters in the wilderness counted the festival they kept before their Golden Calf and the honours they gave it things which GOD had expresly interdicted for worship performed to the LORD their GOD. Such also in effect was that Religious Serving of Angels which the Apostle taxed afore though it may not be doubted but the Seducers who introduced it did endeavour by divers subtilities to elude those passages of Scripture in which we are forbidden to do Religious Service unto any creature whatsoever The other sort of Voluntary service hath a little more shamefac'dness and modestie then the former when a man ordeineth and if we may so say erecteth into the title of a Divine service the observing of certain things which verily GOD hath not commanded but which neither hath He forbidden as abstinence from certain meats and the observation of certain dayes things which it seems GOD hath neither commanded nor forbidden It is properly to this rank we must assign that Voluntary service which the Apostle intendeth in the Text. For even they who institute such Services of the first sort do not yet own them to be so but pretended that GOD hath not forbidden what they command glossing those passages in which He forbids it and so artificially changing the true and genuine sense of them as they make it believ'd that the objects of their Service are not comprehended in it Now that this gives their Inventions a shew of wisdome as the Apostle here sayes and a lustre fair and plausible in the eyes of carnal men is very clear For first it seems magnifique and Heroical to be uncontented with what GOD hath commanded us for His Service and to have the resolution to exceed it That which He hath commanded being evidently due and of indubitable equity it seems a small mater to do but this because it is simply nothing else then the discharging of what a man ows which does seem to be a vertue not so exceedingly recommendable For whoever heard Panegyriques made in ones praise because he duly payd his debts Accordingly you see that presumptuous young man who is mention'd in the Gospel made no great account of all this For when our Saviour told him simply what GOD commands us in His Law he answers disdainfully Matt. 19.20 that he had kept all those things from his youth as if he had said that was his ordinary his daily practice and that he expected a quite other thing from so great a Teacher But when a man doth what he is not bound to do he is admired as we much more esteem him who gives what he doth not owe then him who simply makes puctual payment of what he doth owe. Besides it seems an act of a great and extraordinary love to GOD to subject that very thing to Him which He hath left free to us The fear of the Cudgel of times makes a Slave do all that his Master hath commanded him but it seems that nothing but love can oblige him to do more Again this very hardiness of daring to set up some certain sort of actions in the Service of GOD hath a kind of I know not what grandeur in it because common sense dictating to us that to ordein Service for Him is properly the act of a Divine authority we presently take them for Divine men who enterprise such a thing It may also be then that character of an humane Spirit which appears in these Voluntary services makes them to be the more esteemed by men every one naturally loving his own productions and favouring his own works Be it for these reasons or for others once certain it is that Voluntary services are ordinarily esteemed and admired by men And you see it clearly by experience of what is done in the communion of Rome For though considering things throughly no man can doubt but Innocence Charity and Justice are much more excellent then those Voluntary observances which are practised among them yet it is evident that much more account is made of these then of the others For the one they call simply good works But the others exceed it They are works of supererogation There was need to forge this new word our common languages having none losty enough to express the extraordinary altitude of their merit Hence it comes that Monks if you believe them are Angels and Demi-gods They are look'd upon as so many Heavenly Jewels so many Starrs and Luminaries as the only Ornaments of the Earth and of their Church
hath been wont to discharge his avenging strokes upon men Others understand it of the punishment He will inflict for them at the last day and indeed the Scripture doth frequently so speak of that great judgement and the things which shall be done in it saying that it cometh elegantly signifying by that word the certainty and infallible coming to pass of a thing which 't is true as yet is not but will not fail to be as if it were a person that travelled and were already on the way to go to the place where he would arrive But I conceive the Apostle doth enclose within this word the execution of both those kinds of judgments signifying by it those great and dreadful torments into which God will plunge the wicked on the day of His anger which will be the last effect of His wrath against fin and also all the chastenings wherewith He scourgeth them in this life which are as it were the first-fruits of His wrath and so many samples and fore-runners of His final vengeance St. Paul compriseth all this in his saying that the wrath of GOD cometh But this form of speech even that the wrath of GOD cometh upon men is graceful and eximious importing that the evils which arrive on earth do not happen at adventure nor spring out of the earth it self and their inferiour causes simply but do issue from another source to wit from Heaven which pours them down here below as a storm or deluge for the inevitable enveloping and overwhelming of those for whom they are appointed They set forth from Heaven they travel towards us and fall whom in the end upon the heads of evil-doers by the order of the most High who marks out the whole course they are to take and dispenseth them with the same judgment that He doth thunders and tempests and rains which come upon us from on high by the guidance of His providence And as you see it is for the most part in the works of nature that these meteors do not come on a sudden but after some signs that precede and presage their approach in like manner is it ordinarily with the judgments of GOD. The thunder of His wrath as well as that of nature doth roar before it falls GOD threatens the guilty before He strikes them down and well-nigh alwaies sendeth men some advertisements that are as the van-coureurs and harbingers of His wrath to prepare us that we may either divert it by preventing it through our repentance or take it to abide with us Matt. â—4 Thus you see in St. Matthew our LORD and Saviour predicteth that the last judgment should be preceded by many great and terrible signs for the daunting of the ferocity of sinners and the reducing them if it might be unto repentance and in the same place He describeth the prognosticks of that dreadful vengeance which GOD was soon after to pour forth upon Jerusalem and the whole nation of the Jews and which failed not to arrive in a little time punctually as He had fore-told He observes the same order still in His chastising of families and nations scarce ever involving them in any calamity but He signified to them the coming of it before He executeth it which may be noted among others in those horrible scourges which have made havock in Christendome for these eight and twenty or thirty years But the Apostle addeth who they are upon whom the wrath of GOD doth come upon the children saith he of rebellion It 's an Hebrew manner of speech familiar in the Scriptures of the one and the other Testament to call that man the child of a thing who is addicted to it and hath in him the impression and tincture of it as they call Antichrist the Son of perdition that is to say a lost man one devoted and abandoned to perdition who destroys himself in destroying others And the Grecians whose language is extremely polisht and perfectly well formed have not however disdained this form of expression saying often the children of the Grecians for to signifie Greeks themselves and the children of Physicians for Physicians In like manner here these children of rebellion of whom the Apostle speaks are the rebellious such as disobey the will of GOD and His advertisements fiercely despise His counsel such who as St. Peter saith do stumble at the word who whatever care GOD takes to declare His holy will unto them and to call them to repentance will not hearken but obstinately settle and harden themselves in their sins Whereby they render themselves guilty of two hainous faults unbelief and disobedience For they reject â—â—e testimony of GOD and hold it for a fable sometimes even openly mocking at it which is an horrible outrage against the truth of GOD. Then next they disobey His voice confirming themselves in doing what He forbids them and in neglecting what He doth command them Such were those profane ones before the Flood who stubbornly despising the preaching of Noah the herald of righteousness continued impudently in the track of their corrupt waies taking no heed to the advertisements of GOD and His servant And St. Peter by reason of this insolent contempt terms them unbelieving or disobedient They did eat saith our Saviour they drank they married and gave in marriage 1 Pet. 3.20 and perceived not the flood untill it came and bore them all away Afterward Gen. 19.14 the people of Sodom and Gomorra did as much who took the holy and humble remonstrance which GOD's servant Lot made them of thinking on themselves and the notice He gave them of the destruction of their Cities for a rallerie or a phrâ—nsie They remained obstinate in this profane security untill a deluge of fire and brimstone pouring in a moment out of Heaven upon them and upon their abominable Countrey forced those dreams of their incredulity out of their heads and taught them that there is nothing more true than the word of GOD nor more false than an imagination of the security of sinners In fine it is the crime of all those upon whom the wrath of GOD doth fall They are children of rebellion to whom may be applied though to some more to others less what a Prophet sometime said unto the Jews Zech. 7.11 They would not understand but have pulled away the shoulder and made their ears heavy that they might not hear and have hardned their hearts as an adamant that they might not hearken to the law and the words which the LORD of Hosts sent by His Spirit I acknowledge that this is properly the crime first of those who reject the Gospel of the Son of GOD the true word brought in by the Holy Spirit and secondly of them that living under the Mosaique covenant rebelled against the word of GOD preached to them by Moses and the Prophets But I affirm that even they are not exempt of it who have sinned or do sin in the darknesse of Paganism For though these
utmost and highest point of its perfection in the Heavens when there shall be seen a compleat and Angelical sanctity to shine forth in it with glory and blessed immortality In fine the Apostle doth also briefly touch at both the manner after which and the pattern by which this renovation is wrought in us For the manner of it he saith That this new man is renewed in knowledge thereby shewing that JESUS CHRIST for the communicating of this new Nature which is in Him as in its source unto us doth give us and day by day augment the knowledge of his truth in us for as ignorance and error is the first and principal deformity of the old Man and the cause of all the rest so on the contrary Wisdom and Knowledge is the first and principal lineament of the new Man whereby are formed in us all the other vertues in which it doth consist as Love of GOD and Charity towards men and all the other holy habitudes which depend upon them it being manifest that we love none but the things we know and proportionably to the knowledge we have of them Wherefore the LORD begins the admirable work of his grace hereat And we have an excellent image of this method of his in the first Creation of the World where Moses expresly observes that the first thing GOD created by his Word was Light which is the symbol of Knowledge as darkness is of Ignorance This the Apostle plainly pointeth at elsewhere GOD saith he who commanded the light to shine out of darkness 2 Cor. 4 6. hath shined into our hearts This light of Knowledge once lighted up in our souls by the Spirit of the LORD doth presently expel Vices out of them and shewing us the holy and glorious face of GOD in JESUS CHRIST transforms us into his likeness as saith the same Apostle 1 Cor. 3.18 We all beholding as in a glass the glory of the LORD with open face are transformed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the LORD It 's this he meaneth in the Text when he saith of the new Man that it is renewed after the image of him who created it that is of JESUS CHRIST our LORD For he properly is the Pattern by which that new Nature we are made partakers of is formed He is both the Author and Exemplar of it and 't is for this that it is called by his Name to wit the new Man Therefore the Apostle elsewhere to express the end and effect of his Ministry toward the Galatians Gal. 4.19 saith That he travelleth in birth until CHRIST be formed in them He had no other design but to revest them with the new Man Certainly then the new Man is nothing else but JESUS CHRIST formed in us that is nothing else but the form of this holy and blessed LORD engraven and imprinted on us by the seal of his Word and Spirit which is precisely the thing he here calls his Image If you know JESUS CHRIST you cannot be ignorant what this his form and image is JESUS CHRIST is the Saint of Saints a man full of all purity righteousness charity patience constancy and truth and in sum of all the lights of holiness Sure then his form and image can be no other than a genuine representation of these Divine qualities a soul in which appears a goodness an humility an honesty I say not equal for it is not possible to arrive unto so high a perfection but at least semblable and proportionate to his And this is that which S. Paul elsewhere compriseth expresly in two words saying That the new man is created after GOD in righteousness and true holiness Thus you see Brethren what that Old and what this new Man is which the Apostle speaks of in this place The one is the image of the first Adam and the other of the second He commandeth us to put off the old Man with his Deeds and to put on the New a manner of speaking no less elegant than familiar in Scripture which is wont to say of all the things that are found in this or that subject that it is clothed with them As when the Prophets say that GOD is clothed with strength with Glory and with Magnificence that he is cloathed with Justice that he will cloath his Priests with salvation and their enemies with shame that he will cloath the Heavens with darkness and so in a multitude of other places where it is evident that the term Cloathing is taken figuratively to express simply the putting of any thing in such or such a Subject whether it be internally or externally Whence it follows that to put off on the contrary is simply to quit a thing which one had and rid himself of it Thus to put off the old Man is nothing else but to rid our selves of his Vices and of his corruptness to pluck up for instance out of our hearts his covetousness and his ambition and the habitudes of his other sins But the Apostle expresly addeth that we put him off with his deeds that is to say that we not only pluck up out of our hearts the habits of Vices which are as it were the roots and stocks of it but that also we cut off from our lives all the actions whether interior as desires and lustings or exterior as other sins which proceed from the same and are as so many fruits of this accursed plant For to speak properly the old man is one thing and the act of sin that issues from it another The one is the corruptness it self of our nature the other is the effect it produceth The one is as the Plant and the other as its Fruit. For example cruelty or covetousness is one of the very members of the old Man murder or stealing ing are acts of it The Apostle would have us put off the one and the other that neither Vice nor its acts might have any place in us In like manner to put on the new Man is on the other hand to deck and adorn our understanding our will our affections and all the parts of our life with those excellent vertues in which the new man consisteth as we have said afore to endeavour it studiously and take no rest till we have them formed in us and our whole nature be covered and enriched with them But though these two words to put off and to put on be in this passage figuratively taken yet do they shew us notwithstanding against the gross and sensless error of some that as well the old Man as the New do both of them signifie the form and disposition not the substance and very essence of our nature For when a thing is utterly destroyed we do not say it puts off what it had but that it is perisheth And when the substance of a thing is produced altogether of new we say not that it 's cloathed but created so as the Apostle here commanding us to
would have place in him but from the time he had put on the habit of Charity and could not hinder but that he might have transgressed divers waies before Since then the law justifyeth none but those that never violated it at any time what-ever it is manifest that though a Christian should never violate the law after he hath Charity yet could he not be justified by his works nor would he be exempted from needing the grace of GOD for the remission of the sins he committed before he had Charity But where grace is Rom. 11.6 there justification by works cannot have place according to St. Paul's saying in the Epistle to the Romans If it be by grace it is no more by works Otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be by works it is no more by grace Otherwise work is no more work But I add in the second place that what they do suppose to wit that he that hath Charity does perfectly fulfill the law and so as never to fail so much as in one point that this I say moreover is evidently false and contrary unto experience and unto Scripture Unto experience for who but daily sees and perceives how often how many waies those very men among the faithful do offend who have greatest degrees of Charity 1 Joh. 1. Unto Scripture for it plainly telleth us in divers places that if we say they are the words of an Apostle we have no sin we lye and the truth is not in us True it is that Charity doth not cause us to offend nay such offending is on the contrary a deviation and a departure from Charity However I affirm it is no impossibility but that a man that hath true Charity may sometime falter in it as you see it often comes to pass in all habits he that 's endowed with them doth some actions not very consonant unto them A good Archer for instance doth not alwaies hit the white and a good Advocate doth not alwaies plead exactly well It befalls the best Writers and the exquisitest Painters and the most accomplished Politicians to commit errors now and then in the matters of their profession And it was said long since of the excellentest and most admired piece of heathen Poetry that there are passages in it at which the author slept from whence others have deriv'd the priviledge that in a prolix work they may sometimes forget themselves The same event attends the habitudes of moral vertues for neither do these so absolutely fill up the souls of men but that actions contrary to them do sometimes escape those who have obtained them to an hiâ—â— degree as experience shews and Philosophers have expresly noted Therefore neither are faults incompatible with the habit of Charity as we possesse it here beneath Only it with-holdeth such as are truly endowed with it from committing them often and when they are overtaken it eftsoons toucheth them with regret at it and moves them to repent of what they have committed Since then that to be justified by works a man must present such one 's unto GOD as have no way any need of pardon it is still evident that Charity how accomplished soever we may have it here below yet is not capable of justisying us before GOD. If our adversaries will be obstinate and maintain that Charity is exempted from all sin I will grant it them of that Charity which reigneth on high in the Heavens being kindled Aug. Ep. 29. ad Hieron and kept up by the vision of the glorious face of GOD but I will say with St. Augustine that no man hath such a Charity upon earth ours here is but begun and impersectly formed Yet the Law requireth of us a Charity full and entire and perfect in every particular Surely then that which we for present have is not able to satisfie the Law nor by consequence justifie us But others conceive that by this perfection which Charity is the bond of the integrity and unity of the Church is to be understood for that the perfection of bodies doth properly consist in the collection and colligation of the parts whereof they are compos'd those that want any one of them being not in a condition to be called perfect These authors therefore make account that Charity is here stil'd the bond of perfection because 't is it that joyneth and bindeth all the faithful together by means of the mutual love they bear to one another For my part Dear Brethren I think we must joyn together these two expositions and reduce them to one for this end taking the Apostle's words the bond of perfection as simply importing that Charity is a perfect bond by an Hebraism very frequent through the whole Scripture as when 't is said a man of sin or a man of peace to signifie a sinful man Rom. â— 26 or one that 's peaceable or pacifick affections of infamy for infamous affections and so in a multitude of other places Here then in like manner the Apostle says a bond of perfection instead of a perfect bond an exquisite bond capable of binding up in perfection both all Christian Vertues in every faithful soul and all the faithful in the Church with one another For as concerning Vertues Charity binds them together both by that common principle whence it causeth them to spring to wit love of our neighbour and by that common end unto which it directeth them namely his benefit and edification It gathers up and puts all of them together in its bosome not leaving one out of its enclosure because they are all necessary for it mercy to comfort those whom it loves benignity to succour them humility to win them gentlenesse to please them patience to conserve them and in fine all the rest to acquit it self of those duties it would do them And as for the faithful who knows not that Charity is the perfect bond of their union The considerations of blood of state of interest and of pleasure do sometimes bind other men together but it is with a great deal of imperfection these unsure bonds being daily broken and so badly compacting the persons they inclose that they are soon separated and do sometimes even fall foul with and rend one another But Charity is in very deed a perfect bond that uniteth those whom it ties together so close and with such firmnesse as neither the accidents of fortâ—ne as they call them nor the mutations of the earth nor death it self which ruines all other unions and conjunctions in the World can loosen them or separate them from one another It was this sacred bond that heretofore made all the beleevers at Jerusalem to be of one heart and of one soul It 's a bond Acts 4.32 that all the force of men and elements can neither break nor untye a bond stronger than death and the grave as the mystical Spouse sings in that excellent Song It doth not only joyn the souls of the
faithful it mingleth and consociates them changeth them into one body and one spirit gives them the same will and the same affections Now surther it is to form and conserve this holy union among us that the Apostle does recommend to us the peace of GOD in the second part of this Text. Let the peace of GOD saith he hold the first place in your hearts to the which you are called in one body For this peace of GOD is not that which we have with GOD by faith in JESUS CHRIST His Son when as being appeased by the satisfaction of His Crosse He looks upon us in Him with a propitions and favourable eye as a Father and not as a Judge not imputing our sins to us which may be termed Peace of conscience But it is the peace we ought to have with one another all of us living amiably together as children of one and the same Father and heirs of one and the same grace and glory It 's the daughter of Charity and a fruit of that holy and Christian love which binds us perfectly together The Apostle calls it the peace of GOD first because He loves it above all things and upon this account is often stil'd in the Scriptures the GOD of peace hating nothing in the world more than trouble and discord and contentions and wars Secondly because He commands it us every where in His word And lastly because He is the Author of it who gives it and inspires it by His Spirit into all those that are truly His children And the Apostle hath expresly given it this title in this place for the more effectual recommending of it to us and that He might induce us to receive it with the greater respect as a thing of GOD's holy sacred and divine which we cannot violate without offending grievously that Soveraign Majesty to whom it doth belong 〈◊〉 many waies He willeth that this Peace of GOD do hold the chief place in our hearts The term he makes use of in the original is admirably expressive and elegant for it properly signifies to have the super-intendance of a thing to be the judge and arbiter of it to govern and regulate it and give it law That is the Apostle means that this Divine peace be the Queen of our hearts the mistresse and governesse of all your motions that that keeps them in due respect and with-holds them from ever attempting ought that tendeth to violate or disturb it And if the resenting of an offence for instance or an opinion of our own worth or any other such consideration do begin to kindle wrath or hatred or animosity against our brethren or excite some other passion of like nature in our hearts that this Peace do forthwith advance and stay the commotion and agitation of our minds calming the storm and speedily repelling all these sentiments of the flesh as so many incendiaries or evil spirits without giving them entrance or audience That it do enjoyn us and inspire into us humility and patience when we have been offended regret and the making of satisfaction when we have offended any other and cause us to seek carefully after all that it shall judge necessary to maintain amity and good intelligence among us as kind words and obliging deeds banishing both from our mouths and from our manners all that 's apt to cause or keep up our dividing from our neighbours The advertising of us that this is the peace of GOD were enough to perswade us to give it such place in our hearts But that the Apostle might overcome all possible obstinacy he here further represents unto us two considerations besides which oblige us to give it this super-intendency over our souls The one is that we are thereunto called and the other that we are one body For the first you know that our LORD and Master JESUS CHRIST doth every where call us to this Peace of GOD and that He hath given us precepts for it in His Gospel and examples of it in His life For what was there ever in the world more meek and peaceable than this Divine Lamb He contended not Mat. 12.19 nor cryed and His voice was not heard in the streets as the Prophets fore-told of Him He was gentle and lowly in heart He never repulsed any and received sinners with open arms how bad and abominable soever they had been He invited His greatest enemies unto His salvation and offered His grace to the most obstinate and bore their contradictions without answering again and their reproaches with silence and their rage without exasperation and did weep bitterly for that Jerusalem that rebellious City would not know the things of her peace Such is the pattern He gave us commanding us likewise expresly to be sweet Mark 9.50 and simple as doves without gall and without bitternesse and to be in peace among our selves And His Apostles repeat this lesson to us in divers places Rom. 12.8 as St. Paul here and other-where again If it be possible as much as in you lyeth have peace with all men And it 's for this that JESVS CHRIST came into the world even to pacifie Heaven and Earth Jews and Gentiles Isa 2.4 11.6 7 8. to extinguish enmities and wars and change swords into plow-shares and spears into pruning-books to take away the poison of asps and the cruelty of wolves and the fierceness of lions and transform bears and the savagest beasts into lambs Isa 66.12 and make them all live and dwell peaceably and amicably together finally to make peace overflow as a river as the ancient oracles had magnifically foretold Isa 9.5 by reason whereof He is also expresly stiled the Prince of Peace And you know it was the legacy He bequeathed us when He was preparing to dye for us Joh. 14.2 Peace I leave with you said He my peace I give unto you not to speak of the blessing and the dignity He promiseth those that shall love the same Blessed saith He are the Peace-makers Matt. 5.9 for they shall be called children of GOD. After all this who can doubt but He calleth all His unto peace as the Apostle here affirms Since He forms them to it by His voice by His lise by His promises and by the whole design of His Mediatorial Office But besides the command and order He hath given the very estate and condition He hath by His vocation put us in doth manifestly oblige us thereunto and this the Apostle represents unto us in the second place when having told us that we are called unto peace he adds in one body or to express the full and whole force of the Greek words in one only body It 's a doctrine universally received and most expresly asserted in divers places of Scripture that the whole Church doth make up but one only mystical body of which JESUS CHRIST is the head and the faithful are the members being animated under Him with one and the same
their own but out of the stock of this Divine Word beside which they ought to teach nothing of themselves and if they do they are not to be heard Secondly the express order which the Apostle gives us that the Word of CHRIST should dwell richly in us doth shew that it 's the duty of Pastors sedulously to exhort their Flocks unto the study and reading and meditation of the Divine Scriptures and that it is incumbent on their flocks to addict themselves assiduously thereto Whence it follows in the third place that this Word of CHRIST ought to resound continually every where in the Church and in its publick Assemblies and in private Families and the very Closets of its Members Otherwise how would it dwell plenteously in us Moreover since the Apostle speaks here to all the faithful in general as well people as Ministers this Epistle being directed by him to all the faithful Brethren in CHRIST which are at Colosse its evident further his intention is that not only all Christians do hear this Word in the Church but that they also read it each one in private if they can and that such reading is not only permitted but commanded them as profitable and necessary Again the Apostles requiring it should dwell in them yea dwell richly in them does necessarily infer that it is not enough to know some general points of this Heavenly Doctrine but that men ought to be fully and distinctly instructed in it and in such sort as there may not be any part of this Divine treasure but we are possessed of The same appears further from the effect which the Apostle would have us draw from it namely our abounding by means of this word in all Wisdom a thing which hath no place in those that have but a superficial and as they speak an implicite that is a confused involved and entangled knowledge of it Whence in fine it clearly follows that the Word of CHRIST containeth all things necessary to Salvation it being evident that he that is ignorant of any part of them is not owner of Wisdom and much less of all Wisdom which yet the Apostle intimates we shall have if the Word of the LORD doth dwell richly in us Compare now the Law and the Discipline of Rome with this Doctrine of S. Paul and you shall find such a difference or to say better so palpable a contrariety between them as that the night and darkness are not more contrary to the day and its light First the Apostle remits his Scholars to the Word of CHRIST to learn there all the duties of Christianity Rome directeth hers unto the Pope and his Officers to be instructed about their Salvation The Apostle gives Sentence that the Word of CHRIST is capable of giving us all Heavenly Wisdom if it dwell in us Rome asserts that it is not sufficient for this end and that it contains but some part of saving Wisdom for the compleating whereof unwritten tradition must be added The Apostle would have this divine Word dwell in us Rome would not that it should and introduceth in its place I know not what kind of fabulous Legends with which it fills the world giving them to her votaries for the instructing and feeding of their Souls The Apostle willeth that this Word be read both in publick and in private among the faithful Rome will not that either the one or the other be As for the publick if she shew her assemblies any pieces of it she shews them hidden and wrapt up in a Language not understood that is she reads them and reads them not it being evident that the proclaiming the Laws and Ordinances of a Soveraign to a people in a language which they do not understand is all one as if they were not in effect proclaimed It 's the holding out a Candle but a Candle hid under a Bushel that is an holding it not out It 's a presenting the face of CHRIST unto his people but a presenting it veiled and disguised under such a form as they discern nothing of it And as to private respects you know with what indignity Rome doth treat Christians and how she forbids them to read their Father's Testament and judgeth it a crime that they should handle Books which were made for them or see those Letters which are expresly directed to them And that the permission of this reading which they give some Tradesmen of this City and the boldness of some Doctors who deny even the clearest things may not deceive you I think it pertinent to represent unto you here the Doctrine of Rome touching this matter Know then that in the Treatise and Index of prohibited Books drawn up by the Authority of the Council of Trent approved and publish'd by the Authority of Pope Pius IV Index libr. pro hibitor Reg. 4. and of all His Successors one of their first Rules runs expresly in these words Since it is manifest by experience that if the Holy Bible be commonly and indifferently permitted in the Vulgar Tongue there cometh of it more damage than profit by reason of the temerity of men the judgment of the Bishop or the Inquisitor must be stood to in this case so as they by the Counsel of the Parish Priest or of the Confessor may grant the reading of the Bible in a Translation made by some Catholique Author unto such as they shall find capable of drawing from such reading not damage or prejudice but increase of faith and piety and this License they must have in writing As for those that shall presume to read it without such License they may not receive absolution of their sins without having first rendred up their Bible into the Ordinaries hands Thus far the Papal Law Was their ever Ordinance more injurious to the Word of GOD and to His Apostles authority First their position at the entrance namely that the common reading of the Bible does more hurt than good and causeth more damage than profit this I say is horrible and directly contrary both to the Wisdom and Goodness of GOD as also to S Paul's declaration For who can believe that GOD should give such Books to His Church as are more apt to hurt than to help And how doth His Apostle recommend them to all Christians indifferently willing that this Word dwell plenteously in them if this be dangerous for them and rather pernicious than profitable And why doth he promise us from it the fruit of Wisdom yea of all Wisdom if the reading be so perillous Is Wisdom an evil and damageable thing But it is easie to comprehend the thoughts of Rome She means assuredly that reading of the Bible is prejudicial to Her that it discovereth her impostures and giving Wisdom to the Simple doth arm and fortifie them against her corruptions and pretended traditions This is in truth the damage and loss she feareth and which makes her so careful to extinguish or set aside all glimpses of this Heavenly light to the end
They forbid all Christians to read the Bible without the Bishops or the Inquisitors permission But they presently declare that no Bishop nor Inquisitor hath power to give any Thus there shall no person be permitted it Is not this an evident mocking of the world But these gallants do so hugely dread the Scripture that they had rather become guilty of thus shamefully and openly deluding Christendom than suffer any one to have or read so dangerous a Book They would rather salve their interest than their honour And in very deed such the practice is in Spain and Italy and in the Territories of the Inquisition where this permission to read the Bible is not given to any man whoever he be and where it 's held for a capital crime and a sure mark of Heresie to have in house but a volume of the Old or New Testament in the vulgar tongue So as it must of necessity be that those who do in these parts permit this reading unto some are either guilty of violating the general ordinances of that Church they profess themselves members of or have some particular and extraordinary power from the Pope to do as they do which yet doth not appear This crime would be less strange if it did clash only with this passage of the Apostle But it also overturneth divers other most expresse instructions Deut. 17.18 19. which occur in the holy Scriptures For GOD commands the King of Israel who was a Laick noâ— a Clerk to write a copy of His law and to have it by him Deut. 11.18 19. 6.7 8 9. and read it diligently and generally all His people to lay up all His words in their hearts and in their minds to bind them for signs upon their hands and for frontlets between their eyes that is to have them as familiar as their own hands and eyes to teach them their children and discourse of them at home and abroad lying down and rising up and write them on the posts of their houses and on their gates which is just the same thing St. Paul here calls in short an having the word of GOD to dwell in them In effect St. Luke praiseth the Ethiopian Eunuch Acts 8.28 17.11 for that he read the Scriptures and the men of Berea for that they consulted them daily to know if the things which Paul and Silas preached to them were so Yet we no where read Psal 1.2 that they had leave of any Papal Bishops or Inquisitors And David pronounceth that man blessed who meditateth day and night in the law of GOD. Again Joh. 20.31 the word of GOD being written that we might believe that JESVS is the CHRIST and that believing we might have life through His Name as saith St. John Rom. 15.4 and for our learning as saith St. Paul that we through patience and comfort might have hope It must of necessity be concluded that the forbidding of Christians to read the Scriptures evidently is either a frustrating the LORD of His intention or an accusing Him of having been unable to give us Scriptures proper for His aim and our aid I say as much and that more positively of the Apostolical Epistles which being directed to the faithful Clergie and Laity indifferently there is no reason to bar any of them from reading what the first Ministers of GOD wrote to them all In fine the fault of our adversaries is so much the more inexcusable for that the ancient Doctors of whom they make so great account Homil. 9. on Levitie are directly contrary to them in this particular As Origen for one who would have Christians not only hear the word of GOD in the Church but exercise themselves in reading it at home and in meditating on it night and day St. Hierom for another Hierom. Ep. 14. 30. August lib. de Catech. rud c. 6.8 Gregor in his Epistles lib. 4. Ep. 40. who would have women and maids themselves to learn the Scriptures by heart St. Augustine for a third who does most earnestly recommend the reading of the word of GOD to the very Catechumeni that is Christians of the lowest form such as had not yet received holy Baptism St. Gregory the Great that famous Bishop of Rome for a fourth who gravely reproves a Physician of the Court for that he took not the pains to read the words of our Redeemer every day For what is holy Scripture saith he but a letter from GOD to His creature If you were in a far Countrey and there received letters from the Emperor your Master you would not be at rest nor sleep at your case till you had read them and perceiv'd what your earthly Prince should have vouchsafed to write you The Monarch of Heaven the LORD of men and Angels hath sent and conveyed to your hands His letters about the concernments of your life And yet my Son you deign not to read them Apply to them I beseech you and meditate daily your Creator's sayings Thus Gregory more than a thousand years a-go Judge how far the language of later Popes is from his spirit and from his principles I pass by other Doctors of antiquity who are no less contrary to this modern abuse and will only mention further John of Antioch Bishop of Constantinople to whom the Church hath given the name of Chrysostome that is Golden mouth because of the richness and sweetnesse of his incomparable eloquence he alone would furnish a man with enough to make a small volume if any would put together all the passages of his works in which he exhorteth all the faithful and in special those of the people to an assiduous reading of the Holy Scripture and particularly in the Sermon he made upon this very Text of the Apostle which we are expounding Hear Chrysost Homil 9. in Ep. ad Coloss saith he you that live in the World and have wife and children hear how he orders you yea you principally to read the Scriptures not slightly and heedlesly but with great care and diligence He would have them heed no other master You have saith he to them the oracles of GOD and no one can teach you so well as these divine books And a little after Have saith he the books of the Bible the true medicines of the soul Get at least the New Testament the Acts of the Apostles the Gospels Let these be your perpetual Masters and Teachers If any affliction befall you loss of goods of children or of friends if death it self present its self unto you make search forthwith in this book as in the store-house of coelestial medicaments and fetch out of it the remedies that are necessary for the mitigating of your miseries Or rather that you may not be put to the trouble of such search lay them all up in your soul and have them ready upon all occasions Ignorance of the Scriptures is the cause of all our evils Thus far Chrysostome And truly as you
see he was not of the opinion of the latter Popes of Rome who do accuse as you heard afore the reading of the Word of GOD of doing more harm than good It the reading of them must be interdicted upon the pretence that some unstable spirits wrest them unto their destruction it should be in the first place prohibited to Bishop Priests and Monks it being clear if my memory does not deceive me that such as have forged heresies by an ill understanding of the Scriptures were all of one of those three orders and not of the common people But it 's a very wild expedient and a remedy altogether extravagant to condemn the use of things because of the abuse of them by some certain persons By this account best and most innocent things and things most necessary for the life of men should be taken from them the light of the Sun the savouriness of meats the excellency of wines and fruits iron silver gold and other metals the accomplishments of learning and the marvels of eloquence For which of these gifts of GOD doth not the intemperance or the malice of men abuse And as the Prince of Pagan Philosophers hath rightly observed there is nothing they so perniciously abuse as that which is of its self best Aristot Rhet. and most profitable To conclude since the same GOD who knows the nature and the efficacy of His own Scriptures better than any commands us all to read them it 's an insufferable temerity for a man to intrude with his advice and change what the LORD hath appointed as if he were wiser than the Most High But the Apostle clearly refuteth this calumny of Rome against Scripture in the other part of this Text 2 Tim. 3.16 where he sets before us the fruits and uses we ought to draw from it Ye teaching saith he and admonishing one another by Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs with grace singing from your heart unto the LORD Else-where he advertiseth us that the Scripture is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness Here in like manner he setteth down for the first fruit we are to gather from this rich knowledge of the word of GOD that mutual teaching we owe one another for the second advertisement or admonition for a third consolation by the singing of Psalms and spiritual Hymns As to the First I grant the charge of teaching in the Church does principally pertain to Pastors appointed to this end yet there is not the privatest believer but doth also participate some way of this function when he hath the gift and the opportunity to edifie men in the knowledge of true religion Particularly Fathers and Mothers owe this office to their children husbands to their wives masters to their housholds the elder to the younger and in fine each one to his reighbour when he hath the conveniency Whence appears again how far distant the Apostles sentiment is from Rome's Paul would have the Faithful entertain with and instruct one another in the things of the word of GOD. Rome will not let any but the Clergie have power to speak of them The second use we ought to make of the Word of GOD is our admonishing one another Teaching doth properly respect faith admonition hath reference to manners The Scripture furnisheth us where-with to discharge both the one and the other of these two duties informing us plainly and plentifully as well of things that are to be beleeved as also of those that are to be done And it 's incumbent on the beleever to acquit himself in the matter according to the knowledge he hath instructing the ignorant and reproving the faulty all with a spirit of sweetness and discretion as the Apostle doth else-where prescribe For every man ought to look upon his neighbour as his brother reduce him if he stray raise him up if he fall clear things to him if he doubt and have in fine as much care of his welfare as of his own Far from us be the ferity of those proud spirits who would not be sollicitous in the least for their brethren's concerns and who if GOD should demand an account of them at their hands would be ready to say as Cain sometime answered Am I my Brother's keeper or Pedagogue Now as we are to be charitable and prudent for the performing of this service to our brethren so ought we again in our turn receive it from them with patience and meekness Remembring how the Psalmist says Let the righteous smite me Psal 141.5 it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent balm unto me The third and last use the Apostle would have us make of the word of CHRIST is in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs to sing from our hearts with grace unto the LORD The so doing doth respect partly the glory of GOD which we ought to celebrate by our singing and partly our own consolation and spiritual rejoycing For the LORD is so good that He hath provided even for the recreating of His children and knowing that Song is one of His most natural means extremely proper both to dilate the contentment of our hearts and render it full-blown as also to alleviate and mitigate their sorrows He hath not only permitted us but even commanded to sing unto Him spiritual songs And for the forming us unto so holy and so profitable an exercise He hath given us in His word a great number of these Divine Canticles as the Psalms of David and the Hymns of divers other faithful and religious persons dispersed here and there in the books of the Old and New Testament The Apostle nameth three sorts of them Psalms Hymns or Praisâ— and Odes or Songs Now though there be no need to take much pains in an exact distinguishing of these three sorts of Sonnets nevertheless I think their opinion very probable who put this difference between them that a Psalm is in general any spiritual ditty whatever the subject of it be that an Hymn particularly signifies Sonnets composed to the praise of GOD and that an Ode or Song is a kind of Hymn of more art and various composition than others You have divers examples of them all in the book of Psalms First all the composures there are called Psalms in general But it 's very evident they are not all of a sort There are some in which is celebrated the goodness the wisdom and the power of the LORD either towards David or towards the Church or in reference to all creatures These are properly Hymns and such is the eighteenth Psalm the hundred and fourth the hundred forty fifth and many others There are others in which are mystically and elegantly represenced with an excellent artificialness either the wonders of CHRIST as the forty fifth the seventy second the hundred and tenth and the like or the histories of the ancient people as the seventy eighth the hundred and fifth and hundred and
constancy of His Divine grace which our indignities can neither overcome nor put off and though often refused or ill receiv'd yet ceaseth not to follow us but He comes again towards us every morning and dispatcheth daily some new Herald to sollicit us to repentance this Sun that shines about us this air with which he refresheth us so many various fruits of the earth with which He feedeth us the Word of His Gospel by which He instructeth us His Sacraments at which He feasteth us the voice of His Spirit either to comfort us or awaken us in our evils the strokes of His paternal discipline which he so aptly administreth tempering them in such sort that it is easie to see He scourgeth us for our amendment to win us not to destroy us And if we love our Neighbours as we ought what ample matter of thanksgiving doth GOD's dealing with them afford us His forbearance to some waiting for and inviting them to repentance the grace He exerciseth towards others either in bringing them to or conserving them in His Son the admirable gifts so richly and so wisely diversified which He imparteth to one and the prosperous success wherewith He favours the employment of others there being not a person in the Church how unfurnish'd and inconsiderable soever in our seeming but this good Master hath given one or other of His talents to Though we had the tongues and voices of all the Angels of Heaven yet could we not worthily acknowledge or repay with thanks enough a goodness so inestimable and so every way infinite But observe that it is to our GOD and Father the Apostle ordereth us to make our thanksgivings and reasonable it is that the glory of it should be given Him since He is the first and head spring of all Not but that we may rightly address our retributions as well as our petitions unto the Son also and the Holy Spirit according to the examples the Apostles themselves have left us of it in divers places of Scripture But both in the creation and also in the restauration of the world the Father is still represented unto us as the first principle of the action the Son and the Holy Spirit acting next as persons who subsist in such order that the Father is the first the Son the second and the Holy Ghost the third though setting aside this order and the distinction of their persons their nature be in all things and every way the same in respect both of essence and of properties or attributes and of all essential operations In fine the Apostle prescribes yet further that it be by JESUS Christ we render thanks to GOD the Father First for that He is as it were the first and the chiefest channel by which all this goodness of GOD is poured forth upon us For it 's He alone that hath acquired all the graces which mankind possess by reason whereof He is called the Sun of righteousness the light and the Saviour of the world the Prince and the author of life in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily And Secondly because our thanks themselves cannot be grateful to the Father nor come into His presence before the throne of His grace except they be addressed and presented by JESUS CHRIST who alone is able to perfume both our persons and our poor performances with that odour which is necessary for all that would appear without confusion before this Supreme Majesty This is that Beloved Brethren which we had to deliver to you for the expounding of these words of S. Paul There remaineth now the chiefest point of all even that you engrave them deeply on your hearts and take them for the rule of your whole lives applying them to each one of your actions and making those wholsome uses of them which this great Apostle gave them for I will point at some of them at present beseeching GOD to bless them unto your edification and remit the rest to your own pious meditation Observe then first for the confirmation of your faith that excellent proof the Apostle gives us here of the Divinity of the LORD JESUS For as the Epistle to the Hebrews concludeth it from the Father's naming Him His Son Hebr. 1.5 6. and treating Him quite otherwise than he doth the Angels the highest of all creatures so may we reason in like manner from this passage of S. Paul and say as that Epistle saith of the Angels of which of the Prophets or the Martyrs or the Apostles oâ— of all the Angels of Heaven was it ever said unto the Faithful Do all things in his Name Sure the faithful both in the Old Testament and in the New neither believe nor hope nor rejoyce nor speak nor act but in the Name of GOD and there is not one to be found in the Divine records whose piety and the exercises that depend upon it are address'd to a meer creature Here as you see the Apostle requires that not only some part of our faith but that our whole life and all our sanctification be referred to the Name of the LORD JESUS It must be therefore necessarily concluded that He is not a meer creature but very GOD of an infinite goodness power and wisdom eternally blessed with the Father It is not possible that an inferiour nature should be the support and the foundation and the last and highest end of all the works and words of all the faithful Either all the Scriptures of GOD are to be effaced and new ones made after the fantasie of Heretiques or it must be confess'd that this JESUS is GOD to whom they give a Name capable of being both the beginning and the end of all parts of the lives of all the faithful that are or ever shall be in the world conformably to their own asserting elsewhere that He is the Father of eternity the Prince of peace our great GOD and Saviour Judge again My Brethren if it be not an outrage unto Him and an investing of creatures with some part of this glory of His to require as those of the Communion of Rome do that part of the piety of the good works and of the very faith of Christians be in the Name of Saints of one and the other Sex who how sublime and excellent a dignity soever you give them cannot after all be set above the rank of creatures We daily hear them repeat their Orisons say their Beads ask and give Alms one of the choicest Sacrifices of Christian Religion make their pilgrimages for devotion build their temples consecrate their images and their holy places and their preciousest possessions and in fine their own persons to the name of the Blessed Virgin of S. Peter of S. Denis and a multitude of other creatures ancient and modern Adversaries where find you the institution of these Devotions In what Prophet or in what Apostle have you read a command for them In what Gospel or in what Acts and in what Divine Histories
gorgeousness the frowardness the obstinacy and the tongues of their wives and â—ay many other odious reproaches upon them Women on the contrary impute all this mischief to the husbands complaining some of their contempt and want of love others of their niggardliness towards them and profuseness other-waies Some declaim against their idleness and the little care they take of their affairs others against their excesses and compotations There are some that are angry at their speaking and others at their silence and in fine they forget not one ill treatment which they have received I know well that upon strict examination some fault would be found on each hand and that if cause appear to reprehend wives there would be no less to censure husbands But I had rather lay aside all this vexatious process and do conjure you Dear Brethren and Sisters in the name of GOD to do the like sparing one anothers honour consider what you are and what an union GOD hath call'd you to and each one for his part acknowledging your defects in the duty it requireth terminate all your complaints in a reciprocal pardon and forgetting all that is pass'd endeavour to procure to one another in the estate you are that peace and contentment which hitherto you have not had Do what the Apostle bids you and you shall find as much sweetness as heretofore you have tasted bitterness For as there is nothing more wretched than a marriage in which the wife hath no respect for her husband and the husband no love for his wife So neither is there any thing in the world more happy than a marriage in which the wife by an humble and respectful submission and the husband by a sincere and faithful love have their hearts and wills united in an holy concord As the first of these two conditions is an hell so the second is a very Paradise In fine My Brethren since JESUS CHRIST is the Spouse of all faithful souls you see what service and submission we are obliged to render Him May it please this Divine Spouse from that nuptial palace where he dwelleth to make us smell the odour of His mystical perfumes and to form our souls unto all the obedience the fidelity and servitude we owe him and govern us by His Spirit as He hath purchased us with His blood that after having here beneath sighed for Him we may one day eternally enjoy Him according to His promises and our hopes Amen THE FORTY FOURTH SERMON ON COLOSSIANS CHAP. III. VER XX XXI Verse XX. Children obey your parents in all things for this is pleasing to the LORD XXI Fathers provoke not your children lest they be discouraged DEAR Brethren Among all the mutual offices by which the society of men is conserved those incumbent on Children towards their parents and on parents towards their children are without doubt of the first rate and most necessary It 's upon them that all the rest do in some sort depend and they are in humane society what the foundation is in an edifice the foundation once demolished all the building goes to ground so the subjection of children and the superiority of parents once remov'd or unfixed the ruine of all other parts of society does necessarily follow For if a man neglect his children or misgovern them how will he duly and inhumanely treat servants or subjects or any other persons whomsoever Again if a child shake off the yoke of his Father and Mother how will he bear that of a Master or a Prince There is no likelyhood that the one or the other having fail'd in offices so sweet and natural toward persons that are so nearly in conjunction with them will ever rightly discharge any of those other which they owe to persons more remote and with whom they have much less union Whence appears the admirable wisdom of the Providence of GOD who for the forming of us unto the devoirs of love subjection and obedience which are necessary in the Civil or Ecclesiastique society we are to live in puts us at first into the bosom and under the conduct of our Fathers and Mothers that there as in a sweet and a commodious School we may timely learn the bending of our spirits unto love and respect for men and after this previous apprentiship find the yoke of those superiours under whom we are to live in Church or State less uneasie For one that hath been a good child in the house will without much trouble be a good subject in the State and likewise he that is a good Father will easily prove also a good Master a good Magistrate a good Pastor if GOD call him to either of those charges Wherefore S. Paul requires among the other qualifications of a Bishop or Pastor that he rule well his own house having his children insubjection with all reverence For saith he if a man know not how to order his own house 1 Tim 3.4.5 how shall he govern the Church of GOD These reciprocal duties therefore of parents and of children being of so great importance in the whole life of men it 's with good reason that our Apostle takes care to regulate them in the Text which we have read immediately after having in the precedent Verse formed those of Husband and Wife He speaks first to children according to the general order of beginning with the inferiours which he observes in all this part of his institution for reasons we pointed at in our last action Children saith he obey your Fathers and Mothers in all things for this is pleasing to the LORD Then he prescribes to Fathers also what pertains to them in these words Fathers provoke not your children lest they be discouraged These are the two heads we will treat of in the present action if GOD so please First the duty of children and Secondly that of Fathers As to the first of these we are to consider the Apostle's command contained in those words Children obey your Parents in all things and then the reason of this command which the Apostle annexeth when he saith For this is pleasing to the LORD He directeth the command to children and useth here in the original a term that signifyeth any person begotten of another his fruit his production a term that consequently comprehendeth all children of which soever sex that is both sons and daughters and of whatsoever degree that is grandsons in regard of their grandfathers as well as sons in regard of their fathers For the word Children according to the sense and authority both of Scripture and of the learned in the laws doth enclose the one and the other Let all those therefore to whom this title doth belong make account that to them is this injunction of the Apostles addressed Let not daughters object the weakness of their sex nor sons the strength and excellency of theirs to be dispenced with for the obedience they owe since the difference of their sexes doth not hinder but that they are
equally children Nay the weakness of maids is so far from diminishing that it strengthens their obligation in that it renders the conduct of those who brought them into the world so much the more necessary for them as they are of themselves more infirm and the fitter young mens strength makes them to serve their Fathers and their Mothers so much the more do they owe them obedience Tell me not that time or fortune as they call it hath freed you from this subjection whatever years you have attained to and whatever degree or honour ye possess you remain unalterably your Fathers and your Mothers children so that since it is unto this name the Apostle affixeth the obligation you have to obey them it 's evident that there is neither age nor Office that can or should give you a dispensation for it The Scripture sets before us an eminent example of it in Joseph who though of ripe years and the father of a family and a great LORD in Egypt where he was the second person in the State yet all this made him not forget that he was Jacob's son Gen. 46 2â— and when he knew him to be come into the Countrey he went presently to meet him his dignity withheld him not from rendring this honour to his Father He bowed down his purple before him and notwithstanding the extreme inequality of their conditions in the world respected him alwaies as his Father But let us see what that duty is which the Apostle here commandeth children to perform Obey saith he your Fathers and your Mothers in all things The Law of GOD useth the term honour Honour thy Father and thy Mother But all comes to one For sure it is that under this honour which the Legislator injoyneth just obedience also is comprised and in like manner under the obedience which St. Paul commandeth is that respect which is one of the principal sources of it understood and presupposed Only it may be noted that perhaps he chose the word obey the more effectually to shew us what that honour is which we owe our Fathers and our Mothers that it is not a vain respect which consisteth meerly in countenances and in ceremonies but a true and real reverence accompanied with obedience so as to execute readily and chearfully what they order us to do learn what they teach us correct what they dislike and forbear what they forbid us And hereby is condemned the hypocrisie of those who give their parents respects and civilities enough as to words and gestures but at the bottom take no pain to do any thing they desire of them Mat. 21.30 Like that mocker in the parable who having promised his Father to go and labour in his Vineyard yet went not But the Apostle to anticipate the vain pretexts which impiety does inspire ill natures with ordereth children not simply to obey their parents but to obey them in all things extending their authority to an infinity nor shutting up within any bounds that power which GOD and nature have given them to comand the persons they have brought into the world Why then you will say is it true indeed that Fathers and Mothers have so vast and immense an Authority and that their Children whom GOD hath created reasonable are obliged notwithstanding this advantage to obey all their commands how harsh soever and contrary to the light of their judgment they be Dear Brethren if you consider the thing in its self according to its own nature and the terms of its first institution it is very true that the authority of Parents is so great as Children are indeed obliged to obey them generally and without exception in all things they command them Nor doth this disagree with that advantage of reason wherewith GOD hath honoured children For if things had continued in their due order Fathers would command their children nothing that were contrary to right reason Now I confess sin hath disturb'd this order and it oft happens that such as are Fathers do command their children unjust things yet neither can it be deny'd but that in this case they decline from the quality of Fathers and become Tyrants For the name of Father involving in it an unfeigned love of the child a love desirous of his good and most remote from all that 's contrary to his welfare it is evidently a renouncing of this quality when a man would oblige him to things that are evil and incompatible with the duties of a reasonable creature It 's therefore this abuse and this corruption of our nature brought in by sin that hath bounded the paternal power which of its self continuing in its right use would be absolute it 's this that hath obliged both Divine and Humane Laws to annex unto it certain just and reasonable exceptions which the Apostle in another place where he treats of the same subject hath comprised all in one word Eph. 6.1 Children saith he obey your Parents in the LORD that is as far as you may without disobeying the Soveraign LORD both theirs and yours as far as their commands thwart not GOD's orders and the words he addeth in the Text it self do necessarily lead us thereto Obey them saith he in all things for this is pleasing to the LORD an addition that evidently restraineth the obedience of children to that which is pleasing unto GOD so as if the Father happen to command what displeaseth GOD the child is obliged by all kind of rights to regard more the will of GOD than the will of man This maxim remaining firm and immoveable that whatever we owe to an inferiour and subalternate power the rights of the superiour and soveraign must still remain entire For since it is GOD who gave the father himself all the authority he hath it is clear that he hath none against GOD but that as the child ought to obey him so he ought to obey GOD. When he doth it not but by an unsufferable felony casts off the yoke of this heavenly Father to whom both he and we do owe infinitely more obedience than to all the men on earth it is just to deny him that obedience which he gives not to GOD it is just that of two contrary commands the one of GOD the other of a man we do prefer the Divine before that which is humane As if a Father should command his Son to be an Idolater or to kill or to hate his Neighbour or should forbid him to embrace the service of GOD or to make profession of the Gospel of His CHRIST in these cases and other such as these disobedience would be just and obsequiousness criminal And hereto properly doth that saying of our LORD and Saviour refer Luke 14.26 If any man come unto me and hateth not his Father and his Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters and even his life it self that is as another Evangelist expounds it Mat. 10.37 if he love these more than me he
up the whole universe In a peculiar manner the Colossians to whom he writes this Epistle they dwelt in a City and a Province of which the people were much addicted to the most infamous of heathenish superstitions He commands them first in general to walk wisely towards those that are without and redeem the time Next he orders them in particular to have care of their speech one of the principal and most important pieces of the commerce we have with men Let your speech saith he be alway with grace seasoned with salt that ye may know how to answer every one This exhortation My Brethren doth well fit our selves and is proper for the condition we are in as who live under powers and among countreymen of a religion different from ours Let us consider it therefore and practise it with care To help you for a right understanding of it we shall if GOD will treat in the presentation of the two parts it containeth First our conversation with those that are without in general Secondly the qualities in particular which our speech ought to have in that converse noting to you upon each of 'em what we shall judge proper for your edification and comfort The Apostle's general exhortation consisteth in two heads the first is that we walk wisely towards those that are without the second that we redeem the time As to the first I presume you all know without my advertizing it that the Apostle here do's signifie by the word walking according to the ordinary stile of Scripture living and conversing and again that he means by those that are without such as are not of our communion but do in point of religion follow other sentiments and services then we profess to embrace in conformity to the Gospel of Jesus Christ He gives them the same denomination in another Epistle also where after his ordering us to shun the commerce and frequentation of some that are called brethren that is who make profession of our communion 1 Cor. 5.12 but mean while lead an ill and scandalous life he addeth For what have I to do to judge of them that are without He willeth then that we converse wisely with them that is that in all negotiation and conversing with them we exercise a great deal of prudence and circumspection Not that he permits us foolish and indiscreet deportment towards the faithful that are of the same body with us GOD forbid A Christian's whole life ought to be prudent and advised and whomsoever he converseth with he ought to govern his actions with judgment and do nothing without reason remembring the rule his Master gave him for the forming of all his carriage Be ye wise as serpents saith He and simple as doves But because they without are usually enemies to our religion and do detest or at least are ignorant of or despise its mysteries there 's none but sees that it concerns us in treating with them to use much more restraint and consideration then when question is of our brethren As when a Souldier is in an enemy's countrey he stands much more upon his guard and marcheth as they say with bridle in hand Besides you know if persons be but strangers we treat them with more care and if I may say it with more ceremony then our acquaintances A brother lives with us without design a stranger is a spy The one bears with even those actions of ours in which a severe Judge would find something to reprehend The other doth not pardon us any thing nay is offended sometimes at the innocentest actions Being perswaded of the charity of the former we live securely with him nor doth his person put us in pain because he approves all that accords with our rule With a stranger it is not so Besides the care we ought to have that in all transactions with him we do well we must also be further heedful that we so do all as may be to his gust It 's then with a great deal of reason that the Apostle advertiseth us as to those that are without to live and converse wisely with them in a particular manner that is to exercise in all our deportment towards them more attention prudence and consideration then in the other ordinary passages of our lives The first point of Christian wisdom in this deportment towards them is to observe the end it ought to be directed to The second to discern the persons And the third to chuse such means as are proper for our design As to the end whether an accidental encounter do cast us upon treating with such as are without or whether some design doth lead us to it we ought alway to aim in it either at the edifying and winning them to CHRIST or at the least to hinder their taking any offence or disgust at our religion In the commerce which the subjects of a civil state have with foreiners it is enough that they keep sound and entire the fidelity they owe their Prince and the love and respect they have for their Laws and Government of their own Countrey It is not necessary nor will it be suffered that they should attempt to withdraw a stranger from his subjection to that power under whose Scepter he was born because it 's a lawful subjection and whoever would unfix it do's intrench upon anothers right which cannot be done without injustice But in the matters of religion it is not so It 's not enough that you preserve your selves from theirs who are without you must endeavour if you can to draw them from it and bring them over unto yours For in this you do no one wrong you hurt nothing but errour nor diminish any's right but superstition's impiety's and Satan's the common enemy of Mankind who inspireth them You do not acquire any thing to JESUS CHRIST but what did lawfully pertain unto him since He of right is LORD of all men both by reason that He did create them and also for that he hath redeemed them You do an act of justice in reducing bond-servants under their true and lawful Master's yoke whom errour had debauched from it Thus as often as you treat with those that are without you ought to propose unto your selves the edifying of them in reference to religion and to have a will and a desire in your hearts like to St. Paul's wish for Agrippa and for the rest that heard him Act. 26.29 I would to God saith he that not only thou but also all that hear me this day were both almost and altogether such as I am except these bonds But it 's not enough to have a good end there must be an application of proper and fit means and for this effect the diversity of the persons with whom we have to do is to be heedfully considered For the same things do not suit with all Wisdom therefore being obliged to diversifie its conduct according to the difference of those with whom it treateth a Christian must
the lesson which the same St. Paul else-where gives us 2 Cor. 6.14 15. that there is no participation between righteousness and unrighteousness nor communion between light and darkness nor accord between CHRIST and Belial In fine this prudent demeanour towards those without which he here prescribeth us doth require that we avoid as much as is possible all actions and speeches that offend them and that saving those to which our religion doth necessarily and inevitably oblige us there escape us not any that may displease them The clause redeeming the time which the Apostle subjoyns containeth the utility and fruit of this sage and prudent demeanour which he hath injoyned the Colossians towards those that are without the meaning is that by governing themselves in that manner they would gain time and mitigate by such an address the rigour of that difficult and dangerous season which they lived in and had the aversions and persecutions of the heathen to surround them I well know there are that expound these words otherwise Some as signifying that the Colossians were to repair their loss of the time past by well employing the present altogether in a good an holy and a prudent way of life For this is that we commonly call redeeming of time Others with more colour say the Apostle's intention is that we should seek and purchase even at the price of what is dearest to us occasions to edifie those that are without and make no difficulty of losing somewhat in matter of estate or ease or even in point of honour or reputation to get the means of obliging them For it is true that the word the Apostle useth here in the original doth often signifie an occasion and opportunity rather than time simply But not to dissemble the one and the other of these two conceptions though both of them veritable as to the thing and Christian yet seems to me a little beside the Apostle's scope and intention here Moreover the Interpretation I proposed at first is more conformable to the stile of Scripture For the phrase which St. Paul useth in this place is found word for word in the Greek Version of the Prophet Daniel at the second Chapter where King Nebuchadnezzar tells the Chaldeans Dan. 2.8 He knew well they would redeem the time meaning as our Bibles have aptly rendred it that they would gain time that is would fain escape and smoothly get out of that ill piece of way in which they perceived themselves put to such a plunge To the same sense the Apostle here though in a very different subject bids us redeem the time by walking wisely towards them that are without that is that we should by such prudent and dextrous conduct sweeten their spirits and handsomely divert the storm of their fury as an ill influence which might overwhelm us gliding gently on and gaining time untill things governed and ordered by the providence of GOD have changed their posture It 's also hereto that that reason doth evidently referr which the Apostle elsewhere annexeth to this very command in a passage of the Epistle to the Ephesians conform and parallel to our Text Eph. 5.15 16. Walk heedfully saith he not as fools but as wise redeeming the time for he adds the daies are evil He would have us use much circumspection in the ordering of our lives and redeem the time because it is evil that is troublesome and difficult to pass by reason of their ill-disposition towards us among whom we live they being ready at every turn to destroy us upon the least occasion of exasperation and of executing their malevolence that we give them Therefore as a wise Mariner at Sea when the wind ariseth and the waters threaten and the presages of a tempest do appear he haleth in his sails and prepares then accommodates himself to the violence of the waves and le ts drive a little not daring to bear up full against it all to gain time and redeem himself by such care and conduct out of so sad and angry a season like industry would the Apostle have us use to ward off the blows which the not-so-favourable disposition of those without towards us doth menace he would have us not take all our liberty with them but manage our words and actions prudently accommodating our selves the most we may unto their temper and avoiding all that is apt to provoke them giving them no occasion to enterprise upon us that if it be possible we may by such holy and advised conduct gain time and eschew an ill encounter and redeem our selves from the troubles and disorders it threatens us withal It 's a reason of the command he gave us to walk wisely towards them that are without For besides the interest of the glory of GOD and of the edification of men which calls for this endeavour at our hands as hath been said our own good our safety and preservation doth also necessarily oblige us thereunto it being evidently impossible for us to subsist in the estate we most times are if we do not with a great deal of heedfulness and prudence put by and lenifie the ill affections of those among whom we live and upon whom in an humane way our lives and liberties depend But after this general exhortation the Apostle makes us another for the government of our speech in particular which we must now explain with all the brevity we may Let your speech saith he be alwaies steep'd in salt with grace that you may know how ye ought to answer every one I must needs say that this is requisite in all the discourses of the faithful whomsoever they speak to and that their mouth ought to be a treasury of benediction out of which should issue not a word but that is holy and full of grace and good as the Apostle says elsewhere to the use of edifying that is proper to edifie them that hear it But as in the precedent verse though wisdome be necessary in all the parts of our carriage yet he gave it us in charge particularly in reference to our commerce with such as are without I count that in like manner here pursuing the same subject he doth appropriate those characters which ought to appear generally in all the words of our mouths to that discourse and converse in particular which we have with persons without Besides the continuation of his discourse which there 's little likelyhood he should here suddenly break off without reason his adding that of answering every one c. confirms me further in this opinion those words evidently referring to the answers we are to make to those without when they interrogate or question us about our religion as appears by St. Peter's making use of wel-nigh the same words in the same subject Be ready alwaies saith he to answer every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you 1 Pet. 3.15 with meekness and reverence Now truly the Apostle had good
afford the Colossians since Tychicus left him in prison at Rome that is in the mouth of the Lyon as himself speaks in another place Dear Brethren it is true the Apostle did abide still in that sad estate for that time and it 's true this was it the Colossians were in pain for But yet these two messengers had many things to say unto them that were proper to mitigate their trouble and to ease their pain first that the Apostle was still alive safe and sound as Daniel otherwhile in the den of Lyons nay that he was not without hope of being set at liberty Then again and which is the principal that is faith and piety were so far from being weaken'd by this rude tentation that they were become more firm and lively then ever shining in this tryal as fine gold in the furnace that instead of being afflicted at it himself he comforted others the spirit of GOD continually maintaining Christian joy and peace in his heart and this tribulation and conserving the same fresh and full as otherwhile the bush of Moses in the midst of the fire And lastly that if his body was bound yet the Gospel was not so the Apostle with an high and invincible courage frankly preaching in his irons and changing by a Divine miraculousness his prison into a School of JESUS CHRIST opening too by the efficacy of his example the mouths of many brethren to preach the word boldly without fear his whole affliction serving by the providence of GOD to a much greater advancement of the Gospel Phil. 1.12 as himself saith elsewhere This relation as you see was very proper to consolate the hearts of the Colossians not to speak of the knowledge and capacity of Tychicus in the things of the Kingdom of Heaven which furnished him abundantly wherewith to do these faithful people this good office in representing to them the doctrine and the promises of our LORD and Saviour the necessity and utility of the cross 2 Cor. 4.17 the life and the crowns to which it leadeth us and that eternal weight of an excellent glory which this light and transient affliction worketh for us and the like intimations of which the whole Gospel is full For you may not imagine that this Tychicus and this Onesimus whom he sent them were simple messengers that had no other ability then to make faithful report of what they had seen and heard of St Paul's affairs They were two excellent persons endowed with great gifts of GOD and well instructed in the knowledge of him yea as it is certain of the one and very probable of the other called to the holy ministry And it further heighthens the Apostles charitable affection towards the Colossians that he would deprive himself for their consolation of the presence and assistance of two such persons at a time when they were so sweet and so necessary to him But his prudence appears no less in this choice then his affection and goodness First more generally in that he employ'd about this affair persons proper for the end for which he sent them And secondly in particular that one of the two whom he chose to wit Onesimus beside other qualities he had was a Colossian and therefore a person that should have the more credit with them as their own countryman It is true that Epaphras of whom he will afterward speak had the same quality But it seems that a particular consideration withheld the Apostle from employing him in this commission Even that he had already exercis'd the holy Ministry among the Colossians and preached that very Evangelical doctrine to them which was now troubled by false teachers as we understand by the first Chapter of this Epistle He then being interessed and as it were a party in the quarrel the Apostle do's very prudently in employing other persons namely Tychicus and Onesimus that so their faith and doctrine appearing conform to Epaphras's the Colossians might the more easily perceive that his was not particularly his own but in truth the LORD CHRIST's and his Apostles and that as the Scripture faith in the mouth of these two or three witnesses the word might be established But the Apostle to give them credit with the Colossians and render their Ministry fruitful to them advertiseth them of the good and recommendable qualities each of them As for Tychicus he calleth him his beloved Brother and a faithful Minister and Fellow-servant in the LORD titles as you see very honourable He qualifies him after the same manner in the Epistle to the Ephesians to whom he employ'd him in the very same sort as he doth here to the Colossians Whence it appears that this holy man was one of those extraordinary Ministers which the Scripture of the New Testament do's particularly stile Evangelists These were as aids to the Apostles assisted them followed them and were diversly employed by them according to the necessities of the Church sometime in one place sometime in another without being fixed to any particular flock as ordinary Pastors are and making no longer stay any where then the Apostles orders did require Such a one for instance was Titus whom St. Paul left in Crete to finis the erection of the Church Tit. 1.5 and afterward sent into Dalmatia to preach the Gospel there 2 Tim. 4.10 Such a one again was Timothy and Crescens and many others And truly the charge the Apostles had being of such a vast extent as to embrace the whole universe it is evident that it did of necessity require they should be assisted by such Helpers and inferiour Ministers who might be employed in such places as they themselves could not go to or tarry in Our adversaries to give you this intimation by the way do commit an errour in this matter when they apply to Bishops what they read in the New Testament of this sort of Ministers For it 's true indeed that the Evangelists were superior unto the common and ordinary Pastors of each Church and held the next place to the Apostles whose Lieutenants in a manner they were But it 's false that any such Ministers were or were to be in the Church after the Apostles decease Their Ministry was extraordinary and subsisted no longer then the Apostleship did for which properly it was instituted And hence it plainly appears that the Bishops of the Roman communion can by no means pass for Ministers of this order since they have each of them their Title or Diocess to which they are fastned and have no power to exercise their Ministry elsewhere whereas the Evangelists had no flock that was properly and particularly assigned them but were as general intendants who by the Apostles order and according to the necessities of Churches did transport themselves sometime to one and sometime to another unto countries and people very far asunder as you see by the example of Titus who having been employ'd in ordering the Churches of Crete when that was done came
the will of the LORD is and elsewhere again he commandeth us to prove it The necessity of the other point Rom. 12.2 our LORD JESUS CHRIST sheweth us when He saith in the Gospel according to St. Matthew Not every one that saith unto me LORD LORD shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.21 I acknowledge that while the beleever is here below there want many degrees both in his knowledge of the will of GOD and in the obedience he renders Him of that ultimate and supreme perfection which he shall one day attain unto in Heaven 1 Cor. 13.12 according to the Apostle's assertion in 1 Epist to the Corinthians that now we see through a glass darkly and know but in part but then we shall see face to face and know as we are known Yet this hinders not but that setting this comparison aside that measure of faith and holiness which the faithful do at present attain unto may be termed a perfection and compleatness because it is without hypocrisie reaching to internals and externals and doth include all the parts of true piety and chastity not one left out And it 's in this sense that the truly faithful are oft-times in Scripture called perfect and compleat to wit in reference to the state and measure of the present life for a distinguishing of them not only from prophane and brutish men who take up no part of the will of GOD at all but also from hypocrites and carnal Christians who consider but a part thereof halting between two and are throughly and absolutely neither in CHRIST nor of the world Epaphras had reason to desire this perfection for his Colossians since that no one without it can inherit everlasting life And they who dogmatize that it is not universally necessary for the obtaining of salvation and that it is a matter of counsel as they call it not of command they I say are grievously mistaken and do by this pernicious errour open a door of licence unto wicked men and furnish them with pillows to sleep upon in mortal security For our parts dear Brethren follow we the prayer of Epaphras and take good heed we never count that thing superfluous or unnecessary which he so instantly beg'd of GOD for his flock and sheep And knowing that they shall have no part in Heaven whose righteousness doth not exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and that JESUS CHRIST will receive in thither none but them that have done the will of GOD His Father let us apply our selves with all our might â—o know it and fulfil it Let us give our selves no rest untill by prayers and tears and by continual labour and exercise in the Gospel we have attained to be perfect and compleat in all the will of GOD. Yet it is not enough to attain hereto we must abide and stand firm in it as the Apostle here says persevere constantly to our last breath in this brave and blessed undertaking neither the menaces nor the caresses of the world neither the Sophisms of seducers nor the scandals of false brethren nor the weaknesses of our own flesh ever prevailing over us to make us vary For you know that the crown of salvation is for them alone that persevere It 's thus that Epaphras strove to obtain of GOD by his ardent and assiduous prayers that the Colossians might abide perfect and compleat in all the will of GOD. But because the Apostle knew how much it concerned this people to be firmly perswaded of the affection of their Pastor that he might assure them fully of it he alledgeth to them the authority of his own testimony For saith he I bear him witness that he hath a great zeal that is a very ardent affection for you and for them of Laodicea and of Hierapolis These were two Cities of Phrygia neighbouring on Colosse where the LORD JESUS had Churches that served Him in the faith of His Gospel And that of Laodicea is one of the seven to whom He caused to be written by St. John those excellent Epistles which are read in the first Chapters of his Apocalypse You see what care the Apostle takes to set Epaphras right in the Spirit of his flock Whence you may judge how execrable is the rage or envy of those who quite contrary to this holy man do by their detractions and ill offices endeavour to alienate or slacken the inclination of Churches towards their Pastors and in so doing render their ministry unprofitable to them But to proceed After the salutation of Epaphras the Apostle presents them that of Luke and Demas Luke the beloved Physitian saluteth you saith he and also Demas It 's the constant opinion from all antiquity that the first of these two is the same St. Luke that wrote the third of our Gospels and the Book of the Acts of the Apostles two of the most excellent pieces that we have in the Divine writings of the New Testament And verily besides the name of Luke his own history as seems to me leads us to it For himself relateth that he embarqued with St. Paul when he was carried prisoner into Italy and that he came with him to Rome as you may see in the two last Chapters of the Acts where he describes this voyage Therefore being there with the Apostle there is all the probability in the World that he 's the person St. Paul speaks of in this place it being not found that mention is made in Scripture of any other faithful man of that name He calls him Physician because of his former profession as you see that St. Matthew is sometimes termed a Publican because he e'rwhile was so before his conversion But that same heavenly call that had changed Matthew from a Publican into an Apostle and afore-time of a keeper of sheep made David a Pastor of Nations wrought a like miracle in St. Luke and of a Physician to the body made him a Physician of souls His two books shew us how able he was in this Divine art and as often as you read them at home or hear them publickly here where because of their excellency they are both of them explained to you make account that they are a quantity of wholsome medicines presented you to be applied to your souls as you have need I well know that there are some modern Expositors who referr what the Apostle saith here unto another Luke but they produce no valuable reason For whereas they alledge that the Apostle would have adorned this person with some more illustrious Elogie if he had spoken of Luke the Evangelist this is extremely feeble Is it not a very glorious qualifying of him to call him his well-beloved It 's a great honour to have the love of so holy an Apostle and an assured testimony of piety and vertue Withal it is not alwaies necessary to accompany the names of illustrious persons