of those that separate from us to flock like Doves to the Windows yea like good Christians to the bosome of Gods Church If you will not judge your own selves whether your errour be not inexcusable in your departing from and disowning and opposing those things which you do not so much as understand Si accusâsse sat est quis innocens fuerit If meerly to cavil and rail and calumniate be sufficient to confute the Doctrine and practice of a Church without doubt the Church of England hath been as profoundly confuted as possibly can be imagined It is one of the easiest parts of wit that consists in finding faults with others and representing what is practised by them as odious and ridiculous There was never any thing so well devised by the wisest of men but he that had a malicious minde and a pestilent tongue might represent as a very strange Monster when he had first dressed it in clothes of his own devising Nor any thing so evil and pernicious but those that loved it would find something to say for it No marvel then that we have met with so many Pamphlets stuffed with Queries and Cavils and Calumnies to which the best Answer that can be given is The Lord rebuke thee thou evil spirit which art the cause of these divisions of Reuben that are the occasions of so many sad thoughts of heart to all sober and Religious person But setting aside these Cavils which come not from the heart at least not from a heart seriously desirous to be satisfied Will you do your selves the right to come to us who are Ministers of Christ 1 Cor. 4.1 and Stewards of the Mysteries of God as you come to your Lawyer or Physitian move such scruples touching the way of our Church as do really trouble you shew forth such a spirit as doth not come to cavil but to be informed and see if I will not say we but your own mindes will not suggest an answer to what you can reasonably object against our Church 4. Be serious and ingenuous in answering me one Question more Do those whom you follow into corners teach you the same Doctrine which we teach in publick or do they teach that which is contrary to it If they teach that which is contrary we are able fully to confute them by sufficient Scripture-Arguments yea there is not any one of those many errours which are taught by them that creep into houses but it hath been fully and solidly confuted by the publick Ministry to which nothing can be replyed but obstinacy and resolvedness to be deceived If you say they teach the same things that we do Why do you not come to hear them from us who are likely to teach them more profitably as being both better qualified by giving our selves wholly to these things and applying our selves daily to searching of the Holy Scriptures Eccl. 1◠10 and to the setting in order profitable and acceptable words and withal being orderly called to this Office by them who had authority to lay hands upon us May not we say to you as King Abijah to the Israelites 2 Chron. 13.9 10 11. Have not ye cast out the Priests of the Lord the sons of Aaron and the Levites and have made you Priests of the lowest of the people But as for us the Lord is our God and we have not forsaken him and the Priests which minister to the Lord are the sons of Aaron and the Levites wait upon their business And they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt-Sacrifices and sweet Incense c. And though you have gon on in the gain-saying of Corah Jude v. 11. and say with him and his company Ye take too much upon you seeing all the congregation are holy Num. 16.3 and the Lord is among them wherefore then lift you up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord Yet may we answer you as Moses did them Ye take too much upon you vers 7. vers 11. ye sons of Levi that affect the Priest-hood it self and ye are gathered together against the Lord and what is Aaron who are we the Ministers of the Lord that ye murmur against us 5. Consider and lay to heart the sad spiritual judgements which God hath inflicted upon many of those that separate selves from the publick Ordinances Is it not observable that the most of them are given up to a spirit of giddiness and instability so that they cannot tell where to six when once they have forsaken their first Foundation Is it not easily to be observed how many of them have taken their degrees from one errour to another till they have even outdone themselves and their first thoughts in forsaking the Church Hath it not been sadly evident in many that have not received the love of the Truth 2 Thes 2.10 11. that they might be saved that God for this cause hath given them up to strong delusions that they should believe a lye Yea have not many of them brought in or received in damnable heresies 2 Pet. 2.1 even denying the Lord that bought them Besides the presumption and self-willedness that is written in their fore-heads despising of government vers 10. and speaking evil of dignities And that nothing might be wanting among them of those characters whereby the Apostles do decipher the Hereticks of the latter ages they speak evil of those things which they know not but what they naturally know as brute Beasts in these they corrupt themselves they are murmurers complainers walking after their own lusts and their mouths speak great swelling words having mens persons in admiration because of advantage Jude 8.16 19. these are they who separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit Yea are not many of them grown to looseness and licentiousness of life and to an utter neglecting of those Religious duties in their Families and Closets which belong to every good Christian to perform to spend all their Zeal rather in opposing what is held and practised by others than in holding or doing any thing that is good themselves Now these things have befallen them to the end that they might be Examples to us that he that thinketh he standeth might take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10.11 12. And that we seeing the sad condition of so many unstable souls may be the more diligent in prayer and watching over our selves 2 Pet. 3.17 18. lest we also being drawn away with the errour of the wicked do fall from our own stedfastness But that we may endeavour to grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To him be Glory both now and for ever Amen FINIS THE NATURE and DANGER OF A Misguided Conscience A SERMON Preached at the VISITATION OF Mr. ARCH-DEACON of SARVM Held At Warmister April 27. 1664. By Paul Lathom M. A. John 16.2 Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he
meaning of the Scriptures as before he delivered his judgment And consequently the appealing to him in this matter is so far from putting an end to all strife that it is the way to continue an endless strife till he hath better Asserted his own authority then ever yet he hath done And therefore we may very reasonably invert this Argument and say that if the appealing to the Pope be not the way to satisfie our saith but rather to make it giddy by running round in these mazes therefore it is not the best way to refer our selves to him as an Arbitrator or Vmpire in those differences that are amongst us about the meaning of some Texts of Scriptures If yet they persist in pleading necessity to draw us to this inconvenience and that without putting it to this reference the suit will never be at an end We answer That as the case is very sad in our Church in regard of these divisions of Reuben so we may well suppose that the evil eye with which they look upon us represents it as much worse then it is when they would draw us to lean upon a broken Reed for fear of falling to rest upon that for the strengthening of our Faith which is not able to uphold it self I mean the Pope's authority and therefore will afford but a sorry support to us Besides when we find that in the Apostles times there was great cause to complain of Multitudes of false Teachers which then were risen up in the Church all which no doubt did pretend to the Patronage of the Scriptures as our Modern Opiniators now do and yet we never hear St. Paul who complains so much of them to appeal to St. Peter who was then alive and able to give a better construction of the Scriptures than those that call themselves his Successors for deciding those controversies and pronouncing who was in the right But he proceeds to cut his way by the Sword of the Spirit Eph. 6 17. which is the Word of God and reckons these Weapons to be mighty through God for pulling down strong Holds 2 Cor. 14.4 5. casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledg of God and bringing into Captivity every thought into the Obedience of Christ Therefore I say Why may not we believe that the same strength is able to do the same works still and that if we be diligent in endeavouring by sound Doctrine Tit. 1.9 Chap. 2 v. 1.8 both to exhort and to convince the gain-sayers and preach the things that becomes sound Doctrine and use sound Speech which cannot reasonably be contradicted that this I say shall be effectual for the discovery of the Truth And that we shall find in the issue that Great is the Truth and stronger than all things that it endureth and is alwayes strong 1 Esdras 4.35 38. and conquereth evermore Whereas Error though it appear boysterous and turbulent for the present yet it shall in the end appear to be weak and yield the Victory unto Truth And though for the present it afford us no small trouble in the Church that men of perverse mindes will not see the plain and true meaning of some Scriptures because they are blinded with prejudice and self-conceit yet do we not think that the onely expedient to remedy this is to turn Papists both because their Pope hath nothing to shew as a Commission for his Vmpirage and therefore we should be never the better for appealing to him and also because we doubt not but the Lord who is pleased to permit these errours for the trial and exercise of our Faith when we have suffered under them as much as he thinks meet for us will without applying our selves to this indirect course stablish 1 Pet. 5.10 strengthen and settle us and â—â—â—ry true member of his Church in the right Faith Rom. 16.20 and that the God of peace will himself tread Satan under our feet shortly I might add to make this up weight the contrary judgements of Popes and Antipopes which have for some time made a great stir in the Church and must needs be a great distraction to the mindes of them that were bound by their Religion to rest upon the judgement of an infallible person when it was so hard to determine which of the two contraries was truly infallible And beside that in the successions in that See there have been divers that have contradicted the judgement of their Predecessors yea we are not certain but that the same Pope may the next year esteem himself infallible in holding that which is quite contrary to what he now doth infallibly determine and these cases must needs puzzle the Faith of those that apply themselves to such a judge as may be subject to such alterations and contrariety But these things have been so fully and excellently managed by far abler hands that I shall content my self with giving a brief hint of them And this I think is sufficient to convince any person of an unbyassed minde That there is neither necessity nor convenience to invite us to refer our selves to the Pope for deciding of controversies about the interpretation of difficult Scriptures But to proceed As there are many places of Scripture which are not easie to be understood so it behooves us both to be industrious in using the means which God affords us for attaining the knowledge of them and withal to be very modest in passing our judgements concerning the meaning of them And indeed it is mostly to be observed that they are most confident of their understanding the darkest places of Scripture that have very little to support this confidence but onely that good Opinion they have thought meet to entertain of their own abilities And as the Moralist saith of moral and natural knowledge Seneca Multi ad scientiam pervenissent nisi putâssent se jam pervenisse Mens confidence that they are in the right hinders them from finding out their errour and seeking after the truth So we may say of spiritual Knowledge that one great thing which keeps many from the knowledge and belief of the truth and locks them up fast in the fetters of errours is that presumption they have taken up that they are in the right and that it is not possible they should be deceived and therefore Though you bray them in a morter yet will not this wisdom depart from them In the interpreting of Scripture it hath alwaies been observed as a general Rule that That interpretation which is nearest to the letter is the safest and most genuine and that The further men go from the letter the more hazzardous path they tread Indeed if the litteral meaning do either contradict our Senses or Reason or be expresly contrary to any other more plain Text or to the analogy of Faith then we must leave the letter and look for another meaning that will not run us upon such inconveniences So
Elect Angels to procure the confirmation of them in their estate of holiness and happiness But in this I determine nothing because the holy Scriptures are so sparing in speaking of it The usual acception of this word Mediator is to signifie him that reconciles parties that be at difference and in this sense Jesus Christ the word made flesh is truely and properly called a Mediator to reconcile God and man because he interposeth himself between God and us in this difference that sin hath made to reconcile Gods justice to us by making satisfaction for our sin and to reconcile us to God by sanctifying our natures and making us conformable to his will in this life inchoatly and at death perfectly CHAP. V. The holy Scriptures being owned at least in outward profession by men of all professions that lay claim to the common name of Christianity we may therefore take it for granted that Arguments drawn from them should put an end to all strife amongst us The design and method of the four following Chapters proposed THe Reverence we owe to the authority of the holy Scriptures doth oblige every good Christian not onely to account it a necessary piece of humility to subscribe to the doctrine thereof as the will and pleasure of him that made us and to whom we owe all obedience but also to esteem it the safest and most prudential course to entertain and embrace the truths thereof as the Word of him who is Wisdom it self and therefore cannot err or be deceived and Goodness it self and therefore we may be sure he will not endeavour to seduce or delude us So that though there be divers things contained in this Sacred Volume which our shallow capacities cannot reach to comprehend yet we finde reason enough to impute it to the defects of our Nature and not to any over-sight in those Sacred Writings that we cannot always see a reason of every thing therein delivered And the Soveraign Authority and infinite Wisdom of him that inspired those holy men that wrote these Books is a sufficient argument to move us to a reverent submission to those matters of Faith which surpass the reach of our reason and therefore as every sober Professor of Christianity makes the Word of God the foundation of his Faith so the best Arguments that can be produced for the confirming of our Belief in that Faith which hath been delivered unto us will be such as are fetched from this Sacred Promptuary of holy Writ And as I was mentioning it before Chap. 2. for the honour of the Word of God that men of all Sects and perswasions who center in the common Profession of the Christian Religion do at least pretend great reverence to these Writings and whether in good earnest or in design to put off their opinions the more plausibly in the world do endeavour to represent even their most heterodox and incredible Notions as the Doctrine of the Spirit of God in the Scripture we may therefore very reasonably expect that Arguments drawn from the Scriptures should be convineing to them and an end of all strife And further that the fair and plain meaning of the words of Scripture which is most obvious to every man of understanding and which hath been received by the Church of God in all ages should be embraced by them as well as by us as the ground upon which all Arguments are to be built It being as absurd in matters of Reason and Faith for one or a few men to expect that his or their single Vote for some singular meaning of a plain Text of Scripture should be heard in opposition to the judgement of the Church of God in all ages as in matters of sense it would be for one man confidently and contentiously to pronounce that colour to be white or red which all his Neighbours and people of all Ages before him have received under the notion of black We may therefore take it for granted that Arguments drawn from the plain and obvious sense of the Scripture such as hath been received by the Church in all Ages should be accounted sufficient both to confirm the faith of those that are serious in Christianity and also to convince or at least put to silence those that are dissenting from us In order therefore to the confirming of us in the belief of this Truth which is the substance of the whole Doctrine of the Gospel that The Word made flesh or God the Son manifest in the flesh hath truely and really undertaken and performed the Office of a Mediator to reconcile God and man I shall propound these four general Heads to be considered and confirmed First That the Lord did promise to Adam after his fall and to all the Fathers and Prophets of the Old Testament his own Son to become man and in the Union of these two Natures to perform all those Offices which were necessary in order to our Redemption and Salvation Secondly That the Time which was appointed for the accomplishing of these promises and Prophesies and for the sending of the Son of God into the World is long since expired and consequently that we ought stedfastly to believe that our Saviour is already come in the flesh Thirdly That we have full and sufficient grounds to believe that the same Jesus whom the New Testament holds forth unto us and in whom we and all the Churches of God in all Ages have believed is that very Person who was promised to the Fathers to come as the Messiah or Saviour of the World Fourthly That the Apostles and Evangelists in the New Testament do hold forth unto us such a Christ as was really and truly God and Man Hypostatically united in one Person and who did in a real and proper sense satisfie Gods Justice for our sins and purchase eternal Salvation for us by his Merits On this Rock is the Church of God built Matt. 16.18 On this have every one of us built our particular Faith and in this we had need to be fully and persectly setled And he that is confirmed in the truth of these four Positions is confirmed in the whole Doctrine of the Gospel Let us then proceed by the assistance of the good Spirit of God to the opening and confirming of them in order CHAP. VI. The first Proposition confirmed in its two Branches viz. First That God did promise to the Fathers of the Old Testament to send his Son into the World to take our Nature upon him Secondly That he promised that in the Vnion of these two Natures he should perform all those Offices which were necessary in order to our Redemption and Salvation ALL the Promises of God are Yea 2 Cor. 1.20 and Amen Faithfulness and Truth as being the Words of the God of Truth Tit. 1.2 who cannot lye Hath he spoken it and shall it not stand Hath he promised and shall he not make it good Mat. 5.18 Behold Heaven and Earth shall pass
is waxed gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes have they closed lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and should be converted and healed However the Sower that soweth the Word of God must cast his Seed abroad though he see but little that is good ground and likely to bring forth fruit answerable to his desires Who can tell but the Lord may direct his Word as an Arrow to hit them between the joynts of the Harness though they have armed themselves against it with so much prejudice and resolvedness in their own ways But whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for they are most rebellious Ezek. 2.5 yet shall they know that there hath been a Prophet among them 1. Let me entreat and exhort all such in the fear of God and as they love their own souls Apoc. 2.6 to remember from whence they aâ—e fallen to remember the years that are past and consider what the temper of their souls was then See what the Apostle saith to the Galatians and apply it to your own consciences Gal. 3.13 c. You know how that through much infirmity of the flesh we and other Ministers preached the Gospel to you at the first those Ministers whom you sometimes heard and in whom ye delighted were men subject to the like infirmities with us And yet our temptation which was in our flesh ye despised not nor rejected us and the Gospel for those infirmities but received us even as Angels of God and as those that brought glad tydings of Jesus Christ unto you and did esteem the very feet of them that brought these glad tidings to be so beautiful that if it had been possible to do us good you would even have plucked out your own eyes and given them to us But where is now the blessedness that ye then spake of Is not the Word of God as good as it was then And are we become your enemies because we do tell you the truth and the very same truths that were preached to you then Let me ask of you Do not we preach the same Doctrine and profess the same Faith as they did whom you followed formerly with so much diligence I believe you cannot deny it Or if you think us to be changed this is but like the thoughts of one in a Ship who when he puts off from the Land conceits the Shore to move back from him whereas it is the Ship onely that moves while the Shore remains where it was Your Seducers may possibly suggest such thoughts unto you of whom I may say with the Apostle They zealously affect you but not well they would exclude us that you might affect them Zeal indeed is very useful and commendable while it is rightly imployed vers 18. It is good to be zealously affected alwayes in a good matter But it is a very dangerous thing to be zealously carried forward in a mistake I pray Ask your own consciences I speak this to them that are serious though misguided in their profession Whether your consciences were not in a better frame when you frequented the publick Ordinances then now they are Did not the Word of God rellish better with you so that you esteemed it more then your necessary food Job 23.12 more precious then gold yea then fine gold sweeter also then honey Psal 19.10 and the honey comb Were you not more constant in those family and Closet-duties of which every good Christian makes conscience Had you not a more kindly sense of your sins upon your souls and more child-like sorrow for them Had you not more love to God and his people Apoc. 2.5 Well Remember from whence you are fallen and repent and do your first works And say with them Hos 2.7 I will go and return to my first husband for then it was better with me than now 2. Let me ask you and I pray be serious in answering Where did you first receive the foundation of that light which you so much talk of How came you first to know any thing of God and of the things that appertain to your Salvation Was it not by attending upon that Ministry which you now despise as Antichristian You did not bring this knowledge into the world with you And you could not learn it in private Meetings seeing many of the elder sort of you profess your selves to have had something of the knowledge of God before you frequented these Meetings yea before there were any such Societies for you to joyn with And therefore if you will deal fairly you must acknowledge those sparks to have been kindled in you by the preaching of the Word of God as the means And how can you possibly so far rub all modesty out of your Fore-heads as with such confidence to pronounce that Ministry Antichristian which was the means first to discover the true Christ to you Or do you think your selves to deal ingenuously in setting so soul a foot upon that step which first raised you from the ground and casting away that ladder which helped you up that it may not stand to upbraid you with the help it hath given you Is not this wantonness of spirit and a spiritual fulness which keeps you from hungring and thirsting after the Word of God that makes you loath the Manna of Gods publick Ordinances and to long for flesh of your own fancying Were it not better to acquiesce in our Saviours Judgement in this case Luk. 5.39 No man having drunk old wine straight-way desireth new for he saith The old is better 3. Let me intreat and admonish you not to condemn the Church of England without examination Joh. 7.51 Doth our Law saith Nicodemus judge any man before it hear him and knows what he doth Certainly no good Lawes nor any sober Christian will judg and condemn any person or thing without hearing and considering the matter Let it please you therefore first to be so much your own friends as to take the pains to cast out the leaven of malice and prejudice out of your hearts for these blind the eyes even of the wise that they cannot see that which is most palpable And then lay before you the Doctrine of the Church of England contained in the Creeds which we own in the Catechisms of the Church and in the Articles of our Religion As also the Liturgy of our Church which contains our daily prayers and the manner of administring the Sacraments and performing the other Offices in the Church And compare these with the Confessions and Services of other Churches and see where you finde any Church that is more Orthodox and pure in every respect yea if you finde any thing in it which to a sober and impartial minde doth so much as appear to be contrary to the Scriptures If you would take this pains I should verily expect to see a great number
probably be expected to be effectual through Gods blessing to stablish strengthen and settle mens mindes against the tempestuous Winds of erronious Doctrines From hence then 1. We may see that it is no wonder that they whose design it is to seduce the people to errours do bear such a bitter and implacable hatred to the Ministry that they have spent their mouths so liberally in bestowing upon them and their Function all the Calumnies and scurrilities which the malice of Hell could invent that the subtilest spirits amongst them by attempting to take away their ancient and settled maintenance have designed to stop their mouths by starving them except they would learn cum psittaco suum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Wolves in the Fable when they had made War against the Sheep would admit of no accommodation except upon these terms that they should deliver up the Dogs of the Flock intending thereby that the removal of these should make way for their quiet and secure preying upon the Flock Every man may easily see how Mutato nomine de his fabula narratur These grievous Wolves whose design is to prey upon the Flock knowing full well that the Ministry is the greatest defence of the Flock and offence to them cry out by all means to have these taken away that they might securely prey upon the Flock when none was left to oppose them 2. Hence we see likewise what reason we have to be very thankful to God for appointing and continuing this Office in the Church That our Lord Jesus Christ when he ascended up on high gave gifts to men to fit them for this work Rev. 3.1 that he hath held these Stars in his own right hand mauger the Fanatick rage of erronious and illiterate miscreants It is easie to imagine what an Egyptian darkness would have over-spread the face of our Church if these Stars had been removed Let us therefore be thankful to him that hath upheld these and that they still shine amongst us both to shew us the right way to heaven and to discover and shame the dark and absurd Doctrines of men of unsound and corrupt mindes 3. We learn hence whereunto we that are employed in this honourable and weighty Office of the Ministry ought to apply our selves even to be instant in season and out of season both exhorting the people to the practifing of good Duties and also convincing gain sayers with such speech as cannot reasonably be gain-said Tit. 1.9 2.8 that so those that are contrarily minded may be ashamed and those that are in the right may be encouraged to stand fast in the Faith And though men of unsound heads may esteem this way of preaching to be galling and unpleasant yet it being our duty we must not neglect it And we should the more be engaged to faithfulness by considering those that are committed to our charge which leads me to the II. 2 Part. Thing in the Text the Subjects here spoken of included in the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we be not You shall seldom see Hereticks to attempt the seducing of lewd and prophane persons for they know that such are a disgrace to any Profession or Cause to which they adhere or wish well But their great design is to pervert them that have in some measure escaped the pollution of the world 2 Pet. 2.20 through the knowledge of Christ because they are sensible that the same of the innocency and strictness of the lives of those that are retainers to their ways will make men of good affections and weak judgements to have the greater kindness for and inclinations towards their opinions And indeed such is the subtilty of these false Prophets that as our Saviour faith They would deceive if it were possible Mat. 24.24 the very Elect. Now these words of Christ may give us a fit opportunity to enquire concerning these subjects we how far Gods Elect and Sanctified ones may be led away with the errour of the wicked so as to depart from their own stedfastness In answer whereunto I say 1. That it is certain that such shall never fall away to such errours as will be inconsistent with Christianity and the holding of which would shew a man to have left that one Foundation 1 Cor. 3.11 besides which no other can be laid The Apostle speaks of some Hereticks that should bring in damnable doctrines 2 Pet. 2.1 even denying the Lord that bought them Now we say that none that ever had true Grace in his heart shall be totally given over to such errours so as to live and dye in them Peter indeed denyed his Master three times but he was in a little while convinced of his sin and went forth and wept bitterly But to persist in errours of this Nature is inconsistent with a state of Grace Though there are diversities of Physiognomies amongst men yet all have the faces of men And though true Christians may have different thoughts about some points yet they all hold fast the Foundation of Christianity And this we may make use of First To comfort us as to any of our Friends or those whom we wish well unto that are either ensnared or in danger to be ensuared in errours If they be such as truly fear God we may comfortably conclude that though they fall yet they shall rise again because the Lord upholdeth them with his hand Psal 37.24 Luk. 21.31 And Christ hath prayed for them as he did for Peter that their faith do not utterly fail 2. It may show us how to judge of them that are quite departed from the foundation of that Faith into which they were baptized even as the Apostle doth in the like case 1 Joh. 2.19 They went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us but they went out from us that it might be manifest that they were not of us Secondly But yet we say that in matters fuâ—ther off from the Foundation those that are of truly gracious and honest hearts may erre and be deceived Amongst the sons of men there is such variety of Features in their faces that no two are in all points alike and yet are all concluded under the general name of men And amongst the minds of men there may be great variety in smaller matters and yet while they hold fast the foundation we are not to exclude them from our charity as if they were no Christians And this may serve 1. 1 Cor. 4.7 For caution they that think they stand fast have need to take heed lest they fall And as the same Apostle elsewhere Rom. 11.20 Thou standest by Faith be not high minded but fear We have heard that even truly good men may fall into some errors and we see by daily experience that men of very high Professions and Attainments have fallen and do daily fall Now Pride and Carelesness will put
to move round it to save the Sun the labour of moving Others are like Alexander of whom the Satyrist Vnus Pellaeo juveni non sufficit Orbis Juvenal Sat. 10. Aestuat infaelix angusto limite mundi Vt Gyarae clausus scopulis parvâque Seripho This small Earthly-Globe is not wide enough for their over-grown Fancies to bustle in and therefore they have added to it a New World in the Moon To which yet they have not thus far attained to set up a Post-office that we might have some correspondence with the people of that Region Others will needs fancy a Communis anima mundi to save the divine Providence the labour of looking to particular things in the World Others dream of a long time of the Prae-existence of the Soul of man before it came into the body much like the Egyptians that conceit themselves to have a Chronicle of many thousands of years before the world began These and many other fancies in Philosophy we may reasonably believe to have proceeded rather from an humour to oppose the vulgar Opinions and desire to finde out something New under the Sun then that men did verily believe such things to be so as they have attempted to make others believe Nor is the wantonness of mans wit content to vary in Philosophy except they may have liberty to frame a new body of Divinity too And sure 't is strange how some mens humours suit with disputing and opposing each other Who doubtless would not embrace so many Paradoxes were it not that to be heterodox will gall other men and make themselves appear to be some body in the world by wearing a colour distinct from other men But we may say by too sad experience that Nimium altercando amittitur veritas men have mudded these clear Crystalline streams of Religion by too much stirring in them so that Truth can very hardly be discerned in the bottom And indeed Pruritus disputandi scabies Ecclesiae This itch of disputing is one of the curses of the Law sent upon our Nation for not keeping the Commandments of God it hath taken off mens fingers from a zealous practising of good duties to claw this itch of opposition while the life and power of Godliness hath been almost forgotten amongst such people Yea it hath opened the mouths of Papists and men of Atheistical spirits to reproach the Protestant Religion if not all Religion doubting whether there be any such thing in reality because the professors of it cannot agree about it It might have been a necessary act of charity to have digressed here a little to have fortified us against those advantages that Papists and Atheists are apt to take against our Church by reason of these divisions By telling the Atheist that there were as great differences between the Platonists and Peripateticks the Stoicks and Epicureans and Academicks as there are now amongst Christians By telling the Papist that the differences between the Thomists and Scotists between the Jesuites and Seculars between the Jansenists and Sorbonists are not inseriour to those which they see amongst the Protestants Besides that the Church of England properly so called is like Jerusalem a City compact together and as for those that are turned aside to dangerous Sects and Errors we may say They went out from us 1 Joh. 2.19 because they were not of us And I might refer both Papists and Atheists to that pious and learned Father St. Augustine de Civ Dei l. 18. c. 51. where he sheweth how the Lord is pleased to suffer Errors and Schisms in his Church for the trial of our Faith and for the benefit of the Church in the issue But these things the time commands me to passe over Greg. Naz. Orat. 10. I shall therefore conclude this head with that of St. Gregory Nazianzene It is the first and chief wisdom to despise that wisdom which consists in talking and subtilty of words and in captiousness and opposition one of another Leaving this then let us proceed to view the Seventh and last Pillar in this bullding 7 Pillar The Wisdom that is from above is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vultum non accipit saith Beza it doth not regard the faces or outward shew of men Sine simulatione saith Tremellius without counterfeiting or dissembling Diog. Laert. Diogenes Laertius reports of Diogenes the Cynick his trampling on Plato's pride sed majori fastu And this Cynick would sometimes in the coldest time of VVinter go to bathing himself in cold water to make the people admire and pity him But Plato easily saw that it was not virtue but vain-glory that made him do this and perswaded the people to leave off taking notice of him and he would presently be weary of these tricks So the strange austerities and affected singularities of many of our deluded people it is to be feared arise from no better ground And yet as the Poet saith of covetousness Fallit at hoc vitium specie virtutis umbrâ Cum sit triste habitu Invenal Sat. 14. vultuque veste severum These austerities and singularities are apt to impose upon injudicious people as pieces of Self-denyal and singular parts of mortification and forsaking of the world But there hath been a far worse sort of Hypocrisie practised in our dayes like that of Nero of whom the Historian speaks Quoties fugas aut caedes jussit c. When he had appointed to banish or murther any man Tacitus Anual l. 14. then he must have publick thanksgiven to the gods and that which before was a sign of the common weal did then become a token of the common woe How many of these Jezabel-fasts and thanksgivings have we seen to the prophanation of the sacred Name of God and to the scandal of our Religion This was the fruit of that wisdom which the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Devilish But this subject of Hypocrisie is too large to be entred upon at this time I shall onely say that he that onely seems to be a good Christian hath onely the shew of Wisdom but he alone that professeth himself to be such as he ought to be and is as good as he professeth himself he hath that wisdom which is from above For this is the bond and perfection of all the excellencies of this VVisdom that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without Hypocrisie You have seen now the House of VVisdom surveyed with its seven Pillars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the Sum. First it is easie hence to judge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is a wise man among you and endued with knowledge even he that can shew out of a good conversation these fruits with meekness of VVisdom these Fruits I say which always grow upon the Tree of saving-knowledge It is not enough to shew a man to be wise from above to talk much of Religion and Purity and of giving God his