insinuating it self into the most dull and unactive Element produces Gold and Pearls Life and motion and brisk activities in all things that can receive the influence and heavenly blessing so it is in the Holy Spirit of God and the word of God and the grace of God which S. John calls the seed of God it is a law of righteousness and it is a law of the Spirit of Life and changes nature into Grace and dulness into zeal and fear into love and sinful habits into innocence and passes on from grace to grace till we arrive at the full measures of the stature of Christ and into the perfect liberty of the sons of God so that we shall no more say The evil that I would not that I do but we shall hate what God hates and the evil that is forbidden we shall not do not because we are strong of our selves but because Christ is our strength and he is in us and Christs strength shall be perfected in our weakness and his grace will be sufficient for us and he will of his own good pleasure work in us not only to will but also to do velle perficere saith the Apostle to will and to do it throughly and fully being sanctified throughout to the glory of his Holy name and the eternal salvation of our Souls through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father c. FIDES FORMATA OR Faith working by Love James II. 24. You see then how that by works a Man is justified and not by Faith only THat we are justified by Faith S. Paul tells us that we are also justified by works we are told in my Text and both may be true But that this justification is wrought by Faith without works to him that worketh not but believeth saith S. Paul that this is not wrought without works S. James is as express for his negative as S. Paul was for his affirmative and how both these should be true is something harder to unriddle But affirmanti incumbit probatio he that affirms must prove and therefore S. Paul proves his Doctrine by the example of Abraham to whom faith was imputed for righteousness and therefore not by works And what can be answered to this Nothing but this that S. James uses the very same argument to prove that our justification is by works also For our Father Abraham was justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac Now which of these sayes true Certainly both of them but neither of them have been well understood insomuch that they have not only made divisions of heart among the faithful but one party relies on faith to the disparagement of good life and the other makes works to be the main ground of our hope and confidence and consequently to exclude the efficacy of faith The one makes Christian Religion a lazy and unactive institution and the other a bold presumption on our selves while the first tempts us to live like Heathens and the other recals us to live the life of Jews while one sayes I am of Paul and another I am of S. James and both of them put it in danger of evacuating the institution and the death of Christ one looking on Christ only as a law-giver and the other only as a Saviour The effects of these are very sad and by all means to be diverted by all the wise considerations of the Spirit My purpose is not with subtile arts to reconcile them that never disagreed the two Apostles spake by the same Spirit and to the same last design though to differing intermedial purposes but because the great end of Faith the design the definition the State the Oeconomy of it is that all believers should not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit before I fall to the close handling of the Text I shall premise some preliminary considerations to prepare the way of holiness to explicate the differing senses of the Apostles to understand the question and the duty by removing the causes of the vulgar mistakes of most men in this Article and then proceed to the main inquiry 1. That no man may abuse himself or others by mistaking of hard words spoken in mystery with allegorical expressions to secret senses wrapt up in a cloud such as are Faith and Justification and Imputation and Righâ—eousness and Works be pleased to consider that the very word Faith is in Scripture infinitely ambiguous in so much that in the Latin Concordances of S. Hieroms Bible published by Robert Stephens you may see no less than twenty two several senses and acceptations of the word Faith set down with the several places of Scripture referring to them To which if out of my own observation I could add no more yet these are an abundant demonstration that whatsoever is said of the efficacy of Faith for Justification is not to be taken in such a sense as will weaken the necessity and our carefulness of good life when the word may in so many other senses be taken to verifie the affirmation of S. Paul of Justification by Faith so as to reconcile it to the necessity of Obedience 2. As it is in the word Faith so it is in works for by works is meant sometimes the thing done sometimes the labour of doing sometimes the good will it is sometimes taken for a state of good life sometimes for the Covenant of works it sometimes means the works of the Law sometimes the works of the Gospel sometimes it is taken for a perfect actual unsinning obedience sometimes for a sincere endeavour to please God sometimes they are meant to be such which can challenge the reward as of Debt sometimes they mean only a disposition of the person to recieve the favour and the grace of God Now since our good works can be but of one kind for ours cannot be meritorious ours cannot be without sin all our life they cannot be such as to need no repentance it is no wonder if we must be justified without works in this sense for by such works no man living can be justified And these S. Paul calls the works of the Law and sometimes he calls them our righteousness and these are the Covenant of works But because we came into the world to serve God and God will be obeyed and Jesus Christ came into the world to save us from sin and to redeem to himself a people zealous of good works and hath to this purpose revealed to us all his Fathers will and destroyed the works of the Devil and gives us his holy Spirit and by him we shall be justified in this obedience therefore when works signifie a sincere hearty endeavour to keep all Gods commands out of a belief in Christ that if we endeavour to do so we shall be helped by his grace and if we really do so we shall be pardoned for what is past and if we continue to do so we shall receive a Crown of Glory therefore
his conscience and his reason v. 16. he is one in whom sin dwells but the Spirit of God does not dwell for no good thing dwels in him v. 18. he is one who is brought into captivity to the law of sin he is a servant of uncleanness with his flesh and members serving the law of sin v. 25. Now if this be a state of regeneration I wonder what is or can be a state of reprobation for though this be the state of Nature yet it cannot be the state of one redeemed by the Spirit of Christ and therefore flatter not your selves any more that it is enough for you to have good desires and bad performances never think that any sin can reign in you and yet you be servants of God that sin can dwell in you and at the same time the Spirit of God can dwell in you too or that life and death can abide together The sum of affairs is this If ye live after the flesh ye shall dy but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live but not else upon any terms whatsoever My Text is one of the hard places of S. Paul which as S. Peter sayes the ignorant and the unstable wrest to their own damnation But because in this case the danger is so imminent and the deception would be so intolerable S. Paul immediately after this Chapter in which under his own person as was usual with him to do he describes the state of a natural man advanced no further than Moses Law and not redeemed by the blood of Christ or inlightned by the Spirit of God and taught by the wiser Lessons and Sermons of the Gospel immediately spends the next Chapter in opposing the Evangelical state to the Legal the Spiritual to the Carnal the Christian to the Natural and tells us plainly he that is redeemed by the blood of Christ is redeemed from the power of sin he that is Christs freed man is not a slave of sin not captive to the Devil at his will he that is in the flesh cannot please God but that every servant of Christ is freed from sin and is a servant of righteousness and redeemed from all his vain conversation for this is the end of Christs coming and cannot be in vain unless we make it so He came to bless us by turning every one of us from our iniquities Now concerning this besides the evidence of the thing itself that S. Paul does not speak these words of himself but by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under his own borrowed person he describes the state of a carnal unredeemed unregenerate person is expresly affirmed by S. Irenaeus and Origen by Tertullian and S. Basil by Theodoret and S. Chrysostom by S. Jerom and sometimes by S. Austin by S. Ambrose and S. Cyril by Macarius and Theophylact and is indeed that true sense and meaning of these words of S. Paul which words none can abuse or misunderstand but to the great prejudice of a holy life and the Patronage of all iniquity But for the stating of this great case of conscience I shall first in short describe to you what are the proper causes which place men and keep them in this state of a necessity of sinning and 2. I shall prove the absolute necessity of coming out of this condition and quitting all our sin 3. In what degree this is to be affected 4. By what Instruments this is to be done and all these being practical will of themselves be sufficient use to the Doctrines and need no other applicatory but a plain exhortation 1. What are the causes of this evil by which we are first placed and so long kept in a necessity of sinning so that we cannot do what good we would nor avoid the evil that we hate The first is the evil state of our Nature And indeed he that considers the dayly experiment of his own weak Nature the ignorance and inconstancy of his soul being like a sick mans legs or the knees of Infants reeling and unstable by disease or by infirmity and the perpetual leaven and germinations the thrustings forth and swelling of his senses running out like new wine into vapours and intoxicating activities will readily confess that though even in nature there may be many good inclinations to many instances of the Divine Commandments yet it can go no further than this velleity this desiring to do good but is not able And upon this account it is that Lactantius brings in the Pagan or natural man complaining Volo equidem non peccare sed vincor indutus enim sum carne fragili imbecillà This is very true and I adde only this caution There is not in the corruption of our nature so much as will save us harmless or make us excusable if we sin against God Natural corruption can make us criminal but not innocent for though by him that willingly abides in the state of mere nature sin cannot be avoided yet no man is in that state longer than he loves to be so for the Grace of God came to rescue us from this evil portion and is alwayes present to give us a new nature and create us over again and therefore though sin is made necessary to the natural man by his impotency and fond loves that is by his unregenerate nature yet in the whole constitution of affairs God hath more then made it up by his Grace if we will make use of it In pueris elucet spes plurimorum quae ubi emoritur aetate manifestum est non defecisse naturam sed curam said Quintilian We cannot tell what we are or what we think in our infancy and when we can know our thoughts we can easily observe that we have learned evil things by evil examples and the corrupt manners of an evil conversation ubi per socordiam vires tempus ingenium defluxêre naturae infirmitas accusatur that indeed is too true we grow lazy and wanton and we lose our time and abuse our parts and do ugly things and lay the fault wholly upon our natural infirmities but we must remember that by this time it is a state of Nature a state of flesh and blood which cannot enter into Heaven The natural man and the natural child are not the same thing in true Divinity The natural child indeed can do no good but the natural man cannot choose but do evil but it is because he will do so he is not born in the second birâ—h and renewed in the Baptism of the Spirit 2. We have brought our selves into an accidental necessity of sinning by the evil principles which are sucked in by great parts of mankind We are taught ways of going to Heaven without forsaking our sins of repentance without restitution of being in charity without hearty forgiveness and without love of believing our sins to be pardoned before they are mortified of trusting in Christs death without conformity to his life of
that he have remaining in him no habit of any sin whatsoever Our old man must be crucified the body of sin must be destroyed he must no longer serve sin sin shall not have the dominion over you All these are the Apostles words that is plainly as I have already declared you must not be at that pass that though ye would avoid sin ye cannot For he that is so is a most perfect slave and Christs freed man cannot be so Nay he that loves sin and delights in it hath no liberty indeed but he hath more shew of it than he that obeys it against his will Libertatis servaveris umbram Si quicquid jubeare velis He that loves to be in the place is a less prisoner than he that is confined against his will 2. He that commits any one sin by choice and deliberation is an enemy to God and is under the dominion of the flesh In the case of deliberate sins one act does give the denomination he is an Adulterer that so much as once foully breaks the holy Laws of Marriage He that offends in one is guilty of all saith S. James S. Peters Denial and Davids Adultery had passed on to a fatal issue if the mercy of God and a great repentance had not interceded But they did so no more and so God restored them to Grace and Pardon And in this sense are the words of S. John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that does a sin is of the Devil and he that is born of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he does not commit a sin he chooses none he loves none he endures none talia quae non faciet bonae fidei spei Christianus they do no great sin and love no little one A sin chosen and deliberately done is as Tertullians expression is crimen devoratorium salutis it devours salvation For as there are some sins which can be done but once as a man can kill his Father but once or himself but once so in those things which can be repeated a perfect choice is equivalent to a habit it is the same in principle that a habit is in the product In short he is not a child of God that knowingly and deliberately chooses anything that God hates 3. Every Christian ought to attain to such a state of life as that he never sin not only by a long deliberation but also not by passion I do not say that he is not a good Christian who by passion is suddenly surpriz'd and falls into folly but this I say that no passion ought to make him choose a sin For let the sin enter by anger or by desire it is all one if the consent be gain'd It is an ill sign if a man though on the sudden consents to a base action Thus far every good man is tied not only to endeavour but to prevail against his Sin 4. There is one step more which if it be not actually effected it must at least be greatly endeavour'd and the event be left to God and that is that we strive for so great a dominion over our sins and lust as that we be not surpriz'd on a sudden This indeed is a work of time and it is well if it be ever done but it must alwayes be endeavoured But in this particular even good men are sometimes unprosperous S. Epiphanius and S. Chrysostom grew once into choler and they past too far and lost more then their argument they lost their reason and they lost their patience and Epiphanius wished that S. Chrysostom might not die a Bishop and he in a peevish exchange wished that Epiphanius might never return to his Bishoprick when they had forgotten their foolish anger God remembred it and said Amen to both their cursed speakings Nay there is yet a greater example of humane frailty S. Paul and Barnabas were very holy persons but once in a heat they were both to blame they were peevish and parted company This was not very much but God was so displeased even for this little Fly in their Box of Oyntment that their story sayes they never saw one anothers face again These earnest emissions and transportations of passion do sometime declare the weakness of good men but that even here we ought at least to endeavour to be more than Conquerors appears in this because God allows it not and by punishing such follies does manifest that he intends that we should get victory over our suddain passions as well as our natural lusts And so I have done with the third inquiry in what degree God expects our innocence and now I briefly come to the last particular which will make all the rest practicable I am now to tell you how all this can be effected and how we shall get free from the power and dominion of our sins 4. The first great instrument is Faith He that hath Faith like a grain of Mustard seed can remove mountains the mountains of sin shall fall flat at the feet of the Faithful man and shall be removed into the sea the Sea of Christs blood and penitential waters Faith overcometh the world saith S. John and walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh there are two of our enemies gone the world and the flesh by Faith and the Spirit by the Spirit of Faith and as for the Devil put on the shield of Faith and resist the Devil and he will flee from you saith the Apostle and the powers of sin seem insuperable to none but to them that have not Faith we do not believe that God intends we should do what he seems to require of us or else we think that though Gods grace abounds yet sin must superabound expresly against the saying of S. Paul or else we think that the evil spirit is stronger than the good Spirit of God Hear what S. John saith My little children ye are of God and have overcome the evil one for the Spirit that is in you is greater than that which is in the world Believest thou this If you do I shall tell you what may be the event of it When the father of the boy possessed with the Devil told his sad story to Christ he said Master if thou canst do any thing I pray help me Christ answered him If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth N. B. And therefore if you do believe this go to your prayers and go to your guards and go to your labour and try what God will do for you For whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray believe that ye shall receive them and ye shall have them Now consider Do not we every day pray in the Divine Hymn called Te Deum Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us this day without sin And in the Collect at morning prayer and grant that this day we fall into no sin neither run into any kind of danger but that all our doings may be ordered by thy
his Death so we shall be partakers of his Resurrection saith S. Paul that is then we are truly effectually and indeed justified Till than we are not He that loveth Gold shall not be justified saith the wise Bensirach he that is covetous let his faith be what it will shall not be accounted righteous before God because he is not so in himself and he is not so in Christ for he is not in Christ at all he hath no righteousness in himself and he haâ—h none in Christ for if we be in Christ or if Christ be in us the body is dead by reason of sin and the Spirit is life because of righteousness For this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that faithful thing that is the faithfulness is manifested the Emun fâ—om whence comes Emunah which is the Hebrew word for Faith from whence Amen is deriv'd Fiat quod dictum est hinc inde hoc fidum est when God and we both say Amen to our promises and undertakings Fac fidelis sis fideli cave fidem fluxam geras said he in the Comedy God is faithful be thou so too for if thou failest him thy faith hath failed thee Fides sumitur pro eo quod est inter utrunque placitum sayes one and then it is true which the Prophet and the Apostle said the Just shall live by faith in both senses ex fide mea vivet ex fide sua we live by Gods Faith and by our own by his Fidelity and by ours When the righteousness of God becomes your righteousness and exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees when the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us by walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit then we are justified by Gods truth and by ours by his Grace and our Obedience So that now we see that Justification and Sanctification cannot be distinguished but as words of Art signifying the various steps of progression in the same course they may be distinguished in notion and speculation but never when they are to pass on to material events for no man is justified but he that is also sanctified They are the express words of S. Paul Whom he did foreknow them he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son to be like to Christ and then it follows Whom he hath predestinated so predestinated them he hath also called and whom he hath called them he hath also justified and then it follows Whom he hath justified them he hath also glorified So that no man is justified that is so as to signifie Salvation but Sanctification must be precedent to it and that was my second consideration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which I was to prove 3. I pray consider that he that does not believe the promises of the Gospel cannot pretend to Faith in Christ but the promises are all made to us upon the conditions of Obedience And he that does not believe them as Christ made them believes them not at all In well doing commit your selves to God as unto a faithful Creator there is no committing our selves to God without well-doing For God will render to every man according to his deeds to them that obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath but to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality to them eternal life So that if faith apprehends any other promises it is illusion and not faith God gave us none such Christ purchased none such for us search the Bible over and you shall find none such But if faith layes hold on these promises that are and as they are then it becomes an Article of our faith that without obedience and a sincere endeavour to keep Gods Commandments no man living can be justified And therefore let us take heed when we magnifie the free Grace of God we do not exclude the conditions which this free Grace hath set upon us Christ freely died for us God pardons us freely in our first access to him we could never deserve pardon because when we need pardon we are enemies and have no good thing in us and he freely gives us of his Spirit and freely he enables us to obey him and for our little imperfect services he freely and bountifully will give us eternal life here is free Grace all the way and he overvalues his pitiful services who thinks that he deserves Heaven by them and that if he does his duty tolerably eternal life is not a free gift to him but a deserved reward Conscius est animus meus experientia testis Mystica quae retuli dogmata vera scio Non tamen idcirco scio me fore glorificandum Spes mea crux Christi gratia non opera It was the meditation of the wise Chancellor of Paris I know that without a good life and the fruits of repentance a sinner cannot be justified and therefore I must live well or I must dy for ever But if I do live holily I do not think that I deserve Heaven it is the cross of Christ that procures me grace it is the Spirit of Christ that gives me grace it is the mercy and the free gift of Christ that brings me unto Glory But yet he that shall exclude the works of faith from the Justification of a sinner by the blood of Christ may as well exclude faith it self for faith it self is one of the works of God it is a good work so said Christ to them that asked him What shall we do to work the works of God Jesus said This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent Faith is not only the Foundation of good works but it self is a good work it is not only the cause of obedience but a part of it it is not only as the Son of Sirach calls it initium adhaerendi Deo a beginning of cleaving unto God but it carries us on to the perfection of it Christ is the Author and finisher of our Faith and when Faith is finished a good life is made perfect in our kind Let no man therefore expect events for which he hath no promise nor call for Gods fidelity without his own faithfulness nor snatch at a promiâ—e without performing the condition nor think faith to be a hand to apprehend Christ and to do nothing else for that will but deceive us and turn Religion into words and holiness into hypocrisy and the promises of God into a snare and the truth of God into a ly For when God made a Covenant of faith he made also the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the law of Faith and when he admitted us to a Covenant of more mercy than was in the Covenant of works or of the law he did not admit us to a Covenant of idleness and incurious walking in a State of disobedience but the mercy of God leadeth us to repentance and when he gives us better promises he intends we should
pay him a better obedience when he forgives us what is past he intends we should sin no more when he offers us his graces he would have us to make use of them when he causes us to distrust our selves his meaning is we should rely upon him when he enables us to do what he commands us he commands us to do all that we can And therefore this Covenant of Faith and mercy is also a Covenant of holiness and the grace that pardons us does also purifie us for so saith the Apostle He that hath this hope purifies himself even as God is pure And when we are so then we are justified indeed this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the law of Faith and by works in this sense that is by the works of Faith by Faith working by love and producing fruits worthy of amendment of life we are justified before God And so I have done with the affirmative Proposition of my Text you see that a man is justified by works But there is more in it then this matter yet amounts to For S. James does not say we are justified by works and are not justified by Faith that had been irreconcileable with S. Paul but we are so justified by works that it is not by Faith alone it is Faith and works together that is it is by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the obedience of Faith by the works of Faith by the law of Faith by righteousness Evangelical by the conditions of the Gospel and the measures of Christ. I have many things to say in this particular but because I have but a little time left to say them in I will sum it all up in this Proposition That in the question of justification and salvation Faith and good works are no part of a distinction but members of one intire body Faith and good works together work the righteousness of God That is that I may speak plainly justifying faith contains in it obedience and if this be made good then the two Apostles are reconciled to each other and both of them to the necessity the indispensable necessity of a good life Now that justifying and saving Faith must be defined by something more than an act of understanding appears not only in this that S. Peter reckons Faith as distinctly from knowledge as he does from patience or strength or brotherly kindness saying Add to your faith vertue to vertue knowledge but in this also because an error in life and whatsoever is against holiness is against faith And therefore S. Paul reckons the lawless and the disobedient murders of Parents man-stealing and such things to be against sound doctrines for the doctrine of Faith is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the doctrine that is according to godliness And when S. Paul prayes against ungodly men he adds this reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all men have not Faith meaning that wicked men are Infidels and Unbelievers and particularly he affirms of him that does not provide for his own that he hath denyed the Faith Now from hence it follows that faith is godliness because all wickedness is infidelity it is an Apostacy from the Faith Ille erit Ille nocens qui me tibi fecerat hostem he that sins against God he is the enemy to the Faith of Jesus Christ and therefore we deceive our selves if we place faith in the understanding only it is not that and it does not dwell there but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle the Mystery of Faith is kept no where it dwells no where but in a pure conscience For I consider that since all moral habits are best defined by their operations we can best understand what faith is by seeing what it does To this purpose hear S. Paul By faith Abel offered up to God a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain By faith Noah made an Ark. By faith Abraham left his Country and offered up his Son By faith Moses chose to suffer affliction and accounted the reproach of Christ greater than all the riches of Aegypt In short the children of God by faith subdued Kingdoms and wrought righteousness To work righteousness is as much the duty and work of faith as believing is So that now we may quickly make an end of this great inquiry whether a man is justified by Faith or by works for he is so by both if you take it alone faith does not justifie but take it in the aggregate sense as it is used in the question of Justification by S. Paul and then faith does not only justifie but it sanctifies too and then you need to inquire no further obedience is a part of the definition of faith as much as it is of Charity This is love saith S. John that we keep his Commandments And the very same is affirmed of Faith too by Bensirach He that believeth the Lord will keep his Commandments I have now don with all the Proposiâ—ions expressed and implyed in the Text give me leave to make some practical Considerations and so I shall dismiss you from this Attention The rise I take from the words of S. Epiphanius speaking in praise of the Apostolical and purest Ages of the Church There was at first no distinction of Sects and Opinions in the Church she knew no difference of men but good and bad there was no separation made but what was made by piety or impiety or sayes he which is all one by fidelity and infidelity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For Faith hath in it the Image of godliness engraven and infidelity hath the character of wickedness and prevarication A man was not then esteemed a Saint for disobeying his Bishop or an Apostle nor for misunderstanding the hard sayings of S. Paul about predestination to kick against the laudable customs of the Church was not then accounted a note of the godly party and to despise Government was but an ill mark and weak indication of being a good Christian. The Kingdom of God did not then consist in words but in power the power of godliness though now we are fallen into another method we have turned all Religion into Faith and our Faith is nothing but the productions of interest or disputing it is adhering to a party and a wrangling against all the world beside and when it is asked of what Religion he is of we understand the meaning to be what faction does he follow what are the articles of his Sect not what is the manner of his life and if men be zealous for their party and that interest then they are precious men though otherwise they be Covetous as the grave factious as Dathan Schismatical as Corah or proud as the falling Angels Alas these things will but deceive us the faith of a Christian cannnot consist in strifes about words and perverse disputings of men These things the Apostle calls prophane and vain Bablings and mark what he sayes of them these things will encrease 〈◊〉
Apostles are dead Yet the Apostolical order is not it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a generative order and begets more Apostles now who these minores Apostoli are the successors of the Apostles in that Office Apostolical and supreme regiment of souls we are sufficiently taught in Holy Scriptures which when I have clearly shewn to you I shall pass on to some more practical considerations 1. Therefore certain and known it is that Christ appointed two sorts of Ecclesiastick persons the XII Apostles and the LXXII Disciples to these he gave a limited commission to those a fulness of power to these a temporary imployment to those a perpetual and everlasting from these two societies founded by Christ the whole Church of God derives the two superiour orders in the sacred Hierarchy and as Bishops do not claim a Divine right but by succession from the Apostles so the Presbyters cannot pretend to have been instituted by Christ but by claiming a succession to the LXXII And then consider the difference compare the Tables and all the world will see the advantages of argument we have for since the LXXII had nothing but a mission on a temporary errand more then that we hear nothing of them in Scripture but upon the Apostles Christ powred all the Ecclesiastical power and made them the ordinary Ministers of that spirit which was to abide with the Church for ever the Divine institution of Bishops that is of Successors to the Apostles is much more clear then that Christ appointed Presbyters or Successors of the LXXII And yet if from hence they do not derive it they can never prove their order to be of Divine institution at all much less to be so alone But we may see the very thing it self the very matter of fact S. James the Bishop of Jerusalem is by S. Paul called an Apostle Other Apostles saw I none save James the Lords Brother For there were some whom the Scriptures call the Apostles of our Lord that is such which Christ made by his word immediately or by his Spirit extraordinarily and even into this number and title Matthias and S. Paul Barnabas were accounted But the Church also made Apostles and these were called by S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostles of the Churches and particularly Epaphroditus was the Apostle of the Philippians properly so saith Primasius and what is this else but the Bishop faith Theodoret for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who are now called Bishops were then called Apostles saith the same Father the sence and full meaning of which argument is a perfect commentary upon that famous prophecy of the Church In stead of thy Fathers thou shalt have children whom thou mayest make Princes in Lands that is not only the twelve Apostles our Fathers in Christ who first begat us were to rule Christs Family but when they were gone their children and Successors should arise in their stead Et nati natorum qui nascentur ab illis their direct Successors to all generations shall be principes populi that is Rulers and Governours of the whole Catholick Church De prole enim Ecclesiae crevit eidem paternitas id est Episcopi quos illa genuit patres appellat constituit in sedibus Patrum saith S. Austin the children of the Church become Fathers of the faithful that is the Church begets Bishops and places them in the seat of Fathers the first Apostles After these plain and evident testimonies of Scripture it will not be amiss to say that this great affair relying not only upon the words of institution but on matter of fact passed forth into a demonstration and greatest notoreity by the Doctrine and practice of the whole Catholick Church For so S. Irenaeus who was one of the most Antient Fathers of the Church and might easily make good his affirmative We can sayes he reckon the men who by the Apostles were appointed Bishops in the Churches to be their Successors unto us leaving to them the same power and authority which they had Thus S. Polycarp was by the Apostles made Bishop of Smyrna S. Clement Bishop of Rome by St. Peter and divers others by the Apostles faith Tertullian saying also that the Asian Bishops were consecrated by S. John and to be short that Bishops are the Successors of the Apostles in the Stewardship and Rule of the Church is expresly taught by S. Cyprian and S. Hierom S. Ambrose and S. Austin by Euthymius and Pacianus by S. Gregory and S. John Damascen by Clarius à Muscula and S. Sixtus by Anacletus and S. Isidore by the Roman Councel under S. Sylvester and the Councel of Carthage and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or succession of Bishops from the Apostles hands in all the Churches Apostolical was as certainly known as in our Chronicles we find the succession of our English Kings and one can no more be denyed then the other The conclusion from these premises I give you in the words of S. Cyprian Cogitent Diaconi quod Apostolos id est Episcopos Dominus ipse elegerit Let the Ministers know that Apostles that is he Bps. were chosen by our blessed Lord himself and this was so evident and so believed that S. Austin affirms it with a nemo ignorat No man is so ignorant but he knows this that our blessed Saviour appointed Bishops over Churches Indeed the Gnosticks spake evil of this order for they are noted by three Apostles S. Paul S. Peter and S. Jude to be despisers of Government and to speak evil of dignities and what government it was they did so despise we may understand by the words of S. Jude they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the contradiction or gainsaying of Corah who with his company rose up against Aaron the high Priest and excepting these who were the vilest of men no man within the first 300. years after Christ opposed Episcopacy But when Constantine received the Church into his arms he found it universally governed by Bishops and therefore no wise or good man professing to be a Christian that is to believe the holy Catholick Church can be content to quit the Apostolical Government that by which the whole Family of God was fed and taught and ruled and beget to himself new Fathers and new Apostles who by wanting succession from the Apostles of our Lord have no Ecclesiastical and Derivative communion with these fountains of our Saviour If ever Lirinensis's rule could be used in any question it is in this Quod semper quod ubique quod ab omibus That Bishops are the successors of the Apostles in this Stewardship and that they did alwayes rule the Family was taught and acknowledged alwayes and every where and by all men that were of the Church of God and if these evidences be not sufficient to convince modest and sober persons in this question we shall find our faith to fail in many other articles of
Ordinances and makes progressions by the measures of life his infusions are just as our acquisitions and his Graces pursue the methods of nature that which was imperfect he leads on to perfection and that which was weake he makes strong he opens the heart not to receive murmurs or to attend to secret whispers but to hear the Word of God and then he opens the heart and creates a new one and without this new creation this new principle of life we may heare the Word of God but we can never understand it we heare the sound but are never the better unlesse there be in our hearts a secret conviction by the spirit of God the Gospel it self is a dead Letter and worketh not in us the light and righteousness of God Do not we see this by a daily experience Even those things which a good man and an evil man know they do not know them both alike A wicked man does know that good is lovely and sin is of an evill and destructive nature and when he is reproved he is convinced and when he is observed he is ashamed and when he hath done he is unsatisfied and when he pursues his sin he does it in the dark Tell him he shall dye and he sighs deeply but he knows it as well as you proceed and say that after death comes Judgement and the poor man believes and trembles He knows that God is angry with him and if you tell him that for ought he knows he may be in Hell to morrow he knows that it is an intolerable truth but it it also undeniable And yet after all this he runs to commit his sin with as certain an event and resolution as if he knew no argument against it These notices of things terrible and true passe through his understanding as an Eagle through the Air as long as her flight lasted the Air was shaken but there remains no path behind her Now since at the same time we see other persons not so learned it may be not so much versed in Scriptures yet they say a thing is good and lay hold of it they believe glorious things of Heaven and they live accordingly as men that believe themselves halfe a word is enough to make them understand a nod is a sufficient reproof the Crowing of a Cock the singing of a Lark the dawning of the day and the washing their hands are to them competent memorialls of Religion and warnings of their duty What is the reason of this difference They both read the Scriptures they read and heare the same Sermons they have capable understandings they both believe what they heare and what they read and yet the event is vastly different The reason is that which I am now speaking of the one understands by one Principle the other by another the one understands by Nature and the other by Grace the one by humane Learning and the other by Divine the one reads the Scriptures without and the other within the one understands as a son of man the other as a son of God the one perceives by the proportions of the World and the other by the measures of the Spirit the one understands by Reason and the other by Love and therefore he does not only understand the Sermons of the Spirit and perceives their meaning but he pierces deeper and knows the meaning of that meaning that is the secret of the Spirit that which is spiritually discerned that which gives life to the Proposition and activity to the Soul And the reason is because he hath a Divine principle within him and a new understanding that is plainly he hath Love and that 's more then Knowledge as was rarely well observed by St. Paul Knowledge puffethup but Charity edifieth that is Charity makes the best Scholars No Sermons can edify you no Scriptures can build you up a holy building to God unlesse the love of God be in your hearts and purifie your souls from all filthinesse of the Flesh and spirit But so it is in the regions of Starrs where a vast body of fire is so divided by excentric motions that it looks as if Nature had parted them into Orbes and round shells of plain and purest materialls but where the cause is simple and the matter without variety the motions must be uniforme and in Heaven we should either espy no motion or no variety But God who designed the Heavens to be the causes of all changes and motions here below hath placed his Angels in their houses of light and given to every one of his appointed officers a portion of the fiery matter to circumagitate and roll and now the wonder ceases for if it be enquired why this part of the fire runs Eastward and the other to the South they being both indifferent to either it is because an Angel of God sits in the Centre and makes the same matter turne not by the bent of its own mobility and inclination but in order to the needs of Man and the great purposes of God and so it is in the understandings of men When they all receive the same notions and are taught by the same Master and give full consent to all the propositions and can of themselves have nothing to distinguish them in the events it is because God hath sent his Divine spirit and kindles a new fire and creates a braver capacity and applies the actives to the passives and blesses their operation For there is in the heart of man such a dead sea and an indisposition to holy flames like as in the cold Rivers in the North so as the fires will not burn them and the Sun it self will never warme them till Gods holy Spirit does from the Temple of the new Ierusalem bring a holy flame and make it shine and burn The Naturall man saith the holy Apostle cannot perceive the things of the Spirit they are foolishnesse unto him for they are spiritually discerned For he that discourses of things by the measures of sense thinks nothing good but that which is delicious to the palat or pleases the brutish part of man and therefore while he estimates the secrets of Religion by such measures they must needs seeme as insipid as Cork or the uncondited Mushrom for they have nothing at all of that in their constitution A voluptuous person is like the Dogs of Sicily so fill'd with the deliciousnesse of Plants that grow in every furrow and hedge that they can never keep the sent of their game 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said St. Chrysostome the fire and water can never mingle so neither can sensuality and the watchfulnesse and wise discerning of the spirit Pilato interroganti de veritate Christus non respondit When the wicked Governour asked of Christ concerning truth Christ gave him no answer He was not fit to heare it He therefore who so understands the Words of God that he not only believes but loves the proposition he who consents with all his heart
modest and inquiring apt to learn and desirous of information if he seeks for it in all wayes reasonable and pious and is obedient to Laws then take care of him use him tenderly perswade him meekly reprove him gently and deal mercifully with him till God shall reveal that also unto him in which his unavoidable trouble and his temptation lies Mark them that cause Divisions among you and avoid them for such persons are by the Scripture called Scandals in the abstract they are Offenders and Offences too But if any man have an Opinion let him have it to himself till he can be cur'd of his disease by time and counsel and gentle usages But if he separates from the Church or gathers a Congregation he is proud and is fallen from the communion of Saints and the Unity of the Catholick Church He that observes any of his people to be zealous let him be carefull to conduct that zeal into such channels where there is least danger of inconveniency let him employ it in something that is good let it be press'd to fight against sin For Zeal is like a Cancer in the Breast feed it with good flesh or it will devour the Heart Strive to get the love of the Congregation but let it not degenerate into popularity Cause them to love you and revere you to love with Religion not for your compliance for the good you do them not for that you please them Get their love by doing your duty but not by omitting or spoiling any part of it Ever remembring the severe words of our blessed Saviour Wo be to you when all men speak well of you Suffer not the common people to prattle about Religion and questions but to speak little to be swift to hear and slow to speak that they learn to do good works for necessary uses that they work with their hands that they may have wherewithall to give to them that need that they study to quiet and learn to do their own business Let every Minister take care that he call upon his Charge that they order themselves so that they leave no void spaces of their time but that every part of it be filled with usefull or innocent imployment For where there is a space without business that space is the proper time for danger and temptation and no man is more miserable than he that knows not how to spend his time Fear no mans person in the doing of your duty wisely and according to the Laws remembring alwayes that a servant of God can no more be hurt by all the powers of wickedness than by the noise of a Flies wing or the chirping of a Sparrow Brethren do well for your selves do well for your selves as long as you have time you know not how soon death will come Entertain no persons into your Assemblies from other Parishes unless upon great occasion or in the destitution of a Minister or by contingency and seldome visits or with leave lest the labour of thy brother be discouraged and thy selfe be thought to preach Christ out of envy and not of good will Never appeal to the judgement of the people in matters of controversie teach them obedience not arrogancy teach them to be humble not crafty For without the aid of false guides you will find some of them of themselves apt enough to be troublesome and a question put into their heads and a power of judging into their hands is a putting it to their choice whether you shall be troubled by them this week or the next for much longer you cannot escape Let no Minister of a Parish introduce any Ceremony Rites or Gestures though with some seeming Piety and Devotion but what are commanded by the Church and established by Law and let these also be wisely and usefully explicated to the people that they may understand the reasons and measures of obedience but let there be no more introduc'd lest the people be burdened unnecessarily and tempted or divided IV. Rules and Advices concerning Preaching LEt every Minister be diligent in preaching the Word of God according to the ability that God gives him ever remembring that to minister Gods Word unto the People is the one half of his great Office and Employment Let ever Minister be carefull that what he delivers be indeed the Word of God that his Sermon be answerable to the Text for this is Gods Word the other ought to be according to it that although in it self it be but the word of Man yet by the purpose truth and signification of it it may in a secondary sense be the Word of God Do not spend your Sermons in generall and indefinite things as in Exhortations to the people to get Christ to be united to Christ and things of the like unlimited signification but tell them in every duty what are the measures what circumstances what instruments and what is the particular minute meaning of every general Advice For Generals not explicated do but fill the peoples heads with empty notions and their mouths with perpetual unintelligible talk but their hearts remain empty and themselves are not edified Let not the humours and inclinations of the people be the measures of your Doctrines but let your Doctrines be the measure of their perswasions Let them know from you what they ought to do but if you learn from them what you ought to teach you will give but a very ill account at the day of Judgement of the souls committed to you He that receives from the people what he shall teach them is like a Nurse that asks of her Child what Physick she shall give him Every Minister in reproofs of sin and sinners ought to concern himself in the faults of them that are present but not of the absent nor in reproofe of the times for this can serve no end but of Faction and Sedition publick Murmur and private Discontent besides this it does nothing but amuse the people in the faults of others teaching them to revile their Betters and neglect the dangers of their own souls As it looks like flattery and design to preach nothing before Magistrates but the duty of their people and their own eminency so it is the beginning of Mutiny to preach to the people the duty of their Superiours and Supreme it can neither come from a good Principle nor tend to a good End Every Minister ought to preach to his Parish and urge their duty S. John the Baptist told the Souldiers what the Souldiers should do but troubled not their heads with what was the duty of the Scribes and Pharisees In the reproof of sins be as particular as you please and spare no mans sin but meddle with no mans person neither name any man nor signifie him neither reproach him nor make him to be suspected he that doth otherwise makes his Sermon to be a Libel and the Ministry of Repentance an instrument of Revenge and so doing he shall exasperate the man but never amend