error and retracting it that you may build better then let it lie on still till a sorer fire catch it Better for any of us all whether in respect of our errours or sins to prevent the Lords judging of us by timely judging our selves than to slack the time till his judgment overtake us 27. The Second Use should be an Admonition to all my Brethren of the Ministry for the time to come and that in the Apostles words 1 Cor. 3. 10. Let every man take heed what he buildeth St. Paul himself was very careful this way not to deliver any thing to the People but what he had received from the Lord. The Prophets of the Lord still delivered their Messages with this Preface Haec dicit Dominus Yea that wretched Balaam though a false Prophet and covetous enough professed yet that if Balak would give him his house full of Silver and Gold he neither durst nor would go beyond the word of the Lord to do less or more There is a great proneness in us all to Idolize our own inventions Besides much Ignorance Hypocrisie and Partiality any of which may byass us awry Our Educations may lay such early anticipations upon our judgments or our Teachers or the Books we read or the Society we converse withal may leave such impressions therein as may fill them with prejudice not easily to be removed The golden mean is a hard thing to hit upon almost in any thing without some warping toward one of the extremes either on the right hand or on the left and without a great deal of wisdom and care seldom shall we seek to shun one extreme and not run a little too far towards the other if not quite into it In all which and sundry other respects we may soon fall into gross mistakes and errors if we do not take the more heed whilst we suspect no such thing by our selves but verily believe that all we do is out of pure zeal for Gods Glory and the love of his truth We had need of all the piety and learning and discretion and pains and prayers we have and all little enough without Gods blessing too yea and our own greater care too to keep us from running into Errors and from teaching for doctrines the commandments of men 28. The Third Use should be for Admonition also to all the people of God that they be not hasty to believe every Spirit but to try the Spirits especially when they see the spirits to disagree and clash one with another or find otherwise just cause of suspicion and that as the Beraeans did by the Scriptures Using withal all good subsidiary helps for the better understanding thereof especially those two as the principal the Rule of Right Reason and the known constant judgment and practice of the Universal Church That so they may fan away the Chaff from the Wheat and letting go the refuse hold fast that which is good To this end every man should especially beware that he do not suffer himself to be carried away with names nor to have any mans person either in hatred or admiration but embrace what is consonant to truth and reason though Iudas himself should preach it and reject what even an Angel from Heaven should teach if he have no other reason to induce him to believe it than that he teacheth it 29. The Fourth Use should be for Exhortation to the learneder sort of my Brethren to shew their faithfulness duty and true hearty affection to God and his Truth and Church by maintaining the simplicity of the Christian Faith and asserting the Doctrine of Christian Liberty against all corrupt mixtures of mens inventions and against all unlawful impositions of mens Commandments in any kind whatsoever If other men be zealous to set up their own errors shall we be remiss to hold up Gods Truth God having deposited it with us and committed it to our special trust how shall we be able to answer it to God and the World if we suffer it to be stollen out of the hearts of our people by our silence or neglect Like enough you shall incurr blame and censure enough for so doing as if you sought but your selves in it by seeking to please those that are in authority in hope to get preferment thereby But let none of these things discourage you if you shall not be able by the grace of God in some measure to despise the censures of rash and uncharitable men so long as you can approve your hearts and actions in the sight of God and to break through if need be far greater tryals and discouragements than these you are not worthy to be called the servants of Christ. 30. The last Use should be an humble Supplication to those that have in their hands the ordering of the great affairs of Church and State that they would in their goodness and wisdoms make some speedy and effectual provision to repress the exorbitant licenciousness of these times in Printing and Preaching every man what he list to the great dishonour of God scandal of the Reformed Religion fomenting of Superstition and Error and disturbance of the peace both of Church and Common-wealth Lest if way be still given thereunto those evil Spirits that this late connivence hath raised grow so fierce within a while that it will trouble all the power and wisdom of the Kingdom to conjure them handsomly down again But certainly since we find by late experience what wildness in some of the Lay-people what petulancy in some of the inferior Clergy what insolency in some both of the Laity and Clergy our Land is grown into since the reins of the Ecclesiastical Government have lain a little slack we cannot but see what need we have to desire and pray that the Ecclesiastical Government and Power may be timely setled in some such moderate and effectual way as that it may not be either too much abused by them that are to exercise it nor too much despised by those that must live under it In the mean time so long as things hang thus loose and unsetled I know not better how to represent unto you the present face of the times in some respects than in the words of the Prophet Ieremy The Prophets prophesie lies and the Priests get power into their hands by their means and my people love to have it so And what will you do in the end thereof 31. What the end of these insolencies will be God alone knoweth The increase of Profaneness Riot Oppression and all manner of wickedness on the one side and the growth of Error Novelty and Superstition on the other side are no good signs onward The Lord of his great mercy grant a better end thereunto than either these beginnings or proceedings hitherto portend or our sins deserve And the same Lord of his infinite goodness vouchsafe to dispel from us by the light of his Holy Spirit all blindness and hardness of
into some such irregularity as made him conscious he had transgressed his Statutes did therefore apprehend the Proctor's invitation as an introduction to punishment the fear of which made his Bed restless that night but at their meeting the next morning that fear vanish'd immediately by the Proctor's chearful countenance and the freedom of their discourse of Friends And let me tell my Reader that this first meeting prov'd the begining of as spiritual a friendship as humane nature is capable of of a friendship free from all self-ends and it continued to be so till death forc'd a separation of it on earth but 't is now reunited in Heaven And now having given this account of his behaviour and the considerable accidents in his Proctorship I proceed to tell my Reader that this busie employment being ended he preach'd his Sermon for his degree of Batchelor in Divinity in as eligant Latin and as remarkable for the method and matter as hath been preached in that University since that day And having well performed his other Exercises for that degree he took it the nine and twentieth of May following having been ordained Deacon and Priest in the year 1611. by Iohn King then Bishop of London who had not long before been Dean of Christ-Church and then knew him so well that he own'd it at his Ordination and became his more affectionate Friend And in this year being then about the 29th of his Age he took from the University a Licence to preach In the year 1618. he was by Sir Nicholas Sanderson Lord Viscount Castleton presented to the Rectory of Wibberton not far from Boston in the County of Lincoln a Living of very good value but it lay in so low and wet a part of that Countrey as was inconsistent with his health And health being next to a good Conscience the greatest of God's blessings in this life and requiring therefore of every man a care and diligence to preserve it and he apprehending a danger of losing it if he continued at Wibberton a second Winter did therefore resign it back into the hands of his worthy Kinsman and Patron about one year after his donation of it to him And about this time of his resignation he was presented to the Rectory of Boothby Pannel in the same County of Lincoln a Town which has been made famous and must continue to be famous because Dr. Sanderson the humble and learned Dr. Sanderson was more than forty years Parson of Boothby Pannel and from thence dated all or most of his matchless Writings To this Living which was of less value but a purer Air then Wibberton he was presented by Thomas Harrington of the same County and Parish Esq a Gentleman of a very ancient Family and of great use and esteem in his Country during his whole life And in this Boothby Pannel the meek and charitable Dr. Sanderson and his Patron liv'd with an endearing mutual and comfortable friendship till the death of the last put a period to it About the time that he was made Parson of Boothby Pannel he resign'd his Fellowship of Lincoln Colledge unto the then Rector and Fellows And his resignation is recorded in these words Ego Robertus Sanderson per c. I Robert Sanderson Fellow of the Colledge of St. Maries and All-Saints commonly call'd Lincoln Colledge in the University of Oxford do freely and willingly resign into the hands of the Rector and Fellows all the Right and Title that I have in the said Colledge wishing to them and their Successors all peace and piety and happiness in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen May 6. 1619. Robert Sanderson And not long after this Resignation he was by the then Bishop of York or the King Sede vacante made Prebend of the Collegiate Church of Southwell in that Diocess and shortly after of Lincoln by the Bishop of that See And being now resolv'd to set down his rest in a quiet privacy at Boothby Pannel and looking back with some sadness upon his removal from his general and chearful Acquaintance left in Oxford and the peculiar pleasures of a University life he could not but think the want of Society would render this of a Country Parson still more uncomfortable by reason of that want of conversation and therefore he did put on some faint purposes to marry For he had considered that though marriage be cumbred with more worldly care than a single life yet a complying and prudent Wife changes those very cares into so mutual Joys as makes them become like the Sufferings of St. Paul which he would not have wanted because they occasion'd his rejoycing in them And he having well considered this and observ'd the secret unutterable joys that Children beget in Parents and the mutual pleasures and contented trouble of their daily care and constant endeavours to bring up those little Images of themselves so as to make them as happy as all those cares and endeavours can make them He having considered all this the hopes of such happiness turn'd his faint purpose into a positive resolution to marry And he was so happy as to obtain Anne the Daughter of Henry Nelson Batchelor in Divinity then Rector of Haugham in the County of Lincoln a man of noted worth and learning And the giver of all good things was so good to him as to give him such a Wife as was sutable to his own desires a Wife that made his life happy by being always content when he was chearful that was always chearful when he was content that divided her joys with him and abated of his sorrow by bearing a part of that burthen a Wife that demonstrated her affection by a chearful obedience to all his desires during the whole course of his life and at his death too for she out-liv'd him And in this Boothby Pannel he either found or made his Parishoners peaceable and complying with him in the constant decent and regular service of God And thus his Parish his Patron and he liv'd together in a religious love and a contented quietness He not troubling their thoughts by preaching high and useless notions but such and only such plain truths as were necessary to be known believed and practised in order to the honour of God and their own salvation And their assent to what he taught was testified by such a conformity to his Doctrine as declared they believed and loved him For it may be noted he would often say That without the last the most evident truths heard as from an Enemy or an evil liver either are not or are at least the less effectual and usually rather harden than convince the hearer And this excellent man did not think his Duty discharged by only reading the Church-Prayers Catechizing Preaching and administring the Sacraments seasonably but thought if the Law or the Canons may seem to injoyn no more yet that God would require more than the defective Laws of man's
of God's Will and Power with subordinate Agents in every and therefore even in sinful actions God's free Election of those whom he purposeth to save of his own grace without any motives in or from themselves the immutability of God's Love and Grace towards the Saints Elect and their certain perseverance therein unto Salvation the Iustification of sinners by the imputed righteousness of Christ apprehended and applyed unto them by a lively faith without the works of the Law These are sound and true and if rightly understood comfortable and right profitable Doctrines And yet they of the Church of Rome have the forehead I will not say to slander my Text alloweth more to blaspheme God and his Truth and the Ministers thereof for teaching them Bellarmine Gretser Maldonat and the Jesuits but none more than our own English Fugitives Bristow Stapleton Parsons Kellison and all the Rabble of that Crew freely spend their mouths in barking against us as if we made God the author of sin as if we would have men sin and be damned by a Stoical fatal necessity sin whether they will or no and be damned whether they deserve it or no as if we opened a gap to all licentiousness and profaneness let them believe it is no matter how they live Heaven is their own cock-sure as if we cryed down good works and condemned charity Slanders loud and false yet easily blown away with one single word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These imputations upon us and our Doctrine are unjust but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let them that thus mis-report us know that without repentance their damnation will be just It would be time not ill spent to discover the grounds of this observation and to press the uses of it something fully But because my aim lyeth another way I can but point at them and pass If seldom Truth scape unslandered marvel not the reasons are evident On God's part on Man's part on the Devil's part God suffereth Man raiseth and the Devil furthereth these slanders against the Truth To begin ordine retrogrado and to take them backwards First on the Devil's part a kind of Contrariety and Antipathy betwixt him and it He being the Father of Lyes and Prince of darkness cannot away with the Truth and with the Light and therefore casteth up slanders as Fogs and Mists against the Truth to bely it and against the Light to darken it Secondly on Mans part And that partly in the understanding when the judgment either of it self weak or else weakned through precipitancy prejudice or otherwise is deceived with fallacies instead of substance and mistaketh seeming inferences for necessary and natural deductions Partly in the Will when men of corrupt minds set themselves purposely against the known truth and out of malicious wilfulness against the strong testimony of their own hearts slander it that so they may disgrace it and them that profess it Partly in the Affections when men overcome by carnal affections are content to cheat their own souls by giving such constructions to God's Truth as will for requital give largest allowance to their practices and so rather choose to crooken the Rule to their own bent than to level themselves and their affections and lives according to the Rule Thirdly on God's part who suffereth his own truth to be slandered and mistaken Partly in his Iustice as a fearful judgment upon wicked ones whereby their hard hearts become yet more hardened and their most just condemnation yet more just Partly in his goodness as a powerful fiery trial of true Doctors whose constancy and sincerity is the more approved with him and the more eminent with men if they flee not when the Wolf cometh but keep their standing and stoutly maintain God's Truth when it is deepliest slandered and hotly opposed And partly in his Wisdom as a rich occasion for those whom he hath gifted for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to awaken their zeal to quicken up their industry to muster up their abilities to scour up their spiritual armour which else through dis-use might gather rust for the defence and for the rescue of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that precious truth whereof they are depositaries and wherewith he hath entrusted them These are the Grounds The Uses for instruction briefly are to teach and admonish every one of us that we be not either first so wickedly malicious as without apparent cause to raise any slander or secondly so foolishly credulous as without severe examination to believe any slander or thirdly so basely timorous as to flinch from any part of God's truth for any slander But I must not insist This from the slander Observe fourthly how peremptory the Apostle is in his censure against the slanderers or abusers of holy truths Whose damnation is just Some understand it with reference to the slanderers As we be slander ously reported and as some affirm that we say whose damnation is just that is their damnation is just who thus unjustly slander us Others understand it with reference to that ungodly resolution Let us do evil that good may come whose damnation is just that is their damnation is just for the evil they do who adventure to do any evil under whatsoever pretence of good to come of it Both expositions are good and I rather embrace both than prefer either I ever held it a kind of honest spiritual thirst where there are two sences given of one place both agreeable to the Analogy of Faith and Manners both so indifferently appliable to the words and scope of the place as that it is hard to say which was rather intended though there was but one intended yet to make use of both And so will we Take it the first way and the slanderer may read his doom in it Here is his wages and his portion and the meed and reward of his slander Damnation And it is a just reward He condemneth God's truth unjustly God condemneth him justly for it whose damnation is just If we be countable and we are countable at the day of Judgment for every idle word we speak though neither in it self false nor yet hurtful and prejudicial unto others what less than damnation can they expect that with much falsehood for the thing it self and infinite prejudice in respect of others blaspheme God and his holy Truth But if it be done on purpose and in malice to despight the Truth and the professors thereof I scarce know whether there be a greater sin or no. Maliciously to oppose the known Truth is by most Divines accounted a principal branch of that great unpardonable sin the sin against the holy Ghost by some the very sin it self I dare not say it is so nor yet that it is unpardonable or hath final impenitency necessarily attending it I would be loth to interclude the hope of
man by the light of Nature or strength of humane discourse should have been able to have found out that way which Almighty God hath appointed for our salvation if it had not pleased him to have made it known to the world by supernatural revelation The wisest Philosophers and learnedst Rabbies nor did nor could ever have dreamt of any such thing till God revealed it to his Church by his Prophets and Apostles This mystery was hid from Ages and from Generations nor did any of the Princes of this world know it in any of those Ages or Generations as it is now made manifest to us since God revealed it to us by his Spirit As our Apostle elsewhere speaketh 11. The Philosophers indeed saw a little dimly some of those truths that are more clearly revealed to us in the Scriptures They found in all men a great proâ—livity to Evil and an indisposition to Good but knew nothing at all either of the true Causes or of the right Remedies thereof Some apprehensions also they had of a Deity of the Creation of the World of a divine Providence of the Immortality of the Soul of a final Retribution to be awarded to all men by a divine justice according to the merit of their works and some other truths But those more high and mysterious points especially those two that of the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead and that of the Incarnation of the Son of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Fathers use to call them together with those appendices of the latter the Redemption of the World the Iustification of a sinner the Resurrection of the body and the beatifical Vision of God and Christ in the Kingdom of Heaven not the least thought of any of these deep things of God ever came within them God not having revealed the same unto them 12. It is no thanks then to us that very children among us do believe and confess these high mysterious points whereof Plato and Aristotle and all the other grand Sophies among them were ignorant since we owe our whole knowledge herein not to our own natural sagacity or industry wherein they were beyond most of us but to divine and supernatural revelation For flesh and bloud hath not revealed them unto us but our Father which is in Heaven We see what they saw not not because our eyes are better than theirs but because God hath vouchsafed to us a better light than he did to them Which being an act of special grace ought therefore to be acknowledged with special thankfulness Our Saviour hath given us the example I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Mat. 11. 25. 13. Truly much cause we have to bless the holy Name of God that he hath given us to be born of Christian Parents and to be bred up in the bosom of the Christian Church where we have been initiated into these Sacred Mysteries being catechised and instructed in the Doctrine of the Gospel out of the holy Scriptures even from our very Childhood as Timothy was But we are wretchedly unthankful to so good a God and extremely unworthy of so great a blessing if we murmur against our Governours and clamour against the Times because every thing is not point-wise just as we should have it or as we have fancied to our selves it should be Whereas were our hearts truly thankful although things should be really and in truth even ten times worse than now they are but in their conceit only yet so long as we may enjoy the Gospel in any though never so scant a measure and with any though never so hard conditions we should account it a benefit and mercy invaluable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Paul esteemed it the very riches of the grace of God for he writeth According to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence having made known to us the mystery of his will Eph. 1. If he had not made it known to us we had never known it aad that is the second Reason why a Mystery 14. There is yet a Third even because we are not able perfectly to comprehend it now it is revealed And this Reason will seâ—ch in the Quantum too For herein especially it is that this Mystery doth so far transcend all other Mysteries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great marvellous great Mystery In the search whereof Reason finding it self at a loss is forced to give it over in the plain field and to cry out O altitudo as being unable to reach the unfathomed depth thereof We believe and know and that with fulness of assurance that all these things are so as they are revealed in the holy Scriptures because the mouth of God who is Truth it self and cannot lie hath spoken them and our own Reason upon this ground teacheth us to submit ourselves and it to the obedience of Faith for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that so it is But then for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nichodemus his question How can these things be it is no more possible for our weak understanding to comprehend that than it is for the eyes of Bats or Owls to look stedfastly upon the body of the Sun when he shineth forth in his greatest strength The very Angels those holy and heavenly spirits have a desire saith St. Peter it is but a desire not any perfect ability and that but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither to peep a little into those incomprehensible Mysteries and then cover their faces with their wings and peep again and cover again as being not able to endure the fulness of that glorious lustre that shineth therein 15. God hath revealed himself and his good pleasure towards us in his holy Word sufficient to save our souls if we will believe but not to solve all our doubts if we will dispute The Scriptures being written for our sakes it was needful they should be fitted to our capacities and therefore the mysteries contained therein are set forth by such resemblances as we are capable of but far short of the nature and excellency of the things themselves The best knowledge we can have of them here is but per speculum and in aenigmate 1 Cor. 13. as it were in a glass and by way of riddle darkly both God teacheth us by the eye in his Creatures That is per speculum as it were by a glass and that but a divine one neither where we may read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some of the invisible things of God but written in small and out-worn Characters scarce legible by us He teacheth us also by the Ear in the preaching of his holy Word but that in aenigmate altogether by riddles dark riddles That there should be three distinct Persons in one Essence and
an universal concurrence of judgment as there is in the main fundamental points of the Christian Faith And if we were so wise as we might and should be to make the right use of it it would not stumble us a whit in the belief of our Religion that Christians differ so much as they do in many things but rather mightily confirm us in the assurances thereof that they agree so well as they do almost in any thing And it may be a great comfort to every well meaning soul that the simple belief of those certain truths whereon all parties are in a manner agreed may be and ordinarily is sufficient for the salvation of all them who are sincerely careful according to that measure of light and means that God hath vouchsafed them to actuate their Faith with Piety Charity and good Works so making this great Mystery to become unto them as it is in its self Mysterium Pietatis a Mystery of Godliness Which is the last point proposed the Quale to which I now pass 22. As the corrupt Doctrine of Antichrist is not only a Doctrine of Error but of Impiety too called therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The mystery of iniquity 2 Thes. 2. So the wholsom doctrine of Christ is not only a doctrine of Truth but of Piety too and is therefore termed here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Mystery of Godliness Which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Godliness since there appeareth not any great necessity in the Context to restrain it to that more peculiar sence wherein both the Greek and English word are sometimes used namely to signifie the right manner of Gods Worship according to his word in opposition to all idolatrous superstitious or false Worships practised among the Heathens I am the rather enclined to understand it here as many Interpreters have done in the fuller Latitude as it comprehenderh the whole duty of a Christian man which he standeth bound by the command of God in his Law or of Christ in his Gospel to perform 23. Verum and Bonum we know are near of kin the one to the other And the spirit of God who is both the Author and the Revealer of this Mystery as he is the spirit of truth Joh. 14. so is he also the spirit of holiness Rom. 1. And it is part of his work to sanctific the heart with grace as well as to enlighten the mind with knowledge Our Apostle therefore sometimes mentioneth Truth and Godliness together teaching us thereby that we should take them both into our care together If any man consent not to the words of our Lord Iesus Christ and to the doctrine which is after Godliness 1 Tim. 6. And Tit. 1. according to the Faith of Gods Elect and acknowledging of the Truth which is after Godliness And here in express terms The Mystery of Godliness And that most rightly whether we consider it in the Scope Parts or Conservation of it 24. First the general Scope and aim of Christianity is by the mercy of God founded on the merits of Christ to bring men on through Faith and Godliness to Salvation It was not in the purpose of God in publishing the Gospel and thereby freeing us from the personal obligation rigour and curse of the Law so to turn us loose and lawless to do whatsoever should seem good in our own eyes follow our own crooked wills or gratifie any corrupt lust but to oblige us rather the faster by these new benefits and to incite us the more effectually by Evangelical promises to the earnest study and pursuit of Godliness The Gospel though upon quite different grounds bindeth us yet to our good behaviour in every respect as deep as ever the Law did if not in some respects deeper allowing no liberty to the flesh for the fulfilling of the lusts thereof in any thing but exacting entire sanctity and purity both of inward affection and outward conversation in all those that embrace it The grace of God appearing in the revelation of this mystery as it bringeth along with it an offer of salvation to all men so it teacheth all men that have any real purpose to lay hold on so gracious an offer to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously and soberly and godly in this present world 25. It is not to be wondered at if all false Religions give allowance to some ungodliness or other when the very Gods whom they worship give such encouragements thereunto by their lewd examples The Gods of the Pagans were renowned for nothing so much most of them as for their vices Mars a bloody God Bacchus a drunken God Mercury a cheating God and so proportionably in their several kinds all the rest Their great Capital God Iupiter guilty of almost all the Capital vices And where the Gods are naught who can imagine the Religion should be good Their very mysteria sacra as they called them were so full of all wickedness and filthy abominations as was already in part touched but is fully discovered by Clemens Alexandrinus Lactantius Arnobius Tertullian and other of the Ancients of our Religion that it was the wisest point in all their Religion to take such strict order as they did for the keeping of them secret 26. But it is the honour and prerogative of the Christian Religion that it alone alloweth of no wickedness But as God himself is holy so he requireth an holy Worship and holy Worshippers He exacteth the mortification of all evil lusts and the sanctification of the whole man body soul and spirit and that in each of these throughout Every one that nameth himself from the name of Christ doth ipso facto by the very taking of that blessed name upon him and daring to stile himself Christian virtually bind himself to depart from all iniquity nor so only but to endeavour also after the example of him whose name otherwise he unworthily usurpeth to be just merciful temperate humble meek patient charitable to get the habits and to exercise the acts of these and all other holy graces and vertues Nay more the Gospel imposeth upon us some moral strictnesses which the Stoicks themselves or whoever else were the most rigid Masters of Morality never so much as thought of Nay yet more it exalteth the Moral Law of God himself given by Moses to the People of Israel to a higher pitch than they at least as they commonly understood the Law took themselves thereby obliged unto That a man should forsake all his dearest friends yea and deny his own dearest self too for Christs sake and yet for Christs sake at the same time love his deadliest enemies That he should take up his Cross and if need were lay down his life not only for his great Master but even for the meanest of his fellow-servants too That he should exult with joy and abound in hope in the midst of tribulations of persecutions of death it self Surely the
Semen Dei as St. Iohn calleth it the seed of the second Adam Iesus Christ God blessed for ever derived unto us by the communication of his holy Spirit inwardly renewing us together wherewith is also derived a measure of inherent supernatural grace as the inward principle whence all these choice fruits of the Spirit do flow 11. So that upon the whole matter these two Points are clear First clear it is that all the wicked practices recited and condemned in the foregoing verses with all other of like quality do proceed meerly from the corruption that is in us from our own depraved minds and wills without any the least cooperation of the holy Spirit of God therein It cannot stand with the goodness of God to be the principal and neither with his goodness nor greatness to be an Accessory in any sinful action He cannot be either the Author or the Abettor of any thing that is evil Whoso therefore hath committed any sin let him take heed he do not add another and a worser to it by charging God with it rather let him give God and his Spirit the glory by taking all the blame and shame of it to himself and his own Flesh. All sinful works are works of the Flesh. 12. Secondly it is clear also that all the holy affections and performances here mentioned with all other Christian vertues and graces accompanying Salvation not here mentioned though wrought immediately by us and with the free consent of our own wills are yet the fruit of Gods Spirit working in us That is to say They do not proceed originally from any strength of nature or any inherent power in mans free-will nor are they acquired by the culture of Philosophy the advantages of Education or any improvement whatsoever of natural abilities by the helps of Art or Industry but are in truth the proper effects of that supernatural grace which is given unto us by the good pleasure of God the Father merited for us by the precious blood of God the Son and conveyed into our hearts by the sweet and secret inspirations of God the holy Ghost Love Ioy Peace c. are fruits not at all of the Flesh but meerly and entirely of the Spirit 13. All those very many passages in the New Testament which either set forth the unframeableness of our nature to the doing of any thing that is good Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think a good thought In me that is in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing and the like or else ascribe our best performances to the glory of the grace of God Without me you can do nothing All our sufficiency is of God Not of your selves it is the gift of God It is God that worketh in you both the will and the deed and the like are so many clear confirmations of the Truth Upon the evidence of which truth it is that our mother the Church hath taught us in the Publick Service to beg at the hands of Almighty God that he would â—ndue us with the grace of his holy Spirit to amend our lives according to his holy Word And again consonantly to the matter we are how in hand with almost in terminis that he would give to all men encrease of grace to hear meekly his word and to receive it with pure affection and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit As without which grace it were not possible for us to amend our lives or to bring forth such fruits according as God requireth in his holy Word 14. And the Reason is clear because as the tree is such must the fruit be Do men look to gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles Or can they expect from a salt Fountain other than brackish water Certainly what is born of Flesh can be no better than Flesh. Who can bring a clean thing out of that which is unclean Or how can any thing that good is proceed from a heart all the imaginations of the thoughts whereof are only and continually evil If we would have the Fruit good reason will and our Saviour prescribeth the same method that order be taken first to make the tree good 15. But you will say It is as impossible so to alter the nature of the Flesh as to make it bring forth good spiritual fruit as it is to alter the Nature of a Crab or Thorn so as to make it bring forth a pleasant Apple Truly and so it is if you shall endeavour to mend the fruit by altering the stock you shall find the labour altogether fruitless A Crab will be a Crab still when you have done what you can and you may as well hope to wash an Ethiopian white as to purge the Flesh from sinful pollution 16. The work therefore must be done quite another way not by alteration but addition That is leaving the old principle to remain as it was by superinducing ab extra a new principle of a different and more kindly quality We see the experiment of it daily in the graffing of trees A Crab-stock if it have a Cyen of some delicate apple artly grafted in it look what branches are suffered to grow out of the stock it self they will all follow the nature of the stock and if they bring forth any fruit at all it will be sowre and stiptick But the fruit that groweth from the graft will be pleasant to the taste because it followeth the nature of the Graft We read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an engrafted word Jam. 1. Our carnal hearts are the old stock which before the Word of God be grafted in it cannot bring forth any spiritual fruit acceptable to God But when by the powerful operation of his holy Spirit the Word which we hear with our outward ears is inwardly grafted therein it then bringeth forth the fruit of good living So that all the bad fruits that appear in our lives come from the old stock the Flesh and if there be any good fruit of the Spirit in us it is from the virtue of that word of grace that is grafted in us 17. It should be our care then since the Scriptures call so hard upon us for fruits to be fruitful in good works to bring forth fruits meet for repentance c. and threaten us with excision and fire if we do not bring forth fruit and that good fruit too it should be our care I say to bestow at least as much diligence about our hearts as good husbands do about their fruit-trees They will not suffer any suckers or luxuriant branches to grow from the stock but as soon as they begin to appear or at least before they come to any bigness cut them off and cast them away By so doing the grafts thrive the better and bring forth fruit both sooner and fairer God hath entrusted us with the custody and culture of our own hearts as Adam was put into â—he Garden to keep
to leave them a competence and in the hands of a God that would provide for all that kept innocence and trusted in his providence and protection which he had always found enough to make and keep him happy There was in his Diocess a Minister of almost his Age that had been of Lincoln Colledge when he left it who visited him often and always welcom because he was a Man of Innocence and open-heartedness This Minister asked the Bishop what Books he studied most when he laid the foundation of his great and clear Learning To which his Answer was That he declin'd reading many Books but what he did read were well chosen and read so often that he became very familiar with them and told him they were chiefly three Aristotle's Rhetorick Acquinas's Secunda Secundae and Tully but chiefly his Offices which he had not read over less than 20 times and could at this Age repeat without Book And told him also the learned Civilian Doctor Zouch who died lately had writ Elementa jurisprudentiâ—e which was a Book that he thought he could also say without Book and that no wise man could read it too often or love or commend it too much and he told him the study of these had been his toyl But for himself he always had a natural love to Genealogies and Heraldry and that when his thoughts were harassed with any perplext Studies he left off and turned to them as a recreation and that his very recreation had made him so perfect in them that he could in a very short time give an account of the Descent Arms and Antiquity of any Family of the Nobility or Gentry of this Nation Before I give an account of his last sickness I desire to tell the Reader that he was of a healthful constitution chearful and mild of an even temper very moderate in his diet and had had little sickness till some few years before his death but was then every Winter punish'd with a Diarrhed which left him not till warm weather return'd and remov'd it And this Distemper did as he grew elder seize him oftner and continue longer with him But though it weakned him yet it made him rather indispos'd than sick and did no way disable him from studying indeed too much In this decay of his strength but not of his memory or reason for this Distemper works not upon the understanding he made his last Will of which I shall give some account for confirmation of what hath been said and what I think convenient to be known before I declare his death and burial He did in his last Will give an account of his Faith and Perswasion in Point of Religion and Church-Government in these very words I Robert Sanderson Dr. of Divinity an unworthy Minister of Iesus Christ and by the providence of God Bishop of Lincoln being by the long continuance of an habitual distemper brought to a great bodily weakness and faintness of spirits but by the great mercy of God without any bodily pain otherwise or decay of understanding do make this my Will and Testament written all with my own hand revoking all former Wills by me heretofore made if any such shall be found First I commend my Soul into the hands of Almighty God as of a faithful Creator which I humbly beseech him mercifully to accept looking upon it not as it is in it self infinitely polluted with sin but as it is redeemed and purged with the precious blood of his only beloved Son and my most sweet Saviour Iesus Christ in confidence of whose merits and mediation alone it is that I cast my self upon the mercy of God for the pardon of my sins and the hopes of eternal life And here I do profess that as I have lived so I desire and by the grace of God resolve to dye in the Communion of the Catholick Church of Christ and a true Son of the Church of England which as it stands by Law established to be both in Doctrine and Worship agreable to the Word of God and in the most and most material Points of both conformable to the Faith and practice of the godly Churches of Christ in the primitïve and purer times I do firmly believe led so to not so much from the force of custom and education to which the greatest part of mankind owe their particular different perswasions in point of Religion as upon the clear evidence of truth and reason after a serious and unpartial examination of the grounds as well of Popery as Puritanism according to that measure of understanding and those opportunities which God hath afforded me and herein I am abundantly satisfied that the Schiâ—m which the Papists on the one hand and the Superstition which the Puritan on the other hand lay to our charge are very justly chargeable upon themselves respectively Wherefore I humbly beseech Almighty God the Father of Mercies to preserve the Church by his power and providence in peace truth and Godliness evermore to the worlds end which doubtless he will do if the wickedness and security of a sinful people and particularly those sins that are so rife and seem daily to increase among us of Unthankfulness Riot and Sacriledge do not tempt his patience to the contrary And I also farther humbly beseech him that it would please him to give unto our gracious Sovereign the Reverend Bishops and the Parliament timely to consider the great danger that visibly threatens this Church in point of Religion by the late great increase of Popery and in point of Revenue by sacrilegious enclosures and to provide such wholsom and effectual remedies as may prevent the same before it be too late And for a further manifestation of his humble thoughts and desires they may appear to the Reader by another part of his Will which follows As for my corruptible Body I bequeath it to the Earth whence it was taken to be decently buried in the Parish Church of Bugden towards the upper end of the Chancel upon the second or at the farthest the third day after my decease and that with as little Noise Pomp and Charge as may be without the invitation of any person how near soever related unto me other than the Inhabitants of Bugden without the unnecessary expence of Escutcheons Gloves Ribonds c. and without any Blacks to be hung any where in or about the House or Church other than a Pulpit-Cloth a Hearse-Cloth and a Mourning Gown for the Preacher whereof the former after my Body shall be interred to be given to the Preacher of the Funeral Sermon and the latter to the Curat of the Parish for the time being And my Will further is That the Funeral Sermon be preached by my own Houshold Chaplain containing some wholesome Discourse concerning Mortality the Resurrection of the Dead and the last Iudgment and that he shall have for his pains 5 l. upon condition that he speak nothing at all concerning my person either good or ill other
conscious to my self to have said any thing in the Papers now or at any time heretofore with my allowance published that may give just offence to or merit the hard censure of any sober dispassionate man and that if yet I must fall under some mis-censures it is not my case alone but of many others also wrapt with me in the same common guilt I shall therefore reduce my discourse herein ab hypothesi ad thesin and propose the Objections with my Answers thereunto though with some reflection upon my self in most of the particulars yet as laid against the generality of those mens Sermons Writings and other Discourses who according to the new style of late years taken among us go under the name of the Prelatical Party or Episcopal Divines § IV. The Objections are 1. That in their ordinary Sermons they take any small occasion but when they Preach at the Visitations where most of the Clergy of the Voisinage are convened set themselves purposely in their whole Discourse to let fly at their Godly Brethren who out of tenderness of Conscience dare not submit to some things endeavoured to be imposed upon them by the Prelates The Poor Puritan is sure to be paid home he must be brought under the lash and exposed to contempt and scorn at every publick meeting the Papists professed Enemies of our Church and Religion escaping in the mean while Scot-free seldom or never medled withal in any of their Sermons 2. Or if sometimes some little matter be done that way by some of them it is so little that it is to as little purpose rather for fashions sake ad faciendum Populum and to avoid suspicion than for any ill will they bear them Perhaps give them a light touch by the way a gentle rub as they pass along that shall do them no harm but their Brethren that profess the same Protestant Religion with them they handle with a rougher hand With Elder-guns and Paper-pellits they shoot at those but against these they play with Cannon-bullet 3. And all this anger but for Ceremonies Trifles even in their own esteem who plead hardest for them If they be indeed such Indifferent things as they confess them to be and would have the World believe they make no other account of them Why do they dote on them so extreamly themselves Why do they press them upon others with so much importunity Why do they quarrel with their brethren eternally about them 4. The truth is both We and They judge otherwise of them than as Indifferent things They think them necessary whatever they pretend or else they would not lay so much weight upon them And we hold them Popish Antichristian and superstitious or else we would not so stiffly refuse them 5. It is not therefore without cause that we suspect the Authors of such Sermons and Treatises as have come abroad in the defence of such trash to be Popishly-affected or at least to have been set on by some Popish Bishops or Chancellors though perhaps without any such intention in themselves on purpose to promote the Papal Interest here and to bring back the people of this Nation by degrees if not into the heart and within the Walls of Babylon yet at leastwise into the confines and within the view of it 6. Which as it appeareth otherwise to wit by their great willingness to allow such qualifications to sundry Doctrines taught in the Church of Rome and such interpretations to sundry taught in our Church as may bring them to the nearest agreement and their great endeavours to find out such Expedients as might best bring on a perfect reconciliation between the two Churches 7. So particularly in pressing with so much vehemency the observance of these Popish and Superstitious Ceremonies for which we cannot find nor do they offer to produce any either Command or Example in holy Scripture to warrant to our Consciences the use thereof 8. Which what is it else in effect than to deny the sufficiency of the Scripture to be a perfect Rule of Faith and Manners Which being one of the main Bulwarks of the Protestant Religion as it is differenced from the Roman is by these men and by this means undermined and betrayed ' § V. This is the sum and substance of the usual Censures and Objections of our Anti-Ceremonian Brethren so far as I have observed from their own speeches and writings which I have therefore set down as near as in so few words I could to their sence and for the most part in their own expressions Much of which having as I conceive received its answer before-hand in some passage or other of the ensuing Sermons might supercede me the labour of adding any more now Yet for so much as these answers lye dispersedly and not in one view I held it convenient as I have produced the Objections all together so to offer to the Reader an Answer to them all together and that in the same order as I have given them in Begging at his hands but this one very reasonable favour that he would do both himself and me so much right as not to pass his censure too haâ—tily and too severely upon any part of what is now presented to his view whether he like it or dislike it till he hath had the patience to read over the whole and allowed himself the freedom rightly and without prejudice to consider of it § VI. That which is said in the first place of their Godliness and Tenderness of Conscience is not much to the purpose as to the main business For first besides that all Parties pretend to Godliness ' Papists Anabaptists and who not even the late-sprung-up generation of Levellers whose Principles are so destructive of all that Order and Iustice by which publick societies are supported do yet style themselves as by a kind of peculiarity The Godly And that secondly it is the easiest thing in the world and nothing more common than for men to pretend Conscience when they are not minded to obey I do not believe thirdly though I am well perswaded of the godliness of many of them otherwise that the refusal of indifferent Ceremonies enjoyned by Lawful Authority is any part of their Godliness or any good fruit evidence or sign thereof But certain it is fourthly that the godliest men are men and know but in part and by the power of godliness in their hearts are no more secured from the possibility of falling into Error through Ignorance than from the possibility of falling into Sin through Infirmity And as for Tenderness of Conscience fifthly a most gracious blessed fruit of the holy Spirit of God where it is really and not in pretence only nor mistaken for sure it is no very tender Conscience though sometimes called so that straineth at a Gnat and swalloweth a Camel it is with it as with other tender things very subject to receive harm and soon put
or credible though the same be not revealed or contained in the Scripture nor is contrary thereunto I do without scruple believe a Mathematical or Philosophical truth or a probable Historical relation when I read it or hear it and I believe an honest man upon his Word in what he affirmeth or promiseth though none of all these things be contained in the Scripture and thus to believe was never yet by any man that I know of though derogatory to the sufficiency of Scripture as it is a perfect Rule of Faith Why I may not in like manner wear such or such a Garment use such or such a Gesture or do any other indifferent thing not forbidden in Scripture as occasions shall require without scruple or why thus to do should be thought derogatory to the sufficiency of Scripture as it is a perfect Rule of Manners I confess I have not the wit to understand Since there seemeth to be the like Reason of both let them either condemn both or acquit both or else inform us better by shewing us a clear and satisfactory reason of difference between the one and the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the main hinge upon which the whole dispute turneth and whereunto all other differences are but appendages The true belief and right understanding of this great Article concerning the Scripture's sufficiency being to my apprehension the most proper Characteristical note of the right English Protestant as he standeth in the middle between and distinguished from the Papists on the one hand and the sometimes styled Puritan on the other I know not how he can be a Papist that truly believeth it or he a Puritan that rightly understandeth it § XXII Having thus answered the several Objections aforesaid wherewith it may be some that stand freer from prejudice than their fellows will be satisfied if any shall yet ask me why I plead still so hard for Ceremonies now they are laid down and so no use either of them or of any discourse concerning them I have this to say First I saw my self somewhat concerned to prevent if I could the mis-censuring of these Sermons in sundry of which the Questions that concern Ceremonies are either purposely handled or occasionally touched upon which could not be done without vindicating the Ceremonies themselves as the subject matter thereof Secondly hereby they that were active in throwing them down may be brought to take a little more into their consideration than possibly they have yet done upon what grounds they were thereunto moved and how sound those grounds were that if it shall appear they were then in an Error and they consider withal what disorder confusion and libertinism hath ensued upon that change they may be sensible of it and amend But Thirdly whatsoever become of the Ceremonies which are mutable things the two Doctrines insisted on concerning them the one touching the Power that Governours have to enjoyn them the other touching the Duty that lyeth upon Inferiours to observe them when they are enjoyned being Truths are therefore always the same and change not It is no absurdity even at mid-winter when there is never a flower upon the bough to say yet Rosa est flos Lastly a time may come when either the same Ceremonies may be restored or other substituted in their rooms and then there may be use again of such reasons and answers as have been pleaded in their defence For I doubt not but those that shall from time to time have the power to order Ecclesiastical affairs if disorders or inconveniences shall continue to grow after the rate and proportion they have done for some years past will see a necessity of reducing things into some better degree of Decency and Uniformity than now they are which it is not imaginable how it should be done without some Constitutions to be made concerning Indifferent things to be used in the publick worship and some care had withal to see the Constitutions obeyed Otherwise the greatest part of the Nation will be exposed to very great danger without the extraordinary mercy of God preventing of quite losing their Religion Look but upon many of our Gentry what they are already grown to from what they were within the compass of a few years and then expede Herculem by that guess what a few years more may do Do we not see some and those not a few that have strong natural parts but little sence of Religion turned little better than professed Atheists And other some nor those a few that have good affections but weak and unsettled judgments or which is still but the same weakness an over-weening opinion of their own understandings either quite turned or upon the point of turning Papists These be sad things God knoweth and we all know not visibly imputable to any thing so much as to those distractions confusions and uncertainties that in point of Religion have broken in upon us since the late changes that have happened among us in Church-affairs What it will grow to in the end God only knoweth I can but guess § XXIII The Reverend Arch-bishop Whitgift and the learned Hooker men of great judgment and famous in their times did long since foresee and accordingly declared their fear that if ever Puritanism should prevail among us it would soon draw in Anabaptism after it At this Cartwright and other the Advocates for the Disciplinarian Interest in those days seemed to take great offence as if those fears were rather pretended to derive an odium upon them than that there was otherwise any just cause for the same protesting ever their utter dislike of Anabaptism and how free they were from the least thought of introducing it But this was only their own mistake or rather jealousie For those Godly Men were neither so unadvised nor so uncharitable as to become Judges of other Mens Thoughts or Intentions beyond what their actions spoke them They only considered as Prudent Men that Anabaptism had its rise from the same Principles the Puritans held and its growth from the same Courses they took together with the natural tendency of those Principles and Practices thitherward especially of that one Principle as it was by them mis-understood that the Scripture was adaequata agendorum regula so as nothing might be lawfully done without express warrant either from some command or example therein contained The clue whereof if followed on as sar as it would lead would certainly in time carry them as far as the Anabaptists were then gone But that it was no vain fear the unhappy event hath proved and justified them since what they feared is now come to pass and that in a very high degree Yet did not they see the thread drawn out to that length as we have seen it the name of Quakers Seekers c. not then heard of in the world but how much farther it will reach none can say for no man yet ever saw the bottom of the clue
evil c. My aim at this present is to insist especially upon a Principle of practick Divinity which by joynt consent of Writers old and new Orthodox and Popish resulteth from the very body of this Verse and is of right good use to direct us in sundry difficulties which daily arise in vita communi in point of Conscience The Principle is this We must not do any evil that any good may come of it Yet there are besides this in the Text divers other inferior Observations not to be neglected With which I think it will not be amiss to begin and to dispatch them first briefly that so I may fall the sooner and stay the longer upon that which I mainly intend Observe first the Apostle's Method and substantial manner of proceeding how he cleareth all as he goeth how diligent he is and careful betimes to remove such cavils though he stept a little out of his way for it as might bring scandal to the Truth he had delivered When we Preach and instruct others we should not think it enough to deliver positive Truths but we should also take good care as near as we can to leave them clear and by prevention to stop the mouths of such as love to pick quarrels at the truth and to bark against the light It were good we would so far as our leisure and gifts will permit wisely forecast and prevent all Offence that might be taken at any part of God's Truth and be careful as not to broach any thing that is false through rashness errour or intemperance so not to betray any truth by ignorant handling or by superficial slight and unsatisfying answers But then especially concerneth it us to be most careful herein when we have to speak before such as we have some cause before hand to suspect to be through ignorance or weakness or custom or education or prejudice or partial affections or otherwise contrary minded unto or at leastwise not well perswaded of those Truths we are to teach If the ways be rough and knotty and the passengers be feeble joynted and dark-sighted it is but needful the Guides should remove as many blocks and stones out of the way as may be When we have gone as warily as we can to Work Cavillers if they list will take exceptions it is our part to see we give them no advantage lest we help to justifie the Principals by making our selves Accessories Those men are ill advised however zealous for the Truth that stir in controverted points and leave them worse than they found them A Stomach will not bear out a matter without strength and to encounter an adversary are required Shoulders as well as Gall. A good cause is never betrayed more than when it is prosecuted with much eagerness but little sufficiency This from the Method Observe secondly the Apostles manner of speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Translators render it As we are wrongfully blamed As we are slandered As we are slanderously reported And the word indeed from the Original importeth no more and so Writers both profane and sacred use it But yet in Scriptures by a specialty it most times signifieth the highest degree of Slander when we open our mouths against God and speak ill or amiss or unworthily of God that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and properly the sin we call Blasphemy And yet that very word of Blasphemy which for the most part referreth immediately to God the Apostle here useth when he speaketh of himself and other Christian Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we are slandered nay as we are blasphemed A slander or other wrong or contempt done to a Minister qua talis is a sin of an higher strain than the same done to a Common Christian. Not at all for his persons sake for so he is no more God's good creature than the other no more free from sins and infirmities and passions than the other But for his Calling's sake for so he is Gods Embassadour which the other is not and for his works sake for that is Gods Message which the others is not Personal Slanders and Contempts are to a Minister but as to another man because his person is but as another mans person But slanders and contempts done to him as a Minister that is with reference either to his Calling or Doctrine are much greater than to another man as reaching unto God himself whose person the Minister representeth in his Calling and whose errand the Minister delivereth in his Doctrine For Contempt S. Paul is express elsewhere He that despiseth despiseth not man but God And as for Slanders the very choice of the word in my Text inferreth as much The dignity of our Calling inhaunceth the sin and every slander against our regular Doctrines is more than a bare Calumny if no more at least petty blasphemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we are slandered as we are blasphemed That from the word Observe Thirdly the wrong done to the Apostle and to his Doctrine He was slanderously reported to have taught that which he never so much as thought and his Doctrine had many scandalous imputations fastened upon it whereof neither he nor it were guilty As we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say The best Truths are subject to mis-interpretation and there is not that Doctrine how firmly soever grounded how warily soever delivered whereon Calumny will not fasten and stick slanderous imputations Neither Iohn's Mourning nor Christ's piping can pass the Pikes but the one hath a Devil the other is a Glutton and a Wine-bibber Though Christ come to fulfil the Law yet there he will accuse him as a destroyer of the Law Matth. 5. And though he decide the question plainly for Caesar and that in the case of Tribute Matth. 22. Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's yet there be that charge him as if he spake against Caesar Iohn 19. and that in the very case of Tribute as if he forbad to give Tribute to Caesar Luk. 23. Now if they called the Master of the House Beelzebub how much more them of his Houshold If Christ's did not think we the Doctrine of his Ministers and his Servants could escape the stroke of mens tongues and be free from calumny and cavil How the Apostles were slandered as Seducers and Sectaries and vain Bablers and Hereticks and Broachers of new and false and pestilent Doctrines their Epistles and the Book of their Acts witness abundantly to us And for succeeding times read but the Apologies of Athenagoras and Tertullian and others and it will amaze you to see what Blasphemous and Seditious and Odious and Horrible Impieties were fathered upon the Ancient Christian Doctors and upon their Profession But our own experience goeth beyond all Sundry of the Doctors of our Church teach truly and agreeably to Scripture the effectual concurrence
〈◊〉 to believe and the Noun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faith or belief are both of them found sundry times in this Chapter yet seem not to signifie in any place thereof either the Verb the Act or the Noun the habit of this saving or justifying Faith of which we now speak But being opposed every where and namely in this last verse unto doubtfulness of judgment concerning the lawfulness of some indifferent things must therefore needs be understood of such a perswasion of judgment concerning such lawfulness as is opposite to such doubting Which kind of Faith may be found in a meer heathen man who never having heard the least syllable of the mystery of Salvation by Christ may yet be assured out of clear evidence of reason that many of the things he doth are such as he may and ought to do And as it may be found in a meer heathen man so it may be wanting in a true believer who stedfastly resting upon the blood of Christ for his eternal redemption may yet through the strength of temptation sway of passion or other distemper or subreption incident to humane frailty do some particular act or acts of the lawfulness whereof he is not sufficiently perswaded The Apostle then here speaking of such a Faith as may be both found in an unbeliever and also wanting in a true believer it appeareth that by Faith he meaneth not that justifying Faith which maketh a true believer to differ from an unbeleiver but the word must be understood in some other notion Yet thus much I may add withal in the behalf of those worthy men that have alledged this Scripture for the purpose aforesaid to excuse them from the imputation of having at least wilfully handled the Word of God deceitfully First that thing it self being true and the words also sounding so much that way might easily enduce them to conceive that to be the very meaning And common equity will not that men should be presently condemned if they should sometimes confirm a point from a place of Scripture not altogether pertinent if yet they think it to be so especially so long as the substance of what they write is according to the analogy of Faith and Godliness Secondly that albeit these words in their most proper and immediate sense will not necessarily enforce that Conclusion yet it may seem deducible there-from with the help of some topical arguments and by more remote inferences as some learned men have endeavoured to shew not altogether improbable And Thirdly that they who interpret this Text as aforesaid are neither singular nor novel therein but walk in the same path which some of the ancient Fathers have trod before them The Rhemists themselves confess it of S. Augustine to whom they might have added also S. Prosper and whose authority alone is enough to stop their mouths for ever Leo Bishop of Rome who have all cited these words for the self same purpose But we are content for the reasons already shewn to let it pass as a collection impertinent and that I suppose is the worst that can be made of it There is a second acception of the word Faith put either for the whole system of that truth which God hath been pleased to reveal to his Church in the Scriptures of the old and new Testament or some part thereof or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the assent of the mind thereunto In which signification some conceiving the words of this Text to be meant do hence infer a false and dangerous conclusion which yet they would obtrude upon the Christian Church as an undoubted principle of truth That men are bound for every particular action they do to have direction and warrant from the written word of God or else they sin in the doing of it For say they faith must be grounded upon the word of God Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God Rom. 10. Where there is no Word then there can be no Faith and then by the Apostles doctrine that which is done without the Word to warrant it must needs be sin for whatsoever is not of Faith is sin This is their opinion and thus they would infer it I know not any piece of counterfeit Doctrine that hath passed so currently in the world with so little suspicion of falshood and so little open contradiction as this hath done One chief cause whereof I conjecture to be for that it seemeth to make very much for the honour and perfection of Gods sacred Law the fulness and sufficiency whereof none in the Christian Church but Papists or Atheists will deny In which respect the very questioning of it now will perhaps seem a strange novelty to many and occasion their mis-censures But as God himself so the Holy Word of God is so full of all requisite perfection that it needeth not to beg honour from an untruth Will you speak wickedly for God Or talk deceitfully for him I hold it very needful therefoe both for the vindicating of my Text from a common abuse and for the arming of all my brethren as well of the Clergy as Laity against a common and plausible errour that neither they teach it nor these receive it briefly and clearly to shew that the aforesaid opinion in such sort as some have proposed it and many have understood it for it is capable of a good interpretation wherein it may be allowed First is utterly devoid of Truth and Secondly draweth after it many dangerous consequents and evil effects and thirdly hath no good warrant from my present Text. The Opinion is that to do any thing at all without direction from the Scripture is unlawful and sinful Which if they would understand only of the substantials of Gods worship and of the exercises of spiritual and supernatural graces the assertion were true and sound but as they extend it to all the actions of common life whatsoever whether natural or civil even so far as to the taking up of a straw so it is altogether false and indefensible I marvel what warrant they that so teach have from the Scripture for that very doctrine or where they are commanded so to believe or teach One of their chiefest refuges is the Text we now have in hand but I shall anon drive them from this shelter The other places usually alledged speak only either of Divine and Supernatural truths to be believed or else of works of grace or worship to be performed as of necessity unto Salvation which is not to the point in issue For it is freely confessed that in things of such nature the holy Scripture is and so we are to account it a most absolute and sufficient direction Upon which ground we heartily reject all humane Traditions devised and intended as supplements to the Doctrine of Faith contained in the Bible and annexed as Codicils to the Holy Testament of Christ for to supply the
could not be denied if the word Faith were here taken in that sence which they imagine and wherein it is very usually taken in the Scriptures viz. for the doctrine of supernatural and divine revelation or for the belief thereof which Doctrine we willingly acknowledge to be compleatly contained in the holy Scriptures alone and therefore dare not admit into our belief as a branch of divine supernatural truth any thing not therein contained But there is a third signification of the word Faith nothing so frequently found in the Scriptures as the two former which yet appeareth both by the course of this whole Chapter and by the consent of the best and most approved Interpreters as well ancient as modern to have been properly intended by our Apostle in this place namely that wherein it is put for a certain perswasion of mind that what we do may lawfully be done So that whatsoever action is done by us with reasonable assurance and perswasion of the lawfulness thereof in our own consciences is in our Apostle's purpose so far forth an action of Faith without any inquiring into the means whereby that perswasion was wrought in us whether it were the light of our own reason or the authority of some credible person or the declaration of God's revealed will in his written Word And on the other side whatsoever action is done either directly contrary to the judgment and verdict of our own consciences or at leastwise doubtingly and before we are in some competent measure assured that we may lawfully do it that is it which S. Paul here denieth to be of faith and of which he pronounceth so peremptorily that it is and that eo nomine a sin About which use and signification of the word Faith we need not to trouble our selves to fetch it from a trope either of a Metonymy or Synecdoche as some do For though as I say it do not so often occur in Scripture yet it is indeed the primary and native signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith derived from the root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to perswade Because all kinds of Faith whatsoever consist in a kind of perswasion You shall therefore find the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth properly to believe and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth properly not to be perswaded to be opposed as contrary either to other in Iohn 3. and Acts 14. and other places To omit the frequent use of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Fides in Greek and Latin Authors in this signification observe but the passages of this very Chapter and you will be satisfied in it At the second verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one believeth that he may eat all things that is he is verily perswaded in his Conscience that he may as lawfully eat flesh as herbs any one kind of meat as any other he maketh no doubt of it Again at the fourteenth verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know and am perswaded that there is nothing unclean of it self That is I stedfastly believe it as a most certain and undoubted truth Again at the two and twentieth verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hast thou faith have it to thy self before God thatis Art thou in thy Conscience perswaded that thou maist lawfully partake any of the good creatures of God Let that perswasion suffice thee for the approving of thine own heart in the sight of God but trouble not the Church nor offend the weaker brother by a needless and unseasonable ostentation of that thy knowledge Lastly in this three and twentieth verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith that is he that is not yet fully perswaded in his own mind that it is lawful for him to eat some kinds of meats as namely swines flesh or bloâ—dings and yet is drawn against his own judgment to eat thereof because he seeth others so to do or because he would be loth to undergo the taunts and jeers of scorners or out of any other poor-respect such a man is cast and condemned by the judgment of his own heart as a transgressor because he adventureth to do that which he doth not believe to be lawful And then the Apostle proceeding ab hypothesi ad thesin immediately reduceth that particular case into a general rule in these words For whatsoever is not of faith is sin By the process of which his discourse it may appear that by Faith no other thing is here meant than such a perswasion of the mind and conscience as we have now declared and that the true purport and intent of these words is but thus much in effect Whosoever shall enterprize the doing of any thing which he verily believeth to be unlawful or at leastwise is not reasonably well perswaded of the lawfulness of it let the thing be otherwise and in it self what it can be lawful or unlawful indifferent or necessary convenient or inconvenient it mattereth not to him it is a sin howsoever Which being the plain evident and undeniable purpose of these words I shall not need to spend any more breath either in the farther refutation of such conclusions as are mis-inferred hence which fall of themselves or in the farther Explication of the meaning of the Text which already appeareth but address my self rather to the application of it Wherein because upon this great Principle may depend the resolution of very many Cases of Conscience which may trouble us in our Christian and holy walking it will not be unprofitable to proceed by resolving some of the most material doubts and questions among those which have occured unto my Thoughts by occasion of this Text in my Meditations thereon First It may be demanded What power the Conscience hath to make a thing otherwise good and lawful to become unlawful and sinful and whence it hath that power I answer first that it is not in the power of any mans Judgment or Conscience to alter the natural condition of any thing whatsoever either in respect of quality or degree but that still every thing that was good remaineth good and every thing that was evil remaineth evil and that in the very same degree of good or evil as it was before neither better nor worse any man's particular judgment or opinion thereof notwithstanding For the differences between good and evil and the several degrees of both spring from such conditions as are intrinsecal to the things themselves which no Outward respects and much less then mens opinions can vary He that esteemeth any creature unclean may defile himself but he cannot bring impurity upon that creature by such his estimation Secondly that mens judgments may make that which is good in its own nature the natural goodness still remaining become evil to them in the use essentially good and quoad rem but quoad
and scope of our Saviour in this place Doctrinals as well as Morals that is to say as well those that prescribe unto our Iudgments what we are bound to believe or not to believe in matter of Opinion as those that prescribe unto our Consciences what we are bound to do or not to do in matter of Practice Although the special occasion whereupon our Saviour fell into this discourse against the Pharisees and the special instance whereby he convinceth them do withal shew that the Morals do more principally properly and directly fall under his particular intention and scope therein In the full extent of the word then all those prescriptions are to be taken for the Commandments of men wherein any thing is by humane Authority either enjoyned or forbidden to be believed or done especially to be done which God in his Holy Word hath not so enjoyned or forbidden Ionadab's command to the Rechabites that they should not drink Wine they nor their Sons for ever and the Pharisees tradition here that none should eat with unwashen hands were both the commandments of men 5. This is clear enough yea and good enough hitherto if there were no more in it but so For you must observe or else you quite mistake the Text and the whole drift of it that it is no part of our Saviours meaning absolutely and wholly to condemn all the Commandments of men For that were to cut the sinews of all Government and Order and to overturn Churches Kingdoms Corporations Families and all other both greater and lesser Societies of men none of all which can be upheld without some positive Laws and Sanctions of mans devising We do not therefore find that either Ionadab was blamed for commanding the Rechabites not to drink Wine or that they were blamed for observing his commandments therein But rather on the contrary that God well approved both of him and them yea and rewarded them for their obedience unto that command though it were a command but of mans devising and had no more than a bare humane Authority to warrant it And therefore those Men are very wide that vouch this Text against the Ecclesiastical Constitutions or Ceremonies with such confidence as if they were able with this one Engine to take them all off at a blow not considering that it is not barely the Commandments of men either materially or formally taken that is to say neither the things commanded by men nor yet mens commanding of them but it is the teaching of such Commandments for Doctrines that our Saviour here condemneth the Pharisees for What that is therefore we are next to enquire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men 6. In the 29. of Isa. the substantives have a Conjunction Copulative between them in the Septuagint and they are read in the very same manner and order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by St. Paul alluding thereunto in Col. 2. But in the Greek Text in all Copies extant both here and in Mark 7. where the same History is related they are put without the Conjunction by Apposition as the Grammarians call it The meaning is the same in both readings only this latter way it appeareth better and it is in effect this Whosoever shall endeavor to impose upon the judgments of Men in credendis or in point of faith any thing to be believed as a part of Gods holy truth or shall endeavour to impose upon the Consciences of men in agendis or in point of manners any thing to be observed as a part of Gods holy will which cannot be sufficiently evidenced so or so to be either by express Testimony of the written Word of God rightly understood and applyed or by clear natural and necessary deduction therefrom according to the Laws of true Logical discourse is guilty more or less of that Superstition our Saviour here condemneth in the Pharisees of teaching for doctrines the commandments of men 7. And a fault it is of a large comprehension It taketh in all additions whatsoever that are made to that absolute and all-sufficient Rule of Faith and manners which God hath left unto his Church in his written Word In what kind soever they are whether in Opinion Worship Ordinance Injunction Prohibition Promise or otherwise From what cause soever they proceed whether from Credulity Ignorance Education Partiality Hypocrisie Mis-govern'd Zeal Time-serving or any other For what end soever they may be done whether those ends be in truth intended or but in shew pretended say it be the glory of God the reformation of abuses the preventing of mischiefs or inconveniences the avoiding of scandals the maintenance of Christian liberty the furtherance of Piety or whatever else can be imagined If they have not a sufficient foundation in the sacred Text and yet shall be offered to be pressed upon our Iudgments or Consciences in the name of God and as his Word they are to be held as chaff fitter to be scattered before the Wind or cast out to the dunghil than to be hoarded up in the garners among the Wheat alas what is the chaff to the wheat or as Hay Wood or Stubble meeter to become fewel for the Oven or Hearth than to be coffered up in the Treasures among Gold and Silver and precious Stones And he that bringeth any such Doctrine with him let his Piety or parts be otherwise what they can be should he in either of both or even in both match not only the Holy Apostles of Christ but the ever blessed Angels in Heaven yet should we rather defie him as a Traytor for setting Gods stamp upon his own Bullion than receive him as his faithful Embassadour and salute him with an Anathema sooner than bid him God speed Especially if the Doctrine be apparently either false or ungrounded and yet positively and peremptorily delivered as if it were the undoubted word and will of God 8. I may not now descend to particulars But thus much it will concern us all to know in the General that whosoever teacheth any thing either to be absolutely unlawful which God hath not forbidden in his Word or to be absolutely necessary which God hath not required in his Word he teacheth for doctrines the commandments of men and so far forth playeth the Pharisees part in burthening the Consciences of Gods people with the superstitious fancies of his own brain But otherwise the enjoyning of something for a time which God hath not forbidden or the forbidding of something for a time which God hath not required by those that are endued with lawful Authority in any Ecclesiastical Political or Domestical Society so as the same be not done for Conscience sake towards God or with any Opinion of worship merit or operative holiness but meerly out of prudential considerations and for the reasons of order decency expedience or other like respects of conveniency and accomodation is a thing no ways justly chargeable with Pharisaism superstition or
confession of their own learned Writers depend upon unwritten Traditions more than upon the Scriptures True it is that for most of these they pretend to Scripture also but with so little colour at the best and with so little confidence at the last that when they are hard put to it they are forced to fly from that hold and to shelter themselves under their great Diana Tradition Take away that it is confessed that many of the chief Articles of their Faith nature vacillare videbuntur will seem even to totter and reel and have much ado to keep up For what else could we imagine should make them strive so much to debase the Scripture all they can denying it to be a Rule of Faith and charging it with imperfection obscurity uncertainty and many other defects and on the other side to magnifie Traditions as every way more absolute but meerly their consciousness that sundry of their Doctrines if they should be examined to the bottom would appear to have no sound foundation in the Written Word And then must we needs conclude from what hath been already delivered that they ought to be received or rather not to be received but rejected as the Doctrines and Commandments of men 14. Nor will their flying to Tradition help them in this Case or free them from Pharisaism but rather make the more against them For to omit that it hath been the usual course of false teachers when their Doctrines were found not to be Scripture-proof to fly to Tradition do but enquire a little into the Original and growth of Pharisaical Traditions and you shall find that one Egg is not more like another than the Papists and the Pharisees are alike in this matter When Sadoc or whosoever else was the first Author of the Sect of the Sadduces and his followers began to vent their pestilent and Atheistical Doctrines against the immortality of the Soul the resurrection of the Body and other like the best learned among the Iews the Pharisees especially opposed against them by arguments and collections drawn from the Scriptures The Sadduces finding themselves unable to hold argument with them as having two shrewd disadvantages but a little Learning and a bad cause had no other means to avoid the force of all their arguments than to hold them precisely to the letter of the Text without admitting any Exposition thereof or Collection therefrom Unless they could bring clear Text that should affirm totidem verbis what they denied they would not yield The Pharisees on the contrary refused as they had good cause to be tied to such unreasonable conditions but stood upon the meaning of the Scriptures as the Sadduces did upon the letter confirming the truth of their interpretations partly from Reason and partly from Tradition Not meaning by Tradition as yet any Doctrine other than what was already sufficiently contained in the Scriptures but meerly the Doctrine which had been in all ages constantly taught and received with an Universal consent among the People of God as consonant to the holy Scriptures and grounded thereon By this means though they could not satisfie the Sadduces as Hereticks and Sectaries commonly are obstinate yet so far they satisfied the generality of the People that they grew into very great esteem with them and within a while carried all before them the detestation of the Sadduces and of their loose Errors also conducing not a little thereunto And who now but the Pharisees and what now but Tradition In every Mans eye and mouth Things being at this pass any Wise Man may Judge how easie a matter it was for Men so reverenced as the Pharisees were to abuse the Credulity of the People and the interest they had in their good Opinion to their own advantage to make themselves Lords of the Peoples Faith and by little and little to bring into the Worship whatsoever Doctrines and observances they pleased and all under the acceptable name of the Traditions of the Elders And so they did winning continually upon the People by their cunning and shews of Religion and proceeding still more and more till the Iewish Worship by their means was grown to that height of superstition and formality as we see it was in our Saviours days Such was the beginning and such the rise of these Pharisaical Traditions 15. Popish Traditions also both came in and grew up just after the same manner The Orthodox Bishops and Doctors in the ancient Church being to maintain the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead the Consubstantiality of the Son with the Father the Hypostatical union of the two Natures in the Person of Christ the Divinity of the Holy Ghost and other like Articles of the Catholick Religion against the Arrians Eunomians Macedonians and other Hereticks for that the words Trinity Homoiision Hypostasis Procession c. which for the better expressing of the Catholick sence they were forced to use were not expresly to be found in the holy Scriptures had recourse therefore very often in their writings against the Hereticks of their times to the Tradition of the Church Whereby they meant not as the Papists would now wrest their words any unwritten Doctrine not contained in the Scriptures but the very Doctrine of the Scriptures themselves as they had been constantly understood and believed by all faithful Christians in the Catholick Church down from the Apostles times till the several present Ages wherein they lived This course of theirs of so serviceable and necessary use in those times gave the first occasion and after-rise to that heap of Errors and Superstitions which in process of time by the Power and Policy of the Bishop of Rome especially were introduced into the Christian Church under the specious name and colour of Catholick Traditions Thus have they trodden in the steps of their Forefathers the Pharisees and stand guilty even as they of the Superstition here condemned by our Saviour in teaching for Doctrines mens Precepts 16. But if the Church of Rome be cast how shall the Church of England be quit That symbolizeth so much with her in many of her Ceremonies and otherwise What are all our crossings and kneelings and duckings What Surplice and Ring and all those other Rites and Accoutrements that are used in or about the Publick Worship but so many Commandments of men For it cannot be made appear nor truly do I think was it ever endeavoured that God hath any where commanded them Indeed these things have been objected heretofore with clamour enough and the cry is of late revived again with more noise and malice than ever in a world of base and unworthy Pamphlets that like the Frogs of Aegypt croak in every corner of the Land And I pray God the suffering of them to multiply into such heaps do not cause the whole Land so to stink in his Nostrils that he grow weary of it and forsake us But I undertook to justifle the Church of
hearts not only with that joy and gladness which ariseth from the experience of the Effect viz. the refreshing of our natural strength but also joy and gladness more spiritual and sublime than that arising from the contemplation of the prime cause viz. the favour of God towards us in the face of his Son that which David calleth the light of his countenunce For as it is the kind welcome at a friends Table that maketh the chear good rather than the quaintness or variety of the dishes Super omnia vultus accessere boni so that a dinner of green herbs with love and kindness is better entertainment than a stalled Ox with bad looks so the light of Gods favourable countenance shining upon us through these things is it which putteth more true gladness into our hearts than doth the Corn and the Wine and the Oil themselves or any other outward thing that we do or can partake Now this sanctified and holy and comfortable use of the Creatures ariseth also from the Word of Gods decree even as the former degree did but not from the same decree That former issued from the decree of common Providence and so belonged unto all as that Providence is common to all But this latter degree proceedeth from that special Word of Gods decree whereby for the merits of Christ Jesus the second Adam he removeth from the Creature that curse wherein it was wrapped through the sin of the first Adam And in this the wicked have no portion as being out of Christ so as they cannot partake of Gods Creatures with any solid or sound comfort and so the Creatures remain in this degree unsanctified unto them For this reason the Scriptures stile the Faithful Primogenitos the first-born as to whom belongeth a double portion and Haeredes Mundi heirs of the World as if none but they had any good right thereunto And S. Paul deriveth our Title to the Creatures from God but by Christ All things are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods As if these things were none of theirs who are none of Christs And in the Verse before my Text he saith of meats that God hath created them to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth as if those that wanted Faith and Saving Knowledge did but usurp the Bread they eat And indeed it is certain the wicked have not right to the Creatures of God in such ample sort as the Godly have A kind of Right they have and we may not deny it them given them by Gods unchangeable ordinance at the creation which being a branch of that part of Gods Image in man which was of natural and not of supernatural grace might be and was foully defaced by sin but was not neither could be wholly lost as hath been already in part declared A Right then they have but such a right as reaching barely to the use cannot afford unto the user true comfort or sound peace of Conscience in such use of the Creatures For though nothing be in and of it self unclean for Every Creature of God is good yet to them that are unclean ex accidenti every Creature is unclean and polluted because it is not thus sanctified unto them by the Word of God And the very true cause of all this is the impurity of their hearts by reason of unbelief The Holy Ghost expresly assigneth this cause To the pure all things are pure but to them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled As a nasty vessel sowreth all that is put into it so a Conscience not purified by Faith casteth pollution upon the best of Gods Creatures But what is all this to the Text may some say or what to the Point What is all this to the Duty of Thanksgiving Much every manner of way or else blame S. Paul of impertinency whose discourse should be incoherent and unjoynted if what I have now last said were beside the Text. For since the Sanctification of the Creature to our use dependeth upon the powerful and good Word of God blessing it unto us that Duty must needs be necessary to a sanctified use of the Creature without which we can have no fair assurance unto our Consciences that that Word of Blessing is proceeded out of the mouth of God And such is this Duty of Thanksgiving appointed by God as the ordinary means and proper instrument to procure that Word of Blessing from him When we have performed this sincerely and faithfully our hearts may then with a most chearful but yet humble confidence say Amen so be it in full assurance that God will joyn his Fiat to ours Crown our Amen with his and to our So be it of Faith and Hope add his of Power and Command blessing his Creatures unto us when we bless him for them and sanctifying their use to our comfort when we magnifie his goodness for the receipt You see therefore how as unseparable and undivided companions the Apostle joyneth these two together the one as the Cause the other as the Means of the Creatures sanctification it is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer By the Word of Gods powerful decree as the sole efficient and sufficient Cause and by the Prayer of Thanksgiving for such Prayer he meaneth as either hath Thanksgiving joyned with it or else is a part of Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving a part of it by Prayer I say and Thanksgiving as the proper Means to obtain it This is the blessed effect of Thanksgiving as it is an Act of Religion And thus you have heard two grand Reasons concluding the necessity of Thanksgiving unto God in the receiving and using of his good Creatures The one considering it as an Act of Iustice because it is in the only acceptable discharge of that obligation of debt wherein we stand bound unto God for the free use of so many good Creatures The other considering it is an Act of Religion because it is the most proper and convenient Means to procure from the mouth of God a word of Blessing to sanctifie the Creatures to the uses of our lives and to the comfort of our Consciences This Thanksgiving being an Act both of Justice and Religion whensoever we either receive or use any good Creature of God without this we are unjust in the Receipt and in the Use Prophane It is now high time we should from the Premises infer something for our farther use and edification And the first Inference may be shall I say for Trial or may I not rather say for Conviction Since we shall learn thereby not so much to examine our Thankfulness how true it is as to discover our Unthankfulness how foul it is And how should that discovery cast us down to a deep condemnation of our selves for so much both Unjustice and Prophaneness when we shall find
on blindfold into hell And through inner post along unto utter darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Frustrà sibi de ignorantia blandiuntur saith S. Bernard qui ut liberius peccent libenter ignorant S. Paul so speaketh of such men as if their case were desperate If any man be ignorant let him be ignorant as who say if he will needâ— be wilful at his peril be it But as many as desire to walk in the fear of God with upright and sincere hearts let them thirst after the knowledge of God and his will as the Hart after the rivers of waters let them cry after knowledge and lift up their voices for understanding let them seek it as silver and dig for it as for hid treasures let their feet tread often in Gods Courts and even wear the thresholds of his house let them delight in his holy Ordinances and rejoyce in the light of his Word depending upon the ministry thereof with unsatisfied ears and unwearied attention and feeding thereon with uncloyed appetites that so they may see and hear and learn and understand and believe and obey and increase in wisdom and in grace and in favour with God and all good men But then in the third place consider that if all ignorance will not excuse an offender though some do how canst thou hope to find any colour of excuse or extenuation that sinnest wilfully with knowledge and against the light of thine own Conscience The least sin thus committed is in some degree a Presumptuous sin and carrieth with it a contempt of God and in that regard is greater than any sin of Ignorance To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is a sin saith S. Iames Sin beyond all plea of excuse S. Paul though he were a Persecutor of the truth a Blasphemer of the Lord and injurious to the Brethren yet he obtained Mercy because he did all that ignorantly His bare ignorance was not enough to justifie him but he stood in need of Gods mercy or else he had perished in those sins for all his ignorance but yet who can tell whether ever he should have found that mercy if he had done the same things and not in ignorance Ignorance then though it do not deserve pardon yet it often findeth it because it is not joyned with open contempt of him that is able to pardon But he that sinneth against knowledge doth Ponere obicem if you will allow the Phrase and it may be allowed in this since he doth not only provoke the Iustice of God by his sin as every other sinner doth but he doth also damm up the Mercy of God by his contempt and doth his part to shut himself out for ever from all possibility of pardon unless the boundless overflowing mercy of God come in upon him with a strong tide and with an unresisted current break it self a passage through Do this then my beloved Brethren Labour to get knowledge labour to increase your knowledge labour to abound in knowledge but beware you rest not in your knowledge Rather give all diligence to add to your knowledge Temperance and Patience and Godliness and Brotherly kindness and Charity and other good graces Without these your knowledge is unprofitable nay damnable Qui apponit soientiam apponit dolorem is true in this sence also He that increaseth knowledge unless his care of obedience rise in some good proportion with it doth but lay more rods in steep for his own back and increase the number of his stripes and add to the weight and measure of his own most just condemnation Know this that although Integrity of heart may stand with some ignorances as Abimelech here pleadeth it and God alloweth it yet that mans heart is devoid of all singleness and sincerity who alloweth himself in any course he knoweth to be sinful or taketh this liberty to himself to continue and persist in any known ungodliness And thus much for our second Observation I add but a Third and that taken from the very thing which Abimelech here pleadeth viz. the integrity of his heart considered together with his present personal estate and condition I dare not say he was a Cast-away for what knoweth any man how God might after this time and even from these beginnings deal with him in the riches of his mercy But at the time when the things storied in this Chapter were done Abimelech doubtless was an unbeliever a stranger to the Covenant of God made with Abraham and so in the state of a carnal and meer natural man And yet both he pleadeth and God approveth the innocency and integrity of his heart in this business Yea I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thine heart Note hence That in an unbeliever and natural man and therefore also in a wicked person and a cast-away for as to the present state the unregenerate and the Reprobate are equally incapable of good things there may be truth and singleness and integrity of heart in some particular actions We use to teach and that truly according to the plain evidence of Scripture and the judgment of the ancient Fathers against the contrary tenet of the latter Church of Rome that all the works of unbelievers and natural men are not only stained with sin for so are the best works of the faithful too but also are really and truly sins both in their own nature because they spring from a corrupt fountain for That which is born of the flesh is flesh and it is impossible that a corrupt tree should bring forth good fruit and also in Gods estimation because he beholdeth them as out of Christ in and through whom alone he is well pleased St. Augustin's judgment concerning such mens works is well known who pronounceth of the best of them that they are but splendida peccata glorious sins and the best of them are indeed no better We may not say therefore that there was in Abimelech's heart as nor in the heart of any man a legal integrity as if his person or any of his actions were innocent and free from sin in that perfection which the Law requireth Neither yet can we say there was in his heart as nor in the heart of any unbeliever an Evangelical integrity as if his pâ—rson were accepted and for the persons sake all or any of his actions approved with God accepting them as perfect through the supply of the abundant perfections of Christ then to come That first and legal integrity supposeth the righteousness of works which no man hath this latter and Evangelical integrity the righteousness of Faith which no unbeliever hath no mans heart being either legally perfect that is in Adam or Evangelically perfect that is out of Christ. But there is a third kind of integrity of heart inferiour to both these which God here acknowledgeth in Abimelech and of
carcerem ille gehennam And the Apostles to the whole Council of the Jews whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken to you more than unto God judge ye Acts 4. He that will displease God to please men he is the servant of men and cannot be the servant of God But honest and conscionable men who do not easily and often fail this way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word is Rom. 16. men that are not evil are yet apt sometimes to be so far carried away with an high estimation of some men as to subject themselves wholly to their judgments or wills without ever questioning the truth of any thing they teach or the lawfulness of any thing they enjoyn It is a dangerous thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Iude speaketh to have mens persons in admiration though they be of never so great learning wisdom or piety because the best and wisest men that are are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subject to the like infirmities as we are both of sin and error and such as may both deceive others and be themselves deceived That honour which Pythagoras his Scholars gave to their Master in resting upon his bare Authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a sufficient proof yea as a divine Oracle many judicious even among the heathen altogether misliked as too servile and prejudicial to that libertas Philosophica that freedom of judgment which was behoveful for the study of Philosophy How much more then must it needs be prejudicial in the judgment of Christians to that libertas Evangelica that freedom we have in Christ to give such honour to any other man but the man Christ Iesus only or to any other Writings than to those which are in truth the Oracles of God the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament There is I confess much reverence to be given to the Writings of the godly ancient Fathers more to the Canons and Decrees of general and provincial Councils and not a little to the judgment of learned sober and godly Divines of later and present times both in our own and other reformed Churches But we may not jurare in verba build our faith upon them as upon a sure foundation nor pin our belief upon their sleeves so as to receive for an undoubted truth whatsoever they hold and to reject as a gross error whatsoever they disallow without farther examination St. Iohn biddeth us try the Spirits before we believe them 1 Iohn 4 And the Beraeans are remembred with praise fol so doing Act. 17. We blame it in the Schoolmen that some adhere pertinaciously to the opinions of Thomas and others as pertinaciously to the opinions of Scotus in every point wherein they differ insomuch as it were grande piaculum a heinous thing and not to be suffered if a Dominican should dissent from Thomas or a Franciscan from Scotus though but in one single controversed conclusion And we blame it justly for St. Paul blamed the like sidings and partakings in the Church of Corinth whilst one professed himself to be of Paul another of Apollo another of Cephas as a fruit of carnality unbeseeming Christians And is it not also blame-worthy in us and a fruit of the same carnality if any of us shall affect to be accounted rigid Lutherans or perfect Calvinists or give up our judgment to be wholly guided by the Writings of Luther or Calvin or of any other mortal man whatsoever Worthy instruments they were both of them of Gods glory and such as did excellent service to the Church in their times whereof we yet find the benefit and we are unthankful if we do not bless God for it and therefore it is an unsavory thing for any man to gird at their names whose memories ought to be precious But yet were they not men Had they received the spirit in the fulness of it and not by measure Knew they oâ—herwise than in part or prophesied otherwise than in part Might they not in many things did they not in some things mistake and err Howsoever the Apostles Interrogatories are unanswerable what saith he was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized in the name of Paul Even so was either Luther or Calvin crucified for you Or were ye baptized into the name either of Luther or Calvin or any other man That any one of you should say I am of Luther or any other I am of Calvin and I of him and I of him What is Calvin or Luther nay what is Paul or Apollo but Ministers by whom ye believed That is to say Instruments but not Lords of your belief To sum up and to conclude this first point then To do God and our selves right it is necessary we should with our utmost strength maintain the doctrine and power of that liberty wherewith Christ hath endowed his Church without either usurping the mastery over others or subjecting our selves to their servitude so as to surrender either our judgments or consciences to be wholly disposed according to the opinions or wills of men though of never so excellent piety or parts But yet lest while we shun one extreme we fall into another as the Lord be merciful unto us we are very apt to do lest while we seek to preserve our liberty that we do not lose it we stretch it too far and so abuse it the Apostle therefore in the next clause of the Text putteth in a caveat for that also not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness whence ariseth our second observation We must so maintain our liberty that we abuse it not as we shall if under the pretence of Christian liberty we either adventure the doing of some unlawful thing or omit the performance of any requisite duty As free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness The Apostles intention in the whole clause will the better appear when we know what is meant by Cloak and what by Maliciousness The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is no where else found in the whole New Testament but in this verse only signifieth properly any Covering as the covering of Badgerâ— skins that was spread over the Tabernacle is in the Septuagints Translation called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An it is very fitly translated a cloak though it do not properly so signifie in respect of that notion wherein the word in our English Tongue is commonly and proverbially used to note some fair and colourable pretence wherewith we disguise and conceal from the conusance of others the dishonestly and faultiness of our intentions in some things practised by us Our Saviour Christ saith of the obstinate Iews that had heard his Doctrine and seen his Miracles that they had no cloak for their sin Ioh. 15. he meaneth they had no colour of plea nothing to pretend by way of excuse And St. Paul professeth in
which perhaps all that while never came within his thoughts but merely respecteth his own occasions and conveniences In this example as in a glass let the objectors behold the lineaments and features of their own Argument Because kneeling standing bowing are commanded by the Church and the people are bound in conscience to obey the Laws of the Church therefore the Church imposeth upon the people kneeling standing and bowing as necessary to salvation If that which they object were indeed true and that the Church did impose these Rites and Ceremonies upon the people as of necessity to salvation and require to have them so accepted doubtless the imposition were so prejudicial to Christian liberty as that every faithful man were bound in conscience for the maintenance of that liberty to disobey her authority therein and to confess against the imposition But our Church hath been so far from any intention of doing that her self that by her foresaid publick declaration she hath manifested her utter dislike of it in others What should I say more Denique teipsum concute It would better become the Patriarchs of that party that thus deeply but untruly charge her to look unto their own cloaks dive into their own bosoms and survey their own positions and practice if happily they may be able to clear themselves of trenching upon Christian liberty and ensnaring the consciences of their brethren and imposing upon their Proselites their own traditions of kneel not stand not bow not like those mentioned Col. 2. of touch not taste not handle not requiring to have them accepted of the People as of necessity unto salvation If upon due examination they can acquit themselves in this matter their accounts will be the easier but if they cannot they shall find when the burden lighteth upon them that it will be no light matter to have been themselves guilty of that very crime whereof they have unjustly accused others As for consent with the Papists in their doctrine concerning the power that mens Laws have over the conscience which is the last objection it ought not to move us We are not ashamed to consent with them or any others in any truth but in this point we differ from them so far as they differ from the truth which difference I conceive to be neither so great as some men nor yet so little as other some men would make it They teach that Humane Laws especially the Ecclesiastical bind the consciences of men not only in respect of the obedience but also in respect of the things themselves commanded and that by their own direct immediate and proper virtue In which doctrine of theirs three things are to be misliked First that they give a preheminence to the Ecclesiastical Laws above the Secular in this power of binding Wee may see it in them and in these objectors how men will run into extremities beyond all reason when they give themselves to be led by corrupt respects As he said of himself and his fellow-Philosophers Scurror ego ipse mihi populo tu so it is here They of Rome carried with a wretched desire to exalt the Papacy and indeed the whole Clergy as much as they may and to avile the secular powers as much as they dare they therefore ascribe this power over the conscience to the Ecclesiastical Laws especially but do not shew themselves all out so zealous for the Secular Ours at home on the contrary out of an appetite they have to bring in a new platform of Discipline into the Church and for that purpose to present the established Government unto the eyes and the hearts of the people in as deformed a shape as they can quarrel the Ecclesiastical Laws especially for tyrannizing over the conscience but do not shew themselves so much aggrieved at the secular Whereas the very truth is whatsoever advantages the secular powers may have above the Ecclesiastical or the Ecclesiastical above the secular in other respects yet as to the poweâ—â—â— binding the Conscience all humane Laws in general are of like reason and stand upon equal terms It is to be misliked secondly in the Romish Doctrine that they subject the conscience to the things themselves also and not only tie it to the obedience whereby they assume unto themselves interpretative the power of altering the nature of the things by removing of their indifferency and inducing a necessity for so long as they remain indifferent it is certain they cannot bind And thirdly and principally it is to be misliked in them that they would have this binding power to flow from the proper and inherent virtue of the Laws themselves immediately and per-se which is in effect to equal them with the divine Law for what can that do more Whereas humane Lawâ— in things not repugnant to the Law of God do bind the conscience indeed to obedience but it is by consequent and by vertue of a former Divine Law commanding us in all lawful things to obey the superior powers But whether mediately or immediately may some say whether directly or by consequent whether by its own or by a borrowed vertue what is it material to be argued so longas the same effect will follow and that as entirely to all intents and purposes the one way as well as the other As if a debt be alike recoverable it skilleth not much whether it be due upon the original bond or upon an assignment If they may be sure to be obeyed the higher powers are satisfied Let Scholars wrangle about words and distinctions so they have the thing it is all they look after This Objection is in part true and for that reason the differences in this controversie are not altogether of so great consequence as they have seemed to some Yet they that think the difference either to be none at all or not of considerable moment judge not aright for albeit it be all one in respect of the Governors whence the Obligation of Conscience springeth so long as they are conscioâ—ably obeyed as was truly alledged Yet unto inferiors who are bound in conscience to yield obedience it is not all one but it much concerneth them to understand whence that Obligation ariseth in respect of this very point whereof we now speak of Christian liberty and for two weighty and important considerations For first If the obligation spring as they would have it from the Constitution it self by the proper and immediate vertue thereof then the conscience of the subject is tyed to obey the Constitution in the rigour of it whatsoever occasions may occur and whatsoever other inconveniences may follow thereupon so as he sinneth mortally who at any time in any case though of never so great necessity doth otherwise than the very letter of the Constitution requireth yea though it be extra casum scandali contemptûs Which were an heavy case and might prove to be of very pernicious consequence and is indeed repugnant
things wherein men are unjust Their hearts and tongues and hands are against us only out of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that superfluity of maliciousness wherewith their naughty hearts abound and for to serve their own cursed Ends which is most unjust in them But the Lord sundry times hardneth their hearts and whetteth their tongues and strengthneth their hands against us in such sort to chasten us for some sinful Error Neglect or Lust in part still remaining in us unsubdued which is most just in him 32. For as I touched in the beginning a mans heart may be right in the main and his Ways well-pleasing unto God in regard of the general bent and intention of them and yet by wrying aside in some one or a few particulars he may so offend the Lord as that he may in his just displeasure for it either raise him up new Enemies or else continue the old ones As a loving father that hath entertained a good opinion of his son and is well pleased with his behaviour in the generality of his carriage because he seeth him in most things dutiful and towardly may yet be so far displeased with him for some particular neglects as not only to frown upon him but to give him sharp correction also Sic parvis componere magna Not much otherwise is it in the dealing of our heavenly Father with his children We have an Experiment of it in David with whom doubtless God was well pleased for the main course of his life otherwise he had never received that singular testimony from his own mouth that he was secundum cor a man after his own heart yet because he stepped aside and that very fouly in the matter of Uriah the Text saith 2 Sam. 11. that the thing that David had done displeased the Lord and that which followed upon it in the ensuing Chapter was the Lord raised up Enemies against him for it out of his own house 33. The other fallacy is when we cherish in our selves some sinful Errors either in judgment or practice as if they were the good ways of God the rather for this that we have Enemies and meet with Opposition as if the Enmity of men were an infallible mark of a right way The Words of the Text ye see seem rather to incline quite the other way Indeed the very truth is neither the favoâ—â— or disfavour of men neither their approving nor opposing is any certain mark at all either of a good or of a bad way Our Solomon hath delivered it positively and we ought to believe him Eccl. 9. that no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them It is an error therefore of dangerous consequence to think that the enmity of the wicked is an undoubted mark either of truth or goodness Not only for that it wanteth the Warrant of truth to support it which is common to it with all other Errors but for two other especial reasons besides The one is because through blind self-love we are apt to dote upon our own opinions more than we ought How confidently do some men boast out their own private fancies and unwarranted singularities as if they were the holy ways of God The other reason is because through wretched uncharitableness we are apt to stretch the Title of the wicked further than we ought How freely do some men condemn all that think or do otherwise than themselves but especially that any way oppose their courses as if they were the wicked of the World and Persecutors of the godly 34. For the avoiding of both which mischiefs it is needful we should rightly both understand and apply all those places of Scripture which speak of that Opposition which is sometimes made against truth and goodness Which opposition the Holy Ghost in such like places intended not to deliver as a mark of godliness but rather to propose as an Antidote against Worldly fears and discouragements That if in a way which we know upon other and impregnable Evidences to be certainly right we meet with opposition we should not be dismayed at it as if some strange thing had befallen us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beloved think it not strange saith St. Peter concerning all such trials as these are as if some strange thing had hapned because it is a thing that at any time may and sometimes doth happen But now to make such opposition a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or mark whereby infallibly to judg of our ways whether they be right or no as some out of the strength of their heat or ignorance have done is to abuse the holy Scriptures to peâ—vert the meaning of the Holy Ghost and to lead men into a maze of Uncertainty and Error We had all of us need therefore to beware that we do not like our own ways so much the better because we have Enemies it is much safer for us to suspect lest there may be something in us otherwise than should be for which the Lord suffereth us to have Enemies 36. And now the God of grace and peace give us all grace to order our ways so as may be pleasing in his sight and grant to every one of us First perfect peace with him and in our own consciences and then such a measure of outward peace both publick and private with all our Enemies round about us as shall seem good in his sight And let the peace of God which passeth all understanding keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of him and of his Son Iesus Christ our Lord And let the blessing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost be upon us and upon all them that hear his word and keep it at this present time and for evermore Amen Amen AD AULAM. The Third Sermon NEWARK 1633. 1 Pet. 2. 17. Honour all men Love the Brotherhood WHen the Apostles preached the Doctrine of Christian Liberty a fit opportunity was ministred for Satans Instruments to work their feats upon the new-converted Christians false Teachers on the one side and false Accusers on the other For taking advantage from the very name of Liberty the Enemies of their Souls were ready 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to teach them under that pretence to despise their Governours and no less ready the enemies of their Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speak evil of them under that colour as persons licentious and ill-affected to Government The Preventing of which whether abuses or misconstructions of so wholsom a doctrine caused the holy Apostles to touch so often and to beat so much as in their Writings they have done upon the argument of Christian subjection and obedience as a duty highly concerning all those upon whom the Name of Christ is called both for their Consciences and Credits sake chearfully to perform If there be in them at all any care either to discharge a good Conscience before God or to preserve
confident that friend will not fail to assist him therein to his utmost power Now if a man be bold to do but what he may and should do and that withal he have some good ground for his confidence from the consideration of his friends ability the experience of his love some former promises on his friends or merit on his own part or other like so as every man would be ready to say he had reason to presume so far of his friend this is a good reasonable and warrantable presumption But if he fail in either respect as if he presume either to do unlawful unworthy or unbefitting things or to do even lawful things when there appeareth no great cause why any man should think his friend obliged by the laws of friendship to assist him therein then is such his presumption a faulty and an evil presumption And whatsoever may bear the name of a Presumptuous sin in any respect is some way or other tainted with such an evil irrational presumption 9. But we are further to note that presumption in the worser sence and as applied to sin may be taken either Materially or Formally If these terms seem obscure with a little opening I hope the difference between these two will be easily understood Taken materially the sin of presumption is a special kind of sin distinguished from other species of sins by its proper Object or Matter when the very matter wherein we sin and whereby we offend God is Presumption and so it is a branch of Pride When a man presuming either upon his own strength or upon Gods assisting him undertaketh to do something of himself not having in himself by the ordinary course of nature and the common aid which God affordeth to the actions of his creatures in the ordinary ways of his providence sufficient strength to go through therewithal or expecteth to receive some extraordinary assistance from the Mercy Power c. of God not having any sufficient ground either from the general Promises contained in the Scriptures or by particular immediate revelation that God will certainly so assist him therein 10. All those men that over-value themselves or out of an overweening conceit of their own abilities attempt things beyond their power That lean to their own understandings as Solomon That mind high things and are wise in their own conceits as St. Paul That exercise themselves in great matters and such as are too high for them as David expresseth it All those that perswade themselves they can persist in an holy course without a continual supply of Grace or that think they can continue in their sins so long as they think good and then repent of them and forsake them at their leisure whensoever they list or that doubt not but to be able by their own strength to stand out against any temptation All these I say and all other like by presuming too much upon themselves are guilty of the sin of Presumption ' 'To omit the Poets who have set forth the folly of this kind of Presumption in the Fables of Phaethon and Icarus A notable example we have of it in the Apostle Peter and therein a fair warning for others not to be high-minded but to fear who in the great confidence of his own strength could not believe his Master though he knew him to be the God of truth when he foretold him he would yield but still protested that if all the world should forsake him yet he would never do it 11. Nor only may a man offend in this kind by presuming upon himself too much but also by presuming even upon God himself without warrant He that repenteth truly of his sins presuming of Gods mercy in the forgiveness thereof or that walketh uprightly and conscionably in the ways of his Calling presuming of Gods Power for his protection therein sinneth not in so presuming Such a presumption is a fruit of Faith and a good presumption because it hath a sure ground a double sure ground for failing first in the Nature and then in the Promise of God As a man may with good reason presume upon his Friend that he will not be wanting to him in any good Office that by the just Laws of true friendship one friend ought to do for another But as he presumeth too much upon his friend that careth not into what desperate exigents and dangers he casteth himself in hope his friend will perpetually redeem him and relieve him at every turn So whosoever trusteth to the Mercy or to the Power of God without the warrant of a Promise presumeth farther than he hath cause And though he may flatter himself and call it by some better name as Faith or Hope or Affiance in God yet is it in truth no better than a groundless and a wicked Presumption Such was the Presumption of those Sons of Sceva who took upon them but to their shame and sorrow to call over them that had evil spirits the name of the Lord Iesus in a form of adjuration Acts 19. when they had no calling or warrant from God so to do And all those men that going on in a wretched course of life do yet hope they shall find mercy at the hour of death All those that cast themselves into unnecessary either dangers or temptations with expectance that God should manifest his extraordinary Power in their preservation All those that promise to themselves the End without applying themselves to the means that God hath appointed thereunto as to have Learning without Study Wealth without Industry Comfort from Children without careful Education c. forasmuch as they presume upon Gods help without sufficient Warrant are guilty of the sin of Presumption taken in the former notion and Materially 12. But I conceive the Presumptuous sins here in the Text to belong clearly to the other notion of the word Presumption taken formally and as it importeth not a distinct kind of sin in it self as that Groundless Presumption whereof we have hitherto spoken doth but a common accidental difference that may adhere to sins of any kind even as Ignorance and Infirmity whereunto it is opposed also may Theft and Murther which are sins of special kinds distinguished either from other by their special and proper Objects are yet both of them capable of these common differences inasmuch as either of them may be committed as sometimes through Ignorance and sometimes through Infirmity so also sometimes through Wilfulness or Presumption 13. The distribution of Sins into sins of Ignorance of Infirmity and of Presumption is very usual and very useful and compleat enough without the addition which some make of a fourth sort to wit Sins of Negligence or Inadvertency all such sins being easily reducible to some of the former three The ground of the distinction is laid in the Soul of man wherein there are three distinct prime faculties from which all our actions flow the Understanding the Will and the sensual
Non contristor quòd recepisti ago gratias quòd dedisti Thus did Iob when all was taken from him he blessed the Name of the Lord still and to his Wife tempting him to impatience gave a sharp but withal a most reasonable and religious answer Thou speakest like a foolish woman Shall we receive good things at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil also As who say shall we make earnest suit to him when we would borrow and be offended with him when we are called on to pay again We account him and so he is an ill and unthankful debtor from whom the lender cannot ask his own but he shall be like to lose a friend by it And yet how impatiently oftentimes do we take it at our Lords hand when he requireth from us but some small part of that which he hath so freely and so long lent us 21. Try thy self then Brother by these and the like signs and accordingly judge what progress thou hast made in this so high and useful a part of Christian learning 1. If thou scornest to gain by any unlawful or unworthy means 2. If thy desires and cares for the things of this life be regular and moderate 3. If thou canst find in thy heart to take thy portion and to bestow thereof for thine own comfort 4. And to dispense though but the superfluities for the charitable relief of thy poor Neighbour 5. If thou canst want what thou desirest without murmuring 6. And lose what thou possessest without impatience then mayest thou with some confidence say with our Apostle in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content But if any one of these particular signs be wholly wanting in thee thou art then but a truant in this learning and it will concern thee to set so much the harder to it and to apply thy self more seriously and diligently to this study hereafter than hitherto thou hast done 22. Wherein for the better guiding of those that are desirous of this Learning either to make entrance thereinto if they be yet altogether to learn which may be the case of some of us or to proceed farther therein if they be already entred as the best-skilled of us all had need to do for so long as we are in the flesh and live in the world the lusts both of flesh and world will mingle with our best Graces and hinder them from growing to a fulness of perfection I shall crave leave towards the close of this discourse to commend to the consideration and practice of all whether Novices or Proficients in this Art of Contentation some useful Rules that may serve as so many helps for their better attaining to some reasonable abilities therein The general means for the obtaining of this as of every other particular grace we all know are fervent Prayer and the sincere love of God and goodness Which because they are general we will not now particularly insist upon it shall suffice without farther opening barely to have mentioned them 23. But for the more special means the first thing to be done is to labour for a true and lively faith For Faith is the very basis the foundation whereupon our hearts and all our hearts-contents must rest the whole frame of our contentment rising higher or lower weaker or stronger in proportion to that foundation And this Faith as to our present purpose hath a double Object as before was touched to wit the Goodness of God and the Truth of God His Goodness in the dispensation of his special providence for the present and his Truth in the performance of his Temporal Promises for the future First then labour to have thy heart throughly perswaded of the goodness of God towards thee That he is thy Father and that whether he frown upon thee or correct thee or howsoever otherwise he seem to deal with thee he still beareth a Fatherly Affection towards thee That what he giveth thee he giveth in love because he seeth it best for thee to have it and what he denieth thee he denieth in love because he seeth it best for thee to want it A sick man in the extremity of his distemper desireth some of those that are about him and sit at his bed-side as they love him to give him a draught of cold water to allay his thirst but cannot obtain it from his dearest Wife that lieth in his Bosome nor from his nearest Friend that loveth him as his own soul. They consider that if they should satisfie his desire they should destroy his life they will therefore rather urge him and even compel him to take what the Doctor hath prescribed how unpleasant and distasteful soever it may seem unto him And then if pain and the impotency of his desire will but permit him the use of his reason he yieldeth to their perswasions for then he considereth that all this is done out of their love to him and for his good both when he is denied what he most desireth and when he is pressed to take what he vehemently abhorreth Perswade thy self in like sort of all the Lords dealings with thee If at any time he do not answer thee in the desire of thy heart conclude there is either some unworthiness in thy person or some inordinacy in thy desire or some unfitness or unseasonableness in the thing desired something or other not right on thy part but be sure not to impute it to any defect of love in him 24. And as thou art stedfastly to believe his goodness and love in ordering all things in such sort as he doth for the Present so oughtest thou with like stedfastness to rest upon his truth and faithfulness for the making good of all those gracious Promises that he hath made in his Word concerning thy temporal provision and preservation for the future Only understand those promises rightly with their due conditions and limitations and in that sence wherein he intended them when he made them and then never doubt the performance For say in good sooth art thou able to charge him with any breach of promise hitherto Hast thou ever found that he hath dealt unfaithfully with thee Or didst thou ever hear that he hath dealt unfaithfully with any other There is no want of Power in him that he should not be as big as his word there is no want of love in him that he should not be as good as his word He is not as man that he should repent or as the Son of man that he should call back his word There is no lightness or inconstancy in him that there should be Yea and Nay in his Promises but they are all Yea and Amen Thy heart can tell thee thou hast often broken Vow and Promise with him and dealt unfaithfully in his Covenant but do not offer him that indignity in addition to all thy other injuries as to measure him by thy self
truly be said of them that they also are lawful yet are they quite beside the Apostles intention in this place Both for that their lawfulness is not ad utrumlibet it holdeth but the one way only for though it be lawful to do them yet is it not lawful to leave them undone as also because expedient or inexpedient done they must be howsoever for I must do my bounden duty though all the World should take offence thereat And on the other side things absolutely forbidden such as those before mentioned and sundry others are of themselves utterly unlawful and may not in any case be done seem they never so expedient for I may not do any evil for any good that may ensue thereof But then there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they call them things of a middle nature that are neither absolutely commanded nor absolutely forbidden but are left to every mans choice either to do or to leave undone as he shall see cause Indifferent things Of these the Apostle speaketh freely and universally and without exception that they are all lawful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostome and de medio genere rerum others and to the same effect most Interpreters 5. Somewhat we have gained towards the better understanding of the Text yet not much unless it may withal certainly appear what things are Indifferent and what not for all the wrangling will be about that For that therefore not to hold you with a long discourse but to come up close to the point take it briefly thus Every action or thing whatsoever that cannot by just and logical deduction either from the light of Nature or from the written Word of God be shewn to be either absolutely necessary or simply unlawful I say every such action or thing is in its own nature indifferent and consequently permitted by our gracious Lord God to our free liberty and choice from time to time either to do or to leave undone either to use or to forbear the use as in godly wisdom and charity according to the just exigence of circumstances we shall see it expedient 6. Hitherto appertain those sundry passages of our Apostle to the Romans I know and am perswaded that there is nothing unclean of it self and again All things indeed are pure To Titus To the pure all things are pure To these Corinthians once before he hath words in part the same with these of the Text All things are lawful for me but all things are not expedient All things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the power of any He repeateth it there twice as he doth also here All things are lawful and again All things are lawful no doubt of purpose that we should take the more notice of it To Timothy lastly for I quote but such places only as have The note of Universality expressed Every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused 7. From all which places it is evident that we have a free and universal liberty allowed us by our gracious Lord and Master to every Creature in the World So as that whatsoever natural faculties or properties he hath endowed any of them withal or whatsoever benefit or improvement we can raise out of any such their faculties or properties by any our art skill or industry we may serve our selves of them both for our necessity and comfort provided ever that we keep our selves within the bounds of sobriety charity and other requisite conditions And then it will also follow farther and no less certainly our selves being in the number of those creatures that we have the like liberty to exercise all those several faculties abilities and endowments whether of soul or body or outward things which it hath pleased God to allot us and consequently to build and plant and alter to buy and sell and exchange to obey Laws to observe Rites and Fashions and Customs to use Recreations and generally to perform all the actions of common life as occasions shall require still provided as before that all due conditions be duly observed 8. Injurious then are all they to true Christian liberty and adversaries to the truth of God as it is constantly taught by this blessed Apostle who either impose any of those things as necessary or else condemn any of them as unlawful which it was the gracious pleasure of our good God to leave free arbitrary and indifferent Both extreams are superstitious both derogatory to the honour of God and the liberty of his people both strong symptoms of that great pride that cleaveth to the spirit of corrupt man in daring to piece out the holy Word of God by tacking thereunto his own devices 9. Extreamly faulty this way especially in the former branch in laying a necessity where there should not are they of the Romish party For after that the Bishops of Rome had begun by the advantages of the times to lift themselves towards that superlative height of greatness whereto at length they attained they began withal for the better support of that greatness to exercise a grievous tyranny over the consciences of men by obtruding upon them their own inventions both in points of faith and manners and those to be received believed and obeyed under pain of damnation whereby they became the Authors and still are the Continuers of the widest Schism that ever was in the Church of Christ from the very first infancy thereof The Anabaptists also and Separatists by striving to run so far as they can from Popery have run themselves unawares even as deep as they and that in the very same fault I mean as to the general of Superstition though quite on the other hand and upon quite different grounds for they offend more in the latter branch in laying an unlawfulness where they should not 10. But I shall not meddle much with either sort though they are deeply guilty both because professedly abhorring all communion with us I presume none of them will hear and then what booteth it to speak There be others who for that they live in the same visible communion with us do even therefore deserve far better respect from us than either of the former and are also even therefore more capable of better information from us than they Who yet by their unnecessary and unwarrantable strictness in sundry particulars and by casting impurity upon many things both of Ecclesiastical and civil usage which are not in their own nature unlawful though some of them I doubt not in their practice much abused have done and still do a world of mischief in the Church of Christ. A great deal more I am verily perswaded than themselves are aware of or than themselves I hope intend but I fear withal a great deal more than either any of us can imagine or all of us can well tell how to help That therefore both they and we may see how needful a thing it is
so much wisdom as they have neither if we do not and even hereby justifie our Saviours doom in the comparison and yield The children of this world wiser in their generations than we are Which is the next Point 17. The justice of the sentence cannot be questioned where the Iudge that giveth it is beyond exception Here he is so so wise that he cannot be deceived so good that he will not deceive Mistaken he cannot be through ignorance or mis-information in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge If Solomon were able in a very intricate case to judge between the two mothers shall not a greater than Soloman be able in a case of less difficulty to give a clear judgment between these two sorts of Children Nor was there any such correspondence between our blessed Saviour the Iudge that pronounceth sentence in the Text and the world that we should suspect him at all inclinable to favour that side The world hated him and a great part of the business he came about was to condemn the world If it could have stood with the integrity of so righteous a Iudge to have favoured either side he that pronounced of himself Ego sum lux I am the light would sure have leaned rather towards his own side than towards the contrary party and so have pronounced sentence for the children of light and not against them And that he should be awed with fear as Iudges too often are to transgress in judgment there is of all other the least fear of that since he hath not only vanquished the world in his own person Ego vici mundum Joh. 16. but hath also enabled the meanest person that belongeth to him and believeth in him to do so too This is the victory that overcometh the world even your faith 1 Joh. 5. 18. It was not then either ignorance or favour or fear or any thing else imaginable other than the truth and evidence of the thing it self that could induce him to give sentence on that side Of the truth whereof every days experience ministreth proof enough For do we not see daily how worldly men in temporal matters shew their wisdom infinitely beyond what Christians usually do in spiritual things Very many ways handling their affairs such as they are for the compassing of their own ends such as they are to omit other particulars with greater sagacity greater industry greater cunning greater unity ordinarily than these do Which particulars when we shall have a little considered for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew the truth of the observation and that so it is we shall for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enquire into the reasons thereof and how it cometh to be so 19. First they are very sagacious and provident to forethink what they have to do and to forecast how it may be done very wary and circumspect in their projects and contrivances to weigh all probable as far as is possible all possible inconveniences or whatsoever might impede or obstruct their designs and to provide remedies there-against All Histories afford us strange examples in their several kinds of voluptuous beasts who for the satisfying of their raging lusts of ambitious spirits who for the grasping of a vast and unjust power of malicious and cruel men who to glut themselves with blood and revenge have adventured upon very desperate and almost impossible attempts and yet by the strength of their wits have so laid the Scene before-hand and so carried on the design all along that they have very many times either wholly accomplished what they intended or brought their conceptions so near to the birth that nothing but a visible hand of an over-ruling providence from above could render them abortive But omitting these because I have yet much to go through I chose rather to instance in the worldling of the lowest sphere indeed but best known by the name of a worldling I mean the covetous wretch It were almost a wonder to consider but that by common experience we find it so that a man otherwise of very mean parts and breeding is of so thick a nostril that he can hardly be brought by any discourse to be sensible of any thing that savoureth of Religion Reason or Ingenuity should yet be so quick scented where there is a likelihood of gain towards to smell it as speedily and at as great a distance as a Vultur doth a piece of Carrion Strange to see what strange fetches and devices he can have the eagerness of his desires after the world sharpning his wits and quickning his invention to hook in a good bargain to enveigle and entangle his necessitous neighbour by some seeming kindness towards him in supplying his present needs till he have got a hank over his estate to watch the opportunities for the taking up and putting off commodities to the most advantage to trench so near upon the Laws by engrossing enhaunsings extortions depopulations and I know not how many other frauds and oppressions and yet to keep himself so out of reach that the Law cannot take hold of him 20. Secondly the children of this world as they are very provident and subtile in forecasting so are they very industrious and diligent in pursuing what they have designed Wicked men are therefore in the Scriptures usually called Operarii iniquitatis Workers of iniquity because they do hoc agere make it their work and their business and follow it as their trade Ut jugulent homines surgunt de nocte Whilst honest men lay them down in peace and take their rest suspecting no harm because they mean none thieves and robbers are up and abroad spreading their nets for the prey and watching to do mischievously They that were against Christ were stirring in the dead time of the night and marched with Swords and staves to apprehend him when they that were about him though bidden and chidden too could not hold from sleeping two or three hours before Martyres Diaboli How slack we are to do God any service how backward to suffer any thing for him and how they on the other side can bestir them to serve the Devil and be content to suffer a kind of martyrdom in his service The way sure is broad enough â—nd easie enough that leadeth to destruction yet so much pains is there taken to find it that I verily believe half the pains many a man taketh to go to Hell if it had been well bestowed would have brought him to Heaven 21. Thirdly the children of this world are marvellous cunning and close to carry things fair in outward shew so far as to hold up their credit with the abused multitude and to give a colour to the cause they manage be it never so bad Partly by aspersing those that are otherwise minded than themselves are and dare not partake with them in their sins in what reproachful manner they please wresting their most innocent speeches and
or his own Mother-wit that it may appear to whom he was beholding for it the Story saith the Devil put it into the heart of Iudas to betray his Master And the infusion of that spirit of Satan was so strong in him that it did after a sort transform him into the same image insomuch as he is called by his name Have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil Let all Iudas-like traitors know lest they be too proud and sacrifice to their own wits to whom they owe their wisdom 25. But perhaps you will say this consideration can weigh but little For as Satan by his spirit infuseth wisdom into the children of this world so God by his Spirit infuseth wisdom into the children of light and then since the spirit of God is stronger than the spirit of Satan it should rather follow on the contrary that the wisdom of the children of light should exceed the wisdom of the children of this world The fullest answer hereunto would depend upon the prosecution of the next point the limitation which I shall have occasion to speak something unto anon to wit that the wisdom of the children of this world being but of a very base metal in comparison though it be more in bulk is yet far less in value as a little Diamond may be more worth than a whole quarry of ragge 26. But I answer rather which is sufficient for the present because it leadeth us also to a second reason of the difference That the spirit of God in the children of light doth not act ad ultimum sui posse according to the utmost of his Almighty power but according to the condition of the subject in whom he worketh leaving him as rational Creature to the freedom of his will and as a child of Adam obnoxious to the carnal motions of original concupiscence and after the good pleasure of his own will withal When Satan therefore infuseth of his spirit into a man he hath this advantage that he hath all the wisdom of the flesh to joyn with him readily and to assist him without any thing within to make opposition there-against and to counter-work the working of that spirit that it should not take effect and so the work meeting with some help and no resistance is soon done Facilis descensus as a stone when it is set a going tumbleth down the hill apace or as a Boat that having wind and tide with it runneth glib and merrily down the stream But when God infuseth his spirit into a man though that spirit once entred maketh him partly Willing yet is there in every child of Adam so long as he liveth here another inward principle still which the Scripture use to call by the name of flesh which lusteth against the good Spirit of God and opposeth it and much weakneth the working of it From whence it cometh to pass that the Spirit of God worketh so slowly and so imperfectly in us like a ship adverso flumine much ado to tug it along against the current or the stone which made Sisyphus sweat to roll up the hill although it tumbled down again always of it self 27. Thirdly since it is natural to most men out of self-love to make their own dispositions and thoughts the measure whereby to judge of other mens hence it cometh to pass that honest plain-dealing men are not very apt unless they see apparent reason for it to suspect ill of others Because they mean well themselves they are inclinable to believe that all other men do so too But men that have little truth or honesty themselves think all men to have as little and so are full of fears and jealousies and suspicions of every body Mala mens malus animus Now this maketh them stir up their own wits the more and bestir themselves with the greater endeavours because they dare trust no body else and so they become the more cautelous and circumspect the more vigilant industrious and active in all their enterprises and worldly concernments and consequently do the seldomer miscarry Whereas on the contrary those that out of the simplicity of their own heart suspect no double-dealing by others are the more secure and credulous by so much less solicitous to prevent dangers and injuries by how much less they fear them and consequently are often deceived by those they did not mistrust Which very thing the world being apt withal to judge well or ill of mens counsels by their events hath brought simplicity it self though a most commendable vertue under the reproach of folly we call those simple fellows whom we count fools and hath won to craft and dissimulation the reputation of wisdom 28. Lastly the consciousness of an ill cause unable to support it self by the strength of its own goodness driveth the worldling to seek to hold it up by his wit industry and such like other assistances like a ruinous house ready to drop down if it be not shored up with props or stayed with buttresses You may observe it in Law-suits the worse cause ever the better solicited An honest man that defireth but to keep his own trusteth to the equity of his cause hopeth that will carry when it cometh to hearing and so he retaineth counsel giveth them information and instructions in the case getteth his witnesses ready and then thinketh he need trouble himself no farther But a crafty companion that thinketh to put another beside his right will not rest so content but he will be dealing with the Iury perhaps get one packt for his turn tampering with the witnesses tempting the Iudge himself it may be with a Letter or a Bribe he will leave no stone unmoved no likely means how indirect soever unattempted to get the better of the day and to cast his Adversary You may observe it likewise in Church affairs A regular Minister sitteth quietly at home followeth his study doth his duty in his own Cure and teacheth his people truly and faithfully to do theirs keepeth himself within his own station and medleth no further But schismatical spirits are more pragmatical they will not be contained within their own Circle but must be flying out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they must have an Oar in every Boat offering yea thrusting themselves into every Pulpit before they be sent for running from Town to Town from House to House that they may scatter the seeds of Sedition and Superstition at every table and in every corner And all this so wise are they in their generation to serve their own belly and to make a prey of their poor seduced Proselytes for by this means the people fall unto them and thereout suck they no small advantage You may observe it also in most other things but these instances may suffice 29. The point thus proved and cleared that the children of this world are wiser than the children of light that we may make some use
will think you Surely not thousands have resisted and daily do resist that will the Will and the Commandments of God But he meaneth it of his secret will the will of his everlasting Counsels and purposes and that too of an effectual resistance such a resistance as shall hinder the accomplishment of that Will For otherwise there are thousands that offer resistance to that also if their resistance could prevail But all resistance as well of the one sort as of the other is in vain as to that end Though hand joyn in hand it will be to no purpose the right hand of the Lord will have the preeminence when all is done Associate your selves O ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces Take counsel together and it shall come to nought speak the word and it shall not stand Isa 8. 9 10. But the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand and none shall be able to hinder it 31. Lay all these together the Soveraignty the Eternity the Wisdom and the Power of God and in all these God will be glorified and you will see great reason why the Lord should so often blast mens devices bring all their counsels and contrivances to nought and take the wise in their own craftiness Even to let men see in their disappointment the vanity as all humane devices that they might learn not to glory in or trust to their own wisdom or strength or any thing else in themselves or in any creature but that he that glorieth might glory in the Lord only 32. Let every one of us therefore learn that I may now proceed to the Inferences from the consideration of what we have heard First of all not to trust too much to our own wit neither to lean to our own understanding Nor please our selves over-much in the vain devices imaginations fancies or dreams of our own hearts Tho our Purposes should be honest and not any ways sinful either in Matter End Means or other Circumstance yet if we should be over-confident of their success rest too much upon our own skill contrivances or any worldly help like enough they may deceive us It may please God to suffer those that have worse purposes propose to themselves baser ends or make use of more unwarrantable means to prosper to our grief and loss yea possibly to our destruction if it be but for this only to chastise us for resting too much upon outward helps and making flesh our arm and not relying ourselves intirely upon him and his salvation 33. Who knoweth but Iudgment may nay who knoweth not that Iudgment must saith the Apostle that is in the ordinary course of God's providence usually doth begin at the house of God Who out of his tender care of their well-doing will sooner punish temporally I mean his own children when they take pride in their own inventions and sooth themselves in the devices of their own hearts than he will his professed enemies that stand at defiance with him and openly fight against him These he suffereth many times to go on in their impieties and to climb up to the height of their ambitious desires that in the mean time he may make use of their injustice and oppression for the scourging of those of his own houshold and in the end get himself the more glory by their destruction 34. But then secondly howsoever Judgment may begin at the house of God most certain it is it shall not end there but the hand of God and his revenging justice shall at last reach the house of the wicked oppressor also And that not with temporary punishments only as he did correct his own but without repentance evil shall hunt them to their everlasting destruction that despise his known Counsels to follow the cursed devices and imaginations of their own naughty hearts The Persecutors of God in his servants of Christ in his members that say in the pride of their hearts with our tongues with our wits with our arms and armies we will prevail We are they that ought to speak and to rule Who is Lord our us We have Counsel and strength for war c. what do they but even kick against the pricks as the phrase is Act. 9. which pierce into the heels of the kicker and work him much anguish but themselves remain as they were before without any alteration or abatement of their sharpness God delighteth to get himself honour and to shew the strength of his arm by scattering such proud Pharaohs in the imaginations of their hearts and that especially when they are arrived and not ordinarily till then almost at the very highest pitch of their designs When they are in the top of their jollity and gotten to the uppermost roundle of the ladder then doth he put to his hand tumble them down headlong at once and then how suddenly do they consume perish and come to a fearful end Then shall they find but too late what their pride would not before suffer them to believe to be a terrible truth that all their devices were but folly and that the counsel of the Lord must stand 35. A terrible truth indeed to them But Thirdly Of most comfortable consideration to all those that with patience and chearfulness suffer for the testimony of God or a good conscience and in a good cause under the insolencies of proud and powerful persecutors When their enemies have bent all the strength of their wits and power to work their destruction God can and as he seeth it instrumental to his everlasting counsels will infatuate all their counsels elude all their devices and stratagems bring all their preparations enterprises to nought and turn them all to their destruction his own glory and the welfare of his servants 1. Either by turning their counsels into folly as he did Achitophel's 2. Or by diversion finding them work else where as Saul was fain to leave the pursuit of David when he and his Men had compassed him about and were ready to take him upon a message then brought him of an invasion of the Land by the Philistines And as he sent a blast upon Senacherib by a rumour that he heard of the King of Aethiopia's coming forth to war against him which caused him to desert his intended siege of Ierusalem 3. Or by putting a Blessing into the mouth of their enemies instead of a curse as he guided the mouth of Balaâ—m contrary to his intendment and desire 4. Or he can melt the hearts of his enemies into a kind of compassion or cause them to relent so as to be at peace with them when they meet tho they came out against them with minds and preparations of hostility as he did Lâ—ban's first and Esau's afterwards against Iacob 36. Howsoever some way or other he can curb and restrain either their malice or
the main Foundation upon which so many false conclusions are built and the fountain from which so many acts of sinful disobedience issue would well deserve a full and through examination But this Preface being already swollen far beyond the proportion I first intended and for that I have heretofore both in one of the Sermons and else where discovered in part the unsoundness thereof I am the willinger both for mine own ease and the Readers to refer him over thither and to spare mine own farther labour here Considering Thirdly that in the present case we need not flinch for fear of any harm that Principle could do us should it be admitted as sound as they would have it For we have both Commands and Examples in the Scriptures to warrant both the prescribing and the using of the Ceremonies Though not as specified in their particulars yet as either comprehended in the General or inferred by way of proportion Which kind of Warranty from Scripture themselves are by force of argument driven to allow as sufficient or else they would be at a loss for a hundred things by them daily done upon no better or other Warrant than that For Commands then we have besides that grand Canon 1 Cor. 14. 40. Let all things be done decently and according to order all those Texts that either contain the right and liberty we have to all the Creatures of God to use them for our service without scruple All things are lawful nothing unclean of it self To the pure all things are pure c. or require Subjection and Obedience to Superiors Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers Submit to every Ordinance of man c. And as for Example I think I could readily produce a full Score and not bate an Ace of some Ceremonies and circumstantial actions ordered used or done by holy men even in the Old Testament who yet were more strictly tyed to prescript forms than Christians are under the Gospel for the doing whereof it doth not appear that they either had any Command from God or were guided by any former Precedents or expected any other Warrant than the use of their Reason and of prudential Discourse what Warrant else had David for his purpose of building a Temple to God which yet Nathan the Prophet of God approved yea which God himself approved of Or what Solomon for keeping a Feast of seven days for the Dedication of the Altar Or what Ezekiah for continuing the Feast of unleavened bread seven days longer than the time appointed by the Law Or what Mordecai and Esther for making an Ordinance for the yearly observation of the Feast of Purim Or what lastly Iudas and the Maccabees for ordaining the Feast of the Dedication of the Altar to be kept from year to year at a set season for eight dayes together which Solemnity continued even in the days of Christ and seemeth to have been by him approved in the Gospel The building of Synagogues in their Towns the wearing of Sack-cloth and Ashes in token of humiliation the four Fasts mentioned Zach. 8. whereof one only was commanded with sundry other I omit for brevity's sake Instances enough and pregnant enough to manifest how very much our Brethren deceive themselves by resting upon so unsound a Principle and that upon a meer mistake as will appear presently by § XXI Their Eighth and last Objection Wherein they seem to lay an imputation upon all those that stand for the Ceremonies as if they consequently denyed the sufficiency of the Scriptures For answer hereunto First it is freely confessed that the acknowledging of the Holy Scriptures to be a perfect Rule of Faith and Manners is the main Article of the Protestant Religion as opposed to the Romish But that all that stand for the Ceremonies should deny the same is so manifestly untrue or indeed that some of the Church of England should deny that which is so clearly contained in the Articles of the Church whereunto he hath subscribed so improbable that it might well pass for a perfect Calumny were not the original occasion of their mistake herein so apparent if but even from the manner of their Discourse in the present business The true state whereof Secondly is this The things wherein the power of Christianity consisteth are of two sorts Credenda and Agenda which we usually express by Faith and Manners And the Scripture we acknowledge to be a perfect Rule of Both yet not as excluding the use of Reason but supposing it When God gave us the light of his holy Word he left us as he found us reasonable creatures still without any purpose by the gift of that greater and sublimer Light to put out the Light he had formerly given us that of Reason or to render it useless and unserviceable Of which Light the proper use and that which God intended it for when he gave it us is that by the help thereof we might be the better enabled to discern Truth from Falshood that we might embrace the one and reject the other and Good from Evil that we might do the one and shun the other Our Reason therefore is doubtless a good Rule both for things to be believed and for things to be done so far as it reacheth but no perfect Rule at all rather a very imperfect one because it reacheth not home To supply the defects whereof dim as it is even in Natural and Moral things but dark as darkness it self in things Supernatural and Divine it was that it pleased the wisdom and goodness of our God to afford us another Light Viz. that of supernatural revelation in his holy Word without which we could never by the light of Reason alone have found out the right way that leadeth to eternal Happiness So that God having first made us reasonable Creatures and then vouchsafed us his holy Word to instruct us what we are to believe and to do either as Men or as Christians We are now furnished with as perfect absolute and sufficient a Rule both of Faith and Manners as our condition in this life is capable of And it is our duty accordingly to resign our selves wholly to be guided by that Word yet making use of our Reason withal in subordination and with submission thereunto as a perfect Rule both of Faith and Life This being clearly so and the Scripture by consent of both parties acknowledged to be the perfect Rule of what we are to believe as well as of what we are to do I earnestly desire our Brethren to consider what should hinder a Christian man from doing any thing that by the meer use of his Reason alone he may rightly judge to be lawful and expedient though it be not commanded or exampled in the Scriptures so as it be not contrary thereunto more than from believing any thing that by the like use of his Reason alone he may rightly judge to be true