6. Those that spend more Zeal in crying out against indifferent things then in reproving apparent ungodliness may justly be suspected by us Rom. 2.22 Thou that abhorrest Idols saith the Apostle dost thou commit Sacriledge It is true that in respect of the Authority of him that commands there is no small commandment and the breach of any of Gods Laws is a great sin But yet in respect of the nature of the Command Christ sometimes speaks of a first and great Commandment Mat. 22.38 Mat. 5.19 and sometimes of one of the least Commandments and he that is scrupulous in smaller matters and careless in greater doth betray himself to have a diseased Conscience Sermon on Acts 26.9 as I have elsewhere shewed And therefore those that Cry out with such a loud and bitter cry against things which in the judgement of the soberest of themselves are in their own Nature indifferent as if they were palpable Idolatry and yet have made no bones of sacriledge injustice and shedding of innocent blood it is a shrewd sign that they are Seducers and have a design to impose upon us 7. Those that contradict the sense of the Church of God in all ages are to be suspected as Innovators and that their opinions are rather new then good It is true that the antiquity of an errour doth not excuse it for there have been errours in the Church ever since the time of the Apostles But yet the constant judgement of the Church of God in all Ages concerning any point in controversie or concerning the meaning of any controverted Scripture gives us good encouragement to believe it and to disbelieve them that oppose it because it is not probable that our gracious God would leave his Church in the dark through so many ages and never discover the Truth till now of late 8. Lastly we may know them from the direction that God himself gives us Deut. 18. ult VVhen a Prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord if the thing follow not nor come to pass that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously thou shalt not be affraid of him Those that pretend to a gift of prophecy as many have done in our age though they should by often shooting at random hit the Mark sometimes yet if they miss in anything that they foretel as we have seen it in our frequent experience this is a sure sign that the Lord hath not sent them but they speak of their own heads and we have reason to fear that they have not onely belyed the Lord in saying Thus saith the Lord Jer. 23.31 when the Lord hath not spoken but also that they have had a further design even to entice us to the embracing of their errours by these pretences Upon whomsoever we see any of these Marks we have reason to suspect them to be of those that lye in wait to deceive and therefore should avoid them and take Solomons counsel Prov. 19.27 to Cease or forbear to hear the instruction that tends to cause us to err from the ways of Wisdom To conclude I shall give you a recapitulation of what hath been spoken a little varying from my former Method You have heard 1. That there are many Winds of false doctrine stirring to try who are stable 2. That Seducers use a great deal of subtilty and diligence lying in wait to deceive 3. That a great number are by them tossed to and fro and carried about 4. That even those that are of honest affections and good lives are in danger of being ensnared by them and therefore he that thinketh he standeth should take heed lest he fall 5. That especially those that are children and weak in knowledge are in great danger and consequently that we should labour to be men and not children in understanding 6. Lastly that God hath appointed the Office of the Ministry in the Church as a special preservation from errours Now the Lord Joh. 5.29 of his Mercy grant to all of us Grace and Wisdom to search the Scriptures 1 Joh. 4.1 and to try the spirits whether they be of God and to hold fast the Faith and a good Conscience 1 Tim. 1.19 now when so many have made shipwrack of both that so we may not be drawn away with the errour of the wicked to depart from our own stedfastness 2 Pet. 3.17 18. but may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Grant this O Lord we beseech thee through the Merits of thy dear Son and the working of thy Holy Spirit To which glorious Trinity God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory world without end Amen FINIS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR HEAVENLY WISDOM described by its seven Properties An ASSIZE SERMON Preached in the CATHEDRAL at SARVM July 9th 1665. at the Wiltshire-Assizes Before the Right Honourable his Majesties Judges of Assize and Nisi Prius for the WESTERN Circuit In the Sheriffalty and at the request of THOMAS MOMPESSON Esquire By Paul Lathom M. A. Pro. 4.7 Wisdom is the principal thing therefore get Wisdom and with all thy getting get Vnderstanding Printed by T. M. 1666. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR Heavenly WISDOM described By its Seven PROPERTIES James 3.17 But the Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of Mercy and good Fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie WIsdom is the soul of Nature the eye of the Soul the light of the Eye the sun of that Light the copy of Heaven the standard of the Earth the helm of Reason the guardian of Life the glory of Men the mirror of Angels the shaddow or reflection of God himself who is as the Psalmist speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 covered with Light as with a Garment Psal 104.2 It is Wisdom that makes a man Denizon of the upper Regent of the lower World correspondent of both Without which we should be but clods of moving Earth steept to dirt in Phlegm and kneaded into humane shape This general term Wisdom divides it self ut analogum in sua analogata into worldly Policy moral Prudence and Christian Wisdom Worldly Policy trades in the World as its City from whence it seems to take its name Now all that is in the world is either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 2.18 or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pleasures Profits or Honours That which designes riches as its end our Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earthly that which designes pleasures Jam. 3.15 he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sensual that which designes honour he stiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Devilish because it imitates that great sin of the Devil Pride And of all worldly wisdom in general St. Paul pronounceth that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foolishness before God 1 Cor. 3.19 Moral Prudence whether we take it for a practical
meaning of the Scriptures as before he delivered his judgment And consequently the appealing to him in this matter is so far from putting an end to all strife that it is the way to continue an endless strife till he hath better Asserted his own authority then ever yet he hath done And therefore we may very reasonably invert this Argument and say that if the appealing to the Pope be not the way to satisfie our saith but rather to make it giddy by running round in these mazes therefore it is not the best way to refer our selves to him as an Arbitrator or Vmpire in those differences that are amongst us about the meaning of some Texts of Scriptures If yet they persist in pleading necessity to draw us to this inconvenience and that without putting it to this reference the suit will never be at an end We answer That as the case is very sad in our Church in regard of these divisions of Reuben so we may well suppose that the evil eye with which they look upon us represents it as much worse then it is when they would draw us to lean upon a broken Reed for fear of falling to rest upon that for the strengthening of our Faith which is not able to uphold it self I mean the Pope's authority and therefore will afford but a sorry support to us Besides when we find that in the Apostles times there was great cause to complain of Multitudes of false Teachers which then were risen up in the Church all which no doubt did pretend to the Patronage of the Scriptures as our Modern Opiniators now do and yet we never hear St. Paul who complains so much of them to appeal to St. Peter who was then alive and able to give a better construction of the Scriptures than those that call themselves his Successors for deciding those controversies and pronouncing who was in the right But he proceeds to cut his way by the Sword of the Spirit Eph. 6 17. which is the Word of God and reckons these Weapons to be mighty through God for pulling down strong Holds 2 Cor. 14.4 5. casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledg of God and bringing into Captivity every thought into the Obedience of Christ Therefore I say Why may not we believe that the same strength is able to do the same works still and that if we be diligent in endeavouring by sound Doctrine Tit. 1.9 Chap. 2 v. 1.8 both to exhort and to convince the gain-sayers and preach the things that becomes sound Doctrine and use sound Speech which cannot reasonably be contradicted that this I say shall be effectual for the discovery of the Truth And that we shall find in the issue that Great is the Truth and stronger than all things that it endureth and is alwayes strong 1 Esdras 4.35 38. and conquereth evermore Whereas Error though it appear boysterous and turbulent for the present yet it shall in the end appear to be weak and yield the Victory unto Truth And though for the present it afford us no small trouble in the Church that men of perverse mindes will not see the plain and true meaning of some Scriptures because they are blinded with prejudice and self-conceit yet do we not think that the onely expedient to remedy this is to turn Papists both because their Pope hath nothing to shew as a Commission for his Vmpirage and therefore we should be never the better for appealing to him and also because we doubt not but the Lord who is pleased to permit these errours for the trial and exercise of our Faith when we have suffered under them as much as he thinks meet for us will without applying our selves to this indirect course stablish 1 Pet. 5.10 strengthen and settle us and â—â—â—ry true member of his Church in the right Faith Rom. 16.20 and that the God of peace will himself tread Satan under our feet shortly I might add to make this up weight the contrary judgements of Popes and Antipopes which have for some time made a great stir in the Church and must needs be a great distraction to the mindes of them that were bound by their Religion to rest upon the judgement of an infallible person when it was so hard to determine which of the two contraries was truly infallible And beside that in the successions in that See there have been divers that have contradicted the judgement of their Predecessors yea we are not certain but that the same Pope may the next year esteem himself infallible in holding that which is quite contrary to what he now doth infallibly determine and these cases must needs puzzle the Faith of those that apply themselves to such a judge as may be subject to such alterations and contrariety But these things have been so fully and excellently managed by far abler hands that I shall content my self with giving a brief hint of them And this I think is sufficient to convince any person of an unbyassed minde That there is neither necessity nor convenience to invite us to refer our selves to the Pope for deciding of controversies about the interpretation of difficult Scriptures But to proceed As there are many places of Scripture which are not easie to be understood so it behooves us both to be industrious in using the means which God affords us for attaining the knowledge of them and withal to be very modest in passing our judgements concerning the meaning of them And indeed it is mostly to be observed that they are most confident of their understanding the darkest places of Scripture that have very little to support this confidence but onely that good Opinion they have thought meet to entertain of their own abilities And as the Moralist saith of moral and natural knowledge Seneca Multi ad scientiam pervenissent nisi putâssent se jam pervenisse Mens confidence that they are in the right hinders them from finding out their errour and seeking after the truth So we may say of spiritual Knowledge that one great thing which keeps many from the knowledge and belief of the truth and locks them up fast in the fetters of errours is that presumption they have taken up that they are in the right and that it is not possible they should be deceived and therefore Though you bray them in a morter yet will not this wisdom depart from them In the interpreting of Scripture it hath alwaies been observed as a general Rule that That interpretation which is nearest to the letter is the safest and most genuine and that The further men go from the letter the more hazzardous path they tread Indeed if the litteral meaning do either contradict our Senses or Reason or be expresly contrary to any other more plain Text or to the analogy of Faith then we must leave the letter and look for another meaning that will not run us upon such inconveniences So
CHRIST CRVCIFIED OR The DOCTRINE of the GOSPEL ASSERTED Against PELAGIAN SOCINIAN ERROURS Revived under the Notion of New Lights Wherein also the Original Occasion and Progress of Errours are set down And Admonitions directed both to them that stand fast in the Faith and to those that are fallen from it Unto which are added three Sermons Preached upon publick Occasions being of the same Nature and tendency with the Tract By Paul Lathom M. A. Vicar of Warmister in VViltshire 1 Cor. 1.23 24. But we preach Christ Crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God 1 John 2.22 Who is a lyar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son LONDON Printed by Tho. Milbourn 1666. To the Right Reverend Father in God ALEXANDER Lord Bishop of SARVM My very much Honoured Lord and Patron MY LORD THe Church of God is very fitly represented as a Lilly among Thorns Cant. 2.2 which though it self be both harmless and pleasant yet must expect unpleasant and harsh usage from the Ill-neighbourhood of them who are as Briers and Thorns Mic. 7.4 Psal 80.12 Cant. 2.15 Prophane persons like the wild Boar will be attempting to dig up the Roots and Hereticks like little Foxes will be spoyling the tender Grapes of this Vine Psal 80.15 which the Lords own right hand hath planted And both these sorts of them that are born after the flesh Gal. 4.29 through their enmity to them that are born after the Spirit as they greatly disturb the progress and peace of the Shepherds of Christs flock who must expect to be men of strife Jer. 15.10 and to oppose themselves against a current of prophaness and errors of whose troubles 2 Cor. 11.26 28. together with the care of the Church of God the perils from false brethren are not the least part so to those that are of the Flock it must needs be an occasion of many sad thoughts and searchings of heart many sad temptations and trials of their stability Now the Word of God As it supplies us with such comforts which in the multitude of the thoughts of our hearts Psal 94.19 may at all times delight and bear up our souls So in this sort of distresses Psal 119.50 we may truly say This is our comfort in our distress Thy word hath quickned us And that Vnless this word had been our delight and comfort we must needs have sunk and perished under these troubles and trials Whose heart would not fail him to see so many false Prophets and false Christs arise in the Church Mat. 14.24 if Christ had not told us before That false Christs and false Prophets should arise and St. Paul 2 Tim. 3.1 That in the last dayes perilous times should come And St. Peter 2 Pet. 2.1 that There should arise false Teachers among us which should privily bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them What sad thoughts and searchings of heart would the divisions of Reuben cause Judg. 5.15 16. while the sons of Belial are confederate in wickedness if Christ himself had not told us that his Coming and Doctrin would not send peace in the earth but a sword Mat. 10.34 not designedly but by accident How would it startle us to hear the confidence of many in citing the word of Truth for the defence of dangerous errors if the Apostle had not told us 2 Cor. 11.14 that Satan doth oft transform himself into an Angel of light and the Evangelists that he had the impudence to quote Scripture to our Saviour to entice him to evil Mat. 4.6 and therefore that it is no wonder if his ministers do transform themselves into the Apostles of Christ How would it stagger us to see the outward strictness of life and specious pretences of Sectaries if Christ had not told us that many should come in sheeps clothing Mat. 7.15 who inwardly are ravening wolves How would it sad our hearts to see men of good affections and excellent gifts drawn away to errors if Christ had not told us that the Seducers will be so prevalent Mat. 24.24 as to deceive if it were possible even the very Elect What sadness must it needs work in our hearts to see men sleight and loath the spiritual Manna of Gods publick Ordinances and to long for flesh of their own fancying if the Apostle had not told us that the time would come 2 Tim. 4.3 when men would not endure sound Doctrin but after their own lusts would gather them an heap of Teachers that should claw their itching ears Whose heart would not break to see the general coldness and want of zeal for God yea that Irreligiousness and Atheism of many if Christ himself had not told us that when Iniquity should so much abound in the later dayes Mat. 24.12 the love of many would wax cold Now God in his Word hath told us of these things before hand to the end that when we see them come to pass we should not be offended Joh. 16.1 And withal that being thus forewarned we might endeavour to arm our selves against these trials It is the duty of all men like the good Beraeans to search the Scriptures Acts 17.11 and find out the deceits of seducers And those especially whom God hath made watchmen over his people Ezek. 3.17 ought to give all diligence in discovering these enemies that would gladly find an opportunity to sow these Tares while we are sleeping Mat. 13.25 To settle as much as may be them that stand fast to reclaim if possible them that are gone astray and to clear our selves from the blood of all men Acts 20.26 This small Tract is designed for the promoting of these Ends which I hope may stir up others of better abilities and leasure to go further in so necessary a work If any object that this Doctrin of the Gospel being generally owned did not need to be asserted I answer I could wish that all our Neighbours were both almost and altogether such Christians as they ought to be But it is too sadly evident that all are not Christians that go under that general Name Beside if Saint Augustine's learned books de Civitate Dei and that later Work of the noble Du Plessis De veritate Christ Relig. be accounted both excellent and useful then why may not another of the same nature that followeth them though not passibus aequis be esteemed acceptable and useful in these giddy times Psal 82.5 wherein all the foundations of the Earth are out of course And as for the stile it is such as is both sutable to my own Genius and I hope to the subject here handled And being designed chiefly for the benefit of ignorant and misguided people I thought it better to use such a language as might profit them then such as might amuse them However Gen. 27.22 if
a fourth for Christ in opposition to Paul Apollos and Cephas all Teachers and all Ordinances And indeed though difference in judgment about smaller matters ought not to produce distance in Affections and standing aloof from Unity and Association yet we find by dayly experience that it doth bring forth these Apples of Sodom Amos 3.9 Can two walk together except they be agreed Yea it hath occasioned many to become indifferent others Scepticks in matters of Religion And all these things have conspired to produce another effect of dangerous consequence even the putting of a stumbling block in the way to turn them aside from Religion which else might have come to the embracing of it The best and most proper Expedient to help us against these growing mischiefs is to get our souls well ballasted with substantial Knowledge of the Fundamentals of our Faith that an over-large sail of Affections may not betray us to those prejudices that are prepared against us by the various Winds of strange Doctrine that are abroad That we may be like the Mountains fixed and unmoveable and not like Chaff and other leight and loose matter easily carried away and driven to and fro with these blasts 1 Cor. 3.11 Now it is certain that Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ. And therefore as they are to be esteemed Houses built without a Foundation that are not bottomed upon him so it will greatly concern all of us to endeavour to be rooted and built up in him Col. 2.7 which will be our best safegard in these perilous times wherein there are so many Seducers that watch for our souls divers of whom do bring in damnable Heresies 2 Pet. 2.1 even denying the Lord that bought them CHAP. II. A right understanding of the Holy Scriptures is our best security against Errors We need not sail to Rome to fetch it thence Two extreams in the Interpreting of Scripture both which do dangerously tend to induce us to Error THe Papists do both injuriously and absurdly alledge to the undervaluing of the Authority of the Holy Scriptures and setting the Authority of their Church above it that all sorts of Hereticks have pretended the Scriptures to favour and father even their most deformed and monstrous Conceits In this Allegation they do not onely wrong the Word of God in attempting to detract from its Authority but also prejudice their own cause by giving us just occasion to suspect either the Judgment or Designe of those that would impose upon us by such a Non-concluding Argument For this very thing doth argue what great respect men are naturally enclined to shew to the Word of God seeing though many men hold that which is really contrary to it yet they would make it seem as near as they can to be agreeable to it And it hence appears that they account an Argument drawn from the Scriptures to be very firm and powerful seeing they take such pains to wrest the Scriptures to make them speak that which they never intended on their side It is then very evident and may be spoken for the honour of this sure word of Prophesie that men of all Professions and Perswasions 2 Pet. 1.19 do appeal to it as the last Judge in all Controversies appertaining to our Christian Faith But the great thing controverted is What is the best way for Interpreting the Scriptures The Papists if either Self-interest or the just Judgment of God upon them did not quite put out their eyes could not possibly give up themselves to going round in these mills which grind for their advantage In treating of the Authority of the Scriptures they first will have the Scriptures to obtain Authority from the Testimony of the Church and then the Authority of the Church shall be established from the Testimony of the Scriptures So that the Church before its Authority be proved must give Authority to the Scriptures and then the Scriptures which they suppose to have received their Authority from the Church must give Authority to the Church And in like manner they deal about the Interpretation of the Scriptures For if we ask Who must have Authority so to Interpret the Scriptures that we must rest in that Interpretation They will tell you The Church And who is that Church but he whom they suppose the Head of the Church The Pope So that first that Interpretation which the Pope gives of the Scriptures must establish his Authority to interpret them and then by vertue of Authority with which he conceives himself to be invested by the Scriptures he takes Authority over the Scriptures But we may well reckon it a considerable part of our happiness in matters of our Faith that as we do upon good grounds believe the Authority of the Scriptures to be such as needs not to be supported by the Pope but to which indeed he ought to submit himself and by which he must be judged So we believe upon sufficient grounds that for the Interpretation of Scripture in matters necessary to our salvation we need not send to Rome to be informed We should esteem it an unpardonable injury both to the Wisdom and Goodness of our Heavenly Father if we should suppose that he had left his Will in order to our salvation involved in such intricacies as should not be obvious to be apprehended by those that with an honest heart set themselves to search the Scriptures And whereas in matters of less moment there are some dark places of Scripture which the Lord hath thought meet to leave for the exercise of our Industry and trial of our Humility As to these we say that as a man may be saved without a distinct understanding them so the Pope not onely may erre but hath fouly erred in attempting the Interpretation of them And I may reasonably add before I leave this that the Papists in pleading for a necessity of appealing to the Pope as the last Judge of the Interpretation of Scripture do quite shake the foundation of his power by overloading it with a too-high structure For if we must needs believe our selves to be at a loss as to the meaning of the Scriptures unless we have the gracious Nod of his pretended Holiness to confirm it then why may we not as well suspect our selves not rightly to understand those Scriptures that are alleadged for the Popes Authority to interpret Scripture unless his Authority do confirm us in this meaning of them And if so then the Popes Authority to interpret the Scriptures is wholly founded as I intimated before upon his own Magisterial deciding the meaning of Scriptures And if even our Saviour saith If I bear witness of my self John 5.31 my witness is not true then why may we not suspect the Popes Authority which is wholly built upon his own Testimony And if the Popes authority in this case be not reasonably confirmed then are we as far to seek for the
when the Prophet speaks of the calves of our lips Hos 14.3 we must needs qualifie it by rendring it the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving which proceeding from thankful lips and hearts is more acceptable to God then the offering of Calves or Lambs was under the old Law So when the Scripture applies to God hands and feet and mouth and eyes c. we must not with the Anthropomorphitae entertain such gross and absurd conceits of God as to think him to be a body and endued with such parts of a body as be in us but we must understand those expressions to set forth unto us such works of God in the World as some-what resemble these actions of ours in which we use those members of our bodies as Instruments So when the Apostle saith Christ sent him not to baptize 1 Cor. 1.17 but to preach the Gospel for as much as in the former verses the Apostle expresly tells us that he had Baptised some which he could not have done without a commission we must therefore understand it that Christ sent him not so much to Baptize as to Preach even as the same negative particle in other places Mat. 9.13 doth not deny absolutely but comparatively as in that Text I will have mercy and not sacrifice So when the Papists pertinaciously urge the letter of those words Mat. 26.16 This is my Body to prove the Body of Christ to be present in their sense in the Eucharist we say That forasmuch as this is both contrary to what our senses witness and is a contradiction to reason and also destroys the very nature and end of a Sacrament that therefore it is a great injury to the Text to adhere so pertinaciously to the letter of it and not to qualifie it with a milder and more intelligible construction This then is one extream in which many run on to the wronging of the Scripture and of their own judgements when they are over-severe in adhering to the letter And indeed such a pertinaciousness as it sometimes argues men to be guilty of a fond ignorance so for the most part it smells of a design for I have still observed that they who would be over-strict in sticking to the letter of a Text when they have conceived it meet to serve their own turn would be forward enough to run off from the letter when another interpretation would suit better with their purpose And therefore it argues that they are not onely deceived themselves but have a design to deceive others also But there are others who run in another extream which is equally dangerous viz. those that without necessity do fly to a spiritual or mystical sense so as quite to reject the literal and this as it doth commonly proceed from affectation and a desire to seem to take notice of somâ—thing more than vulgar eyes are aware of so it is for the most part used to serve a design to evade the force of some plain convincing Scripture by mudding the water that so themselves and their tenets may escape unseen Did it not smell of a design in those female teachers who when that Text was alledged against their usurping of this office 1 Tim. 2.11 I suffer not a woman to teach would seek to evade it by giving a mystical interpretation thereof as if by woman should be understood the flesh by which the Apostle will not have us to be taught But so it is that too many do not search the Scriptures to the end that they may conform their own opinions and practices to this Rule but that they may warp the Rule as far as possible to a compliance with the irregularity of their own thoughts and actions Indeed it hath always been the practice of the godly Divines and Fathers of the Church to endeavour to raise up their own and their Readers Meditations to high and spiritual things upon occasion of some historical passage in the Scriptures and there is no doubt but we may very profitably tread the same steps but yet we had need to take heed that we be not tempted to follow these Meditations or divine Fancies so far that they draw us to an utter leaving and forgetting of the literal sense of a Text. Origen of old was accused as faulty in this point And no doubt but his too much admiring that Platonism in the Study whereof he spent his younger years and together with that his over much affecting to soar high in a mystical interpretation of Scripture did if not draw him to over-reach in many things yet induce them that have read his Works either to draw erronious conclusions from them which hath been the unhappiness of some or else to condemn his writings as erronious as did the second Council held at Constantinople Prid. Synop. Concil An. Dom. 532. And it is great pitty that some amongst the Learned and Eloquent persons of our age who are great admirers of that Platonick Philosophy in which Origen was trained up in his youth and Favourers of those notions of his which the Church hath condemned as errours have bestowed those choise parts which might have done God and his Church great service if they had been otherwise imployed to invent Cabalistical interpretations of some pieces of Scripture which the Chuch hath in all ages received in the literal sense Me-thinks this danger might easily be discerned to attend upon such attempts that if we once admit a Cabala to interpret the beginning of the History of the World I mean the three first Chapters of Genesis we cannot imagine what should hinder the same spirit from passing the like construction upon the History of the Gospel and so in a while such projectors may either begin themselves or at least induce their injudicious Readers to doubt not onely whether there was any such thing in reality as the Fall of a Protoplast and of us all in him but whether there were any such things done in reality as those transactions which the Gospel relates in order to the reconciling of God and Man I could wish those that make this great stir for reducing our Religion and holy Scriptures to a compliance with Platonism would receive a check by that Grave caution of a late Pious and Learned Bishop Bp. Prid. Fa. controv Caveant ne dum Platonem faciunt Christianum seipsos ostendant esse minime Christianos While men attempt to mix Christianity and Platonism together instead of mending what they conceive to be a miss they may be in great danger both to pervert their own judgements and to mud the streams of Doctrine to the great prejudice of those that shall drink of them They seem already to soar aloft above the simplicity of the Gospel I wish they may be sensible of it before they meet with the success of Icarus And that they may in time employ themselves in the defence of the ancient Christian Faith and beating down of Atheism rather then to
bestow their time and pains in preparing Weapons to put into the hands of men of Atheistical mindes to sight against Christianity and to defend themselves in a sceptical or scornful neglect of the things that concern their souls everlasting health But it is not onely the Learned but many amongst the unlearned also that have made so bold with the Scriptures 2 Pet. 3.16 And the Apostle tells us that such are most apt to wrest the Scriptures to the destruction of themselves and others Whose heart would not bleed to see this Coat of Christ torn to pieces every man snatching at some rag or other of it to cover the nakedness of his own conceptions We need not envy but rather pitty the high conceits that many have entertained of themselves who will needs undertake the Apocalypse to understand it as well as he that wrote it before they be well catechised in the first Principles of the Oracles of God Some we finde despising the plainness of the Gospel as if it were â—utâ—â— dead letter and as if they had some thing within that were a better light to walk by than this Light of the Word of God Others that presume to advance the plainness of the Gospel and make it speak higher matters then our meaner understandings can apprehend therein And indeed these fancies have not onely flattered such people into errours but made others also to be at a stand as not knowing what to do with the Scriptures or when they may conclude themselves to have gained a right understanding of them and fearing lest the letter may rather do them hurt then good except they have these higher notions of it CHAP. III. As in vitious Courses so also in erronious Opinions men go from bad to worse The experience of our age hath sadly confirmed this The sad pass that many are come to at this day in matters of Religion THe ways of Truth and Virtue are to our corrupt nature like the steep ascent of an high Hill which we do not recover without much industry and difficulty But the wayes of vice and errour are like the descent which is not onely easie but precipitant If a man begin to run down a steep Hill he cannot stop when he will but may much endanger himself before he can recover the command of his own motion Even so men that with great heat of a misguided zeal have set themselves to run down this precipice of errours cannot set themselves bounds but are very apt to outrun those limits which they proposed to themselves at their first setting out and therefore they must needs be supposed to run in a very dangerous course What Solomon saith of strife Prov. 17.14 The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water therefore leave off contention before it be medled with may very fitly be applyed to errour Its beginnings are commonly small and modest but when we have given a little way to it it will enlarge its passage even beyond the expectation of him that began it which should therefore make every man afraid to medle with that which himself shall not be able to command in a while The Waters of the Sanctuary were at first so shallow Ezek. 47.4 5. as to be but up to the ankles then they rose up to the knees afterwards to the loyns and at last became a River that a man could not pass through The Cloud which the Prophets servant saw was at first in bigness but like a mans hand 1 Kin. 18.47 44. but in a while it overspread the whole Heaven and poured forth abundance of Rain upon the Earth even so those Notions and novel Opinions which in their beginning have seemed so inconsiderable as not to deserve any great opposition have proceeded by degrees to overspread the Firmament and to darken the Sun of the Gospel those waters which at first seemed so shallow that a Childe might play in them without danger have by degrees swelled like Jordan so as to overflow all their Banks and to threaten a deluge to the Church of God As in vicious practices it hath been observed that Nemo repente fuit turpissimus Men first hearken to the counsel of the ungodly and then proceed to walk in the way of sinners Psal 1.1 till at last they come to sit down in the seat of scorners at God and goodness Yea so insensibly do men slide into this gulph of sin that they do not foresee the dangerous course they are venturing upon but by giving way to vice do become by degrees so bad as they could not once have imagined it possible for them to be When the Prophet foretold Hazael what a bloody man he would be when he should come to the Kingdom of Syria he replyes 2 King 8.13 Is thy servant a dog that I should do such things and it is very likely that he did not imagine while he was a private person that he could have so much wickedness in him as by degrees he did manifest when he came to have power in his hands And the same we may say of errours in judgement that men have not onely taken their degrees in them from bad to worse and so as to outstrip in the succeeding year the errours which they held the year before but even to outstrip their own thoughts and to out-go those bounds and limits that they had set to themselves in their first entring upon these dangerous courses I believe that if any man had been so much a Prophet as for twenty or thirty years ago to have foretold to many persons of our age what they would have come to by this time they would have replyed as Hazael did to Elisha yea if they had but seen the picture of such a Monster represented unto them as now themselves are they would have been the first to have cast stones at it Those that begun first to scruple at the Ceremonial part of the worship of our Church did little expect to have grown to that pass as to disown that Church in which themselves were born and baptized as Antichristian Those that were so zealous for the purity of Gods Ordinances and for the powerful and frequent preaching of the Word as to forsake their own Parishes and go many miles to hear a Sermon did little think that they should have lived to see themselves become despisers and disowners of those Ordinances which they then did so highly value and scorners of that preaching which then they followed with so much diligence and pains-taking Those that began from a sense of the benefit and necessity of that great Christian Duty of counselling and stirring up one another to that which is good to proceed to appoint some set-times for private meetings for such purposes did little think to have improved themselves so far in spritual pride and self-conceit as to venture with Vzze to touch that Ark which it was onely lawful for the Levites to touch 1 Chron.
vain hath given these further Lights to his people which would have been superfluous if the former had been sufficients we may hence conclude that he did not esteem the Light of Nature sufficient to guide us in the way to Heaven Beside This that might be known of God by the creatures though it might indeed shew us what service and obedience it was reasonable for us to perform unto God yet could it not enable us to perform it aright Some of the Philosophers have observed so much of a depravation in mans nature as hath made them break forth into direful and tragical exclamations concerning the miserable estate of man But the light of Nature could never shew them without the light of the Word of God the original of this Depravation the creation of the Protoplast and the Covenant which God made with him both in behalf of himself and all mankinde the fall of our first Parents and of us all in them from our original Rectitude and Holiness of Nature nor the way and means how to have our Nature reformed and our Persons reconciled unto God and the defects of our obedience supplyed Flesh and blood hath never revealed nor is it in its power to reveal this unto us but the holy Ghost that dictated the Gospel is that alone which reveals unto us Christ and his Merits as our onely propitiation and way to Salvation 2 Pet. 4.12 That there is not Salvation in any other neither is there any other name under Heaven given amongst men whereby we may be saved but onely this name of Jesus Christ This one word Christ-crucified is the Epitome of the Gospel and the end and design of the Law and the Prophets also the substance of all that we ought to preach and the Object both of your and our Faith And that we may the better understand this Foundation of our Belief concerning Jesus Christ as our Mediator I shall begin this discourse with opening these two terms Christ and Mediator which I am therfore induced to do because these terms are used in different significations in the holy Scriptures from whence men of corrupt mindes and who have endeavoured to corrupt others have taken occasion to deduce many Paradoxes The word Christ I presume is so well understood by the most that are Professors of the Christian Religion that it would be needless to spend time in the opening of it In the Old Testament he is called Messiah who in the New Testament is called Christ This name Messiah we meet with in several places of the Old Testament 1 Sam. 2.10 Psal 2.2 and 84.9 and 89.51 Dan. 9.25 26. Hab. 3.13 The name of Christ is so frequent in the New Testament that I shall not stand to instance in particular places Now this name is sometimes used and that most properly to denote the Word made flesh or God manifest in the flesh Jo. 1.14 1 Tim. 3.16 Mat. 1.16 his name is rendred Jesus who is called Christ and he that denyeth Jesus to be Christ is said to be a lyar and an Antichrist 1 Joh. 2.22 Sometimes this word Christ is used by a Metonyny to signifie the Church of Christ as 1 Cor. 12.12 and according to some Divines in Gal. 3.16 Is enim est Christi in Ecclesiam amor c. saith Beza upon the place Such is the love of Christ unto his Church that though he filleth all in all yet is he pleased to esteem himself as it were imperfect without his Body the Church and therefore the Church is called The fulness of him who filleth all in all Eph. 1.23 To which purpose we may refer these Texts Act. 9.4 and Mat. 25.40 45. together with Col. 1.24 where Christ is put for the Church which is his mystical Body Again that we be not deceived about this Word we must take notice of some expressions in the New Testament which have reference to Christ As first To be Christ's signifieth to be a Christian Mark 9.41 2 Cor. 10.7 To be subject to Christ 1 Cor. 1.12 and chap. 3.23 To be truely regenerate Rom. 8.9 1 Cor. 15.23 and Gal. 3.29 and chap. 5.24 Secondly To be with Christ signifies to enjoy blessedness with him as Phil. 1.23 comp 2 Cor. 5.8 Luke 23.43 Col. 3.3 comp John 17.24 So 1 Thes 4.17 Thirdly To be in Christ signifies to be converted to the Faith of Christ as Rom. 16.5 7 11. Gal. 1.22 Phil. 4.21 Col. 1.2 1 Thes 2.14 Sometime indeed it is taken for an outward cleaving to Christ as John 15.2 But more usually it is put for a real conversion of the heart unto Christ as Rom. 8.1 2 Cor. 5.17 1 Pet. 5.14 1 John 2.5 and chap. 5.20 So to be found in Christ signifieth in the Faith of Christ Phil. 3.9 Fourthly To be By Christ signifieth to be redeemed by Christ 1 Cor. 8.6 Fifthly Christ is said to be in them whom he hath sanctified by his holy Spirit and united to himself as Members of his mystical Body John 17.23 26. Rom. 8.10 2 Cor. 13.5 And Christ is said to be with them whom though most unworthy he hath not yet wholly divorced from himself Mat. 17.17 Mark 9.19 and Luke 9.41 Or else with those whom he doth most dearly love and for this cause assist and defend as in Mat. 28.20 Sixthly To be without Christ is to be without the knowledge of Christ as the Gentiles which had not had the Gospel preached unto them are said to be without Christ Eph. 2.12 Sometimes also to be without Christ signifieth to be without dependance upon Christ and assistance from him as John 15.4 5. To this we may add that to be weak in Christ sometimes signifieth to be conformable to those infirmities that were in the humane Nature of Christ 2 Cor. 13.4 To be dead in Christ signifieth to be dead in the Faith of Christ as 1 Cor. 15.18 1 Thes 4.14 16. To speak the truth in Christ is to speak it without ambition and meerly for the glory of Christ as Rom. 9.1 and 2 Cor. 12.2 19. These things I thought necessary to point you unto because many have been apt to wrest these places of Scripture beside the true meaning of them both to the prejudice of themselves by inducing a belief of errours and to the dishonour of Christ by entertaining dishonourable conceits of him through misunderstanding the Scriptures For the word Mediatour it signifieth in general one that interposeth between two or more persons for a Mediator is not of one Gal. 3.20 Now in Scripture we sometime read of a Mediator to carry messages between two parties So Moses is called a Mediator because he delivered the Commands of God to the people and the answer of the people unto God Gal. 3.19 comp Exo. 19.3 c. and chap. 20.19 Deut. 5.5 Besides Divines speak of a Conservatory Mediation which tends to perserve unity and friendship between friends In this sense some do believe Christ to be a Mediator in respect of the
those who willingly entertain the truth and he drew unto him divers Jews and Greeks to be his followers This was Christ who being accused by the Princes of the Nation before Pilate and afterward condemned to the Cross by him yet did not they who followed him from the beginning forbear to love him for the ignoming of his death for he appeared to them alive the third day after according as the divine Prophets had before testified the same And divers other wonderful things of him and from that time forward the Race of Christians who derived their name from him hath never ceased Thus we see Josephus confesseth the great works which he did and withall the truth of his Doctrine and certainty of his Resurrection And which we may greatly wonder at he who in flattery had before called Vespasian the Messiah when he comes to write this History whether it overslipped him or whether it was forced from him by the over-ruling hand of God he confesseth that this Jesus was the Christ. Yea the Turks cannot but confess that Jesus did very many great and wonderful works and therefore they preferr him before Moses and set him next to their Mahomet and say He was a good man and a great Prophet And some of the Jews say that Jesus was a very holy man and highly in favour with God who enabled him to do all these works and yet they will not believe him to be the Messiah Pilate himself who condemned him most unjustly to death yet is said afterward to have written to Tiberius a relation of his many Miracles Whereupon Tiberius was willing to admit him into the number of their gods and wrote to the Senate to that end But the Senate refused alledging one of their Laws that none should be admitted into the number of their gods but whom the Senate did first propose themselves Which as it shews the vanity of minde to which even the wiser sort of the Heathens were delivered up that they could conceit that they could either keep out him who was truly God by a Vote in the Senate or by a more favourable Vote when they were in a kinder mood make him a God who was none before So it â—hâ—ws the Providence of God in not permitting his own blessed Son who as to his divine Nature was equal to the Father to be ranked amongst them that were no gods as equal with them The Evasion whereby some of the modern Jews are said to endeavour to keep off this Argument from the Miracles which Jesus wrought from convincing them that he was the true Messiah is so absurd that the very mentioning of it will proclaim it ridiculous They say that as to those works which he did he came to do them by this means He got once into the Holy of holies and stole out thence the name Jehovah which was there written upon a Plate of Gold and for fear lest it should be taken from him he cut a hole in his Thigh and put the Plate therein and by vertue of that Name they say he did all those miracles Every man will easily see the absurdity of this without my spending of words to confute it However hereby it is evident that men of all Nations and Professions are convinced of the many miracles which Jesus wrought when he was upon Earth And forasmuch as he wrought these on purpose to confirm the truth of his being the Messiah that was promised we may therefore conclude that this Truth is hereby setled as such a Rock that the gates of Hell shall never be able to prevail against it The second Argument 2 Argument shall be drawn from Jesus his fulfilling all the Prophesies that went before concerning the Messiah All things did concur in his Person which were foretold concerning the Person of the Messiah and all things were done and suffered by him that were foretold to be done and suffered by the Messiah and therefore he was the true Messiah This was another great Argument which Jesus himself used Search the Scriptures for they are those that testifie of me John 5.39 And tells them that if they did not shut their eyes they might plainly see all things so exactly fulfilled in him that if they did not believe in him Vers 45 46 47. Moses himself would bear witness against them For if they had believed Moses writings and rightly understood them they would have believed Jesus to be the Messiah So when Jesus after his Resurrection was going with the two Disciples to Emmaus Luk. 24.25 26 27. he began at Moses and so through all the Prophets expounded unto them those things which were written concerning himself and blames them for that they had searched and understood the writing of the Prophets no better Acts 17.2 3. And the Apostle Paul at Thessalonica entered into the Synagogue three Sabbath dayes And reasoned with them out of the Scriptures opening and alledging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ And again it is said elsewhere Acts 18.28 that St. Paul mightily convinced the Jews and that publickly shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus is Christ It is very observable that the Evangelists in relating many of the passages of our Saviours life do refer to the Prophesies that foretold these things This and This was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by this and the other Prophet and then was fulfilled the saying of the Prophets c. Luk. 24.44 So Jesus saith These are the words that I spake unto you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me Yea he was so exact in accomplishing all the Prophesies that when he was upon the Cross in extremity of pain and knew that all things were fulfilled save only that one Prophesie which foretold that they should give him Vinegar to drink he therefore gives occasion for the fulfilling of it before he would die John 19.28 Vers 30. and when that was done he said It is finished and then gave up the Ghost Now that we may be the more sensible how Jesus did fulfil all the Prophesies that went before concerning the Messiah let us consider it in these several Branches 1. It was foretold that the Messiah should spring from the Loyns of Abraham and in the Line of the House of David Gen. 22.18 and Chap. 49.8 Isa 11.1 Now this was exactly fulfilled as we see Mat. 1. Luk. 3. where the Pedegree is traced up to David and thence to Judah and so to Abraham And for this very purpose we may conceive these Genealogies to be set down even to satisfie us that Jesus came of these Families as it had been foretold concerning him 2. It was foretold that he should be born of a Virgin Isa 7.14 Behold a Virgin shall
also the prevalency of this Temper is many times conspicuous To this many of their groundless Doubts and fears as to their spiritual Estate do owe their beginning which though they represent themselves as the fruits of tenderness of Conscience and are seldom or never to be found but in persons of truly tender Consciences as many bad weeds do not grow but in the best soyl yet they are evil in themselves as being a false judgement passed upon our selves and a denying the great things which God hath done for our souls and as to their tendency which is ordinarily the hindering of the soul from its vigorous actings in good duties and from taking due comfort in the performances which Gods Spirit hath carried it through These I say are to be imputed to the constitution of the body helped on by Satans Temptations If any enquire upon hearing this How we may distinguish these workings of Fancy from the true and genuin Motions of Conscience and truly know what impulses we are to follow and what to reject I answer 1. Look to the Constitution of thy Body or if thou hast not much skill in such matters be content to receive the advice of those that are able and competent Judges of it Art thou of a sanguin Constitution and findest the motions that solicite thee to a prosecution of them to be of that nature Or art thou naturally inclined to Melancholy and findest such motions in thee as are suitable to that humour It will be a great right done to Conscience to forbear to impute those motions to it which our own Reason may shew us to come from another cause 2. Observe when the temper of thy Body doth alter and see whether these motions and inclinations do alter with it It is sufficiently evident that the temper of mens bodies doth admit of alteration The Sanguin temper will alter by age or sickness or worldly cares The Melancholick will vary by change of Air or Dyet or by the use of Physick beside those lucid intervals wherein most Melancholick persons do meet with an abatement of that humour Now ask thy own experience whether these motions do not ebb and flow according to the abating and encreasing of these Distempers in thy body If so there is great reason to impute these motions and inclinations not to Conscience but to the temper of thy body and it would be a great wrong to the sacred name of Conscience to father them upon it Secondly Even the motions of Lust will sometimes deceive us under the pretence of being the dictates of Conscience This may seem very strange to them that have never been willing to put themselves to the trouble of examining the motions which they have followed whence they have come But it is very palpable to every man that with a discerning eye and unbyassed mind looks upon them Sometimes the lust of the Eye Covetousness and Ambition lapps it self in the Mantle of Conscience Come see my zeal 2 King 10.16 for the Lord of Hosts saith Jehu when every man knows that it was somewhat else and not true zeal that made him drive so furiously Yea some may go so far as not only to deceive others but themselves also in this point as in their denying Tythes and other Payments 't is too too palpable that Covetousness hath taken the place and office of Conscience and yet sets so bold a face upon it as if it were pure Conscience that guided these men to such practises Sometimes that lust of malice and revenge may put us forward to serve it under the notion of Conscience So the Scribes and Pharisees persecuted Christ out of malice and yet with a great shew of Zeal and Conscience And those others of whom our Saviour fore-tels that they would persecute his Apostles Joh. 16.2 and verily think they did God good service in doing it Now if any enquire of the manner how these lusts come to prevail so far as to deceive us under the name of Conscience I need say no more then I did upon the former Head viz That the Impetuousness of these motions in the mind may be apt to make us mistake them for some extraordinary Inspirations which we ought not to resist But to undeceive us in this point it may be very useful to consider 1. That what motions soever do encline us to any thing that is forbidden by the Law of God are evil and to be rejected Now the motions of lust do alwayes stir us up to do that which is contrary to Gods Law and therefore are to be opposed though never so suitable and grateful to our sensitive appetite Isa 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony we ought to look and whatsoever persons or motions are contrary to that this very thing is sufficient to convince us that they are not of God 2. If we find our selves to be zealously carried forward onely in some things that tend to our own profit or pleasure and careless and remiss in other things we have great reason to conclude these zealous motions not to proceed from Conscience but a worse Principle 2 Kings 10.28 29. Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel and was very zealous in it as that which was a fair pretence for cutting off the house of Ahab that none might be left to lay claim to the Crown and also to dazle the eyes of the people that they might not rise up in opposition to him who shewed himself so zealous in executing the Lords pleasure But from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat the serving of the golden Calves at Dan and Bethel from these he departed not because he thought the continuance of this to be a good piece of policy to keep the people from returning to Jerusalem to worship lest they should also carry back the Kingdom to the House of David Hereby Jehu did discover that it was not zeal for God but Covetousness and Ambition that made him so strict in obeying Gods commands in other respects And if any man find the same temper and tendency in his zeal he will have just reason to suspect the same things concerning it 3. Satans temptations and suggestions may sometimes impose upon men under the notion of Conscience and inspirations from the Spirit of God The Apostle tells us that Satan hath an art to transform himself into an Angel of light 2 Cor. 11.14 to represent his temptations as the advice of some good Angel or as the motions of the holy Spirit of God He had the impudence to cite the Scripture in his tempting of our Saviour Mat. 4.6 and therefore it is no marvel if he seduce so many ignorant people to pervert the Scriptures for the encouraging of themselves to do that which is quite contrary to the meaning of the Scriptures Yea we have very strong reasons to perswade us that those raptures and Enthusiasms which have possessed some of them have been nothing else but an higher
Virtue or for an intellectual Habit is so excellent and useful a thing that we may truly say of it that Without prudence neither the mind nor actions can be good Prov. 19.2 Christian Wisdom which our Apostle in the Text calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wisdom which is from above hath many that are pretenders to it but few that are candidats of it And as concerning the excellency and value of this Wisdom we may say with Job Job 28.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It cannot be gotten for Gold neither shall Silver be weighed for the price of it So by reason of the boldness of those that pretend to Wisdom we may take up that which he saith before Vehachachmah meaijn timatze vers 13. veeh zeh mequom binah Where shall Wisdom be found and where is the place of understanding Many men lay such confident claims to Wisdom that it is very difficult to judge on whose side the Verdict will pass Such were the Gnosticks of old a Sect very rise and pernicious in the beginning of the Christian Church against whom to fortifie those to whom he writes seems to be the chief designe of the Apostle in this Epistle And more particularly at vers 13. of this Chapter he calls them to a tryal of their title to Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is the wise man amongst you Or Who are they that are the great pretenders to Wisdom Let them come and shew their wisdom by the fruits of it Let them shew out of a good Conversation their fruits with meekness and wisdom But saith he I fear there are to be found especially among you Gnosticks those fruits that never grew upon the Tree of saving Knowledg For vers 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If ye have bitter envying and strife among you it is but vain glory and lying against the Truth to term your selves such men of knowledge For envy and strife are not the fruits of Heavenly Knowledge but of that worldly Wisdom vers 15. which is earthly sensual devilish and is the cause of confusion tumult or unquietness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 16. and in a word of every evil work Whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wisdom that is from above is of another nature and brings forth other manner of fruits in the words I have before read unto you But the Wisdom which is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie In which words Chachmoth baanetha bethah chatzebah hammudehaa shibhah Wisdom hath builded her house Prov. 9.1 she hath hewen out her seven Pillars The Palace of Wisdom is like that of the Sun sublimibus alta columnis very lofty and magnificent it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from above If any ask Where shall true Wisdom be found And where is the place of Vnderstanding Behold here is her House And these are the seven Pillars upon which it is built 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is first pure or holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is secondly peaceable Thirdly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gentle Fourthly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 easie to be perswaded or of an obedient temper Fifthly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of mercy and good fruits Sixthly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without partiality or without wrangling or disputing as the Margent hath it or as some render it without wavering Seventhly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without hypocrisie While I survey this Palace of Wisdom and take a view of the Pillars upon which it is built I am bold to beg your serious and candid attention The name of Wisdom sounds so laudably that there is hardly any man so far from Wisdom but he is a pretender to it Most men contend either to know more or at least to be thought to know more then their Neighbours In a word all men are Gnosticks they have perswaded themselves and are very earnest in perswading the world that they are a knowing people that no doubt themselves are the people Job 12.2 and that Wisdom shall die with them The Suit hath been so long depending that it is high time it were brought to an Issue and that the Evidences were impartially examined which each man hath to shew for himself And as in most controversies if men could be perswaded to lay aside passion and prejudice they might easily be judges of their own cause so in this great Contest who are the wisest men and take the best course if men would lay aside passion and prejudice they might themselves easily judge from this Text who they are that have met with true Wisdom He that desires to find any person Wisdoms House must ordinarily go to his house to seek for him Now the house of Wisdom is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from above it is like the heavenly Jerusalem which St. John saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apoc. 21.2 coming down from God out of Heaven prov 2.6 For The Lord giveth Wisdom and out of his mouth proceedeth Knowledg and Vnderstanding And the Wisdom that he gives prompts a man to look upward for his joy and portion and to look up unto God and acknowledge Him the Authour and Giver of that Wisdom which he hath Here then is the Palace where Wisdom dwells But Psal 48.12 Let us walk about this Sion and go round about her and tell the Pillars thereof that we may see whether we have the counter-part of this Fabrick erected in our souls and consequently whether true Wisdom hath entred into our hearts or no. The first Pillar of the House of Wisdom is Purity 1 Pillar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is first pure or chaste free from those impure lusts with which the Gnosticks were defiled though pretending to an higher measure of knowledge than other men were Masters of To man God said Behold jirath adonai hi chachmah the fear of the Lord Job 28. ult that is Wisdom vesur merang binah and to depart from evil that is Vnderstanding And reshith chachmah jirath Jehovah the fear of the Lord is the beginning the very foundation Psal 111. ult of Wisdom and who are they that are to be accounted men of a good understanding but col hahoshem all they and onely they that keep his Commandments and lead their lives according to the directions of his Word they onely are men of Wisdom St. Gregory Nazianzene saith very divinely Greg. Naz. Orat 10. The first and chiefest Wisdom is a good and laudable life purified and in some measure answerable to the purity that is in the most Holy God who accepts of purity alone in stead of and before all other sacrifices Which saith he the Scripture calleth a contrite heart a sacrifice of praise the new creature in Christ the new man and such like names And elsewhere the same Father speaking to Hero the Philosopher saith Orat. 23. to
Hero the Philosopher This is the true Wisdom and the true Nobility that makes us truly honourable and praise-worthy which hath the seal of purity and good manners upon it which endeavoureth to carry us up to God the chiefest good and thereby sheweth a true nobility of Spirit Purity must needs be the fruit or property of Heavenly Wisdom First because the ways of Holiness are the safest and best course which a man can take even in respect of this life I Wisdom dwell with Prudence Prov. 8.12 Now Prudence looks round about in what it doth And he that looks well about him cannot but by Faith see him that is invisible to the bodily eyes that the eyes of the Lord are in every place Prov. 15.3 beholding the Evil and the Good Now that which the light of Nature sheweth us of the omnipresence and omniscience of him that is an infinite and immenss Being and who daily upholdeth and ordereth all things in the VVorld Heb. 1.2 by the Word of his Power Seneca Ep. 83. did prompt even Seneca the Moralist to give this good counsel Sic certe vivendum est tanquam in conspectu vivamus sic cogitandum tanquam aliquis in pectus intimum inspicere possit potest quidem Quid enim prodest hominibus aliquid esse secretum nihil Deo clusum est It is the best course always to live so as remembring that we have eyes upon us yea so to order our very Thoughts as if they were seen and so they are For though men cannot yet God doth see them from whom nothing is hid And if natural Reason did prompt men to take heed to their ways how much more should Religion teach us this lesson This restrained Joseph from embracing impure and unlawful pleasures when he had the most inviting opportunity to tempt him to them How can I do this great wickedness Gen. 39.9 and sin against God And from cruelty and injustice when he had both might and Authority to bear him out in it This do and live Gen. 42.18 for I fear God And we may add hereunto that as there is no greater torment than that which proceeds from consciousness of an evil life and dishonest heart so there is no greater comfort on this side Heaven than the testimony of a good conscience 2 Cor. 1.12 that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in this world So that even as to this life a pure and holy conversation is most prudent and agreeable to the dictates of VVisdom Secondly it is much the safest with respect to the life to come Eccl. 2.14 The wise mans eyes are in his head he sees things at a distance as well as those that are near at hand And the VVisdom that is from above will tell us that we must all appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.10.1 to give an account of those things which we have done in the body and to receive a reward according to them whether they be good or evil And that he that hath sowen to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption Gal. 6.8 whereas he that hath sowen to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting And therefore true VVisdom cannot but account it a mans best and most prudential course to bear fruits of holiness here Rom. 6.22 that at last it may have the end even life everlasting If we reflect upon this first property of Wisdom we shall easily be prompted to inferr 1. That if the Wisdom that is from above be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it be the first property of Wisdom to be pure then they stand convict of palpable and extream folly that are of impure and wicked hearts and lives The Integrity of Cato the Justice of Aristides and other eminent Virtues in many of the Heathens were very remarkable to the shame of too many that are called Christians as St. August Ep. 142. Augustine saith Quà m multos Philosophorum audivimus legimus c. How many of the Philosophers have we heard of and read of and seen to be chaste and patient modest and liberal abstinent and bountiful despisers of the honours and delights of the world and lovers of Justice as well as Knowledge And if these men without the knowledge of the Scriptures did these things how shall those Christians be condemned who are better taught but do not practise so well Chrysos Hom. 18. in cap. 5. Mat. And St. Chrysostom Quae non tormenta patiemur c What torments shall not those Christians undergo who being commanded to excel the Scribes and Pharisees in righteousness do yet come short of the Heathens How I pray you shall such men see the Kingdom of God Yea the very Satyrist may shame the injustice and lewdness of many Christians who tells us that this is the best and most acceptable Sacrifice to the Gods Compositum jus fasque animo Persius Sat. 2. sanctique recessus Mentis incoctum generoso pectus honesto A just and honest heart and a life that is answerable is so acceptable to the gods that as he there addeth Haec cedo ut admoveam superis farre litabo The meanest oblation even a poor Barley-cake offered by such an one shall sooner be accepted then thousands of Rams Prov. 15.8 and ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl from the wicked whose Sacrifice is an abomination before the Lord. 2. This argues that they are but superficially wise that onely talk of purity but do not practise it Who talk as if they had partook of the cloven tongues but walk as if they were supported with cloven feet Qui Curios simulant Bacchanalia vivunt Juven Sat. 2. VVho speak like Saints but live like sinners Et de virtute locuti Clunem agitant That read hard Lectures of Piety and strictness to others and bind heavy burdens to lay upon other mens shoulders Mat. 23.4 but themselves will not touch them with one of their fingers 3. This convinceth them of the highest folly that make knowledge and pretence of Piety an encouragement to impurity and dishonesty as if that were lawful for them which is unlawful for others or as if they had gotten so far into favour with God Almighty that he had given them an Indulgence to do what they list Aug. de Civ Dei l. 5. c. 20. St. Augustine tells us that the Stoicks who place felicity in virtue to shame such as approved virtue but applyed all to bodily delight did use to delineate a Picture wherein Pleasure sitteth on a Throne as a delicate Queen and all the Virtues stand about her to serve her Prudence must contrive a way whereby Pleasure may reign in safety Fortitude must defend the body from fear or feeling of sufferings and each of the other Virtues must employ it self for the service of Lady Pleasure And as the Father saith Nihil vilius