and consequently far more to be beloved 1. Out of this faith or knowledge apprehending his Justice ariseth feare and out of feare humility 2. Out of knowledge and faith of his Mercy with the other eight attributes arise 2. Duties more 1. Hope 2. Love 1. The fruit of hope is 1. Invocation and prayer for what we want 2. thanksgiving in acknowledging whence we have received it 2. Love hath its fruit or effect in obedience in conforming our selves and our wills to God will both in doing what he requirs and in bearing willingly whatsoever it pleaseth him to lay upon us and this last is called patience Obedientia crucis And in these doth the hauing of God wholly consist We are further to understand that the Holy Ghost in the scripture is pleased by the figure Synechdoche for shortnesse of speech oft times to name one of these and in that one to comprehend the whole worship of God as in Saint John all the worship of God is attributed to knowledge This is life eternal to know thee the onely true God And in a nother place all to fear feare God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man In a nother place to hope Saint Paul saith we are saved by hope And so of the rest under the name of one duty Synechdochically are comprehended all the other and this without injury to the rest of the duties for they all have good dependance one of another Now to these we are to adde the duties of the second proposition That we must have the Lord for our God that is true religion And of the third to have him onely for our God that is pure religion against joyning of it with other worship And besides these out of the word shalt it must be perpetual till non erit swallow up our erit which implieth the vertue perseverance throw all the Commandments And corum facie mea before me includeth sincerity of heart against hypocrisy and these make up the manner of Gods worship In the resolution of this first commandment the first thing is knowledge of God which in regard of the excellency of it Saint John saith as before This is life eternal to know thee the onely true God In the handling of which we must follow this method 1. To shew the excellency of the knowledge of God 2. The necessity of it 3. How it is to be attained 1. The first thing concerning knowledge is the excellency of it for other knowledge without this is but a puff a tumor that swells naturally in them that possesse it The Apostle saith asmuch knowledge 〈◊〉 up That therefore our knowledge may be right we must pluck from us our peacockes feathers the gifts of nature as strength wisdom riches birth c. And not be proud or rejoyce in them but as God by the prophet speaketh Let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me 〈◊〉 totae scientia hominis magna est saith S. Augustine 〈◊〉 quia nihil ipse est per se quoniam quicquid est ex Deo est 〈◊〉 Deum 〈◊〉 is the chief knowledge of man to know that of himselfe he is nothing and that whatsoever he is it is of and for God And this is the use we must make of our Knowledge 2. The second is the Necessity of this knowledge It is not the excellency of this knowledge that altogether worketh upon the desires of all men and the hearts of many are so dull and heavy that they desire not to be excellent a meane degree of perfection contents them in it But when we come to perceive that necessitas incumbit there lies a necessity upon us to get it a ferrea ratio that strong forcible persuasion and stricketh to the heart for the Law is Doctrina agendorum and no action can be without moving no motion without the will no will without desire and no desire without knowledge of that we desire So that take away knowledge and take away all and then nothing shall be done It cannot be denied but that evil men are in action they are practicall enough but their knowledge being deprived of the true end and obejct we must also confesse that they must needs erre and fall upon false ends and wayes wandring in by pathes and never attain to the right end butthey walk in darknesse and so they misse of the end for which they came into the world The Apostle saith that without hearing there can be no knowledge for hearing is called the sense of discipline and without knowledge ther 's no beleife without faith there can be no love and without love ther 's no obedience And therefore in as much as faith love and obedience are necessary it follows that it is necessary to have knowledge as the ground of all vertues whatsoever There is in all these vertues inchoation in this life and a consummacion in the life to come The schoolmen call them a first and second perfection or 〈◊〉 partixm graduum and therefore the knowledge we attain to in this life is but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tast of that blessed knowledge we shall have in the other And as the Apostle makes two Resurrections the first and the second and saith that Blessed is he that hath his part in the first for he shall have it also in the last So there are two degrees of knowledge the first is fides faith the second visio dei or vita aeterna the beatificall vision and blessed is he that hath his part in the first for he shall have his part in the second the beatificall vision of God And as in the second Resurrection none shall have part but they which have part in the first so none can have their portion in the second knowledge but they that had in the first A witnesse without exception of this is our Saviour Martha troubled her self about many things and no doubt necessary to the honorable entertaining of 〈◊〉 yet we know that Christ said vnum necessarium there was one thing necessary and Mary had chosen it to sit down at Christs feet and learn his will So that if this be onely necessary and without it ther 's no getting to the end then have we done with the first part wherein we see the use and necessity of this knowledge 3. If the knowledge be so necessary by what means shall we attain to it In knowledge there is a teacher and a learner we must either finde it of our selves or learn it from others For our own abilities the Propher hath told us long since what they are Every man is brutish or a beast in his knowledge if he haue none to direct him but his own natural parts he shal attain no more knowledge then the brute beasts The wise-man saith that we are all vain by nature We are vain in our imaginations saith the Apostle And according to holy Job
witnes of the truth Sain Paul attributeth sanctification of every thing to prayer premised and therefore it is termed the preparative to all the duties of a Christian more plainly Our Saviour very early before day went out into a solitary place and there prayed and afterward came and preached in the Synagogue which is very probable to have been on the sabbath day whereby we may observe that Christ himself took prayer to be the first means of sanctification 1. Now for the times of this exercise of prayer on the Lords day they are two 1. Before the other publick duties and 2 After 1. That before is either private as of a master and his family 2. Or else in the congregation which is publick Both which the psalmist comprehendeth in one verse I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart secretly among the faithful there 's the first And in the congregation there 's the last 1. Concerning the first we see in the place before quoted that our Saviour went out into a solitary place as also elsewhere As soon as he had sent the multitude away he departed into a mountain to pray 2. For the other we may gather out of that place in the Acts that amongst the very Heathen the religious Hellinists which were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were a kinde of proselytes that worshipped the God of Israel vsed to assemble themselves to pray by a rivers side But more plainly the Apostle saith that to the prayers of the congregation every one should joyn his own Amen Again prayer is to be vsed after For as we are not fit to receive any spiritual grace before without it so neither to keep it after the devil will take the word out of our hearts after we have heard it unlesse we desire of God that it may remain with us and seek his blessing that the seed may fructify And this was in the law to come from the Priests mouth The Lord blesse thee and keep thee By vertue whereof the devil wil lose his power in taking the word out of our hearts but it shall continue with us and fructifie in us 2. The second is the word which is magnified or sanctified by God for our sanctification for as the prophet saith God hath magnified the law that is his word and made it honorable and else where plainly the hearing of the word is made one end of publick assemblyes gather me the people together saith God and I will makethem hear my words Now the word upon the sabbath hath a double use 1. First as it is read and heard read onely 2. And secondly as it preached or heard preached 1. For the first the Church in great wisdome alwayes thought it most convenient and necessary that reading should precede preaching that when it should be preached it might not seem strange to them that heard it But as that is thought a thing fit by the Church so would it be no lesse expedient that before we come to church we would meditate on it yet such is our wretchlessenesse in matters spiritual that we think we have done enough if we can apprehend it when it is read whereas if we would meditate on it before hand we might make the better 〈◊〉 of it when it is read and be the better confirmed in what we hear preached The Jews had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the preparation to the sabbath and about the ninth houre of it which is our three of the clock in the after-noon they usually met and spent their time in reading of the scriptures that they might be the better fitted against the sabbath The publick reading of the word in the congregation on the sabbath day is warranted by diverse passages in holy writ as by that in the Acts of the Apostles where it is said that when Paul and his company came into the synagogue at Antioch on the sabbath day the rulers of the Synagogue after the 〈◊〉 of the Law and the Prophets sent to them saying ye men and brethren if ye have any word of exhortation say on And by another passage in the same Chapter where it is said that the Prophets were read every sabbath day And by another a little after which saith thus that Moses that is the law was read in the Synagogue every sabbath day And lastly Saint Paul gives a special charge by the Lord to the Thessalonians thathis Epistle to them be read unto all the holy brethren There is a vse also of private reading and that of great consequence for Christ saith plainly that his witnesses be the Scriptures and therefore will he have them searched because they testified and prophecied of him That this exercise is profitable the prophet maketh plain by a question Should not a people enquire at their God which he explains in the next verse by seeking To the law and to the Testimony And again Seek in the book of the Law and read And therefore we see that the Bereans were much commended and storied for wiser and nobler 〈◊〉 other people why because they searched the Scriptures daily to confirm their faith in the points preached to them There are other vses also in reading In the Revelation there is a blessing pronounced to those that read or heare the words of that prophecy because it might excite men to praise God when they see all fulfilled Man seeing the prophecies fulfilled may thereby give him praise And for this cause there were anciently Monuments kept in Churches which preserved and set forth the accomplishing of Gods promises or threatnings As the memorials of the warres of God on the behalf of the Israelites which was called liber bellorum Dei the book of the battels of the Lord and their verba 〈◊〉 or Chronicl es of Nathan Gad Shemaiah c. these they permitted in a holy use to be privately read that seeing his promises and his threatning denounced in them to have been fulfilled men might the better be stirred up to the praise and fear of God 2. Another use was the understanding of hard places in the Scripture It is recorded of Daniel that while hs was reading the book of 〈◊〉 about the accomplishment of the number of the 70 years captivity mentioned by the same prophet God sent an Angel to him to informe him in that great 〈◊〉 about the time of Christs sufferings So the Eunuch while he was reading in the book of Esay had the exposition of Christs sufferings from the Apostle Philip sent for that purpose by God and because God doth not now by such extraordinary means informe us in the true sence of Scriptures therefore we are to read such as have written 〈◊〉 upon such places and so no doubt but if Philip had written any thing at that time upon Esay that the Eunuch would have read it and made use of
by 1. his power 2. his jealousie How jealousie is ascribed to God Why humane affections are ascribed to God CHAP. IX page 224 Of the Commination wherein 1. The censure of the sin 2. The punishment 1. In the censure The sin viz. of Idolatry Is called 1. Hatred of God How God can be hated 2. Iniquity The punishment visitation upon the children The 〈◊〉 of this punishment by 1. The greatnesse 2. The multiplicity 3. The continuance Of Gods justice in punishing the sins of the fathers upon the children That it is not unjust in respect of the father nor 2. of the sin The use of all CHAP. X. page 228 The third part of the sanction a promise of mercy Gods rewards proceed from mercy which is the fountain of all our happinesse His mercy is promised to the 1000 generation the threatning extends onely to the third and fourth The object of his mercy such as love him Our love must be manifested by keeping his Commandements How they must be kept The benefit they will keep and preserve us The Exposition of the third Commandement CHAP. I. page 231 The general scope of the third Commandement Of glorifying the name of God by praise The manner how it must be done Several motives to stir men up to the duty CHAP. II. page 234 What is meant by Gods name The use of names 1. To distinguish 2. To dignifie Gods name in respect of his Essence Attributes and works and how they are to be reverenced What it is to take his Name as glorious as necessary Glorifying his Name inwardly outwardly by confessing defending it remembring it honourable mention of it threefold it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well spoken of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 venerable Applyed to our own actions by prayer and to others by blessing c. Of glorifying it in our lives What it is to take Gods Name in vain in respect of 1. the end 2. agent 3. the work CHAP. III. page 239 Of taking Gods Name by an oath The causes and grounds of an oath The parts of it Contestation Execration How God is glorified by an oath What is here commanded 1. To swear In what cases For Gods glory Mans necessity For the publick good The Oath Ex Officio whether lawful or no. Of private and voluntary oathes 2. To swear by God not by Idols or Creatures 3. Not to take his Name in vain but to swear in 1. Truth in oathes assertorie promissorie 2. Judgement 3. Justice Against voluntary oathes whether lawful Of swearing from the heart The means to be used against vain swearing The signes of keeping this Commandement Of drawing others to keep it CHAP. IV. page 250 What a vow is Whether a bare purpose without a promise Whether a thing commanded may be the matter of a vow The necessity and use of vows in respect of God of our selves What things a man may vow se suos sua Vows in the times of the Gospel Of performing vows Qualifications in a vow for the person the matter The time of vowing Of paying our vows CHAP. V. page 255 Of glorifying Gods Name from the heart The means of glorifying it The signes Of causing others to glorifie it The second part of this precept the Commination Reasons why such a threatning is here denounced Gods punishing the breach of this Commandment by visible judgements God is jealous of his Name The Exposition of the Fourth Commandement CHAP. I. page 259 The excellent order of the Commandements Why God himself appointed a set time for publick worship Why this Commandement is larger then the rest Six special things to be observed in this Commandement which are not in the rest The general parts of it 1. The precept 2. The reasons In the precept 1. The affirmative part what is meant by Sabbath what by sanctifying How things sanctified differ from other things God sanctified it not for himself but for us We must sanctifie it 1. In our estimation of it 2. In our use of it CHAP. II. page 262 What is commanded here 1. A rest 2. Sanctification Rest is required not for it self but for the duties of sanctification Reasons that the Sabbath is not wholly nor principally remonial Addition 21. out of the Authors other works declaring his meaning in two things 1. That the Lords day is Jure Divino 2. That the Jewish Sabbath is abolisht by Christs death proved by him at large out of Scriptures and Antiquity in his Speech against Trask in Star-Chamber CHAP. III. page 268 Additional considerations upon the doctrine of the Sabbath laid down in seven conclusions 1. It is certain some time is to be set apart for publick worship proved by Schoolmen Canonists and Reasons 2. Certain that the law of Nature doth not dictate the proportion of seven or any other in particular 3. It is most probable that the seventh day was appointed by God from the beginning as a day of publick worship in memory of the creation and did oblige all mankinde though the symbolical or typical rest afterwards was enjoyned to the Jews onely This proved from Scripture Fathers Jewish Doctors late Divines reasons c. How the Fathers are to be understood that deny Sabbatizing before the Mosaical Law 4. The Lords day is of divine institution proved by Scripture Fathers publick Declarations of the Church Edicts of Princes Canonists some Schoolmen late Divines 5. The fourth Commandement is in force for the moral equity that at least a seventh part be given to God literally it requires onely the seventh day from the creation not a seventh day The day altered by the Apostles by special authority 6. The rest of the Iewish-sabbath partly moral which continues still partly symbolical which is expired How the rest of the Lords day differs from the rest of the Sabbath rest from ordinary labours forbidden by God but the special determination left to the Church How the Lords day succeeds the Sabbath 7. The Sabbath kept with the Lords day by the Primitive Christians till the Councel of Laodicea was not in a Jewish manner CHAP. IV. page 276 Reasons of this Commandement 1. Gods liberality in allowing us six dayes and requiring but one for himself 2. The seventh is his own proper day Who are comprehended in the prohibition 1. The Master of the family 2. Children 3. Servants 4. Cattel 5. Strangers The general reasons of this precept 1. Gods rest from the creation Addition 22. Moral reasons sometimes given of a ceremonial precept The reason why a rest and why on this day are different things out of Maimon Abenezra 2. Reason the benefit coming to mankinde by the creation 3. Reason God blessed the seventh day CHAP. V. page 280 How far this rest is to be kept Why this word remember is prefixed Such work to be forborn which may be done before or after Necessity of a vacation from other works that we may attend holy duties Mans opposition to God when
a passage to the Corinthians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may catechize others We finde three eminent persons noted to us in Scripture that were catechumeni catechized The first was Theophilus of whom Saint Luke testifieth It seemed good to me saith he to write to thee in order that thou mightest know the certainty of those things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning which thou wert catechized or instructed The second was Apollos of whom also Saint Luke gives this commendation that he was mighty in the Scriptures and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this man was catechized or instructed in the way of the Lord. The third was Timothy of whom saint Paul testifies that he had known the the Scriptures from a childe And in one place mention is made both of the Catechist and Catechized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. After the Apostles times the first Catechist of any fame was the Evangelist Mark in Alexandria after him Pantenus then Clemens Origen Cyril of Jerusalem Gregory Nyssen Athanasius Fulgentius S. Augustine and others And that there were catechumeni in the Church in all ages may appear by the canons of diverse Councels Hegesippus converted from Judaism to Christianity in his Ecclesiasticall story reports that this work of catechizing wrought so great effect that there was no known commonwealth inhabited in that part of the world but within fourty years after our saviours passion 〈◊〉 superstition was shaken in it by Catechizing So that Julian the Apostata the greatest enemy that ever Christians had found no speedier way to root out Christian religion then by suppressing Christian schools and places of catechizing and if he had not been as a Cloud that soon passeth away it might have been feared that in a short time he had overshadowed true Religion 1 And when Catechizing was left off in the Church it soon became darkned and over-spread with ignorance The Papists therefore acknowledge that all the advantage which the protestants have gotten of them hath come by this exercise and it is to be feared that if ever thy get ground of us it will be by their more exact and frequent Catechizing then ours 3. Concerning the third quaere The reasons why this custome of catechizing by way of question and answer hath ever been continued seem to be these 1 Because of the account every one must give Our Saviour tells it us reddes rationem we must render an accompt And every man will will be most wary in that for which he must be accomptable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Because we are all young and old to give an accompt of our faith Be ready saith Saint Peter alwayes to give answer to every one that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you a solid reason not a phanatique opinion And by this we shall be the better fitted to these four necessary duties 1 of examining the doctrine we heare 2 Of examining our selves before we heare the word and receive the sacrements 3 Of admonishing our brethren which we cannot doe unlesse we be fitted with knowledge 4 Of adhering to the truth Because being children we doe imbibere errcres ergo exuendi sunt et induendaveritas we drink in errours which must be shaken of and our loynes must be girt with truth The Heathen man adviseth us that in all our actions we propound to our selves Cui bono What good will arise by that we goe about In this certainly the fruit is great diverse wayes 1 It will be acceptable to God to spend our hours in his service 2 We shall learn hereby to know God and his son Jesus Christ. Whom to know is life eternal 3 It will procure length of happy dayes in this life 4 Lastly the fruit of it is holines and the end everlasting life Now 〈◊〉 the fruit is so great we are to take especial care that the hours we spend in this exercise be not lost and so we be deprived of the fruit For as in natural Philosophy it is held a great absurdity ut aliquid frustra fiat that any thing be done in vain or to no purpose and in morall ut sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there be a vain and fruitlesse desire so in divinity much more S. Paul useth it as an argument to the corinthians to prove the resurrection that if there should be none then both his preaching and their faith were in vain And in another place he did so forecast his manner of the conversion of the gentiles ne forte currat in vanum lest he might run in vain Therefore as the same Apostle desired the Corinthians not to receive the grace of God in vain so are we to be careful that we heare nothing in vain lest we be like those in Jeremy that let the bellows blow and the lead consume in the fire and the founder melt in vain upon which place saith the glosse that all pains and labour which is taken with such people is in vain and lost But the word of God cannot be in vain in three respects 1 In respect of it self 2 In respect of the Catechist 3 In respect of the Catechized 1 In respect of it self it cannot be in vain For God himself maintaineth the contrary As the rain cometh down saith he by the Prophet and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and budd that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater So shall the word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not return to me void but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I send it 2 Nor can it be in vain in respect of the Catechizer or him that delivereth it I have laboured in vain saith the Prophet I have spent my strength for nought and in 〈◊〉 yet surely mark that my judgement is with the Lord and my work with my God The paines which the Catechizer takes is not in vain because God seeing he hath done his part will accept of his endeavours though his 〈◊〉 reject and 〈◊〉 them And if the son of peace be there 〈◊〉 peace shall rest upon him if not redibit ad vos it shall returne to you again saith Christ to his disciples And the Apostle most plainly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish Therefore we ought to be very carefull how we behave our selves in hearing 3 Lastly it cannot be in vain to the Catechized If we come to heare with a good intent the spirit of God takes order that the word shall be profitable and fruitful like good seed sowed in good ground And to this purpose it is that Saint Gregory saith Cum verbiboni auditores 〈◊〉 pro reficiendis eis majora
the earth every where wandring 5. Lastly Auscultate ut retineatis Hearken to keep not to forget what you 〈◊〉 this virtus 〈◊〉 a retentive faculty makes a hearer compleat Blessed are they saith our Saviour that hear the word of God and keep it So saith saint John Blessed are they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things that are written therein On the contrary If any be a hearer of the word and not a 〈◊〉 he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glasse c. So may we say of them that hear and lay not the words up in their hearts A Rabbin compares such ears to an hour glasse that when one glasse is full of sand it is turned and the sand 〈◊〉 into the other These kinde of ears are ever the worst not worthy to participate the mysteries of God There must not be only a laying up in our memories but in our hearts too till the day starre arise in our hearts Among the Schoole-men there is an opinion quod cor non facit non fit that which the heart doth not is not done at all Pharaoh returned to his house but the thing he heard did not enter into his heart And therefore it was that God said The words which I command thee shall be in thine heart and in that place this order of 〈◊〉 is prescribed plainly We are in these dayes for the most part greedy of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a vain superficial kinde of knowledge but our knowledge should be to give to the simple sharpnesse of wit to the young man knowledge and discretion And when wisdom entreth into thine heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul discretion shall 〈◊〉 thee and understanding shall keep thee So that the writing committing to memory and talking of that which we hear should be to this end to work deeper impression in our hearts to practise it And that we may do this the better there are three things required in us 1. Examination 2. Meditation 3. Conference 1. For the first it is to be done by following our Saviours counsel Searching the Scriptures not running after Diviners and Soothsayers but the Law and the Testimony according to that of the Prophet Saint Luke testifieth of the 〈◊〉 that they were more noble then they of Thessalonica why because they searched the Scrpturs daily The Preachen or catechizer must not doe all for us something we are to doe for ourselves If we mean to 〈◊〉 to the knowledge of God let us search saith the prophet And the preacher gave his heart to search out wisdom that is by the holy scriptures That which I knew not saith holy Job 〈◊〉 searched out Saint Peter gave testimony of the Prophets that they searched and enquired diligently the things which concerned their salvation Thus must hearers search the scriptures not as if they could understand them without their teachers much lesse to judge their doctrine but to confirm their 〈◊〉 in what they hear Meditation is the second duty We are to meditate and ruminate as well upon the things we hear as upon those we read S. Paul after he had prescribed rules to Timothy how to order himself gives him this counsel also Meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all And after a general exhortation to the Philippians he concludes with Finally brethren c. think on these things The reason is given by S. Augustine Quod habes cave ne perdas take heed thou lose not that which thou hast gotten by reading and hearing If we onely hear and reade and think not afterward upon it it is to be feared that we shall not be bettered by that which we have either read or heard This duty hath ever been in practise with the Saints of God Isaac went out into the fields to meditate And king David did often so as appeareth by the 119 Psalm in diverse places The last duty is conference And this is done either First by Auditors among themselves Or Secondly with the Priest and learned The first we have in the Prophet Malachi They that feared the Lord spake often one to another yet not in Conventicles And the other we have in the Prophet Agge Ask the Priests concerning the Law The reason is given by the former Prophet The Priests lips preserve knowledge because he is the 〈◊〉 of the Lord of Hosts If then in reading or hearing we be at a stand the Scriptures being a deep Sea to wade through repair to the Priest confer with him and desire his direction We see our Saviour while he was young took this course his parents found him not onely hearing the Doctors but conferring with them and asking them questions Though it be the common saying that Experience is the Mother of Knowedge yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conference is the Grandmother for it begets experience Now as the Prophet speaks Hic est omnis fructus ut auferatur peccatum this is the fruit and end of all these duties to take away sin As in diseases there are bastard Feavers which have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verarum febrium symptomes signes of true feavers so is there also 〈◊〉 pietas bastard religion which hath specious shews of true 〈◊〉 Seeing then that preaching and catechizing may fail and that as our Saviour tels Martha Vnum necessarium est there is one thing needful while we have the great blessing of the Word that 〈◊〉 necessarium let us hear it and God in it Lest it happen to us which the Wiseman and the Prophet foretold They shall cry unto the Lord but he will not hear them why because they hated knowledge And as it was with Elies sons they hearkned not to the voice of their father therefore the Lord did slay them Let us therefore labour by hearing to come to the knowledge of God and no doubt but God will have a respect to our hearing and of Catechumeni make us proficients give a blessing to our endeavours we will conclude this point with a saying of S. Cyril an ancient Catechist Meum est docere vestrum auscultare Dei perficere It is my part to teach yours to hear and Gods to perfect and give a blessing to that which I teach and you hear And so much for Venite auscultate CHAP. III. Of Religion in general and the foundations of it The four first steps 1 We must come to God as the onely way to true happinesse No happinesse in riches proved by divers reasons Nor in Honour Nor in pleasure Nor in moral vertue Nor in contemplation General reasons against them all that felicity cannot be in any of them 1 because they cannot satisfie 2 They are not perpetual but uncertain In God onely is true happinesse to be found THe work of
was an enigmatical speech of our Trinity But no Religion teacheth the purgation of the soul but ours And it teacheth that the word took the similitude of sinful flesh to purge away the sinne of Man Therefore our Religion is the true all other are meerly fabulous For their Exorcismes and sacrifices are meerly corporeal not spiritual and the Christians God is not like the Heathen Gods 2 God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of man he delighteth not in cutting of throats or burning men to ashes like to the Devills to whom virgins babes old and young men were sacrificed And the sacrifices in the old Law were vsed in these 2 respects 1 To be Types of things in the Gospel 2 To admonish men that they have deserved to be slain and sacrificed But God is so far from the sacrificing of men to him that he himself came down from heaven and suffered for us offering himself a sacrifice for our sins and what greater love can there be then that a man should give his life for that he loveth there can be no greater 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then this 3 For the credit of the Gospel we have Evangelists and Apostles for witnesses And in witnesses two things are required Knowledge and Honesty 1. For skill and knowledge That which our witnesses have left us upon record is not taken upon trust but they related it as eye witnesses And none of theirs either Homer Plato or any of them can say as Saint John said That which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled For they had theirs from others and but upon bare report Besides neither any of their ancient or latter Historians though they hated the writers of the Scriptures durst at any time offer to set pen to paper against them 2. For the honesty of our witnesses there can be no better reason or proof given then that which Tacitus giveth to confirme the testimony of an honest witnesse which is Quibus nullum est mendacii 〈◊〉 that have no reward for telling an untruth And certainly the Evangelists and Apostles had nothing for their paines nay they were so far from that as that they sealed their testimonies with the blood of Martyrdome 3. For the credit of the Story itself We know that the Sybils oracles were in so great credit among the Heathen that they were generally beleeved Now if they be true which we have of them as ther 's no question but many of them are divers of which we refer to Christ being mentioned in their own writers Virgil Cicero and others it will follow that nothing can make more in their esteeme for the credit and truth of the Nativity life and death of Christ then their Oracles for we may see almost every circumstance in them And by reading their verses divers of their learned men were converted to Christianity as Marcellinus Secundanus and others 4. Tacitus and Suetonius say that about Christs time it was bruited through the world that the king that should rule over all the world should come out of Jury and for this cause it was that not onely Vespasian but Augustus and Tiberius who had heard the like had a purpose to have destroyed all the Jews even the whole nation of them because they would be sure to include that Tribe out of which this king should come 5 Coelius Rhodiginus and Volateranus upon their credits leave us this in their writings that among the Monuments of Egypt was found an Altar dedicated Virgini pariturae to a Virgin that should have a child like to the Temple of peace before mentioned that should stand Donec peperit virgo untill a virgin should bring forth a child And Postellus testifies from the Druides that they had an Altar with this inscription Ara primo-genito Dei an Altar to the first begotten of God 6. Suetonius saith that in such a yeare which was the year before Christs birth in a faire day at the time of a great concourse of people at 〈◊〉 there appeared a great Rain-bow as it were about the Sun of a golden colour almost of equal brightnesse with the Sun The Augur's being demanded the reason answered that God would shortly 〈◊〉 humanum genus visit mankinde And upon the day that our Saviour was born three Suns appeared in the firmament which afterward met and joyned into one The Augur's being likewise questioned about this apparition their answer was that he was then born whom Angustus the people and the whole world should worship whereupon as it is storied Augustus at the next meeting of the Senate gave over his title of dominus orbis terrarum Lord of the whole world and would be so stiled no more 7. But the most remarkable thing that hapned at Christs birth was the star mencioned in the Gospel and confessed by the Heathen themselves to be stella maxime salutaris the happiest star that ever appeared for mankinde Plinie calleth it Stella crinita sine crine A blazing or hairy star without haire Vpon the appearance and due consideration of which star many were converted to the truth as Charemon among the stoicks and Challadius among the Platonists who meditating upon the strangenesse of it went into Jury and became Proselytes 8. Now concerning the death of Christ we finde that the ancient Egyptians who vsed no letters but Characters or Hieroglyphiques when they would expresse vitam aeternam everlasting life they did it by the signe of the Crosse whereby they deciphered the badge of our salvation which concurred with the manner of Christs death 9. The next is the two wonders or strange accidents mentioned by the Holy Ghost at the death of our Saviour 1. The general Earthquake and 2. the universal Eclypse of the Sun so often cast in the teeth of the Heathen 1 For the first they are not ashamed to confesse it As 〈◊〉 himselfe and Trallianus and Phlegon say that it came not of any natural cause For in nature every thing that is moved must have an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 somewhat to stay upon but this Earthquake went thorow the whole world 2 For the Eclypse many were converted by reason of the strangenesse of it as Dionysius and others For all 〈◊〉 of the Sun are particular this general and vniversal This hapned at the feast of the Passeover which was 14 a Lunae the fourteenth day of the Moon when it was just at the full which is cleane opposite to the Rules of Astronomy and mans reason 10. It is reported that in the raigne of Tiberius presently upon this Eclypse there was a general defect of Oracles Of which argument Plutarch hath a whole Treatise in which he saith that a man in great credit with the Emperour sayling by the Cyclades heard a voice as it were coming out of those Islands saying that the great God Pan was dead The Emperour hearing this report sent for the Augurs
of having but three commandments in the first Table in reference to the Trinity as may be seen in his division of the Decalogue For the Councils which are divided into Action or Agitation of a point and Canon 1. In the Action commonly is such errour that they are forced to lay all upon the Canon and say that it matters not much what the premises be so the Conclusion be good 2. And for the Canon we may finde in some Councils that the Canons of one are flat and direct against another as in the case of marriages of Priests some for them some against them We see the two Councils of Constance and Basile both 〈◊〉 and both confirmed one by Pope Martin the fifth and the other by Eugenius the fourth The Bulls of which though the Canons agree be opposite to each other The one holding Concilium posse errare non Papam that the Council may but the Pope cannot erre the other Papam errare posse non Concilium that the Pope may erre but the Council cannot And the Canon of the Council of Ferrara holding against that of the Council of Florence one that the Pope is above the Council and the other that the Council is above the Pope All this shewes that Councils are not simply infallible but may erre now where it is evident that they erre being drawn into parties and factions by corrupt interests none is bound to beleeve their determinations but where there is no such evidence they ought to be obeyed as those authorised by Christ to direct and guide us in matters of salvation and even when we are not bound to believe their decisions yet for the peace of the Church their decrees tye us to external obedience that is not to oppose them if there be no fundamental errour For the Church and the practise thereof This is as uncertain as the other For the Churches of the East and West agree not in diverse points and among other in the case of the Popes supremcay the Eastern Church totally opposing it And if we urge the practise of the Church it will be found that at some time most of the Bishops were Arrians So that in this there 's both ambiguity and peril And Basile saith that in the case of Baptism the Children at the first were dipped but once and afterwards thrice and we know at this day they are but once dipped It is true these shew that the Church is not simply infallible especially in such points as these which touch not any fundamental article and that particular Churches may differ in some lesser points and yet maintain the same faith and keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace but all this hinders not but that the Church is the ordinary interpreter of Scripture to her children and that they ought to submit to her because she is accountable to God for them Heb. 13. 17. and that none ought to reject her doctrine upon probable or doubtful reasons but upon such as are evident that is such as not onely seem evident to them for every contradicting spirit will affirm the most doubtful things to be evident to him but such as to other pious and learned men not interested seem evident Reginald l. 17. c. ult n. 234. This seems to have been the judgement of this learned Prelate in his latter thoughts As serm on Act. 2. 42. p. 27. where he hath these words fit to be written in letters of gold The ancient fathers thought it meet that they that took upon them to interpret the Apostles doctrine should put in sureties that their senses they gave were no other then the Church in former time hath acknowledged It is true the Apost spake from the spirit and every exposition of theirs was an oracle but that was their peculiar priviledge but all others after them are not to utter their own fancies and to desire to be beleeved upon their bare word but onely on condition that the sense they now give be not a feigned sense but such an one as hath been before given by our Fathers and fore-runners in the Christian faith Say I this of my self Saith the Apostle saith not the Law so too give I this sense of mine own head hath not Christs Church heretofore given the like which one course if it were strictly held would rid our Church of many fond imaginations which now are stamped daily because every man upon his own single bond is trusted to deliver the meaning of any Scripture which is many times nought else but his own imagination This is the disease of our age Thus he The last way they prescribe is that of the Popes And that they may erre in their interpretation may appear in that many of them were not sound in the faith Saint Jerome saith that Damasus Pope did consent ad subscriptionem hereseos to the subscription of heresy and Ambrose reporteth that Liberius the Pope though for a while he was orthodox and for not subscribing to the condemnation of Athanasius he was banished into Thrace but shortly after he became an Arrian and at one of their Councels subscribed to heresy Honorius the first after his death was accursed and condemned in the thirteenth Action of the sixth general Council of Constantinople held anno 680. under Constantinus Pogonatus the Emperour quia impia dogmata confirmavit for confirming wicked opinions which were those of the Monothelites But to shift off these things they have nothing to say but that the Councils were corrupt and not onely they but the writings of Beda shall be corrupt So that we see that none of these rules severally are infallible Let us see them a little together In the administration of the Sacrament of the Lords supper to infants we may see they fail for S. Paul saith Let a man examine himself and so eat c. which a Childe cannot do And in this and other things wherein they fail they are forced to say We beleeve not the Fathers because they say it but because they say it according to rules And if they beleeve it in respect of the person that speaketh not the quid the reality of the thing they erre much though Stapleton say that the interpretation of a Bishop though unlearned is to be prefer'd before that of a learned Divine because of his office and authority Andradius yet saith The Fathers are to be beleeved not in whatsoever they say but in whatsoever they say according to their rules and so say we And thus much for the Preface CHAP. XIIII Christian Religion divided into the Law and the Gospel Additions about the use of the Law That the Law of Christ is part of the second Covenant c. The judgement of the Authour out of his other Books That the Gospel is Lex Christi The Law handled first Reasons for this order What the Law teacheth and what the Gospel Summa Religionis IN the next place we are to
outward so in some sence that commandment which requires the one requires the other for every precept is given to the whole man though chiefly to the soul and to the body as the instrument of the soul yet in regard that worwip may be performed either by the heart alone or by the whole man therefore that distinction may be in some sort admitted and so it may be said that the first commandment looks chiefly to the heart though not excluding 〈◊〉 outward man and that the second looks more immediately at the outward manner of performance yet not excluding the heart CHAP. V. In the first Commandment three things are contained 1. We must have a God 2. We must have the Lord for our God 3. We must have him alone for our God The sin opposite to the first is profanenesse to the second is false religion to the third mixt religion How our nature is 〈◊〉 to those sins Reasons against them THis first precept is primae necessitatis and therfore first to be regarded it was never dispensed withal nor ever shall be And according to the first Rule of extension Praeceptum faciens non faciens It being a negative implyeth an affirmative The negative is Thou shalt have no other Gods The affirmative our Saviour quoteth to the Devil out of 〈◊〉 Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve There are three propositions which naturally arise out of this Commandment 1. That a God we must have 2. That we must have the Lord for our God 3. That we must have him alone for our God 1. The meaning of the first is that we should not be Gods our selves which was the beginning of all mischief Dii eritis ye shall be Gods in judging good and evil at our own election but to acknowledge a superiour power from whence we are to take our rules and directions both in following good and abstaining from evil and not to be led by our own affections And to this superiour power so instructing us and promising to bring us to the full fruition of the chiefest good we should submit our selves acknowledge him and tye our selves to him which acknowledging and tying our selves to him is the proper act of Religion which is therefore called 〈◊〉 a religando as S. Augustine derlves it this is in the first place to have a God and a Religion and consequently to worship him as God 2. The meaning of the second is to inform us that the Gods of the Nations are but Idols no Gods and therefore the service and worship done to them is false and Idolatrous But 〈◊〉 our God who hath manifested himself many wayes to be the true God is the onely God and his religion true religion and therefore we are to shake off all worship and service to others and 〈◊〉 our selves wholly to him and his service 3. This third teaches us that there are no Idols nor Gods that can do as he doth either in rewards or punishments none can reveal or bestow eternall happinesse but he none can joyn with him or help him therein but he alone is both able and willing and therefore he alone will have all the glory to himself he will have none to participate with him Gloriam meam 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 my glory will I not give to another 1. Now the opposite sinne to the first is called Prophanesse when a man will be carried by his own affections in every thing and do that which seemeth good in his own eyes when he will be under no yoke or bands but breake them giving credit to nothing but what his own God corrupt reason 〈◊〉 him to doing nothing but by his own direction and what his own will stands affected to 2. The sinne contrary to the second is false worship and 〈◊〉 religion The holy Ghost is pleased here to call it the having of other Gods as in the Scripture he 〈◊〉 evill by the name of strange as a strange woman a harlot so strange worship Idolatry strange Gods false Gods And this is forbidden in the second proposition 3. The sinne against the third is that which Elias called mixt worship halting between two opinions mingling Gods religion with others following both God and Baal Like the Samaritans that feared the Lord when he sent lions among them and yet served the Gods of the nations whence they came they sware by the Lord and by Miclcom A sinne that divers of the kings of Israel and Judah were taxed with 2 Kings 13. 1 Now these are three things which the devil aymeth at and hath helps in our nature to set forward and bring to effect his purpose According to his own name Belial he is without yoke so would he have others to be also His argument in the first temptation was to have Adam cast off his yoke and be under no director Tast but the apple and thou shalt be a director to thy self and be able of thy selfe without any other guide to judge of good and evil And this vain desire of licentiousnesse whereby men by corruption of nature delight dissolutly to follow their concupiscence and in all things to sit Judge in defining good and evil is the high way which leads to the greatest transgression opening the door to prophanesse and Atheisme 2. So in the second place there is a marvilous itching desire in us of change which the Devil also nourisheth Stollen bread matters of secrecy strange flesh c. And where once prophanes 〈◊〉 he faileth not to adde a curious longing to search beyond the truth till at last he causeth them to finde a lie in stead thereof for there was never any error broached but it sprang from a desire of innovation and a wandring out of the beaten path And this he brought Solomon to who having the knowledge of true Religion as much as any yet not content fell to enquiring after forrein Religions mystries and conceits and so fell to 〈◊〉 3. In the third there is also a great desire in us to reconcile God and Mammon And though our Saviour said it was impossible to serve both yet are we desirous beyond measure to heape up temporal things and get eternal too to have a Paradise here and else where there is a desire in us to communicate our selves to all and to use a like freedom to good and bad thinking that while we are in the world the world will do us good and when we come to heaven God will do us good too And this the devil misliketh not for he runs not upon soli or 〈◊〉 for when he tempted Christ with promise to give him all the kingdoms of the earth it was not upon so strict a condition to worship him onely but to joyne him with God in his worship and service 1. Now the reasons whereby these are forbidden are these We must confesse that the nature of man hath recieved a great wound insomuch
we utter but vain knowledge therefore having no hope to learn the true knowledge of our selves and being as far from learning it from other natural men 〈◊〉 our selves we must look after another teacher that hath deeper knowledge then we have And who that is we shall finde in the book of Samuel Deus scientiarum Dominus The Lord is a God of knowledge it is he onely that can teach us and as he is able so is he willing too Our Saviour tells us that it is written in the Prophets and they shall be all taught of God for so saith the Prophet Esay And thy Children shall be taught of the Lord. And the kingly Prophet David gives the reason Because that with him is the well of life and in his light we shall see light Though we be naturally blinde and have no light neither in nor of our selves yet in his light we shall see light And therefore he it is that must be our teacher and as he must be our teacher so we may be sure that this teacher is willing to instruct us Gods loving practise tells us that he is He began it with Adam and preserved it in the Patriarchs and then it beginning to decay he continued it by tradition After that people being corrupted and knowledge decaying more and more he wrote the Law which being broken he took order for a new writing and enjoyned them to hear it and appointed Priests and Levites who by interpreting it caused the people to understand it for as the text saith they read the Law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading When they failed and false interpreters came he raised up prophets to give the true sense of the Law and when this was not sufficient he sent his onely Son the last and most perfect teacher or doctor of the Church and he ascending to the glory of his Father gave gifts to men as Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers whom he promised to send and enable with gifts for the instruction and edification of his Church and to continue a succession of them to the end of the world Now as God is the Author of this knowledge so he provides what is necessary for us to attain it viz. the outward ministery of man and the inward work of his Spirit 1. For the first we have the Eunuch sitting in his Chariot and reading a place in Esay and being desirous to know the meaning of the place God provides him a Minister Philip to expound it to him And so when Cornelius was continuing in fasting from the fourth hour to the ninth and falling to prayer God sent Peter to him 2. For the second Our Saviour hath promised on Gods behalf that God shall give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him So that the outward means being diligently performed on our part we may rest assured that God will perform his part Christ in the Gospel perswades the Pharisees and us in them to search the Scriptures to come to the true knowledge of him and so to life That which remaineth God will supply by the unction of his Spirit there will be no defect on his part provided that we look to ours But the fear is on our part and it appeareth by the commandment here laid upon us that we are not willing for a good man is a Law to himself but we have a commandment to stir us up to knowledge Now further in this as in all the other Commandments we are to consider two things 1. That which is commanded Knowledge of which we have now spoken 2. That which is forbidden Ignorance of which in the next place The affirmative and the negative part In the affirmative is commanded 1. Knowledge 2. A rich measure of it according as our vocation will permit non solum scire sed etiam bene scire And in this negative two things are forbidden 1. Ignorance 2. Light superficial knowledge for the rule in Divinity is Peccatum non tantum est appetitus malorum sed etiam desertio meliorum Where fulnesse is commanded not onely emptinesse but scarcity is forbidden also So not onely ignorance but a light fleeting and superficial knowledge is forbidden Ignorance The Church of Rome is taxed to justifie it though it cannot be found that they are Patrones of it but onely faulty in allowing small superficiall knowledge in the people yet if any man conceive that Ignorance of God is justifiable let this perswade him to the contrary 1. A sinne it must needs be else what needed a sacrifice for it 2. If it had been a light offence David had been uncharitable to pray to God to powre out his indignation on them that knew not his Name 3. It is not onely sin but first the cause of it and secondly the cause of punishment 1. It is the cause of sin for the Prophet saith The Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land for that there was no mercy and the reason of that was because there was no true dealing and the reason of both was because there was no knowledge of God and presently after he tells them of their destruction for it So the Apostle after he had reckoned up the offences of the Heathen he concludes it was because of their ignorance of God 2. Ignorance is the cause of punishment 〈◊〉 Prophet faith That the captivity of Babylon was because the people wanted the knowledge of God And it is not the cause of punishment but as it is the cause of sin The Wise man asketh this question Do they not erre that imagine evil there is no sin without error therefore the planting of knowledge would be the rooting out of evil Non erratur saith S. Augustine nisi ignorantia men erre not but for want of knowledge Therefore to both these points S. Augustine hath a pertinent place Quia ipsa ignorantia in eis qui intelligere noluerunt 〈◊〉 dubitatione peccatumest in eis autem qui non potuerunt poena peccati ergo in utrisque non est 〈◊〉 excusatio sed justa damnatio because ignorance it self was a sin without doubt in them that would not understand and a punishment of sin in them that could not therefore in both are condemned neither justified Some there be that argue out of the Acts and excuse ignorance alledging that place That God winked at the times of ignorance and so make it no sin when it is as they call it invincible Ignorance excusable is fourfold 1. In children before they come to years of reason and discretion 2. In fools those that naturally want the use of reason 3. In those that by sicknesse or disease are bereft of the use of reason 4. Where the means cannot be had to take it away But this is not simply and altogether invincible for the
fear of the Lord is the fountain of life to avoid the snares of death As faith is the beginning of Christian religion as the first principles are in every science in ordine credendorum so is fear the first work or first beginning in ordine agendorum of things to be done and as timor servilis servile fear is the first work so timor castus a reverend and filial fear is the last worke and conclusion of all things Now wee have seen what is Commanded wee are to see what is forbidden That is first want of fear the effect whereof is hardnesse of heart which is of two sorts the first being a degree or way to the second 1. The first ariseth from the prosperity or present impunity of the wicked which draweth with it an erroneous perswasion of our own freedom from danger Because sentence saith the Preacher against an evill work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evill They harden their hearts because wicked men escape punishment and conclude with him in the Psalmist that God is like themselves and thus the want of fear opens a way to all wickednesse whereas they ought to have reasoned as the Apostle doth that God deferreth his punishment that we should not defer our repentance and that he that hardeneth his neck being rebuked shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy as the Wise man saith 2. The second is the absolute want of fear There ought to be ever a proportion between the object and the power apprehending The Psalmist saith who regardeth deth the power of thy wrath for thereafter as a man feareth so is thy displeasure Our fear should be proportionable to Gods wrath But though we cannot fear in that proportion etiamsi conteremur ad palverem though we should grinde our selves to powder though we should tremble till one bone fall from another yet some measure of fear ought to be in us at least our fear ought to go beyond the precepts of men not be like those whose fear towards God was taught meerly by the precepts of men Esay 29 13. Math. 15. 2. if we fear onely when mans law punishes our fear comes short the trial is if we make the like conscience of those things to which mans law reacheth not as of those which are forbidden both by the laws of God and man other wise we are voyd of fear Now as the want of fear is forbidden so on the other side to fear that we should not is also prohibited The Psalmist among other notes of the wicked sets this down for one they were afraid where no fear was And S. John saith that the fearful that for fear have transgressed shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone And our saviour bids us not to fear them that can onely kill the body Pharoah was afraid the Isralites should grow into a greater number then the Egyptians and therefore made Edicts to kill the male children of the Isralites So Jeroboam fearing that the hearts of the people would return to Rehoboam their true Lord if they should go up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice and therefore set up two Golden calves and brought the people to Idolatry Herod was afraid that he should loose his kingdom and therefore commanded to kill all the male children in Bethlehem and the coasts round about from two yeers old and under And the Jews were afraid that if they suffered Christ to proceed in his doctine and miracles all would beleeve on him and the Romans would come and take away their kingdome and therefore they conspired to put him to death The Wise man saith Quod timet impius id accidet ei that which the wicked feareth shall come upon him And so it happened in the four examples mentioned The Romans dispossest the Jews of their kingdom Herod missed of his purpose and lost his kingdom Jeroboams issue was rejected in the next generation And the Israelites increased and prevailed against Pharaoh and the Egyptians Seeing then that this duty of fear is so necessary and that the Prophet in the person of God tells us that to him will he look that trembleth at his words it stands us upon to keep this fear ever in our hearts And the best motives to induce us is to take to us the consideration of Gods judgements and to consider with the Apostle How fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God for if he shall be extreme to mark what is done amisse no man shall abide his wrath 1. And the first is the consideration of the examples of the judgements of God in former ages left upon record in holy Scriptures Of which the Apostle saith That al these things meaning the judgements spoken of him in the former verses of the chapter hapned unto them for ensamples and are written for our admonition They should be our monitors Quot habebis jndicis Dei historias in 〈◊〉 tot habes conciones The histories of God judgements in the scared Scripture are as so many sermons to us to move us to the fear of God As when we see his justice upon his Angells upon man in Paradise upon his whole posterity in the deluge upon the five Cities upon the Egyptians upon his chosen people the Jews upon his own Church Jerusalem and last of all upon his own and dearly beloved Son in proceeding against him in the fullnesse of bitternesse at his passion insomuch as one of the fathers saith upon it O magna amaritudo peccati qui tantam amaritudinem peperit Oh the great bitternesse of sinne that brought forth so great bitternesse Can we read and hear these things and not fear and tremble 2. And as the judgements of former ages are to be considered so those which are more neere ourselves especially these three 1. Mala inherentia those crosses that it pleaseth God to let us feele in some measure as sicknesse povertie afflictions by bad children and the like 2. Mala impendentia those crosses which we do not feel at the present but hang over our heads and which we have cause to fear may daily fall upon us as pestilence sword c. 3. Malum excubans prae foribus as they cal it the horrour of a guilty conscience which is alwayes ready to accuse and terrifie us in which regard God told Cain that sinne lieth at the door though conscience seem to sleep yet it lies like a mastive at the door which when the conscience shall be awakened will be ready to fly in our faces 3. Besides these we should consider those tria novissima as they are called those three last things death judgement and hell torments first the terror of death which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher called it the terrible of terribles
of two sorts 1. The first is the Epicurean despair And it was the Israelites fault He smote said they the stony rock that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed can he give bread also can he provide flesh for his people S. Gregory giveth us a note Because the Israelites ex luxuria were not fed with Quails as their lust came upon them presently desperaverunt they despired of Gods omnipotency or of his care in protecting them and providing for them And when a man conceiveth that either the thing promised will be alwayes futurum to come or if it hath no taste at all with him or that it is a thing not much to be esteemed he giveth himself to sensuality as S. Augustine said Quia non possum habere quae spero because I cannot have what I hope for at my own will I will have those things which are contra spem that is those things which I can have in this life which being present cannot be the object of hope according to the Epicures rule Ede bibe lude post mortem nulla voluptas eat drink play for there is no pleasure after death to be hoped for 2. 〈◊〉 second is more to be pitied but no lesse dangerous then the other which is despair in Gods mercy The Apostle was afraid lest the incestuous person should have been swallowed with this This errour ariseth upon an imagination that there may proceed such evil from the Creature as God cannot master whereas it is most certain that Gods mercies exceed all sin And this was Cains case and 〈◊〉 My iniquity is greater then can be forgiven S. Ambrose writing upon that place saith Mentiris Cain Cain thou lyest for if it were possible or lawful to think that any one attribute of 〈◊〉 had larger dimensions then another it must needs be mercy that would be most transcendent because it is an attribute which reacheth unto the heavens whereas his righteousnesse standeth like the strong mountains and his judgements like the great deep Therefore the School-men disputing the case of Judas whether his betraying of Christ or despair of Gods mercy was the greater sin they resolve that his despair was the greater because it rejected the medicine of Gods mercy and Christs merits by which the other sin might have been cured and so it was simply incureable Despair not therefore nor let the Devil perswade thee that 〈◊〉 is poor in mercy and onely can forgive small sins for his mercy is over all his works The means to attain and preserve hope are these First to consider the end of our hope which extends it self beyond this life The Wise man saith when a wicked man dieth his expectation shall perish and the hope of unjust men perisheth but the just hath hope in 〈◊〉 The consideration of our end raiseth our hope higher then this life And in another place he tells us that surely there will be an end and our hope shall not be cut off it ends not with our life and therefore S. Peter quoting a place in the Psalms saith Our heart shall be glad and our flesh shall rest in hope So that death doth not put an end to our hope 2. To consider the examples of others That the Patriarchs and Fathers lost not the fruit of their hope Our Fathers saith the Psalmist hoped in thee they trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them They called upon thee and were holpen they put their trust in thee and were not confounded And by these examples we should be quickened in our hope For it is the Devils policy to lay despair as an engine to entrap us perswading us that there were never such sinners as we are and therefore never were any in the like case with us But if we look back into the Scriptures we shall finde him to be but a seducer in this 3. A third is our own experience of Gods strengthening us against former temptations and of our own former deliverances from sin and danger which may make us say with David The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lyon and out of the paw of the bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine this is drawn from our experience then which nothing vseth to be more prevalent with us 4. But the chiefe means is that which is formerly alledged the consideration of the promise of God and withall that the promise is sure because he is faithfull that hath promised And whatsoever is written concerning these promises aforetime were written for our instruction that through patience and comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope And this hath been the especial ayme of the holy Ghost to strengthen our hope in mentioning it so often in Scripture And it is onely God whose 〈◊〉 is factum est whose word and work go together therefore his promise is so sure that he speaks of things to come in the preter tense as if they were already done de futuris in preterito Therefore Nathan said to King David transtulit non transfert God hath taken away or put away thy sinne not God will put it away So Saint Paul that he hath already raised us and made us sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus because though it be not yet 〈◊〉 yet is it as certain in respect of the promise as if it were already come Now seeing God is good and faithfull we may safely hope in him There is one thing remarkable and true in the blasphemous speech of 〈◊〉 Thou trustest in Egypt upon the staff of a bruised reed on which if a man leane it will go into his hand so fareth it with men that trust in other things besides God The wise man saith confidence in an 〈◊〉 man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of ioynt in either of which there is little help a waking dream as the heathen said Our hope therefore is called 〈◊〉 viva a lively hope for the worldlings hope is mortua dead hath no life in it or at least spes mortalis a mortal hope if we trust to it it will fail us and either wound us or make us ashamed as they in Job Job 6. 20. whereas true hope never makes ashamed Rom. 5. 3 And then we may boldly say with the Prophet why art thou so vexed O my soul and why art thou so disquieted within me O put thy trust in God for he is the health of my countenance and my God There are certain signes whereby we may know whether our hope be right for there is fleeting hope when a man thinks he hopes but doth not as a man may think he beleeves but doth not 1. The first is the signe which appeared in Ezechias in his sicknes saith he I beseech thee O Lord remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart
Strong and weak good and bad Corn and chaffe vessels of gold and silver of wood and earth and therefore hath need of some thing to cleanse the floore and to sever the corn from tares and to prune bad succors from the vine And this the Church doth by Discipline and Censure which all that live within the Church must either willingly submit to or else be forced to obedience Quicunque Dei 〈◊〉 jam sibi nota non facit et corripi non vult etiam propterea corripiendus est quia corripi non vult Saith Augustine He that knoweth the will of God and doth it not nor will submit to correction is to be corrected even for that because he refuseth correction But there are a sort of people and ever hath bin that cry out against discipline as a tyrannical burden imposed upon the conscience Saint Augustine tells of such as these which were in his time Multi sunt qui sanae doctrinae adversantur justitiam 〈◊〉 et disciplinam imperium esse judicant c. There are many that oppose sound doctrine finde fault with justice and account discipline as a thing imperious and ascribe moderate correction to an act of pride whereas there can be nothing imperious but that which is commanded unjustly nor can any thing be more properly termed Pride then the contempt of discipline But howsoever we esteeme of it it is neither unjust nor new We finde it commanded by our Saviour Dic Ecclesiae Tell it to the Church And Saint Paul gave order to deliver the incestuous person to Satan that his spirit might be saved which is the true end of discipline And in divers other places he gives order for care to be had that discipline fal not to the ground Be ready to revenge all disobedience and Corripite inquietos Warne or rebuke the unruly To Timothy he prescribes many rules concerning it and among them Them that sinne rebuke before all that others also may fear Whereupon Saint Augustine saith sinne must be punished that the party punished may be thereby amended or else that others thereby may be terrified from offending in the like manner And upon Saint Pauls words put that wicked person from among you he saith Ex quo appare ut qui aliquid tale commisit 〈◊〉 dignus sit Hoc enim nunc agit 〈◊〉 in excommunicatione quod agebat in veteri Testamento interfectione The Church doth now that by Excommunication which the church in the old Testament did by putting to death And therefore to conclude this point Disciplina Ecclesiae dormire non debet the Discipline of the church ought not to sleep CHAP. V Of Ceremonies in Gods worship The vse of them 4. 〈◊〉 to be observed about them The means of preserving Gods worship The signes Addition 17. Concerning customs and traditions of the church The 6. rule of causing others to keep this Commandment THe second general considerable in the external worship of God are ceremonies not Jewish but Christian which how soever they are by some that either well weigh them not or by others possessed with a spirit of opposition accounted Antichristian and repugnant to the word of God and therfore to be abolished out of the church yet in the judgement of moderate and well affected men nay of al men that are not sowred with the leaven of schisme or 〈◊〉 they are reputed no 〈◊〉 part of this external duty for they which are versed in the ancient story of the church cannot but confesse that in all ages before Popery had its birth and in al places where christianity was profest some ceremonies have ever bin practized as lawfull and necessary nor was there at any time any religion ever practized in the world without some ceremonies nay the most seemingly reformed sectaries themselves cannot but vse some ceremonies in the practize of their religion and therefore of their own fraternity the wisest sort have acknowledged That they are necessarily to be observed as conducing to the advancing of the true worship of God 〈◊〉 saith one 〈◊〉 ad Dei cultum atque necesse est et sint persokae destinatae in Ecclesia qui Magistri vel Ministri potius sint Ceremoniarum eas exerceant in Ecclesia secundum Domini instituta Ceremonies belong to the worship of God and it is very necessary that there should be some persons in the Church appointed to be Masters or Ministers rather of Ceremonies to use them in the Church according to the Lords institution and he closeth with a good reason Vt norint cultores Dei qualem Deo cultum exhibeant that the worshippers of God may know what manner of worship to exhibit to him For the Fathers take the judgement of S. Augustine for the rest Nulla Disciplina in his est melior gravi prudentique Christiano quam ut eo modo agat quo agere 〈◊〉 ecclesiam ad quamcunque forte devenerit quod enim neque 〈◊〉 neque contra bonos more 's injungitur indifferenter est habendum pro corum inter quos vivitur societate servandum there is no better 〈◊〉 in these things viz. ceremonies to a sober and wise Christian then to observe them in that manner which he sees the Church wherein he lives to keep them for whatsoever is enjoyned so it be neither against faith nor good manners it is to be held as a thing indifferent and to be observed in regard of the society of those among whom we live And this is a good way to follow the Apostles Counsel to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace You shall hear the same Fathers censure against them that are refractory in this point In 〈◊〉 rebus de quibus 〈◊〉 statuit divina Scriptura mos populi Dei constituta majorum tenenda sunt Et sicut praevaricatores divinarum legum 〈◊〉 contemptores Ecclesiasticarum consuetudinum coercendi sunt In those things of which the holy Scripture hath determined nothing the custome of Gods people and the Constitutions of the Ancient are to be observed and the Contemners of Ecclesiastical Customes are no lesse to be reduced to conformity then they which offend against Gods Laws And withal there is no doubt but these ceremonies may be changed and varied according to the diversity and alteration of times and nations and other circumstances S. Aug. saith in defence of this point Non itaque verum est quod dicitur Semel recte factum 〈◊〉 est mutandum mutata quippe temporis causa c. that is not then true which is said A thing once well established may not by an means be altered for as time so true reason may call for 〈◊〉 alteration and whereas they say it cannot be well done to change it so truth may say it cannot be well sometimes if it be not altered because both may well stand together and be right if upon alteration
Testimonium excellentiae a testimony of that excellency which we acknowledge in him above our selves of this Solomon speaks when 〈◊〉 adviseth not to meddle with a strang woman lest we lose our honour that is lest we lose the good reputation and esteeme we have in the 〈◊〉 of others and in another case he tells us that a peaceable man shall have honour and good respect with men for by a good opinion of men we testifie there is an excellency in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have some what more then we have and both the Apostles 〈◊〉 Paul and Saint Peter expresse this duty by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subjection or submission to be subject as we see Christ was subject to this father and mother in respect of his manhood acknowledging himself to be a child and so consequently thought some thing to be in them to receive this honour which was not in himself The 〈◊〉 will make this more plain In the case of Corah and his company they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron they would not give them honour God calls it afterwards a dishonouring of him and their 〈◊〉 was They were not more excellent then others all the congregation was holy and the Lord was amongst them Their thesis was All men are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Lord and therefore Moses and Aaron had no more excellency then the rest of the congregation But we see how God by a special miracle confuted their position for the example of all that in future times should exalt themselves against their superiours The contrary to this sinne of theirs is when men do acknowledge and confesse that there is not an equality but that some do excel them and that this excellency above them is not as the Poet speaks by chance but by the appointment of God that as in creation and generation he is the special father that gives us being so for our well by government that he is our special governour and that those above us are his instruments appointed for our preservation when we acknowledge this exellency in others and that it comes from God who hath imparted his gifts to them This is the first and the inward part of honour But now as God told Samuel concerning 〈◊〉 God and man look several waves for God looks on the 〈◊〉 which man cannot see it is onely the excellency which outwardly apears which we can take notice of and honour and so likewise the inward honour of the heart of which we have spoken is seen onely by God man cannot behold it and therefore besides the inward esteeme or estimate of anothers excellency there must be also some exteriour signe or testimony whereby we acknowledge it to be others and this makes the second part of honour 〈◊〉 honour Such was that which 〈◊〉 desired of Samuel though the kingdom were taken from him as Samuel well knew yet honour me saith he before the Elders of the people and before 〈◊〉 c. And such was that which the 〈◊〉 looked after viz. The 〈◊〉 places at 〈◊〉 the uppermost 〈◊〉 and greeting in the market place This is the second part of honour What this exteriour honour is and after what manner it is to be exhibited in particular is best known by the manner of the countrey where men live because it is not alike in all places every countrey hath not the same signes of honour Holy men in scripture have exhibited outward honour by several gestures or ceremonies which may be reduced to these seven heads 1. To rise up when a person of excellency which either by nature or analogie and proportion is our 〈◊〉 in presence Job accounted it as an honour done to him when the aged arose and stood up when he was in presence And Solomon a king thought fit to expresse his duty to his mother Bathsheba by rising up to her when she came before him 2. The uncovering or making the head bear was accounted a token of honour in use with the Saints and a dishonour to keep it covered as we may gather by the words of the Apostle 3. The bowing of the knee or all or part of the body When 〈◊〉 would have 〈◊〉 honoured he thought no way better for the people to expresse it then by bowing their 〈◊〉 to him He caused them to 〈◊〉 before 〈◊〉 Abrech that is bow the knee King 〈◊〉 in the place before quoted to adde the greater honour 〈◊〉 his mother bowed himself to her Jacob meeting his brother Esau bowed himself 〈◊〉 times to the ground a great expression of this duty And Ruth no doubt thought she honoured 〈◊〉 when she bowed her self to the ground before him So for the bowing of the head it is mentioned in diverse places in scripture to set forth this duty The 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 when they came before him bowed their heads and made obeysance These were signes of honour at the first meeting or salutation 4. A fourth expression is standing up not onely to rise before them we prefer in excellency but to stand up too we see the practize of it in the people of Israel Moses 〈◊〉 as a judge among 〈◊〉 but it is said that the people stood by him from morning till evening And 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 mayd when she went to attend upon king David was to stand before him The like did 〈◊〉 before 〈◊〉 And indeed it is the common expression of service 5. The next is to be silent in the presence of them we account our betters Job tells us that when he was in prosperity the Princes refrained talking in his presence and laid their hand upon their mouth Ths Nobles held their peace c. And in the same Chapter he saith unto me men gave eare and waited and kept 〈◊〉 at my counsel 6. The sixth is that when of necessity we are to speak we use words of submission It is Saint Peters note of Sarah her submissive speech to her husband she called him Lord. And the speech of Rachel to her father 〈◊〉 is a president of this kind for children to their parents 〈◊〉 it not displease my Lord that I cannot rise up before thee And of Josephs brethren for inferiours to men in authority Thy servant our father is in good health 7. The last is dispersed throughout the scriptures and comprehended under the word ministrare to minister and wait Luc. 17. 7. And it comprehendeth all such other duties of outward honour as are to be vsed by servants to their masters As our Saviour expresseth one in the masters command to his servant to make ready that he may sup And the maid waited on Naamans ' wife And so king Davids Generals are said to wait on him And Job in the place before mentioned saith that men waited on him in token of reverence and service to him so that when we
requires that children shew piety at home and requite their parents affirming that it is good and acceptable before God and for those that requite evil for good 〈◊〉 Wise man saith That evil shall not depart from their house This requital must not be only non subtrahendo by not making away wasting or pilfering their fathers goods which is condemned as a great fault such a son saith Solomon causeth shame and reproach and is a companion of a destroyer but by aiding them if they want ability for so the Apostle requires to requite their parents and as it follows to take order to relieve them that the Church be not charged that so it may relieve those that are widows indeed viz. which have no children able to maintain them Our Saviour would rather have the Corban go without then the father should want And the Council of Gangra hath a severe Canon which doth anathematize those which shall neglect their parents in this case And we have the example of our Saviour Christ performing this part of duty and taking care for his mother even at his death This the very Heathen saw to be a duty by the light of nature for at Athens Children after they came to be thirty years of age were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cherishers of their parents in their old age and they had laws which were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Stork laws and the story tells us that it was taken from the Storks which as writers testifie of them bring every morning and evening meat to the old storks when by agethey are not able to flie and they young ones when the old would drink take them on their backs and carry them to a river And the neglecters of this duty in their laws are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not capable of honour and were pronounced short lived Homer gives the reason of one that died suddenly that he did not nourish his parents To this may be added the duty which the godly have performed to their parents in their sicknesse and at their funerals An example we have in Joseph who though he were in a high estate yet came to his father Jacob in his sicknesse and when he was dead honoured him with solemn funerals And we may see it even in the ungodly for though Ishmael and Esau were wicked sons yet they thought it so great a piaculum to neglect their duty in this point that they concurred with their 〈◊〉 in the enterring of their deceased fathers 3. The third duty of parents is to bring up their children in the fear of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the fear and nurture of the Lord as the Apostle speaks The former dutie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to nourish their bodies most parents are careful enough of but this of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which concerns their souls they are carelesse in Men are apt enough with the mother of Zebedees children to take care for their preferment which is but a worldly care but for the care of their souls it is many times and with many the least of their thoughts Let them see their son break a bone or the like and they are presently much moved but though they see them break the Law of God it much troubles them not If their children come to any temporal punishment or shame or if they be disfigured in body or the like they will grieve and sigh but for any deformity in the soul or sinful practises whereby they incur the displeasure of God they are not troubled Therefore their duty is 1. in the first place to follow Abrahams example to incorporate them into the Church assoon as they can else as the Apostle speaks their children are not holy 2. After their initiating followeth their instruction because that non recedat ab co cum senex 〈◊〉 quod didicit juvenis he will not depart when he is old from that he learned when he was young And this instruction must not be curious or 〈◊〉 but after a familiar sort and in a plain way that may 〈◊〉 them with the principles of religion before they come to be auditors in the Church lest otherwise that which they hear 〈◊〉 may seem strange to them wherein they have the examples of Abraham and David It was also the practise of godly parents in the new Testament Timothy knew the holy Scriptures from a childe as S. Paul testified of him 1. The best way to make instruction profitable is example for as one saith very truely Validiora sunt exempla quam verba plenius opere dicetur quam voce examples are more prevalent then words and a man may speak more by his action then his voice I saw and considered it well and looked upon it saith the Wise man and so I received instruction Therefore parents example must not be repugnant to what they teach for then armatur natura exemplo corrupt nature is armed and strengthened by example if their example be repugnant to that they teach little profit will arise by instruction When the parents set the children a good example and say Go thou and do likewise or learn of me as Christ to his hearers their speech and pattern together will be very prevalent with their children 2. Another way to help instruction is by Discipline which the Wise man calleth the rod and reproof And this it is which puts wisdom into the soul which is kept out by folly which as it ariseth by impunity which the Rabbines call Magna venefica a great bewitcher so the rod of correction shall drive it away Solomon answereth one objection in this point which is I cannot love and correct too That is not so saith he He that spareth his rod hateth his son hut he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes If you correct him not you love him not And indeed in another place he scoffs at the lenity of those that make such objections Withhold not correction from thy child for if thou beat him with the rod he shall not die there is no fear of that but assurance of two great blessings by it as it followeth 1. It shall liberare animam ab inferno it shall deliver his soul from hell And 2. Afferre soiatium animo patris bring joy and comfort to the fathers heart But with this caveat that it be done dum spes est while there is hope 〈◊〉 the twig will grow so great that it will break before it bend S. Augustine proving out of our Saviours words to the Jews that we must do the works of Abraham tells us how we shall do them Omnis qui trucidat filiorùm voluptates tale sacrificium offert Deo quale Abraham he that kills pleasure in his children offers such a sacrifice to God as Abraham did If he kill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
how were they the creatures made Dixit facta sunt by the word by him And how these Kings by the same Ego dixi even by the same that he himself Dixit 〈◊〉 Domino Deo As he then they And so doth Christ himself interpret Ego Dixi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word came to them And what manner was it Saint Paul telleth us it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ordinance a word of high authoritie the imperial decrees have no other names but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This now then is more then a per of Permission a per of Comission it is a special warrant an ordinance imperial by which kings raigne Expressed by his word his word onely 〈◊〉 nay his deed too his best deed his gift Dedi vobis Regem gift of grace as even they acknowledge in their stiles that gratia Dei sunt quod sunt Given by him sent by him placed in their thrones by him vested with their robes by him girt with their swords by him annoynted by him crowned by him All these by him 's we have toward the understanding of per â—m so by him as none are or can be more By him nay more then by him There is not by in the Hebrew and yet the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that in true and exact propriety rendred is not by me but in me The meaning is that they are first in him and so come from him And yet so from him as still they be in him both Corona Regis saith Esay and Cor Regis saith Solomon their persons and estates both in manu Domini And in him as he saith my father in me and I in him so they in him and he in them For as it is true They raigne in and by him so it is likewise true he raignes in and by them he in them as his Deputies they in him as their Author and Authorizer He by their persons they by his power Now I weigh the word Reges what any by him any in grosse qualification what without any regard of religion at all sure if none but true professors had been here 〈◊〉 it must have been but per me Rex for none but one but this Solomon was then such of all the Kings of the earth but in that it is Reges the holy Ghosts meaning is to take in all the rest Hiram and Pharoah and Hadad they are in too in this Reges for where the Scripture distinguishes not no more do we be their religion what it will by him they are But what if they take too much upon them Corahs exception Then it is Dedi vobis Regem in ira saith God by the Prophet Angry I was when I gave him but I gave him though per me iratum it is but per me still But this onus principis say they in the Prophet how may we be rid of it is there any other per me to go unto to deprive or depose them sure where the worst is reckoned that can be of them Clamabunt ad Dominum is all I finde No per to do it but he By him and by none but him these be by him and by none but him they cease to he In nature every thing is dissolved by the same means it came together In law 〈◊〉 and destitution belong both to one In divinitie the Prophet in one and the same verse saith Dedi vobis Regem in the forepart and with one breath abstuli 〈◊〉 in the latter so both pertain to him Dominus dedit Dominus abstulit and for this new per me we argue from the text He makes no King we know and as he makes none so he can unmake none It is 〈◊〉 true that the main frame of government the first raising of it could be by none but this per me But I 〈◊〉 upon particulars rather wherein any that shall but weigh what difficulties what oppositions be raised what plots and practises to keep Reges from Regnant those from it whose of right it is shall be forced to confesse that even by him they have their first entrance Take him 〈◊〉 next 〈◊〉 Solomon and he that shall mark Adonijahs plot drawing the high Priest Abiathar and the general of the field Joab into a strong faction against him shall finde Solomon was bound to acknowledge that per me he came 〈◊〉 if he will not Adonijah himself will he was forced to do it That the kingdom was turned from him and was his brothers for it came unto him even per me by the Lord. This confession of his is upon record 1. King 2. 15. If per me Reges be from Christ from whom is the other Per me Rebelles Per me Regicidae from whom they If by me Kings raigne be Christs by me Kings slain whose per is that That per cannot be the per of any but of Christs opposite who is that Quae conventio Christi Belial what agreement hath Christ and Belial there he is you see whose brood they be that go that way even Belials brood He out of his 〈◊〉 against per me can neither endure Reges nor Regnant but stirs up enemies against them both both Reges and Regnant Against 〈◊〉 Regicidas to assault their persons against Regnant Rebelles to subvert their 〈◊〉 This and much more to this purpose we may read learnedly and elegantly in that sermon The like we may finde in his other sermons as in that on 1 Chr. 16. 27. Touch not mine Anointed P. 800 801. c. 807. And in many other places As we have shewed the original of Magistracie so we shall adde somewhat briefly of the ends of it which are two 1. The chief end of 〈◊〉 is to preserve religion and the true worship of God as was shewed before that men may live together in all Godlines and honesty Therefore Abraham not finding this in Caldea where he was pars patriae one of the country chose rather by divine warrant to leave his country and kinred and sojourn in a strange land And this end is intimated when Israel being under a Heathen King in Egypt one that knew not Jehovah desired to leave Egypt and to go and serve God in the wildernes The want of this end made the Priests and Levites leave their country and their possessions and depart from Jeroboam to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam had 〈◊〉 religion and cast them out from ministring in the priests office before the Lord and because this is the chief end of all Magistracy God appointed that the king as soon as he was settled in this throne should have a copy of the law to read for his direction in the exercise of his office When this end therefore cannot be had where true religion is not maintained à man may leave his country and live elsewhere where it may be enjoyed 2. After this comes in
accusing falsly 2. upon uncertain grounds 3. by prevaricating 4. The Defendant 1. by not confessing the truth 2. by appealing without cause 3. by not submitting to the sentence 5. The 〈◊〉 1. by not declaring all the truth when 〈◊〉 is lawfully called 2. by not delivering the innocent though he be not called 3. by delivering the wicked by false testimony 6. The Advocate 1. by undertaking an evil cause 2. by perverting the Law Of giving false testimony in Elections THE Act of this sin consists specially in words which are as our Saviour speaks according to the treasure of our hearts Now there is not onely an evil treasure of the heart out of which a man brings 〈◊〉 evil things but also an idle treasure out of which a man brings forth idle things viz. idle words for which a man must give an account Under these two heads we may comprehend the branches of this sin which may admit this division of 1. false words and 2. vain or idle words 1. False words are either when our words disagree from the truth and essence of things or when they disagree from our own minde And both may be considered either as they concern our selves or our brethren for whatsoever speech is either prejudicial to ourselves or our neighbour is condemned as against the rule of charity And though it be neither hurtful to us nor to our brethren yet if it contain falshood it is against the truth of God and therein we are as the Apostle speaks found false witnesses against God False doctrine is here included as opposite to true doctrine but not as it is in the third Commandment for there it is forbidden as contrary to Gods glory here as hurtful to our brethren and their spiritual good We must not adde to his word nor take from it nor change it by making any other way of salvation as those false teachers did among the Galatians that preached another gospel which as the Apostle saith is to preach alium Jesum another Jesus This was toucht before and therefore we shall say the lesse 〈◊〉 Onely this we adde that it is a good rule given by S. Basil not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely all lies and falshoods but also all turnings and wrestings of Scripture are condemned as among others he specially instances in one viz. the making of the litteral sence typical or turning the Scripture into allegories and from thence inferring doctrines which the Holy Ghost never intended This gives occasion to all Heresies when men choose what opinions they themselves please and make the Scripture a nose of wax to patronize them As to make Adam the reasonable part of the soul and Eve the seniual and thereupon to infer this as a positive doctrine That if reason command sense we shall avoid the temptation of the serpent but if the sensual part prevail against reason we shall be overcome by the Tempter as Adam was by hearkning to Eve this is to pervert the Scripture we may indeed 〈◊〉 to such things in Scripture as the Apostle doth to Sarah and Hagar but to say this or that is meant by such texts is to make the Scripture like a 〈◊〉 mans hose or Cothurnum a 〈◊〉 that will serve either leg and makes all Religion uncertain Ezekiel makes it an 〈◊〉 to God to say In obscuris 〈◊〉 I have written to you in dark or doubtful speeches but by this means all is made doubtful so that people shall be doubtful what to hold in any point We come now to false speaking in particular and here we must consider 1. false testimony which is given in judgement and 2 falshood uttered out of judgement This distinction is intimated by Solomon Proverbs 19. 5. where he saith A false witnesse shall not be unpunished and he that speaketh lies shall not escape where we see he make this division that some are false witnesses viz. such as speak falshood from judgement and others speak lies at other times that is out of judgement and the very same we finde by him repeated in the ninth verse The same may be inferd in the words of this Commandment for when it is said Thou shalt not bear false witnesse against thy neighbour that is in judgement this 〈◊〉 that there may be also falsum testimonium false witnesse that is not contra proximum against our Neighbour Before we speak of these in particular we shall onely say this briefly in general concernig all lies That all lyes are from the Devil who was a lyar from the beginning for the first word that ever he spake was a lye those then that utter lyes belong to him The Psalmist makes it the proper mark of wicked men whom he describes by this they speak lies from the very womb And that this is no small sin appears by that fea ful threatning against lyars Perdes omnes qui loquuntur mendacia 〈◊〉 shalt destroy all 〈◊〉 that speak lies All lies whether they concern our selves our Neighbours or none make us false witnesses to God And therefore we finde in the Revel that in the place of torment shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one that loveth or maketh a lye he that either loves to hear it or that speak it so that lies are condemned both actively and passively if we make them or love to hear them Come we now to him that speaks false in judgement And for this false witnesse Solomon gives us a good comparison for he saith A man that beareth false witnesse is a hammer a sword and a sharp arrow Now thus he is compared partly because his face is hardned so that he blushes at nothing be it never so false for having once lost his 〈◊〉 he comes to have frontem meretricium as the Prophet speaks a whores forehead and 〈◊〉 known to the one party viz. to him that hired him to be a Knave he grows impudent and testifies any thing and so strikes like a hammer or a sword or whatsoever doth wound the deepest he sticks at no mischef he can do to the party against whom he speaks and partly because that as S. Bernard speaks there are three parties who are 〈◊〉 by him at once by one and the same tongue 1. Judici est Malleus He is a hammer or maul to the Judge whose judgement and understanding he 〈◊〉 so that like a man astonisht by a blow on the head he knows not how to determine aright 2. To the party that hired him he is gladius a sword for though he speak for him yet 〈◊〉 is a sword to destroy his soul. He makes him beleeve that by his purse he hath prevailed against the truth and having done so once he may do so at other times and so he 〈◊〉 him in this evil course 3. He is a sharp arrow to him against whom he witnesseth though he hath
So much for the Preparation THE EXPOSITION OF THE First Commandement CHAP. I. Of the Preface to the Decalogue Two things required in a Lawgiver 1. Wisdom 2. Authority Both appear here Gods authority declared 1. By his name Jehovah which implyes 1. that being himself and that all other things come from him 2. His absolute dominion over all the creatures From which flow two attributes 1. His Eternity 2. His veracity or truth 2. By his jurisdiction thy God by creation and by covenant 3. By a late benefit Their deliverance out of Egypt How all this belongs to us THe Lord spake c. From the second to the eighteenth verse of this Chapter the words which inded are the body of the Law contain in them two things 1. The Stile I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage 2. The Charge Thou 〈◊〉 have no other gods before me c. To the perfect enabling of every Law-giver to make Laws is required 1. Wisdom 2. Authority 1. For the wisdom of God it appears in the Laws themselves Moses justifieth it and challengeth all the Nations of the earth to match them What Nation saith he is there so great that hath statutes and judgements so righteous as all this Law And the wisdom of a Law is best seen in the equity of it But a little before to shew more plainly his wisdom he tels them that it was their wisdom to keep them for the Nations which should see that they were kept would presently conclude and say Surely this Nation is a wise and understanding people which they would never do if they had not conceived wisdom in the framing of them So that certainly we must needs confesse with the Prophet that it came from the Lord who is wonderfull in counsel 2. For his Authority which is rerum agendarum telum it is plainly demonstrated by God himself in the second verse and manifested by the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt by strong hand In every Edict and Law proclaimed the beginning is with the stile of the Prince intimating thereby his Prerogative Royal to make Laws and to publish and see them obeyed And therefore his authority is annexed as to the Law in general so to those particular Laws which have a reason annexed As to the second For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God c. To the third For the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse c. To the fourth For in six dayes the Lord made Heaven and Earth c. and it is the Sabbath of the Lord. Now if it be true that men expect no reason to perswade them to lay hold of a benefit then there needs none to make them observe the Law because it is a benefit for the Psalmist so accounts it He hath not dealt so with any Nation neither have the Heathen knowledge of his Laws Yet it pleased God to adde his reason from his own person though indeed profit be a sufficient Orator And thus doth God in divers places as Levit. 21. 8. 12. 15. 23. As also S. Paul mentioneth it for the New Testament As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confesse to God which words are taken out of the Prophet In this stile or authority are three points according to the titles 1. Of name Jehovah Thy God which brought thee c. the last benefit they had received out of Egypt 2. Of jurisdiction Jehovah Thy God which brought thee c. the last benefit they had received out of Egypt 3. Of benefit Jehovah Thy God which brought thee c. the last benefit they had received out of Egypt And such Prefaces do earthly Princes use in their writings 1. Of Name as Caius Caesar. 2. Of jurisdiction Imperator 3. Of the last benefit Caesar Germanicus for conquering Germany the last triumph obscuring the former 1. For the title of his Name it is I Jehovah not I am Jehovah which argueth 1. His Nature 2. His Power 1. That it is the name of his Nature it cannot be denied They shall know saith the Psalmist that thou whose name is Jehovah art onely the most highest over all the Earth Concerning the word Jehovah which is Tetragrammaton consisting of four letters much hath been written and many speculations have been gathered from it As namely that there are three distinct letters according to the number of persons in the Trinity and of these three the first signifieth power the proper adjunct of the Father the second wisdom and knowledge proper to the Son and the third love the proper adjunct of the Holy Ghost And that the second letter is doubled to denote the two natures of the second Person But this may be sufficient for us that it is a name from being or a name of existence and that he is of himself and from none 〈◊〉 but that all things are through and from him Omnia beneficio illius ipse beneficio nullius Bern. And as it 〈◊〉 his being of himself so his absolute dominion and power over all and therefore we translate it Lord following the Septuagint who render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. And as there is no exception in his title as to be commanded of or by any other All earthly Princes derive their power from him as his Delegates by commission As our Prince hath in his title Dei gratia Angliae By the grace of God King of England c. and is ab aliq from another viz. from God Onely God rules without commission from any but is within and of himself a supream head commandeth simply and absolutely hath no dependance upon any other either of being or power but all things depend on him as their essence powers or faculties and operations This the Prophet sheweth forcibly that streams proceed from him to every creature which being stopped they perish When thou hidest thy face saith he they are troubled when thou takest away their breath they dye and are turned again to their dust And in the next verse he saith that he is the onely breath of the world his breath giveth life When thou lettest thy breath go forth they shall be made Now if we did conceive that any man in the world had our life at such an advantage that with his very countenance he could make or destroy us certainly we would be marvellously cautelous to offend him and very obsequious to please and observe him Yet such is our dependance upon God The word Jehovah as it hath these two significations so hath it two consectaries that follow thereupon in Scripture 1. The eternity of God 2. The truth of God in giving a being to his promises by his performance of them 1. For his Eternity he calleth himself I am Say I am Ero hath sent thee unto them and howsoever there
is 〈◊〉 of time in respect of us yet in regard of Gods enduring for ever there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him he is without all time he is alwayes Ero. The eternity of his essence S. John describeth I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the same yesterday today and the same for ever And this takes away the hope of escaping his vengeance if we do amisse and not obey his commands For in that case a man may hope to avoid the justice of Princes by departing their kingdom or by outliving them But he lives for ever and his Angels pitch their tents about us He compasseth us in a circle first that we escape not Secondly though we could escape out of one place yet can we not so far as out of his Dominions for his Dominion is from one sea to the other and from the flood to the worlds end He can fetch us from any place So the Prophet Amos Though they dig to hell c. And he lives for ever to punish those that transgresse his laws we cannot outlive him his name is still Ero to all eternity 2. For his truth in effecting that which he promised God said to Moses that he appeared to Abraham Isaac and Jacob by the Name of God Almighty but by my Name of Jehovah appeared I not to them as if he had said by one that is as good as his word So in the Psalm He is mindful of his promise and yet it is plain that Abraham beleeved in the Lord in Jehovah and it was counted unto him for righteousnesse and God himself in the next verse saith I am the Lord Jehovah that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees and yet God saith that the Patriarchs knew him not by the Name of Jehovah but by the Name Almighty To reconcile these two places we must understand that by Jehovah is meant here the bringing to effect this general promise of bringing his people into the land of Canaan So long as he maketh a promise he is Schaddaj or God but when he hath brought it to passe he is Jehovah So the 〈◊〉 knew him by the Name Jehovah in some particular promise as Abraham in the birth of Isaac Noah in the delivery from the deluge Lot in his delivery from Sodome but they never knew him by the Name of Jehovah in bringing to passe that great and general promise of Canaan And in this sense it is said that when God hath brought his judgement upon the people they shall know that I Jehovah have done it The Title of jurisdiction Deus 〈◊〉 Thy God To this title he hath claim in a double respect 1. Generall 2. Particular 1. In general he hath title of jurisdiction in respect of his being Creator and therefore as the Psalmist saith He spake the word and they were made c. He hath given them a law which shall not be broken that as all things are his Creatures he hath jurisdiction to govern them by such laws as he pleaseth All the Creatures have their rule from him And therefore the Lord complaineth against them for breach of it Hear O heavens and give ear O earth for the Lord hath spoken I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me that is they have broken my laws And in Moses Song Give ear O ye heavens and I will speak and hear O earth the words of my mouth The Creatures are called to bear witnesse against Israel that they were breakers of Gods law 2. In particular The Law or his jurisdiction being infringed in general it gave occasion to the second that is the particular which is by covenant and that conditional God is our Jehovah by Covenant Hear O Israel the statutes and judgements which I speak in your ears this day that ye may learn them and keep and do them Audis Deus sum Non audis non sum Deus saith one doest thou hear then am I thy God hearest thou not then am I not thy God This shall be the Covenant faith God I will put my law in their inward parts c. and I will be their God and they shall be my people 〈◊〉 and tuus are relatives He is ours and we are his so long as we keep his commandments Moses telleth Israel a strange thing Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lords thy God the earth also with all that therein is yet hath he separated thee as a handful above all people to make a covenant with thee And this mercy of God is wonderfull that in describing himself he rejecteth all his other titles of glory drawn from other creatures as the God of heaven and earth and entitles not himselfe by them but onely claimes the Iurisdiction of us being so vile by nature and wicked by our works And is not ashamed as the scripture speaks to be called our God And as one saith well conjunxit 〈◊〉 tuam cum gloria sua nay he might have said conjunxit gloriam suam cum gloria tua insomuch as true are the words of the Psalmist Happy are the people that be in such a case yea blessed are the people that have the Lord for their God Lastly His Title by Benefits And this he raiseth from the last act he did for them Which serveth also to confirme and prove his two former titles in two respects 1. Of the miserable estate and condition of the Israelites in thraldome and bondage 2. Of their mighty and wonderful deliverance from it 1 Their estate was miserable in Egypt For they were servants in the most servile work that could be being put to the furnace to make bricks c. They were in servitude under their most cruel enemies and that so hard as that they were daily punished never rewarded They were forced to work and yet no materials given them to work withal To gather straw and yet nothing abated of the tale of bricks which they made when straw was provided to their hands And lastly they had their children daily drowned before their eyes 2. Their great delivery from this servitude appears in that it was done with a mighty hand and an outstretched 〈◊〉 by shewing his power in the plagues of Egypt and drowning Pharaob and his host in the red sea The two former titles have ever stood the same but this last in respect of this act and upon divers acts of his hath bin altered As 1. After the Creation he was stiled God the Creator of heaven and earth 2. In the dayes of Abraham I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Caldees 3. in Moses time The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Exo. 3 6. fourthly And here I am the Lord that brought thee out of Egypt c. fiftly when God should deliver them from the