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
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
ostenderit was St. Austin's expression The truth hath not yet been manifested fully to us by reason of our demerits our sins have hindred the brightnesse of the truth from shining upon us And St. Paul observes that when the Heathens gave themselves over to lusts God gave them over to strong delusions and to believe a Lie But God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy said the wise Preacher But this is most expresly promised in the New Testament and particularly in that admirable Sermon which our blessed Saviour preach'd a little before his death The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things Well there 's our Teacher told of plainly But how shall we obtain this teacher and how shall we be taught v. 15 16 17. Christ will pray for us that we may have this spirit That 's well but shall all Christians have the spirit Yes all that will live like Christians for so said Christ If ye love me keep my Commandements and I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter that may abide with you for ever even the spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him Mark these things The Spirit of God is our teacher he will abide with us for ever to be our teacher he will teach us all things but how if ye love Christ if ye keep his Commandments but not else if ye be of the World that is of worldly affections ye cannot see him ye cannot know him And this is the particular I am now to speak to The way by which the Spirit of God teaches us in all the wayes and secrets of God is Love and Holinesse Secreta Dei Deo nostro et filiis domus ejus Gods secrets are to himself and the sons of his House saith the Jewish Proverb Love is the great instrument of Divine knowledge that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the height of all that is to be taught or learned Love is Obedience and we learn his words best when we practise them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Aristotle those things which they that learn ought to practise even while they practise they will best learn Quisquis non venit profectò nec didicit Ita enim Dominus docet per Spiritus gratiam ut quod quisque didicerit non tantum cognoscendo videat sed etiam volendo appetat agedo perficiat St. Austin De gratia Christi lib. 1. c. 14. Unlesse we come to Christ we shall never learn for so our Blessed Lord teaches us by the grace of his spirit that what any one learns he not only sees it by knowledge but desires it by choice and perfects it by practice 4. When this is reduced to practice and experience we find not only in things of practise but even in deepest mysteries not only the choicest and most eminent Saints but even every good man can best tell what is true and best reprove an error He that goes about to speak of and to understand the mysterious Trinity and does it by words and names of mans invention or by such which signifie contingently if he reckons this mystery by the Mythology of Numbers by the Cabala of Letters by the distinctions of the School and by the weak inventions of disputing people if he only talks of Essences and existencies Hypostases and personalities distinctions without difference and priority in Coequalities and unity in Pluralities and of superior Praedicates of no larger extent then the inferior Subjects may amuse himself and find his understanding will be like St. Peters upon the Mount of Tabor at the Transfiguration he may build three Tabernacles in his head and talke something but he knows not what But the good man that feels the power of the Father and he to whom the Son is become Wisdom Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption he in whose heart the love of the Spirit of God is spread to whom God hath communicated the Holy Ghost the Comforter this man though he understands nothing of that which is unintelligible yet he only understands the mysteriousnesse of the Holy Trinity No man can be convinced well and wisely of the Article of the Holy Blessed and Undivided Trinity but he that feels the mightiness of the Father begetting him to a new life the wisdome of the Son building him up in a most holy Faith and the love of the spirit of God making him to become like unto God He that hath passed from his Childhood in Grace under the spirituall generation of the Father and is gone forward to be a young man in Christ strong and vigorous in holy actions and holy undertakings and from thence is become an old Disciple and strong and grown old in Religion and the conversation of the Spirit this man best understands the secret and undiscernable Oeconomie he feels this unintelligible mysterie and sees with his heart what his tongue can never express and his Metaphysics can never prove In these cases Faith and Love are the best Knowledge and Jesus Christ is best known by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and if the Kingdom of God be in us then we know God and are known of him and when we communicate of the Spirit of God when we pray for him and have received him and entertained him and dwelt with him and warmed our selves by his holy fires then we know him too But there is no other satisfactory knowledge of the Blessed Trinity but this And therefore whatever thing is spoken of God Metaphysically there is no knowing of God Theologically and as he ought to be known but by the measures of Holinesse and the proper light of the Spirit of God But in this case Experience is the best learning and Christianity is the best institution and the Spirit of God is the best teacher and Holinesse is the greatest wisdome and he that sins most is the most Ignorant and the humble and obedient man is the best Scholar For the Spirit of God is a loving Spirit and will not enter into a polluted Soul But he that keepeth the Law getteth the understanding thereof and the perfection of the fear of the Lord is wisdom said the wise Ben-Sirach And now give me leave to apply the Doctrine to you and so I shall dismisse you from this attention Many wayes have been attempted to reconcile the differences of the Church in matters of Religion and all the Counsels of man have yet proved ineffective Let us now try Gods Method let us betake our selves to live holily and then the spirit of God will lead us into all truth And indeed it matters not what Religion any man is of if he be a Villaine the opinion of his Sect as it will not save his Soul so neither will it do good to the publick But this is a sure Rule
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
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are in themselves ungodliness and will produce more they will encrease unto more ungodliness But the faith of a Christian had other measures that was faith then which made men faithful to their vows in Baptism The faith of a Christian was the best security in contracts and a Christians word was as good as his bond because he was faithful that promised and a Christian would rather dy then break his word and was alwayes true to his trust he was faithful to his Friend and loved as Jonathan did David This was the Christian Faith then their religion was to hurt no man and to do good to every man and so it ought to be True Religion is to visit the Fatherless and Widow and to keep our selves unspotted of the World That 's a good religion that 's pure and undefiled so S. James and S. Chrysostom defines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 true religion to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pure faith and a godly life for they make up the whole mystery of godâ—iness and no man could then pretend to Faith but he that did do valiantly and suffer patiently and resist the Devil and overcome the world These things are as prâ—perly the actions of Faith as alms is of Charity and therefore they must enter into the moral definition of it And this was truly understood by Salvian that wiâ—e and godly Priest of Massilia what is Faith and what is believing saith he hominem fideliter Christo credere est fidelâ—m Deo esse h. e. fideliter Dei mandata servare That man does faithfully believe in Christ who is faithful unto God who faithfully keeps Gods commandments and therefore let us measure our Faith here by our faithfulness to God and by our diligence to do our Masters Commandments For Christianorum omnis religio sine scelere mâ—culâ vivere said Lactantius The whole religion of a Christian is to live unblameably that is in all holiness and purity of conversation 2. When our faith is spoken of as the great instrument of justification and salvation take Abraham's faith as your best pattern and that wâ—ll end the dispute because that he was justified by Faith when his faith was mighty in effect when he trusted in God when he believed the promises when he expected a resurrection of the dead when he was strong in Faith when he gave glory to God when against hope he believed in hope and when all this past into an act of a most glorious obedience even denying his greatest desires contradicting his most passionate affections offering to God the best thing he had and exposing to death his beloved Isaac his laughters all his joy at the command of God By this faith he was justified saith S. Paul by these works he was justified saith S. James that is by this faith working this obedience And then all the difficulty is over only remember this your faith is weak and will do but little for you if it be not stronger then all your secular desires and all your peevish angers Thus we find in the holy Gospels this conjunction declared necessary Whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them Here is as glorious an event promised to Faith as can be expressed Faith shall obtain any thing of God True but it is not Faith alone but faith in prayer faith praying not faith simply believing So S. James the prayer of Faith shall save the sick but adds it must be the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man so that faith shall prevail but there must be prayer in faith and servour in prayer and devotion in fervour and righteousness in devotion and then impute the effect to faith if you please provided that it be declared that effect cannot be wrought by Faith unless it be so qualified But Christ adds one thing more When ye stand praying forgive but if ye will not forgive neither will your Father forgive you So that it will be to no purpose to say a man is justified by faith unless you mingle charity with it for without the charity of forgiveness there can be no pardon and then justification is but a word when it effects nothing 3. Let every one take heed that by an importune adhering to and relying upon a mistaken Faith he do not really make a shipwrack of a right Faith Hymenaeus Alexander lost their faith by putting away a good conscience and what matter is it of what religion or faith a man be of if he be a Villain and a cheat a man of no truth and of no trust a lover of the World and not a lover of God But I pray consider can any man have faith that denyes God That 's not possible and cannot a man as well deny God by an evil action as by an heritical Proposition Cannot a man deny God by works as much as by words Hear what the Apostle sayes They profess that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate Disobedience is a denying God Nolumus hunc regnare is as plain a renouncing of Christ as nolumus huic credere It is to no purpose to say we believe in Christ and have faith unless Christ reign in our hearts by faith 4. From these premises we may see but too evidently that though a great part of mankind pretend to be saved by Faith yet they know not what it is or else wilfully mistake it and place their hopes upon sand or the more unstable water Believing is the least thing in a justifying faith For faith is a conjugation of many Ingredients and faith is a Covenant and faith is a law and faith is obedience and faith is a work and indeed it is a sincere cleaving to and closing with the terms of the Gospel in every instance in every particular Alas the niceties of a spruce understanding and the curious nothings of useless speculation and all the opinions of men that make the divisions of heart and do nothing else cannot bring us one drop of comfort in the day of tribulation and therefore are no parts of the strength of faith Nay when a man begins truly to fear God and is in the Agonies of mortification all these new-nothings and curiosities will neglected by as baubles do by children when they are deadly sick But that only is faith that makes us to love God to do his will to suffer his impositions to trust his promises to see through a cloud to overcome the World to resist the Devil to stand in the day of tryal and to be comforted in all our sorrows This is that precious faith so mainly necessary to be insisted on that by it we may be Sons of the free woman liberi à vitiis ac ritibus that the true Isaac may be in us which is Christ according to the Spirit the wisdom and power of
which we yet are very confident For the observation of the Lords day the consecration of the holy Eucharist by Priests the baptizing Infants the communicating of women and the very Canon of the Scripture it self rely but upon the same probation and therefore the denying of Articles thus proved is a way I do not say to bring in all Sects and Heresies that 's but little but a plain path and inlet to Atheism and Irreligion for by this means it will not only be impossible to agree concerning the meaning of Scripture but the Scripture it self and all the Records of Religion will become useless and of no efficacy or perswasion I am entered into a sea of matter but I will break it off abruptly and sum up this inquiry with the words of the Councel of Chalcedon which is one of the four Generals by our laws made the measures of judging Heresies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is sacriledge to bring back a Bishop to the degree and order of a Presbyter It is indeed a rifling the order and intangling the gifts and confounding the method of the Holy Ghost it is a dishonouring them whom God would honour and a robbing them of those spiritual eminencies with which the spirit of God does anoint the consecrated heads of Bishops And I shall say one thing more which indeed is a great truth that the diminution of Episcopacy was first introduced by Popery and the Popes of Rome by communicating to Abbots and other mere Priests special graces to exercise some essential Offices of Episcopacy hath made this sacred order to be cheap and apt to be invaded But then add this If Simon Magus was in so damnable a condition for offering to buy the gifts and powers of the Apostolical order what shall we think of them that snatch them away and pretend to wear them whether the Apostles and their Successors will or no This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bely the Holy Ghost that is the least of it it is rapine and sacrilege besides the heresy and schism and the spiritually For the government Episcopal as it was exemplified in the Synagogue and practised by the same measures in the Temple so it was transcribed by the eternal Son of God who translated it into a Gospel Ordinance it was sanctifyed by the Holy Spirit who named some of the persons and gave to them all power and graces from above It was subjected in the Apostles first and by them transmitted to a distinct Order of Ecclesiasticks it was received into all Churches configned in the Records of the holy Scriptures preached by the universal voice of all the Christian World delivered by notorious and uninterrupted practise and derived to further and unquestionable issue by perpetual succession I have done with the hardest part of the Text by finding out the persons intrusted the Stewards of Christs Family which though Christ only intimated in this place yet he plainly enough manifested in others The Apostles and their Successors the Bishops are the men intrusted with this great charge God grant they may all discharge it well And so I pass from the Officers to a consideration of the Office it self in the next words Whom the Lord shall make Ruler over his Houshould to give them their meat in due season 2. The Office it self is the Stewardship that is Episcopacy the Office of the Bishop The name signifies an Office of the Ruler indefinitely but the word was chosen and by the Church appropriated to those whom it now signifies both because the word it self is a monition of duty and also because the faithful were used to it in the dayes of Moses and the Prophets The word is in the prophecy of the Church I will give to thee Princes in peace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Bishops in righteousness upon which place S. Hierom sayes Principes Ecclesiae vocat futuros Episcopos The spirit of God calls them who were to be Christian Bishops principes or chief Rulers and this was no new thing For the chief of the Priests who were set over the rest are called Bishops by all the Hellenist Jews Thus Joel is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop over the Priests and the son of Bani 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop and Visitor over the Levites and we find at the purging of the Land from idolatry the High Priest placed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishops over the House of God Nay it was the appellative of the High Priest himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishop Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest to whom is committed the care of Lamps and the daily Sacrifice and the holy unction Now this word the Church retained choosing the same Name to her superiour Ministers because of the likeness of the Ecclesiastical Government between the Old and New Testament For Christ made no change but what was necessary Baptism was a rite among the Jews and the Lords Supper was but the post-coenium of the Hebrews changed into a mystery from a type to a more real exhibition and the Lords Prayer was a collection of the most eminent devotions of the Prophets and Holy men before Christ who prayed by the same spirit and the censures Ecclesiastical were but an imitation of the proceedings of the Judaical tribunals and the whole Religion was but the Law of Moses drawn out of its vail into clarity and manifestation and to conclude in order to the present affair the Government which Christ left was the same as he found it for what Aaron and his Sons and the Levites were in the Temple that Bishops Priests and Deacons are in the Church it is affirmed by S. Hierom more then once and the use he makes of it is this Esto subjectus Pontificituo quasi animae parentem suscipe Obey your Bishop and reeeive him as the nursing Father of your Soul But above all this appellation is made honourable by being taken by our blessed Lord himself For he is called in Scripture the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls But our inquiry is not after the Name but the Office and the dignity and duty of it Ecclesiae gubernandae sublimis ac divina potestas so S. Cyprian calls it a High and a Divine power from God of Governing the Church rem magnam preciosaem in conspectu Domini so S. Cyril a great and a pretious thing in the sight of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Isidor Pelusiot the utmost limit of what is desireable amongst men But the account upon which it is so desireable is the same also that makes it formidable They who have tryed it and did it conscientiously have found the burden so great as to make them stoop with care and labor and they who do it ignorantly or carelesly will find it will break their bones For the Bishops Office is all that duty which can be signified by those excellent words of S Cyprian He is a
judge his people in Righteousness that their good things be not abolished and that their glory may endure for ever 4. All the offices Ecclesiastical alwayes were and ought to be conducted by the Episcopal order as is evident in the universal doctrine and practise of the primitive Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is the 40 th Canon of the Apostles Let the Presbyters and Deacons do nothing without leave of the Bishop But that case is known The consequent of this consideration is no other then the admonition in my text We are Stewards of the manifold Grace of God and dispensers of the mysteries of the Kingdom and it is required of Stewards that they be found faithful that we preach the word of God in season and out of season that we rebuke and exhort admonish and correct for these God calls Pastores secundùm cor meum Pastors according to his own heart which feed the people with knowledge and understanding but they must also comfort the afflicted and bind up the broken heart minister the Sacraments with great diligence and righteous measures and abundant charity alwayes having in mind those passionate words of Christ to S. Peter If thou lovest me feed my sheep If thou hast any love to me feed my lambs And let us remember this also that nothing can enforce the people to obey their Bishops as they ought but our doing that duty and charity to them which God requires There is reason in these words of S. Chrysostom It is necessary that the Church should adhere to their Bishop as the body to the head as plants to their roots as rivers to their springs as children to their Fathers as Disciples to their Masters These similitudes express not only the relation and dependency but they tell us the reason of the duty The head gives light and reason to conduct the body the roots give nourishment to the plants and the springs perpetual emanation of waters to the chanels Fathers teach and feed their children and Disciples receive wise instruction from their Masters and if we be all this to the people they will be all that to us and wisdom will compel them to submit and our humility will teach them obedience and our charity will invite their compliance Our good example will provoke them to good works and our meekness will melt them into softness and flexibility For all the Lords people are populus voluntarius a free and willing people and we who cannot compel their bodies must thus constrain their souls by inviting their wills by convincing their understandings by the beauty of fair example the efficacy and holiness and the demonstrations of the spirit This is experimentum ejus qui in nobis loquitur Christus The experiment of Christ that speaketh in us For to this purpose those are excellent words which S. Paul spake Remember them who have the rule over you whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation There lyes the demonstration and those prelates who teach good life whose Sermons are the measures of Christ and whose life is a copy of their Sermons these must be followed and surely these will for these are burning and shining lights but if we hold forth false fires and by the amusement of evil examples call the vessels that sail upon a dangerous sea to come upon a rock or an iron shoar instead of a safe harbour we cause them to make shipwrack of their precious Faith and to perish in the deceitful and unstable waters Vox operum fortiùs sonat quà m verborum A good life is the strongest argument that your faith is good and a gentle voice will be sooner entertained then a voice of thunder but the greatest eloquence in the world is a meek spirit and a liberal hand these are the two pastoral staves the Prophet speaks of nognam hovelim beauty and bands he that hath the staff of the beauty of holiness the ornament of fair example he hath also the staff of bands atque in funiculis Adam trahet eos in vinculis chaâ—itatis as the Prophet Hosea's expression is he shall draw the people after him by the cords of a man by the bands of a holy charity But if against all these demonstrations any man will be refractary We have instead of a staff an Apostolical rod which is the last and latest remedy and either brings to repentance or consigns to ruin and reprobation If there were any time remaining I could reckon that the Episcopal order is the principle of Unity in the Church and we see it is so by the inumerable Sects that sprang up when Episcopacy was persecuted I could adde how that Bishops were the cause that S. John wrote his Gospel that the Christian Faith was for 300. years together bravely defended by the sufferings the prisons and flames the life and the death of Bishops as the principal Combatants That the Fathers of the Church whose writings are held in so great veneration in all the Christian World were almost all of them Bishops I could adde that the Reformation of Religion in England was principally by the Preachings and the disputings the writings and the Martyrdom of Bishops That Bishops have ever since been the greatest defensatives against Popery That England and Ireland were governed by Bishops ever since they were Christian and under their conduct have for so many ages enjoyed all the blessings of the Gospel I could add also that Episcopacy is the great stabiliment of Monarchy but of this we are convinced by a sad and too dear bought experience I could therefore in stead of it say that Episcopacy is the great ornament of Religion that as it rescues the Clergy from contempt so it is the greatest preservâ—tive of the peoples liberty from Ecclesiastick Tyranny on one hand the Gentry being little better then servants while they live under the Presbytery and Anarchy and licentiousness on the other That it endears obedience and is subject to the Laws of Princes And is wholly ordained for the good of mankind and the benefit of Souls But I cannot stay to number all the blessings which have entered into the World at this door I only remark these because they describe unto us the Bishops imployment which is to be busy in the service of Souls to do good in all capacities to serve every mans need to promote all publick benefits to cement Governments to establish peace to propagate the Kingdom of Christ to do hurt to no man to do good to every man that is so to minister that Religion and Charity publick peace and private blessings may be in their exaltation As long as it was thus done by the Primitive Bishops the Princes and the people gave them all honour Insomuch that by a decree of Constantine the great the Bishop had power given him to retract the sentences made by the Presidents of Provinces and we find in the acts of S. Nicholas that he
imperio gemimus cum funus adultae Virginis occurrit vel terrâ clauditur infans Et minor igne rogi If you do but see a Maiden carried to her grave a little before her intended marriage or an Infant dye before the birth of Reason Nature hath taught us to pay a tributary tear Alas your eyes will behold the ruine of many Families wnich though they sadly have deserved yet Mercy is not delighted with the spectacle and therefore God places a watry cloud in the eye that when the light of heaven shines upon it it may produce a rain-bow to be a Sacrament and a memorial that God and the sons of God do not love to see a man perish God never rejoyces in the death of him that dies and we also esteem it undecent to have Musick at a Funeral And as Religion teaches us to pity a condemned Criminal so Mercy intercedes for the most benign interpretation of the Laws You must indeed be as just as the Laws and you must be as merciful as your Religion and you have no way to tye these together but to follow the pattern in the Mount doe as God does who in judgement remembers mercy To conclude If every one in this Honourable Assembly would joyn together to promote Christian Religion in it's true notion that is Peace and Holiness the Love of God and the Love of our Brother Christianity in all its proper usefulness and would not indure in the Nation any thing against the laws of the Holy Jesus if they were all zealous for the doctrines of Righteousness and impatient of Sin in your selves and in the people it is not to be imagined what a happy Nation we should be But if ye divide into parties and keep up useless differences of names or interests if ye do not joyn in the bands of Peace that is the King and the Church Religion and the good of the Nation you can never hope to see a blessing to be the end of your labours Remember the words of Solomon Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is a reproach to any people but when Righteousness is advanced in the hearts and lives of the Nation who shall dare to reprove your Faith who can find fault with your Religion God of his mercy grant that in all your Consultations the Word of God may be your measure the Spirit of God may be your guide and the glory of God may be your end He of his mercy grant that Moderation may be your limit and Peace may be within your walls as long as you are there and in all the Land for ever after But remember that since the honour and service of his Majesty and the peace and prosperity of the Church the perpetuity of our fundamental Laws publick Justice and the honour of all legal Authority the advancement of Trade and the wealth of the Nation is your design remember I pray what warranty you have to expect all this no less then the words of our Blessed Saviour but it is upon these terms Seek ye first the Kingdome of God and the righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added to you Amen FINIS A CATALOGUE of some Books written by JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down and Connor and Printed for R. Royston at the Angel in Ivy-lane London 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Course of Sermons for all the Sundaies of the year together with a discourse of the Divine Institution Necessity Sacredness and Separation of the Office Ministerial in fol. 2. The History of the Life and Death of the Ever-blessed Jesus Christ the third Edition in fol. 3. The Rule and Exercises of holy living in 12. 4. The Rule and Exercises of holy dying in 12. 5. The Golden Grove or A Manual of daily Prayers fitted to the daies of the week together with a short Method of Peace and Holiness in 12. 6. A Collection of Polemical and Moral discourses in fol. newly reprinted 7. A Discourse of the Nature Offices and Measure of Friendship in 12. new 8. A Collection of Offices or forms of Prayer fitted to the needs of all Christians taken out of the Scriptures and Ancient Liturgies of several Churches especially the Greek together with the Psalter or Psalms of David after the Kings Translation in a large octavo newly published 9. Ductor Dubitantium or the Rule of Conscience fol. in two volumes 10. The doctrine and Practice of Repentance describing the necessities of a Strict a Holy and a Christian Life serving as a necessary Supplement unto the Rule of Conscience 11. The Worthy Communicant in octavo sold at the Bell in S. Pauls Churchyard Via Intelligentiae A SERMOM Preached to the UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN Shewing by what means the Scholars shall become most Learned and most Usefull Published at their desire By the R. R. Father in God JEREMY Lord Bishop of Downe c. and Vicechancellour of that UNIVERSITY Ad majorem Dei gloriam LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the Kings most Excellent Majesty 1662. TO THE READER PEACE is so great a Blessing and Disputations and Questions in Religion are so little friends to Peace that I have thought no mans time can be better spent then in propositions and promotions of Peace and consequently in finding expedients and putting periods to all contentious Learning I have already in a discourse before the Right Honourable the Lords and Commons assembled in this Parliament prov'd that Obedience is the best medium of Peace and true Religion and Lawes are the only common term and certain rule and measure of it Vocatâ ad concionem multitudine quae coalescere in populum Unius corporis nullâ re praeterquam legibus poterat said Livy Obedience to Man is the externall instrument and the best in the World To which I now add that Obedience to God is the best internall instrument and I have prov'd it in this discourse Peace and Holiness are twin-Sisters after which because every man is bound to follow and he that does not shall never see God I concluded that the office of a Bishop is in nothing so signally to be exhibited as in declaring by what means these great duties and blessings are to be acquir'd This way I have here describ'd is an old way for it was Christs way and therefore it is truth and life but it hath been so little regarded and so seldom taught that when I first spake my thoughts of it in the following words before the Little but Excellent University of Dublin they consented to it so perfectly and so piously entertain'd it that they were pleas'd with some earnestness to desire me to publish it to the World and to consigne it to them as a perpetual memorial of their duty and of my regards to them and care over them in my Station I was very desirous to serve and please them in all their worthy desires but had found so much reason to distrust my own abilities that I could not resolve to do
by the principles of sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then a man learns well when he is a Philosopher in his Passions Passionate men are to be taught the first elements of Religion and let men pretend to as much learning as they please they must begin again at Christs Crosse they must learn true mortification and crucifixion of their anger and desires before they can be good Scholars in Christs School or be admitted into the more secret enquiries of Religion or profit in spirituall understanding It was an excellent Proverb of the Jews In passionibus Spiritus Sanctus non habitat the Holy Ghost never dwells in the house of Passion Truth enters into the heart of Man when it is empty and cleane and still but when the mind is shaken with Passion as with a storme you can never heare the voyce of the Charmer though he charm very wisely and you will very hardly sheath a sword when it is held by a loose and a paralytic Arme. He that means to learn the secrets of Gods wisdom must be as Plato sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soul must be Consubstantiated with Reason not invested with Passion to him that is otherwise things are but in the dark his notion is obscure and his sight troubled and therefore though we often meet with passionate Fools yet we seldom or never heare of a very passionate wise man I have now done with the First part of my undertaking and proved to you that our evill life is the cause of our Controversies and Ignorances in the Religion of the things of God You see what hinders us from becoming good Divines But all this while we are but in the preparation to the Mysteries of Godlinesse When we have thrown off all affections to sin when we have stript our selves from all fond adherencies to the things of the world and have broken the chains and dominion of our Passions then we may say with David Ecce paratum est Cormeum Deus My heart is ready O God my heart is ready then we may say Speak Lord for thy servant heareth but we are not yet instructed It remaines therefore that we enquire what is that immediate principle or meanes by which we shall certainly and infallibly be led into all truth and be taught the mind of God and understand all his secrets and this is worth our knowledge I cannot say that this will end your labours and put a period to your studies and make your learning easie it may possibly increase your labour but it will make it profitable it will not end your Studies but it will direct them it will not make humane Learning easie but will make it wise unto salvation and conduct it into true notices and wayes of wisdom I am now to describe to you the right way of knowledge Qui facit voluntatem Patris mei saith Christ that 's the way do Gods will and you shall understand Gods Word And it was an excellent saying of St. Peter Add to your faith Vertue c. If these things be in you and abound ye shall not be unfruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For in this case it is not enough that all our hinderances of knowledge are removed for that is but the opening of the covering of the Book of God but when it is opened it is written with a hand that every eye cannot read Though the windowes of the East be open yet every eye cannot behold the glories of the Sun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Plotinus the eye that is not made Solar cannot see the Sun the eye must be fitted to the splendor and is not the wit of the man but the spirit of the man not so much his head as his heart that learnes the Divine Philosophy 1. Now in this inquiry I must take one thing for a praecognitum that every good man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is taught of God and indeed unless he teach us we shall make but ill Scholars our selves and worse guides to others Nemo potest Deum scire nisi à Deo doceatur said St. Jrenaeus lib. 6. c. 14. If God teaches us then all is well but if we do not learn wisdom at his feet from whence should we have it it can come from no other spring And therefore it naturally follows that by how much nearer we are to God by so much better we are like to be instructed But this being supposed as being most evident we can easily proceed by wonderfull degrees and steps of progression in the Oeconomy of this Divine Philosophy For 2. There is in every righteous man a new vital principle the Spirit of Grace is the spirit of Wisdome and teaches us by secret inspirations by proper arguments by actuall perswasions by personall applications by effects and energies and as the soul of a man is the cause of all his vitall operations so is the Spirit of God the life of that life and the cause of all actions and productions Spirituall And the consequence of this is what St. Iohn tells us of Ye have received the Unction from above and that anoynting teacheth you all things All things of some one kind that is certainly all things that pertain to life and Godlinesse all that by which a man is wise and happy We see this by common experience Unlesse the soul have a new life put into it unlesse there be a vital principle within unlesse the spirit of life be the Informer of the spirit of the man the Word of God will be as dead in the operation as the body in its powers and possibilities Sol Homo generant hominem saith our Philosophy A Man alone does not beget a man but a Man and the Sun for without the influence of the Celestiall bodyes all natural actions are ineffective and so it is in the operations of the Soul Which principle divers Fanatics both amongst us and in the Church of Rome misunderstanding look for new Revelations and expect to be conducted by ecstasy and will not pray but in a transfiguration and live upon raptures and extravagant expectations and separate themselves from the conversation of men by affectations by new measures and singularities and destroy order and despise Government and live upon illiterate phantasmes and ignorant discourses These men do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they bely the holy Ghost For the Spirit of God makes men wise it is an evil Spirit that makes them Fools The Spirit of God makes us Wise unto Salvation it does not spend its holy influences in disguises and convulsions of the understanding Gods spirit does not destroy Reason but heightens it he never disorders the beauties of Government but is a God of Order it is the spirit of Humility and teaches no Pride he is to be found in Churches and Pulpits upon Altars and in the Doctors Chaires not in Conventicles and mutinous corners of a house he goes in company with his own