trembling but as we have out-passed those ten Lepers in our uncleanness so we may not come short of them in their holy fear and faith for as their fear made them stand afar off so their faith made them lift up their voices and say Jesus Master have mercy on us S. Luc. 17. 12 13. then will he give us such a purity as will not onely make us shew our selves to the Priest but also to our God such a purity as will wash our eyes to see him and much more our hearts to love him for so saith S. Peter Act. 15. 9. purisying their hearts by faith not a faith which costs the purse no alms the body no fasting the soul no praying for no true Israelite will ever offer that unto the Lord which cost him nothing 2 Sam. 24. 24. but a faith which so purifies the soul by knowing the truth as much more by obeying it for so saith the same Apostle Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently 1 S. Pet. 1. 22. this is the purity of the true Religion it purifies the soul not onely by faith but also by obedience and by love which yet are now generally farthest from many men who would fain be thought to come nearest Purity Thus we have seen Gods truth in his understanding his goodness in his will and his purity in his action it still remains that we consider his Liberty as belonging to them all for Liberty being nothing else but the dominion and power of action must needs be originally in the understanding which alone is able to judge and deliberate of what is to be done what not formally in the will which resolves to do or not to do but effectually 't is onely in the action which is the product of the said deliberate resolution this liberty is now briefly to be handled First as it is in God and then as it is in Religion for being the service of God Gods Liberty is seen in five respects in that he is free from sin free from misery free from obligation free from servitude and free from coaction which is the reason that he can both will and do what and when and where himself pleaseth I need not insist on the proof of these for to name them is to prove them nor can any man deny Gods Liberty in any of these respects but he must deny him to be God and in all these same respects we may see and must acknowlege the Liberty of Religion and to deny it to be free in any of these is to deny it to be Religion that is to say the service of God and to make it to be state policy that is to say the service of men First Religion is free from sin for the superstition and faction and profaneness and other sins that are so rife among Christians to the dishonour of Christ and the reproach of Christendome is a rust that cleaves to the men who are little better then iron not to the Religion which is as pure as the Refiners fire and therefore it is not safe nor fit to say of any order or kinde of Christians that their Religion is rebellion and their faith is faction though we cannot deny of too too many orders and kindes of men who profess Religion that they are both rebellious and factious Secondly Religion is free from misery ask the three children in the fiery furnace they will say their Religion had made them persecuted they will not say that it had made them miserable they profess that they were delivered into the hands of lawless enemies most hatefull apostates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning sure those of their own brethren which had renounced the Law of Moses and their Religion and helped the Babylonians to persecute and infest Jerusalem and to an unjust King and the most wicked in all the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus those blessed Martyrs will tell you they were in persecution the greatest that ever was but they will not tell you they were in misery nay it seems they told the quite contrary for none else could have told it but from their mouths that the angel of the Lord came down into the oven and smote the flame of fire and made the midst of the furnace as it had been a moist whistling wind but you will say these men were partial witnesses in their own cause therefore ask their persecutors they will tell you the same for the Princes Governours and Captains and the Kings Counsellours being gathered together saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power nor was an hair of their head singed neither were their coats changed nor the smell of fire had passed on them nay ask Nebuchadnezzar himself who was the authour of the persecution and he will tell you that though he had caused these holy men to be so much afflicted yet he could not cause them to be miserable for at that instant when he had thought they had been burnt to ashes he heard them sing in the flames as saith the Greek Translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that probably made him look about to see whence that melody proceeded and finding so sweet a breath to come from the blast of his fire he was astonied and rose up in haste and went to the mouth of the furnace which before bade him keep his distance in that it consumed his officers and called forth the holy and blessed Martyrs who having been delivered from a present death could not be looked on but as men newly risen from the dead Thirdly Religion is free from obligation there is no greater humane obligation then that of nature and there is no greater natural obligation then that which we owe to our Parents yet that may not be alledged to keep us from serving God so Aquinas determines the case Si ergo cultus parentum abstrahat nos a cultu Dei non jam esset pietatis parentum insistere cultui contra Deum ideo in tali casu dimittinda sunt officia pietatis in parentes propter divinum Religionis cultum 22 ae qu. 101. art 4. If our duty to our Parents take us away from our duty to our God as if the Father should command his son to turn rebel or Idolater or the like we must forsake our parents and cleave to God and shew the prevalency of that duty we owe to God by being undutifull to our parents in such a case again there is no civil obligation greater then that we owe to our Governours yet if they command us to sin against God by not speaking nor teaching by not praying nor preaching in the Name of Iesus we have our answer put into our mouths and God put it into our hearts lest atheism get possession there in stead of Christ whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken
but also the life S. John 14. 6. And so also are his words S. Iohn 6. 63. The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life no parting Christs words from Spirit nor Spirit from life and again verse 68. Thou hast the words of eternal life Let nothing go for Christs word which is not spirit and life and so spirit as to give life wherefore if you see a Religion a fraught with beads pictures crucifixes and such outward ordinances be afraid of it for these and the like are mens carnal inventions meer carnal images this is not Religion but superstition Again if you see a Religion fraught with envy malice hatred uncharitableness spiritual pride perversness profaneness licentiousness disobedience novelty singularity be afraid of it for these and such like are mens carnal practises carnal imaginations this is not Religion but faction such as the Apostle casteth down 2 Cor. 10. 5. And the prophet seems to prophesie against Ier. 43. 13. For what are the images of the house of the sun amongst us but the humorous imaginations of those that abuse the light of the Gospel And this trial or proof of the true Religion is substantial it concerns the very nature and essence of it even as to be a spirit is the very nature and substance of God there are other proofs that are also essential proofs of the true Religion though they be not taken from the substance of God but from his properties and so that is the truest Religion whose properties come nearest to the properties of God I will give you a short scheme of both together that seeing God himself in your Religion you may love it with all your soul with all your minde and with all your strength because so you are bound to love your God God cannot be known any further in his substance then that he is a Spirit and so accordingly is the substance of the true Religion wholly spiritual But the greatest knowledge we have of God the onely eternal Spirit is by his properties and by his attributes his properties are internal perfections belonging to him as a Spirit meerly in regard of himself as Simplicity Immutability and the like his attributes are as it were external perfections belonging to him in regard of his creatures as he is the God of the spirits of all flesh as Mercy Justice Liberality and the like or if you desire not to distinguish between Gods properties and his attributes you may say that the properties of God are either such as remove from him all kinde of imperfection that is in the creature as Simplicity which removes from him composition Immutability which removes from him Changeableness Immensity and eternity which remove from him Circumscription or Confinement the one of place the other of time and these are called incommunicable properties because they are not communicable to any creature Or the properties of God are such as do assign to God all manner of perfection First in his understanding as Wisdome and Truth Secondly In his will as Goodness and Liberty Thirdly In his power of action as Omnipotency and these are called communicable properties because they are communicated to the creature and are to be found in the creature though in a proportion and perfection infinitely short of what is in the Creatour God blessed for ever Thus angels and men have Truth and Goodness and Power though not an Unerring truth not an All-sufficient goodness not an Almighty power but they have not Simplicity Infinity Immutability Eternity which are the incommunicable properties And herein consists the supereminencie of the true Religion above any creature whatsoever that it shareth even in these incommunicable properties of God even in his Simplicity Infinity Immutability Eternity And first it shares in his Simplicity now the Simplicity of the divine essence is such that it admits of no composition at all neither Physical composition of matter and form nor Logical of subject and accident nor Metaphysical of act and power whereas the purest spirits that are admit of Logical and Metaphysical composition though not of Physical God onely excepted who admits of neither So Aquinas pr. part qu. 40. Propter divinam Simplicitatem est duplex identitas in divinis eorum quae in rebus creatis differunt quia enim illa excludit compositionem subjecti accidentis quicquid attribuitur Deo est ejus essentia quia autem excludit compositionem formae materiae in divinis idem est abstractum concretum Because of the simplicity of the divine essence there is a twofold identity in God which is not in any creature First an identity of essence and attributes because there is in him no composition of substance and accident Secondly an identity of abstract and concrete because there is in him no composition of form and matter and all action proceeding from form it is evident that he who is the agent in and of himself can be nothing else but a pure form without any mixture of any matter Nam quod est primò per se agens patet quòd sit primò per se forma 1 par qu. 3. art 2. So likewise Religion admits of no compositiou but must still remain in its own Simplicity for 1. There is in Religion no Physical composition of matter and form some will make Decency the accidental form of Religion others the Evangelical counsels the essential form and perfection of it but both are mistaken for the same holiness is the Religion of the Christian that was of the Jew though not the same beauty of holiness There is no separating the essential matter of Religion from the essential form of it and what is not intrinsecally holy that is both materially and formally cannot properly be said to be a substantial part of Religion Some look upon faith hope and charity as the formal part upon the other duties of the Decalogue as the material part of Religion but indeed such considerations are meerly notional they are not real for no man can reject an article of faith but he must also reject a commandment nor can any man wrong any commandment but he must also wrong an article of faith thus can you not expunge or deprave any commandment that contains your duty towards God but you must expunge or deprave some article of faith concerning him so also of the second table he that depraves any one of those commandments depraves those articles of faith that concern the Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints Lastly he that denies or depraves that part of Gods law which concerns himself without any relation to his neighbour doth also deny or deprave some of those articles of faith that concern himself as The forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting As for example you cannot think that any common drunkard or unclean person doth so much as seriously consider much less truly believe the Resurrection of his body
aliis scientiis whether the manner of knowing divine truths be more certain in Divinity then the manner of knowing natural truths is in other sciences he answers it is more certain and he gives these three admirable reasons for his answer 1. Quia certior est modus sciendi per inspirationem quà m per humanam rationem because the way of knowing by divine inspiration is much more certain then the way of humane ratiocination or collection since the one is subject to errour the other not and all divine truths are made known to us by inspiration as appears 2 Tim. 3. 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness I may not take any doctrine for an instruction in righteousness which I cannot prove was first taught by inspiration of God and if it be taught of God it may be found in the Scripture which is Gods word 2o. Certius est quod scitur testimonio Spiritûs quà m quod testimonio creaturarum That is more certain which is known by the testimony of Gods Spirit then of the creature But all that we know in Divinity is known by the testimony of Gods Spirit as saith S. Peter 2 Pet. 1. 21. For the prophesie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost in Divinity we appeal to the undoubted testimony of God the holy Ghost and can say Veni Creator whereas in all other sciences we can go no higher then the testimony of the creatures 3o. Quia certius est quod per modum gustûs quà m quod per modum visûs A man is more sure of that which he discerns by his taste then of that which he discerns onely by his sight for what he discerns by his sight he knows onely speculatively and perchance to his great discontent but what he discerns by his taste he knows also experimentally and if the thing be good not without great delight and from these premises he proceeds to this dogmatical conclusion or determination Est certitudo speculationis est certitudo experientiae vel est certitudo secundùm intellectum secundùm affectum vel quoad hominem spiritualem quoad hominem animalem Dico ergò quòd modus Theologicus est certior certitudine experientiae quoad affectum quia est per modum gustûs Psal. 118. Quà m dulcia faucibus meis eloquia tua quamvis non certior quoad speculationem intellectûs quae est per modum visûs item certior est homini spirituali quamvis incertior animali 1 Cor. 2. Animalis homo non percipit ea quae Spiritûs Dei sunt There is a certainty of speculation and there is a certainty of experience there is a certainty that proceeds from the understanding there is a certainty that proceeds from the will and affections Lastly there is a certainty of the spiritual man and there is a certainty of the natural man I answer then that the manner of knowing Theological or Divine truths is more certain then the manner of knowing any other truths if we look upon the certainty of experience which proceedeth from the will and affections because that certainty is by way of tasting Hence the Psalmist saith How sweet are thy words unto my taste yea sweeter then honey to my mouth although it be less certain if we look upon the certainty of evidence which proceedeth from the understanding because that certainty is onely by way of seeing And none of us all is so quick-sighted in spiritual as in natural things and hence it is that this certainty of divine truths which is very great in the spiritual man is little or none at all in the natural man Because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. 14. The sum of all is this The certainty that is to be had of the Christian Religion is greater then the certainty that is to be had of other truths but it must be in a subject rightly qualified that is First in a man of holy affections who lives not after the flesh but after the Spirit else his profaneness will beguile him Secondly In a man of holy resolutions that desires not to satisfie his curiosity but his conscience not to provide for his temporal but for his spiritual interest else his hypocrisie will deceive him Thirdly in a man of holy intentions that steers not his course to heaven by the Cynosure of his own reason and much less of his own humours but is wholly guided by Gods authority for none but Gods authority ought to sway in Gods cause else his perversness will defraud him of his certainty for those men that are guilty of hypocrisie come short of it those that are guilty of profaneness go beside it those that are guilty of perversness go against it for as it is concerning Religion it self so is it also concerning the certainty that accompanies it the profane person goes beside it the hypocrite comes short of it the perverse person goes against it onely the sincere meek good man obtains it he that is sincere without hypocrisie meek without perversness good and honest without profaneness and debauchery The same seed is sown in several grounds but from some the sower hath not so much as his seed again from other he hath great increase The spiritual seed is the word of God the rule of Religion And as for this word some of it falls by the way-side that is among profane and vicious persons such as are in the high-way of perdition where it is troden under foot and the fowls of the air irregular and extravagant fancies and desires devour it some of it falls upon a Rock where it can have no root nor moisture for onely the mere out-side is earth the rest is all stone that is among hypocrites and dissemblers who hear the word with joy and for a time beleeve but in time of temptation fall away for temporary beleevers as they beleeve with the times so also they beleeve but for a time and soon fall away from their belief Lastly and some of it falls among thorns that is among perverse and refractory men for such are called briers and thorns Ezek. 2. 6. men of a wilfull Religion and therefore in truth men of no Religion since Religion depends not upon mans but upon Gods will and here the word must needs be choaked for a man that gives himself to be governed by his own will cannot possibly submit himself to Gods will or at least not for Gods sake but onely for his own sake and a Religion that is not for Gods sake is certainly not of Gods making and consequently though it may be of a great growth as we find by sad experience yet it cannot be of a long
nature and therefore partaketh of Gods properties both incommunicable and communicable may be thought an impertinent discourse by some because it deals in speculatives and perchance an impious discourse by others because it may seem to destroy practicks and so joyn hands with the sacrilegious profaneness of this age which trades wholly in destructives not onely in regard of man but also of God himself Yet since the end of Religion is to bring man to God it cannot be amiss to see how near the work thereof conduceth to that end and it may be proper if not necessary to shew the excellencies of Religion that mens eyes being dazled with the admirable beauty their hearts may be inflamed with the divine perfections of holiness For Holiness and Religion are one and the same thing essentially though they are different in our apprehensions therefore S. Peter calling upon us to be religious calleth upon us in these words 1 S. Pet. 1. 15 16. But as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be ye holy for I am holy where it is evident that we are called upon for holiness from the Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ the love of God the Father and the communion of God the holy Ghost not onely by the authority of God the Father For it is written and by the example of God the Son But as he which hath called you is holy but also by the communion of God the holy Ghost Be ye holy for I am holy as if he had said Holiness can have no fellowship with impurity therefore unless you will be holy you must not onely renounce the authority of God commanding the example of God conducting but also the fellowship of God conversing and communicating with you For the force of the argument consists in the proper nature of God and our relation to and with God Accordingly I cannot better shew the excellencies of Religion then by shewing how near its holiness comes to the very nature and essence of God himself and then none will doubt but the Angelical Doctour did rightly say Nomen sanctitatis duo videtur importare Munditiem firmitatem that holiness imports two things purity for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is one far removed from the corruptions of the earth and constancie for so sanctum or sancitum lege firmatum are all one and there is an absolute necessity of both these in that man that will be truly religious for he that will be joyned to the most High must be far removed from the things below there 's the purity and he that will be joyned to the first Beginning and last End which is wholly immoveable must be firm and immoveable in his conjunction there 's the constancy Therefore saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 38. Certus sum quòd neque mors neque vita separabit me à charitate Dei I am sure and certain not onely I am perswaded that neither death nor life shall be able to separate me from the love of God He that knows it is all one to love Religion and to love God will never be separated from its love and he that knows Religion to be the service of God will easily acknowledge that such as is the master such is his service And therefore all Divines agree in this that one and the same true Divinity but some have likewise said that one and the same commandment making the first and second but one doth teach us the true knowledge of God and of Religion the proper service of God for Religion is nothing else but the immediate worship of God Religio distinctiùs non quemlibet sed Dei cultum significat saith S. Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 10. cap. 1. If we say Worship we may possibly mean a civil or a moral worship but if we say Religion we can mean no other but Divine worship or the immediate worship of God And therefore there is no one attribute of God but shews in some sort the nature of the true Religion for such as God is in Himself such also is the Religion that serveth and pleaseth Him I will accordingly endeavour with Gods grace to shew the nature of Religion from the very nature of God yet with such a method as shall not seek to satisfie the curious by its exactness but onely to establish the conscientious by its godliness always remembring that when God shews a mortal man his glory as he did to Moses Exod. 33. 23. though he may see much yet much more there is which cannot be seen nor can any Divine whatsoever see so much of God as he doth desire nor can he express so much as he doth see It is enough therefore if I draw such a scheme of Gods attributes as is fittest to instruct my self and others in the nature of true godliness God is a Spirit and so is his service altogether spiritual S. John 4. 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth There must be nothing in his worship of carnal inventions and much less of carnal affections for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Rom. 8. 6. wherein we have described in few words the true and the false Religion the one is spiritual the other carnal they are both described 1. In themselves to be minded for religion calls for the soul whether we serve God or Mammon 2. In their causes the cause of the one is flesh of the other spirit 3. In their effects the effect of the one is life and the assurance of it peace the effect of the other is death Religion then it self is to be minded it always engageth the soul and the true Religion is to be spiritually minded eagaging the soul according to the dictates of Gods holy Spirit And indeed Religion hath the chiefest properties of a spirit For 1. A spirit is invisible and imperceptible by the sense so is the true Religion the natural man perceives it not 1 Cor. 2. 14. and S. Paul calleth the things of Religion spiritual things Rom. 15. 27. The Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things and 1 Cor. 9. 11. If we have sowen unto you spiritual things Take heed then of a carnal eye in Gods worship that loves to look upon an image but much more of a carnal affection that loves to look upon it self 2. A spirit hath life in it self and giveth life unto the body so Religion hath life in it self and giveth life to those that are religious S. John 17. 3. This is life eternal that they may know thee the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent The true knowledge of God in Christ which cannot be without a practise answerable to it is the true Religion and that is life eternal both formally in it self and effectually in regard of us Christ is not onely the truth
Thou art God from everlasting that is without beginning and thou art God to everlasting that is without end And so also is Religion Eternal both from everlasting and to everlasting from everlasting in the reason of it because it is a service or reverence due to God by vertue of his excellent Majesty and consequently that due is Eternal with his very Being but onely to everlasting in the practise of it because there was no creature from everlasting to practise it how then should we exceedingly desire to know Religion how to love it how to practise it whereby alone our souls are prepared to believe Eternity and to enjoy it and to employ it an irreligious soul could it possibly get to heaven would not know what to do there for there is nothing but the practise of Religion or praising God Rev. 19. 1 5 7. Again as God in that he is Eternal oweth his Beginning and Continuance to none but onely to himself and as Eternity because it is from it self is therefore without a Beginning and because it is of it self is therefore without an end so true Religiō hath in some sort its Being from it self for it is bonum in se it is good in and by it self and therefore hath its subsistence in and by it self let the whole world turn Atheist as it is turning apace yet the true Religion will still be the true Religion there may be in the practise of Religion many things good because they are commanded but in the substance of Religion the internal goodness is the reason of the external command so that Religion is indeed a beam of that light which proceedeth from the Father of Lights shewing unto Angels men what they are to know love and do and so leading them both to the Light everlasting for as God himself is so is his service and therefore I could not better explain the properties of Religion then from the properties of God Onely God hath his properties immediately flowing from his own essence but Religion partakes of these mediately from God as it is his service God hath these properties not onely Formally in himself but also Originally from himself Religion hath them Formally in it self but Originally from God Thus hath Religion all those properties of God which are incommunicable to the Creature and thereby appears to have in it self more of Divinity then any Creature whatsoever either in Heaven or in Earth for these being the properties of the true Religion in it self shew it to be spiritual far above the nature of all created spirits whereby themselves draw nearer to the God of Spirits in their affections then in their natures If therefore thou O man desire to be truly Religious thou must desire to be spiritually minded and the way to be so is to have a kinde of Simplicity or Incomposition that is a sincerity of the soul in the love of God To have a kinde of Immutability that is a Constancy to have an Immensity that is a servent Zeal and Alacritie which will not endure to be straitned or confined and to have an Eternity that is an unwearied perseverance in the Faith and Fear and Love of God Nay indeed these same properties are already in thy soul if thou be truly Religious for then thou art spiritually minded and thou canst not but have an uncompounded soul by sincerity of its service not dividing thy affection betwixt God and Baal betwixt Christ and Belial Thou canst not but have a constancy in his service which will let thee be no Changeling a thing as monstrous and abominable in the second as in the first birth thou canst not but have an alacrity and fervency of spirit which will not be circumscribed or confined either to or by time or place neither to a Conclave at Rome nor to a Consistory at Geneva nor to a Conventicle in England for as Christianity it self is not confined so neither the soul as 't is Christian but joyns in Communion with all Christians that ever were or that are or that shall be in the honour and love of Christ thy house is too little thou wilt to the Church nay the Church is too little thou wilt to the Catholick Church the whole Church Militant thy spirit shall be with theirs when theirs is with Christ nay the Catholick Church is too little here on Earth thou wilt up to that part of it which is triumphant in Heaven for Christian duties as they are practised here will cease with our lives therefore the Christian soul will look after such duties as she may practise in Heaven and at least in habit if not in act will even here be eternally Religious as we are divinely taught by our own Church saying with a most Catholick spirit It is very meet right and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee O Lord holy Father Almighty everlasting God thereby shewing us the Immensity of Religion That it is not to be circumscribed to or by any place for it is meet that we give thanks in all places and also the eternity of Religion that it is not to be confined to or by any time for it is meet that we give thanks at all times Eternity being the blessedness we look for the means whereby we compass it must needs be eternal not onely in the efficient cause God himself but also in the instrumental cause that is Religion And since Omnipotency All sufficiency and Omnisciency are but three branches of Eternity It is necessary before I come to the Communicable Properties that I speak of them for God in that he is Eternal is Omnipotent since there could be no other fountain of power unless we would make two Eternals and the same God as he is Eternal is All-sufficient for having his being of himself he must needs also have it perfectly in himself and lastly the same God as he is Eternal is also Omniscient for it is the Property of Eternity to have all things present to it as to be always present to it self wherefore it will be worth our while briefly to consider these Properties as they are in God and as they are also in Religion the service of God and first of the Omnipotency Gods Omnipotency or Almighty Power appears especially in two things First that he hath power to do all that he will Secondly that he hath power over all when he will had he not the First he could not be Almighty in himself had he not the second he could not be Almighty in our esteem the first tends to the Execution the second to the Declaration of his Almighty power The text doth ordinarily prove them both together as 1 Tim 6. 15. the Son of God is called the blessed and onely Potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords The onely Potentate that hath power to do all that he will and hath also power to do all when he will as King of kings
man should be wiser then his enemies for none are enemies to good men that have not first lost their wits as well as their honestie therefore he addeth further I have more understanding then all my teachers v. 99. And lest we should still object That the teachers are not always the wisest especially if they teach too soon before they have been diligent learners he addeth yet further I understand more then the ancients v. 100. that is then those that have been longest learners before they became teachers That 's the most profitable wisdome which makes a man wiser then his enemies for it keeps him from being circumvented that 's the most honourable wisdome which makes a man wiser then his teachers for it gives him a preeminence of understanding far above his condition that though he is called to be a learner yet he is enabled to be a teacher Lastly that 's the most infallible wisdome which makes a man wiser then the ancients for that gives him a preeminence of understanding above the condition of mortality which can attain to no greater wisdome then such as is gained by long travel of study confirmed by longer experience of years so that if we desire that wisdome which is most profitable most honourable and most infallible we must do as this holy man did converse more with God then with men for so he professeth v 104. Through thy precepts I get understanding we may see that understanding is to be gotten by studying the precepts of men but we cannot get it savingly but by studying the precepts of God for the prophet Daniel saith The light dwelleth with God Dan. 2. 22. and S. John saith He that loveth his brother abideth in the light what is this light but the truth or the true Religion which hath these two properties of light that 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it enlightens and reproves it enlightens the understanding by the knowledge of God it reproves the will the affections and the actions for the practise of evil Secondly Religion is in effect Omniscient because it makes us know all things besides our selves that is all things that are proper and profitable for us to know things wherein are the true comforts of this life the true blessings of the next so saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 15. The spiritual man judgeth or discerneth all things the more he is spiritual the more he is able to discern the more he increaseth in Religion the more he increaseth in true wisdome and knowledge as the man in the Gospel when his eyes were first opened mistook men for trees but afterwards when he was perfectly cured he could distinguish both aright so the spiritual man at his first conversion hath but a confused knowledge of the things necessary to his salvation but afterwards he comes exactly to judge and to discern them all nor will his faith whereby he knows in part leave him till he come by degrees to a clear vision Let several knowing men all rejoyce in the excellencies of their several knowledges but let this be the priviledge onely of the religious man That he alone knows whom he hath beleeved and whom he may trust for he alone is able to know how God disposed of him before his life and how he will dispose of him after his death CHAP. VI. The assurance that we have of the substance of Religion in that it resembles God in his communicable Properties as Truth Goodness Purity and Liberty IT is the special priviledge of the good Christian that the same Religion doth make him imitate God here which will make him enjoy God hereafter for the same God who is the Authour of Religion is also the best pattern of it because Religion resembles him not onely per modum vestigii but also per modum Imaginis not onely as having his footsteps for so every creature represents the Creatour but also as having the exact lineaments and pourtraitures of his very Image so that Gods Service is best known by the knowledge of himself and the Properties of the true Religion are best declared by declaring the Properties of God The Incommunicable Properties have been already spoken of his Simplicity Infinity Immutability Eternity and the three branches or adjuncts thereof his Omnipotency All-sufficiency Omnisciency I now come to the communicable Properties of God which are especially these three Truth in his Understanding Goodness in his Will and Activity in his operative faculty answerable to his Truth and Goodness for the Intellective faculty is vain without the Affective the Affective without the Operative and therefore according to the proportion and perfection of the one is also necessarily the proportion and perfection of the other God first knows then wills then works As he knows so he wills not Irrationally As he wills so he works not Ineffectually And so is Religion very Intellective and very Affective and very Active or Operative these three properties are all joyned together Deut. 4. 6. Keep therefore and do for this is your wisdome and your understanding where we have wisdome for the Intellective keeping or observing for the Affective and doing for the Operative faculty of the soul Accordingly Divines tell us there are some vertues that are Catholick or Universal belonging to the whole worship of God in general and having alike influence upon all the Commandments or upon all the duties of Religion whether they concern God immediately in himself or mediately in his Image and these Catholick vertues are Wisdome and Prudence in the Understanding Integrity Alacrity and Constancy in the Will and Zeal and Perseverance in the action that Election Affection Action may all joyn together to glorifie him who is the first Truth to direct our Election the last Good to satisfie our Affection and the chiefest Excellency to excite and provoke our Action Wherefore it is the property of Religion to make a man more judicious more affectionate and more industrious then he was before though he had never so piercing a Judgement never so strong and vehement Affections never so industrious an Action For the soul of man though it consist of these three faculties the Intellective or knowing the Affective or desiring the operative or working the Intellective faculty whereby it knows what is to be done the Affective whereby it desires to do it and the Operative or Active whereby it sulfils that desire in doing yet this very soul doth not cannot rightly know or desire or do till it be throughly instructed exalted and quickned by Religion nay on the contrary all the while it continues irreligious it is stupid in knowledge perverse in affection and sluggish in action for though there is in all spirits a power of knowing what is true of desiring what is good and of effecting what they desire yet we cannot but acknowledge that these three faculties in all men who have their spirits clogged with sinfull flesh are very much weakened by sin and consequently must
this attribute of mercy we that have been the sinners are the greatest sharers and therefore I dare not say it is an errour of charity to assert that the Blessed Virgin had no sin to be forgiven her I may say it is an errour for it is against the Text Death passed upon all for that all had sinned Rom. 5. 12. nay I may say it is in some sort an uncharitable errour against the charity that is due to the blessed Virgin for though this doctrine may seem to adde to her honour yet it must needs detract and diminish from her joy since her self hath proclaimed these words My soul doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour and we know what his salvation was whom she calls her Saviour even that which gave him his name Jesus S. Mat. 1. 21. which was to save his people from their sins so that if she had no sin how could she have this Jesus for her Saviour and I dare not say that she had him not for her Saviour when I see her so rejoycing in his salvation wherefore the errour must be contented to go without the charity for there is no charity in denying the mother of God the greatest interest in God the interest in his mercy no charity in denying the mother of our Saviour the best interest in her own Son the interest in his salvation I dare not then exclude the blessed Virgin out of that number of which S. Paul hath spoken these words Even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you and can but wonder that some who have phansied her more tender-hearted then Christ himself should ascribe so much tender-heartedness to so little need of forgiveness for it is not unknown to travellers that in some Christian Churches where this doctrine of the Immaculate conception is maintained our blessed Saviour is pictured as one ready to pursue and smite the sinner when as his mother is pictured as one ready to shelter and to receive him which false representation seems to have proceeded from as false an imagination broached by Gabriel upon the canon of the Mass Lect. 8. Sibi reservavit justitiam Virgini Mariae concessit misericordiam there being two principal boons of the heavenly kingdome justice and mercy the King of heaven hath reserved the justice to himself but the mercy he hath bestowed on the blessed Virgin 't is very unsound and unsafe divinity that robs the King of Saints of the fairest slower in his Crown to make a garland for his mother but besides the unsoundness and unsafeness whereby it may destroy us there is also in it some unreasonableness whereby it destroys it self for all inclination to mercy in the creature is meerly from receiving it as in the Creatour meerly from giving it God being mercy in himself at first hath mercy because he will have mercy and at last will have mercy because he hath had mercy on us so that in him giving or shewing mercy is the onely cause of mercy because he cannot repent him of his own gifts but man being misery in himself learns to shew mercy by having first received it and continues to shew mercy because he still expects it so that in him receiving mercy is the onely cause of shewing mercy for that he will not be unthankfull to God for the free gift of his mercy wherefore this supposition that the Blessed Virgin needed no mercy cannot be agreeable with this position that she is most ready to shew mercy unless we will grant a non sequitur in the Apostle who thus argues concerning Christ himself the onely fountain of mercy as God to give it the onely channel of mercy as men to derive and to convey it that because he was tempted in all points as we are therefore he is the more to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities Heb. 4. 15. And the same doctrine which he preacheth concerning the head he enforceth concerning the members advising them therefore to forgive because they had been forgiven therefore to be kinde tender-hearted to their brethren because God for Christs sake had been kinde and tender-hearted to them he maketh choice of the best Topick that can be for an argument to perswade them to mercy even the infinite and undeserved mercies of God the Father Son and holy Ghost Forgive one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you here are the two first persons of the most holy blessed and glorious Trinity and if we look back upon the 30. verse we may see the third person and grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed to the day of Redemption how shall they not grieve that holy Spirit even by doing what follows in the next words v. 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kinde one to another c. this bitterness and malice least grieves your spirits but it most grievs Gods Spirit which cannot enter into a malicious soul and much less will dwell there wherefore you must put away all bitterness wrath and anger if you would have this heavenly guest come into your souls and you must keep them away if you would have him make any stay and abode when he is come the Apostle reckons up three several kindes or degrees of that fury which opposeth and grieveth Gods holy Spirit the first is bitterness a light distaste or dislike of the minde the second is wraths a violent commotion and disaffection of the heart both these contain themselves within doors and are to be rectified not by Aristotle's but by Christs Ethicks which alone reach to the inward man the third is anger an outward exorbitant passion that expresses it self in clamour and evil speaking and malicious doing not one of these but is against some act of true mercy and accordingly the Apostle prescribes three acts of mercy which will expell them all for first he requires us to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 benigni kinde or courteous that 's against the bitterness in the distaste or dislike of the minde Secondly he requires us to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 misericordes tender-hearted or mercifull that 's against the wrath the strong inward impression of anger in the heart Thirdly he requires us to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 donantes or condonantes forgiving or pardoning that 's against the anger or fury the outward expression of exorbitant passion either in our words or works and as a sufficient motive to all this notwithstanding it is so contrary to flesh and bloud he onely wills us to consider how much kindness tender-heartedness and forgiveness we have all found from God and then we shall never think it much to be kinde and tender-hearted and to forgive one another and to this motive though enough of it self we may further adde another argument for we have need of arguments more then enough to confute
the living for he created all things that they might have their being Jah is the fountain of being and made me out of nothing that I might have a being and therefore I trust will so uphold me that I shall not make my self worse then nothing to wish that I had never been as it is better to have no being or to be annihilated then to be everlastingly miserable to be driven or banished from God the authour of life into hell there to be tormented in everlasting flames so to have onely a sinfull being when the spirit of grace is totally banished and shut out of the heart this is a kinde of moral annihilation for as S. Augustine saith In quantum mali in tantum minus sumus every sin being clongatio à Deo a withdrawing of the soul from God the more sins we commit and the longer we trade in sin the farther we go from God and as those that live under the North-Pole far distant from the Sun want light and heat being pincht with cold and encompass'd with darkness so a sinfull soul that is at great distance from God having no communion with him by his spirit is in darkness and in the shadow of death it is likewise chill'd with fears and frozen with perplexed doubtings full of terrour and amazing griefs which are peccati pedissequae the black hand-maids or attendants of sin which is the work of the devil for all that God made was good and without him nothing was made therefore as Augustine often inculcates in his Soliloquies c 5. Malum or peccatum nihil est quia sine verbo factum est sine quo factum est nihil Illud autem malum est quod privatur illo bono per quod omnia facta sunt quaecunque sunt Sin is a kinde of nothing it is a mere privation of good as a shadow is of light and cold of heat and a sinner deprived of all grace having onely a bare being as a creature is nothing in the esteem of God his maker who onely or chiefly values men so far as he beholds the Jewels of his Spirit his heavenly graces as Love and Charity Humility and Meekness c. residing and shining in them O thou whose Name is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jah so enrich and possess our hearts with thy grace that Christ may dwell in them by his Spirit and we may dwell in him by faith that the life of grace which we live here may be seconded and crowned with the life of glory hereafter The ninth essential proper Name of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jehovah which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Name of four Letters and of so many and no more or less consisteth the name of God as it is used among all Nations as Greeks Latines Italians Germans English Chaldeans Syrians Aethtopians Egyptians Assyrians French and Persians and others which are recorded by the elaborate Learned Zanchius which as he saith l. 2. de Nat. Dei c. 12. Est res magna admiratione digna is as his name is a great or weighty matter deserving admiration not done without a special providence and by divine Ordination whereby God intended to declare and manifest that as his name should be known to all Nations of the world so likewise that he is God and Lord of all not onely of the Jews as the Apostle speaks but also of the Gentiles and that in all the four parts of the world Electos habeat quorum sit Jchovah Pater Servator he hath a set of certain number of Elect of whom he is Jehovah or Lord their Father also and preserver c. even as Christ saith in the Gospel that he would gather his elect at the day of Judgement from the four winds è quatuor mundi plagis from the four quarters of the world agreeable to which is that which Apoc. 4. is spoken of the four Beasts i. e. the Ministers of the Word whom he would stir up or appoint to preach the Gospel that all the Elect may by the preaching or publishing of it be drawn and turnd to Jehovah their Lord. This Name is termed by the Fathers and other Writers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ineffabile not for that it ought not to be uttered as the Jews superstitiously conceited who bore such an awfull respect to that name that they deemed it a crime worthy of death for any but sacred lips those of the High-Priests to express or name it and that on set times and in certain places as in the Feast of Expiation and in the Temple and in the solemn benediction Num. 6. 24 25 26. but this is not the reason why it is termed by the Ancients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ineffable the proper cause or reason of it is to be fetch'd or derived from the nature or essence of God because this is incomprehensible therefore the Name Jehovah which denotes or signifies it is said to be unutterable whence it is called or stiled in the Jewish record 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shem Hammeporasch nomen separatum a separated or distinct name not onely for that it is separate or far remote from our understandings which cannot reach unto or dive into the profound notion of it but also because that it is incommunicable to any creature it being as they term it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haschem the Name by way of eminence the Name of Gods Essence signifying and denoting him the great Lord of heaven and earth that is and was and ever shall be to all eternity that in it the parts of time past present and to come are included is well known to those that have skill in the Hebrew tongue and might as easily be demonstrated it then signifies such an eternal essence or being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Platonick Iamblicus calls God who by his Almighty power hath not onely created but still by his wise and powerfull Providence preserves and governs all things in heaven and earth and 3ly gives a being to his promises by a reall performance Promissa complendo eaquodammodo facit esse realiter subsistere so Zanchius this is intimated in that saying of God himself to Moses Exo. 6. 3. I appeared to Abraham Isaac and Jacob by my Name Almighty but by my Name Jehovah I was not known unto them the meaning of which words is this that the Patriarchs had a sence or knowledge of his power in the Creation of the world and destroying the same by a sloud likewise by many experimental mercies by many blessings and benefits which he confer'd on their persons in their many and great deliverances whereby he declared himself to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most powerfull and all sufficient having a store of all good things lock't up in the treasury of his goodness however he had not as yet fully declared himself to be Jehouah for that he had not actually performed that grand promise Gen. 15. 13 14. which he made
unto Abraham and other Patriarchs of delivering his people the Children of Israel out of the heavy bondage which they sustained many hundred years under the oppressing hands of the Egyptians but he assured Moses that now he was about to compleat that promise in their deliverance and hereby God insinuated to Moses that the Name Jehovah signifies him qui constans sit in omnibus promissis suis omnia promissa sua quasi facit subsistere who is constant and faithfull in the performance of all his promises the duties and comforts which from this sacred Name may flow into our lives and consciences are divers First From that expression of God to Moses by my Name Jehovah c. we may infer that they onely know God to be Jehovah who doubt not of his good or fatherly will towards them and have found by a joyfull experience or felt in the quiet peace and calm of an undisturbed conscience that he is true and faithfull in the fullfilling of his word in that by a gracious pardon he hath abolished the guilt of their sins and by the powerfull work of his spirit upon their souls abated the strength of their imbred corruptions and all this in and through the Lord Christ in whom God hath manifested and declared himself to be Jehovah in promissis verax constans so saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 1. 20. speaking of Christ our Saviour In him all the promises of God are yea and amen i. e. have their compleat perfection per Christum habent suum implementum Grot. Secondly as the principal scope or end of this revealed Name Jehovah is not onely that hereby we acknowledge God to be the Lord who created all things out of nothing and gave them a being but also to teach or minde us of this truth that all his promises both of the things of this life and that which is to come shall by him be certainly compleated because that he who hath promised is most faithfull besides powerfull and true in his performance from hence our Christian duty is to exercise our faith by an humble and patient reliance on his promises expecting a joyfull issue of them and an undoubted performance whilest we argue thus with our selves The Lord our God the great Jehovah is omnipotent or almighty he can do what he will do and he will do what he hath promised it is he who hath chosen us before all worlds to salvation by Christ Jesus it is he who hath in great mercy promised to all believers the remission of all their sins and with it regeneration of our corrupt natures protection in the midst of dangers help in adversities sustenance in this life by a constant and fresh supply of all good things for our support and comfort perseverance in faith and well-doing and lastly a full possession of eternal life even the beatifical vision in heaven which is our essential happiness he hath sealed up those blessings by a gracious promise to us he who once promised to Abraham above 400 years before to redeem his people out of Egypt and to bring them into the promised Land of Canaan a type of heaven and at last when all things were desperate when their bondage was great and grievous when they groaned under their heavy burthens and were mightily oppressed with their task-masters then he awaked out of the sleep of his connivance and made good his ancient promise by destroying their enemies and delivering them out of bondage whereby he declared himself to be indeed Jehovah a God keeping his promises how then can we doubt but that he will do the same or more for us by performing what he hath promised and that with a solemn Oath to us i. e. to save our souls by translating them by Christ to heaven when they are released by death out of the prison of our bodies he can do this for he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he will do it for he is our faithfull Creatour our Lord Jehovah therefore though our flesh rebels within us with fears and doubtings though the world without us assault us with afflicting troubles though the devil that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Naz. calls him that unwearied implacable restless enemy begirt and infest us with divers temptations though our sins speak discomfort and beget horrour in us nay though an Angel should teach or preach the conttary to us yet ought we not to fear by distrusting Gods faithfulness and truth which like himself is immutable and infallible and changeth not upon this rock of his fidelity we ought to build our faith beleeving that what things soever he hath decreed and promised whether they be temporals or spirituals the good things of this life or the other we shall receive them at his merciful hands if we perform what is required on our parts the condition of the new Covenant viz. Faith and Obedience resigning up our souls wholly to God in an humble submission to his will and waiting with patience for that word he hath promised and is yet to come Thus David waited upon the Lord Psa. 40. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I waited patiently upon the Lord c. this waiting on God which implies a patient expectation of what he hath promised to us hereafter in his word together with an humble resignation of our wills to his it requires a great measure and strength of grace such as was in Abraham and that First In regard of the things waited for which are far beyond or transcend any thing which we can hope for in this world Secondly In regard of that long day or that long period of time which God hath taken and prefixt before he will compleat his promise Thirdly the tediousness of delay which results from the former Fourthly the many oppositions troubles crosses afflictions and disappointments which in our way in this life we meet with Fifthly the scandals or offences received from them which are in high esteem for Religion when we see them fall into enormous sins we are apt to question Gods promise of perseverance made unto us where he says I will never leave nor for sake you Adde to all these a sixth and that is the untoward peevishness of our fainting nature apt to sink under the least discouragement In these respects there must be more then an humane spirit to hold up the soul and carry it along to the end of that which we wait for and they that with the Prophet David Psa. 62. 1. truly wait upon God from whom they expect salvation they are thus spirited thus quickned with divine grace though they be cast into the place of Dragons Psal. 44. 2. or whales overwhelmed with the sea of calamities and covered with the shadow of death though with Jonah they lye in the midst of the whales belly in a place of darkness and in the deep yet their faith in the great God whose Name is Jehovah will then and there shew it self lightsome and full of life
by a gracious dependance on Gods truth and faithfulness and expecting in his good time a comfortable issue of his promises Such waiters whose God is the Lord Jehovah in whom they trust on whom they depend and whom they constantly obey not departing from his precepts when he seems to have forsaken them in their greatest distresses such men are the prime the onely Christians who have in their soul the seal of Gods grace to assure them of their future happiness O thou whose Name is the great Jehovah and rulest all things in heaven and earth send down from heaven the habitation of thy glory thine Holy Spirit into our hearts and so possess our souls with an awful fear of thy Majesty and a filial love of thee for thy goodness and mercy that we abhorring all things that may displease thee and obeying thy precepts may in the end of our days obtain the end of our hopes and the fruit of thy promises which is the salvation of our souls and eternal bliss through the merits of our blessed Redeemer our Lord Christ Jesus The tenth and last Name of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 schaddai by which God often stiled himself when he spake unto the Patriarchs to uphold their spirits and sustain their faith in the midst of their troubles Gen. 17. 1. the Lord appeared unto Abraham and said unto him I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the same words he bespake Jacob Gen. 35.11 hence it was that they also when they were to speak or make mention of God often used that Name or word Thus Isaac when he blessed Jacob Gen. 28.3 said the God whose Name is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bless thee and make thee to encrease and multiply so Jacob said to Joseph the God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appeared to me in Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me As for the notion or meaning of the Name Galatinus l. 2. c. 17. out of R. Moses the Egyptian and Algazel determines it that it is a compounded term and made up of these two parts or particulars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in composition the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies sufficient and sufficiency so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the whole latitude or acception of it denotes the alsufficiency of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui in se à se sufficientiam abundantiam omnimodam habet it a ut nullius ope indigeat i. e. who in himself and from himself hath a sufficiency and abundance of all good things and needs not the help of any creature There is in God a fallness of power whereby he can do what he will his will being the onely rule and bound of his power therefore the Septuagint do often render this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Job 8.3 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that doth or worketh all things so in our English Translation doth the Almighty pervert justice As there is in many a man an empty fullness when bladder-like his soul is blown up with windy fancies of having what he hath not or of more knowledge then he truly hath so in God there is a fullness without any the least defect or degree of emptiness in God and Christ who is God and man in one person there is as the Schools speak Plenitudo repletiva and diffusiva or plenitudo abundantiae and redundantiae and abounding fullness because no good thing no gift nor grace is wanting in him and a redounding fullness because what gifts or graces soever be in us they are all derived to our souls from him the ever-living and overflowing fountain and spring of them from whom they slow into our souls per Spiritum tanquam per canalem through the spirit as it were a conduit-pipe without any loss of them in him or without any the least diminution and of his fullness have we all received Joh. 1. 16. a fullness without any want argues a great perfection quod plenè habetur perfectè totalitèr habetur Aquin Now if men through the door of faith opened by Gods blessed Spirit did see the fullness the excellency and alsufficiency of God it would so fill them with admiration joy and content that having a communion with God by his sanctifying spirit they would care for nothing else they considering what the Lord is and beholding his glorious face in the glass of his Attributes viz. his Wisedom Power and Justice c. upon this consideration they would say with the Prophet David The Lord is on our side or with us we will not therefore fear what man can do unto us Psa 118. 6. the Lord is ours therefore we can lack nothing that is good for us and if the Lord be thine then his Power is thine to sustain thee under any cross to redeem thee from troubles to help thee in distress to succour thee in the greatest needs and to support thy weakness in the performance of any duties his Wisedom too is thine thou hast an interest in it it is thy portion so that if thou desirest to be instructed in the knowledge of his word to understand those hidden mysteries which are contained in it if thou openest thy mouth to him in prayer he will open thine eyes that thou shalt see mirabilia leg is the wondrous things of his Law Psa. 119. 18. and be also wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. his Justice likewise is thine to vindicate thee when thou art injured if thou committest thy cause unto him and to clear thine innocency when thou art falsly traduced by the malevolent and to deliver thee out of the hands of the oppressour so for his Truth and Holiness the former is thine to make good his promises of blessings in this life and of happiness in that to come if by faith and full affiance thou dependest on him so the latter i. e. his Holiness is thine to sanctifie thy corrupt nature and to free thee as from the guilt so from the power of sin This is the portion of all the Sons and servants of God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God al-sufficient who can and will do for us more then either we desire or deserve if we wholly rest and rely upon his goodness Happy is the man who is in such a case in so blessed a condition as to have a close union and near communion with the great God of heaven or to speak in the Prophet Davids phrase who hath the Lord for his God Psa. 144. 15. whose alsufficiency they atterly deny who worship any other God as did the Gentiles who multiplied Deities and sacrificed to more then one such are Polutheists who divide the glory of Gods excellencies amongst those petty Numens even as they are no other then practical Athiests and truly worship none who through infidelity question Gods alsufficiency for if he be God he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
to inspiration but rather advanceth it For God is with him and he shall prevail first over himself to settle his own conscience then over others to rectifie theirs O God endue thy Ministers with this righteonsness that so thou mayest make thy chosen people joyfull joyfull in the love and practise of their Allegiance that they may be joyfull in the testimony of a good Conscience knowing that no man who is bound to be subject for Conscience sake can at the same time be a bad subject and yet have a good Conscience Thus our Preacher of Allegiance and Supremacy here hath six names and not one of them but well befits both his office and his doctrine and yet he prefixeth not so much as one of them to the title of his Sermon chiefly sure to teach us that the doctrine was not of his own invention but of Gods Inspiration Like as the ancient Fathers in the first Nicene Council would not set any date under the confession of their faith lest it might be thought to be of their own making Haereticorum tantùm consuetudo erat edere professionem fidei Chronologiâ temporum consulum consignatam saith Binius in Concil Chalc. p. 416 417. edit colon so the Preacher here would not put too his own Name that he might not be thought to preach his own words and indeed the Hebrew Title of the Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plainly shews as much which is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a he but a she Preacher that is not a Preaching man but a Preaching soul or a Preaching wisedom and such is our Preacher here a preaching soul or Conscience to himself a preaching wisedom to others or a preaching soul in setting forth humane frailties and falsities for this Book was the publick testimonial of his repentance and a preaching wisedom in setting forth the divine power and truth And according to the Preacher is the manner of his preaching which is my second general part he preacheth by a grave judicious consciencious advice or counsell I counsel thee Indeed in the Hebrew Text there is no such word expressed but yet by the propriety of that language 't is necessarily to be understood I to keep the Kings Commandment that is I warn thee or I counsell thee or I command thee to keep the Kings Commandment So Aben-ezra fills up the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the meaning of this particle I saith he is this I warn and counsell thee or I command thee And since King Solomon was a most notorious sinner before he was this Preacher or Preaching soul or Preaching wisedom we may thus gloss upon his words First I warn thee as my self a sinner sent to preach to my self and others there 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greek Title Secondly I counsell thee as a Preaching soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pouring out mine own conscience Thirdly I command thee as a Preaching wisedom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 setting forth Gods Truth which two last make up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrew Title of this Book and all three are admirably consonant with this doctrine of Allegiance in the best times much more in these our wicked days which are the last and the worst of this wicked world the earth growing weary of it self now it is near its dissolution First I warn thee as a Preaching sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angels happily can best teach us because they are Intelligences pure understanding spirits but surely men can best admonish us who have been and are under the same infirmities of the body under the same distresses of the soul Dives could say S. Luk. 16. 30. If one went unto them from the dead they will repent It is so here one from the dead comes to preach repentance one who had been so long dead in sin that he was certainly at hell-gate but the hand of an extraordinary mercy pulled him thence one whom others that looked more upon his sin then upon his repentance painted hanging betwixt heaven and hell as being doubtfull of his salvation such a one as this comes here to warn us to take heed of disloyalty and disobedience himself a sinner adviseth us to repent us of our sins that he may keep us from those plunges of conscience which himself hath sustained the memory of his own sins is grievous unto him and that makes him remember us of ours he accounts his own burden intolerable and therefore labours to diminish and lessen ours we were best give him audience here is an expertus loquor in the Text better see our sins in his admonition then in our own consciences better see them in our own consciences here to condemn us then hereafter to confound us better men shew them us in the time of mercy then God shew them us in the time of wrath Ego peccator I am a grievous sinner which have been guilty of much disloyalty and disobedience against the King of Kings my dread Soveraign Lord I warn thee to keep thy Kings Commandment and that in regard not onely of the Oath but also of the wrath of God Secondly I counsel thee as a Preaching soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in its first sence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I counsel thee as a Preaching soul pouring out mine own conscience that I may have some influence upon thine that Sermon comes nearest to the soul of the hearer which comes first from the soul of the Preacher In other arts the best words but in Divinity the best thoughts are the most powerfull Oratory Conscience is the best Eloquence the most perswasive arguments are neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the affection of the hearer nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the excellency of the speech but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the conscience of the speaker God having spoken to the Preachers conscience makes him speak to the consciences of those that hear him nor is there a greater curse upon earth then an hypocritical Ministery that pretend zeal of Religion and want integrity of Righteousness for if the Shepherd be smitten the sheep will be scattered S. Mat. 26. 31. if hypocrisie get into the Pulpit 't is no wonder to finde it in the pew If the Clergy once place Religion in fine words and fair pretences no wonder if the Laity forsake all Religion to seek after a Reformation Therefore our Saviour first saith ye hypocrites to the Scribes and Pharisees and after that to the common people S. Mat. 15. 7 8. Ye hypocrites well did Isaiah prophesie of you you Doctours of the Law that give false expositions upon the fifth Commandment v. 5. 6. and prefer your Corban before your Obedience Isaiah did first prophesie of you that were the seducers and after that of them who were seduced by you saying truly of both but primarily of you this people draweth nigh unto me with their
countenance any in sin and in impenitency and yet even this severe Bishop in his greatest strictness for Church discipline though he would not allow the Martyrs and Confessours to be too importunate for the over speedy reconciliation of notorious offenders in which he had also the approbation of the Clergy of Rome yet if an offender had been overhastily reconciled he would not by any means make void that act of mercy thus we read that when the Bishop Therapius had given the peace of the Church to Victor the Presbyter for the Bishops were in those dayes the governours in chief if not in whole of the Ecclesiastical Communion before he had made publick satisfaction for his offence though S. Cyprian and his collegues were much troubled that he had so hastily received him into the Communion of the Church nullâ infirmitate urgente when as no dangerous sickness of his had called for a dispensation of the Canon yet they would not revoke that act of grace that had been done by Therapius but let Victor still enjoy the benefit of it thereby shewing that the true Religion though it stand much upon the exactness of Justice yet is much more delighted in the exercise of Mercy the words of S. Cyprian and his fellow Collegues met together in a Synod meerly about Church-discipline are very remarkable Sed librato apud nos diu consilio satis fuit objurgare Therapium collegam nostrum quod temerè hoc fecerit instruxisse ne quid tale de caetero faciat pacem tamen quomodocunque a sacerdote Dei semel datam non putavimus au-ferendam Cyp. Ep. 59. cum Pam. after we had taken long and full advice about this business we thought it enough to reprove Therapius our Collegue that he had done this rashly and require him to do so no more but the peace which had been given by a Priest intrusted of God to give it though given after never so ill a manner we did not think fit to take away again and therefore declare that Victor shall still enjoy the communion of the Church But what do I speak of Mercy above Justice in the true Religion when she would not call for Justice at all were it not that she might shew Mercy for thus she proceeds to deliver a sinner to Satan that she may keep him from hell as faith the Apostle 1 Cor. 5. 5. to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus true Religion would not exercise that Justice which is for the destruction of the flesh were it not to make way for that Mercy which is for the salvation of the spirit therein resembling God himself who thrusts men away from him meerly out of the necessity of Justice but embraceth and receiveth them from his incessant desire and delight of shewing mercy CHAP. VIII The assurance we have of Religion in that it maketh us reverence and fear God ascribing the honour due unto his Name and of the ten proper Names of God collected by S. Hierome HE that is willing to expostulate with God can never be unwilling to offend him for it is impossible that man should ever be dashed out of countenance by the consideration of any sin who is resolved to justifie and maintain all his sins such a man is more fit for the School of the Peripateticks then for the School of the Prophets because he is made rather for disputation then for devotion and truly this is the chiefest reason that we can alledge for the continuance of all those grand miscarriages that are in the practise of Religion whether by way of superstition or of profaneness that men wedded to their own corrupt practises are in a manner resolved to expostulate with God rather then to comply with him 't is such a Clergy humour as this which the Prophet Malachi complaineth of Mal. 1. 6. saying unto you O Priests that despise my Name and ye say wherein have we despised thy Name they would needs be disputing when they should have been repenting for all this while they did neither honour God as a Father not fear him as a Master for so saith the Text a son honoureth his father and a servant his master if then I be a father where is mine honour if I be a master where is my fear saith the Lord of hosts unto you O Priests that despise my Name It is a foul shame for any to despise Gods Name but most especially for those who are most bound to glorifie it that is for his Priests who are peculiarly consecrated to serve God and therefore ought to be more particularly devoted to his service no man may securely contemn Religion but he least who is entrusted to teach it for what he is entrusted to teach he is much more commanded to practise and truly this is the proper work of Religion which the Prophet here cals for to glorifie the Name of God that is to honour God as a Father and to fear him as a Master for without this honour and this fear we cannot take God for God but it is the work of Religion to make man take God for God and how can that be but by acknowledging and professing his Verity Omnipotency Goodness and Excellency so that the work of Religion most especially consists in Faith Hope Charity and Reverence or holy Fear for by Faith we acknowledge Gods eternal truth or Verity by Hope his Omnipotency by Love his allsufficient Goodness and by Fear or reverence his Soveraign Majesty or supertranscendent excellency Thus he that beleeveth in God acknowledgeth God to be God because he acknowledgeth him to be the first Truth or chiefest Verity he that hopeth in God acknowledgeth God to be God because he relyeth on his Omnipotency he that loveth God with all his might acknowledgeth God to be God because he taketh him for the chiefest good being wholly satisfied with his allsufficiency and lastly he that feareth God with all his might acknowledgeth God to be God because he taketh him for the Soveraign Majesty or for the greatest excellency wherefore God is truly to be honoured as a Father by Faith Hope and Charity and to be honoured as a Master by Fear and Reverence and the true Religion reacheth us to honour God both as a Father and as a Master as a Father by beleeving in him for shall not a Son beleeve his Father though all others beleeve him no further then for his honesty yet his own Son is bound to beleeve him also for his authority again to honour him as a Father by hoping and expecting a blessing from him and more particularly our inheritance for as faith looks to the promise so hope looks to the thing promised and we can never look upon God too much and much less can we look for too much from him For if we being evil know how to give good gifts to our children how much more
shall our heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him S. Luk. 11. 13 the word Father is there titulus argumentosus not so truly a word as 't is an Argument if father be the antecedent how shall not giving the holy Spirit be the consequent and yet 't is observable that no such gift is asked explicitely in our Lords most holy Prayer to which this promise hath immediate relation to teach us that much more is asked in that most holy prayer then is mentioned and yet much more is given then is asked when we do indeed say Our Father with a true filial affection Thirdly True Religion teacheth us to honour God as a Father by loving him with all our strength with all our soul with all our might for every childe doth love his natural Father unless himself be a monster of nature and doth therefore love him because he is principium vitae because he is the beginning of his natural life much more do the children of God love thir spiritual Father who hath be gotten them again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that sadeth not away reserved in heaven for them 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. our fathers here do beget us but to dead hopes for we are born to dye and are often unable to maintain us when we are begotten but our Father in heaven hath begotten us to a lively hope or to the hope of everlasting life and is no less able to preserve life then he was to give it for he hath an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that fadeth not away reserved in heaven to bestow upon his children so that he is infinitely more to be loved not onely as the giver of life but also as the preserver of it thus doth the true Religion teach us to honour God as a Father by Faith Hope and Charity and it doth also teach us to honour him as a Master by due and lowly reverence for to worship and reverence and to fear God is to take and acknowledge God for God because it is to take and acknowledge him for the chiefest excellency for reverence alwaies presupposeth excellency and therefore according to the proportion of reverence is the opinion of excellency Let me then shew what opinion I have of Gods excellency by my reverence and let me worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord my maker and not onely my maker to call for my lowest reverence but also my Master to quell and punish mine irreverence for though I may easily draw near him with my lips yet I can hardly draw near him with my knee whilest my heart is far from him there is indeed the same natural distance of the knee and of the mouth from the heart but not the same moral distance for so the mouth is much farther from the heart then is the knee the profession of godliness may be altogether without the heart but not so the practise of it 't is much easier for a man to be an hypocrite in his words then in his deeds in his pretences then in his practises for actually to serve God is a matter of labour and vexation even in regard of the outward man who all that while is withheld from serving himself either in his profit or in his pleasure but verbally to serve God that is to talk of serving him is nothing at all it being as easie a peece of lip-labour to say to God as it is to say to man Your humble Servant and yet still be far from doing him any service thus did that Son who being commanded to go work in the vineyard presently answered I go Sir but went not S. Matth. 21. 30. and those who are most ready to promise their fealty and homage to their master in heaven are too too often least ready to perform their promises which is the cause of that reiterated complaint in the Text this people honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me a complaint that needs still be much repeated because it is still so little regarded for setting aside this empty honour of our lips and what have we left but Ichabod where is the glory for in truth the glory is departed from our Israel the ark of God is taken nay trampled under our feet and all this irreligion and profaneness must needs be where men will have a Religion that shall so honour God as not also fear him that shall pretend to honour him as a Father but not care to fear him as a Master for a Son that refuseth to be a servant will soon refuse to be a Son and he that once begins not to fear his Father will soon begin not to honour him and a servant that cares not to continue a servant by fearing his Master will easily not care to turn an enemy by provoking him for he cannot desire to please him if he do not fear to displease him either by disrespect to his person or by disobedience to his commands and therefore it is very necessary that we all think of Gods Majesty which is able to confound us no less then of his mercy which is willing to save us and come into his presence with fear and reverence to acknowledge his incomprehensible greatness no less then with Faith Hope and Love to acknowledge his infinite and undeserved goodness thus doth Hierotheus speak of God in the language of the divine Arcopagite libro de divin nom cap. 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his being is above all being to shew the greatness of his Majesty his loving is above all loving to shew the goodness of his mercy which made Damascene undertaking to write of the Orthodox Faith after he had begun his first Chapter de Deo immediately give this Title to his second Chapter de Effabilibus Ineffabilibus Cognoscibilibus Incognoscibilibus because the things concerning God are both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as we can neither know nor express and hence it is that our knee is fitter to proclaim the Majesty of God then is our tongue for the tongue cannot express what the man doth not know but the knee can and will acknowledge the Majesty of God though we cannot know it if so be we do indeed but truly beleeve it and it is observable that in the 99 Psalm after the Psalmist had declared the greatness of Gods Majesty he exhorts men to glorifie him in their words but much more in their deeds for he calls upon them but once to praise him v. 3. let them praise thy great and terrible Name but he calls upon them twice to worship him v. 5. Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool for he is holy and again v. 9. Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy hill for the Lord our God is holy taking it for granted that the Name