this should seem onely an Argument ad hominem I will urge onely one instance There was a time when the immaculate Conception of our Lady stood by oral practical Tradition for in the publick Liturgies of their Church it was expresly own'd and celebrated For in their Liturgy printed 1551. after a devout Praier to the B. Virgin there is added Ave Hail Mary full of grace c. Blessed also be Saint Anne thy Mother out of whom thy virgin flesh came without any stain immaculate And again Hail c. woman blessed be thy Mother Anne out of whom thou didst proceed a Virgin without any stain or sin Once more in another Praier All hail thou most chast Mother of God c. and blessed be thy Parents Joachim and Anne out of whom thy virgin flesh proceeded without stain immaculate The same too was defin'd expresly in their Oecumenical Council at Basil in a session on purpose for it c. 36. after long debate decreeing that she never had Original or Actual sin but was immaculate and tho the Pope for other reasons and not this definition would not confirm this Council yet besides that by the way of oral practical Tradition his Holiness is declar'd to have but one vote and no negative yet if his vote signify Alexander VI. a little after gave ten thousand years of pardon for all mortal sins twenty for venial toties quoties to all that said devoutly in that Worship of our Lady and St Anne the former Praier Rubr. Now if the Church did not believe what was thus in her publick Praiers in her definitions which was the judgment of her Pastors of the whole Church Representative but if somwhat else must intervene to prove what is of Faith the Rule is insignificant it is impossible to know their Churches Faith at any time But we are bound to think they would not in their Solemn Divine Worship owne what they did not believe and they could not believe any thing by this Rule but what they did receive and so their Faith and Practice consequent must have bin always and must be infallible Yet we know that was defin'd the Doctrine taken up merely to countenance the Worship that had formerly bin given to the Blessed Virgin in the celebrating her Conception For since it always was the Churches Rule never to solemnize with a Festival but what they did account was Holy according to that saying of St Bernard quo pacto festus habetur qui minime sanctus est And accordingly the present Church that does still celebrate it also in her new Reformed Breviaries calls it Sanctam Conceptionem having therefore entertain'd the Festival they must needs entertain the Doctrine And the forenamed Council does expresly owne this in defining it ut consonum cultui Ecclesiastico in that it was agreeable to that Worship which the Church perform'd in the celebration of it But if you would know how the Solemnity began you may receive it from themselves thus A Canon of a Church in France greatly devoted to the Blessed Virgin returning home over the large mouth of the Seine in a vessel alone from the other side where he had bin committing Adultery with another man's wife and as he sail'd singing the Hours of the Blessed Virgin a great troop of Devils drown his vessel himself in the deep and his soul they drag'd away to torments On the third day while they were tormenting him the Mother of our Lord came thither with a train of Angels asking why they did unjustly so torment the soul of her servant Whom they answer'd that they had a just right to it for it was taken in its being about their employment she replies if it ought to be theirs whose service it was in then of right it is mine for you seiz'd it as he sung my Mattins so that you are guilty Upon which they fled and left it and the Blessed Virgin brought his soul back to his body and himself alive to shore where falling at her feet he said Dear Lady what shall I render unto thee for so great benefits that thou hast don unto me she replies I desire that henceforward thou commit no more Adultery least the later end be worse than the beginning I desire moreover that thou wouldest devoutly celebrate the Feast of my Conception yearly on the eighth day of December Good Lord that singing Mattins to our Lady should attone for him whose Vespers had bin offer'd up to a foul shrine to his Paramour celebrated in the vile Embraces of his Neighbor's Wife That the Blessed Virgin should be so concern'd for her own immaculate Conception so indifferent so easy or indeed indulgent to the gross Adultery of others However as it well became him he obey'd her and observ'd it and upon two other such like visions so did several others But the Worship by all this was onely private mens particular devotions therefore there was one more made to Anselme who immediatly began it in his Priory and being made Archbishop afterwards of Canterbury made it publick and then Innocent the III. did so in France and so the Worship became universal in their publick Services and to justify that Worship too the Doctrine of immaculate Conception was receiv'd into those Services and then defin'd in that great Council above mention'd Had this but bin in one of the dark Ages it had certainly prevail'd but somthing checking with the doctrin of the whole world that was more awake then the Popes afterward altho they kept the Worship up durst not vouch the Doctrin for a point of strict Faith tho sought to by two solemn Embassies from two Kings of Spain Philip III. and IV. Now truly by the equipage pursuit and carriage of the business one would think they came to crave an Audience for some new Faith as they were wont for any extraordinary grant or dispensation that at Rome they could decree Divinity as they did Acts of the Conclave and give out Articles as they did Cardinals Caps and make a new Creation for belief for sure they did not send that Embassy to enquire whether their own immediat Forefathers had so taught them and so forwards that there had bin always a perpetual succession But tho that would not do 't is evident there was a doctrinal Point defin'd by the great Representative of their whole Church and for some Ages receiv'd with the Devotions and the Worship of their whole Church and by consequence into their Faith for otherwise they gave Worship upon that account which they did not believe and it is also evident to sight how doctrines did come in into their Faith upon all least pretence of Visions the known way some that were devout men began a practice after other some in power adopted and gave credit to it and then gave autority by this means the practice in a while grew universal then became their Doctrine and their Faith Now I would know whether it was so it
came along to them by the way of oral practical Tradition If it did 't is not a sure infallible Rule of conveying Faith if it did not then that Church did not still receive their Faith upon that Rule and Principle or by that method tho that they did so is their first great Principle and the great Master of that Scheme assur'd his Holiness it was not possible to maintain their doctrine otherwise against the subtlety of the English Hereticks And truly they that make the greatest noise amongst us now are fled to the last hold of it but that indeed it does alone protest Infallibility whether of the Church or the Succession of their doctrine by that way of practical Tradition and that is the infallible most necessary certainty of Faith But I shall say no more to this than what the grand Abettor of the Principle hath said in answer to himself objecting what was to be said to them that could not penetrate into his demonstrations see the force and evidence of that Rule and Principle and yet have that Faith that 's necessary to Salvation I shall give it you in his own words as near as I can put them into English He says there is a certainty deriv'd into the understanding of these men out of their will for since they think themselves assur'd these truths were brought down by the Church from Christ to them stand convinc't of that act this is sufficient to cause their wills firmly to adhere to them and by that adherence to repell all difficulties and objections to which curious wits are subjects And whether the man see that the Autority of the Church which he follows is of more force at least to him than particular objections in those truths or whether he thinks nothing at all of it but rests stedfast in that assent which his very ignorance caus'd 't is plain he hath a certainty of will which in its way extends it self to the Government of his whole life answerably to that his perswasion and by consequence he hath a certainty exclusive of all doubt and such as moves him to direct his actions all to God that is there is in him that Faith which worketh by love So he Now hence 't is evident by his Concessions first that there may be a saving Faith which hath not that infallible certainty arising from the motives Guide or Principle or way of Resolution And that secondly a Certainty deriv'd into the Understanding from a Will that is piously dispos'd sufficeth Thirdly that there is this certainty where the Will firmly cleaves and adheres to God relying on him with a vigorous hope and trust directing all the actions up to God and to his service and persevering in it to the life's end Now this is all that I am all this while contending for It is not by self-evident or demonstrative methods or by an infallible Guide that he provides against mens unbelief but when with preparation like our man here in the Text in weeping earnestly we betake our selves to him crying out for help and direction and applying our understanding meekly to attend his methods he disposes piously the Will to entertain the gracious blessed Proposals of the Gospel with complacency and heartiness and from conversing with the experience of them to prefer them before all worldly carnal things that used to bait our lusts ravish our hearts and carry us away from God and from our duty and it is against this unbelief in thus departing from the living God that his assistances are mainly level'd and our Praiers chiefly are to be directed For 't is most infinite madness to perswade and satisfy our selves we are of the true Church have the onely true certain Faith if yet our practices be such as set us at as great a distance from Almighty God as Hell is from Heaven and while we do commit such things 't is as impossible we can adhere to God as 't is impossible for Christ to have communion with Belial It is a Contradiction by ungodly actions to defy God and turn our backs upon and depart from him yet to cling and adhere to him 't is as I say a Contradiction to believe that we have Faith while we do not cling to and adhere but depart from him Lord help thou this our unbelief And if his grace but once dispose us to prefer the blessed expectations of a Christian he does easily prevail with us to cling to them with such certain assurances as will carry us thro all the stages of our life and duty with all chearfulness and constancy This is that certainty of Faith by which the Martyrs cleav'd to and embrac'd at once the Cross and their Religion firm in dying as believing and when with arts of torment they broke all their joynts and their limbs piece-meal scatter'd all their parts asunder tore their souls out of their bodies still they kept their Faith whole and their Tormentors could not tear one Article of their belief or Christian practice from them and when their Wills were once inflam'd with the desires and expectations of God's preparations then no other martyring flames could make them shrink Those seem'd to them but brighter Emblems of and speedier Conveyances to that Eternal Light and Glory which their Faith had given them the evidence and the first vision of they knew by them they onely did expire into Everlasting Life and Glory SERMON XIV THE CHRISTIANS LIGHT is to shine before men Matt. 5. 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven THE words have two parts a command and a reason of it the command Let your light shine before men the reason That they may see your good works c. The command affords to us this instruction the life of a Christian is to be fruitful and exemplary Both these are commanded not onely in the command it self but proved in the reason That they may see your good works there must therefore be works which are the fruits of virtue Yea and fruitfulness is every where requir'd by Christ and if we look upon the current of Scripture and our duty we shall find that it will not serve a Christian's turn not to bring forth ill fruit to be onely barren ground not to have vices bud and sprout within us and grow with an increase of sin but we must do good In the Parable of the Sower Matt. 13. 23. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth some an hundred fold We are gods Husbandry 1 Cor. 3. 9. Now is any of you satisfied with his field because it plows well and receives the seed most kindly if it bring you no increase or crop yield you no harvest No saith the Author to the Hebrews c. 6. 8. such ground is nigh to cursing Why your works they are your
them was rais'd who serv'd as Voluntiers without any pay or reward and perform'd all duties not only in the Garrison and sallies for the defence of it in case of attacques and sieges but were also commanded upon parties abroad and endur'd the fatigue of marches and ill treatment of mean quarters differing in nothing from the poor mercenary Soldier besides their civility and justice to the country people while they staid with them and paying them at departure things so unusual that when at their going off from quarters they offer'd their Landlords mony they imagin'd it don in jest and abuse and at last by finding it left with them were convinc'd that it was don in earnest In this Regiment Mr. Allestree tho a Master of Arts and fellow of the College thought it no disgrace to carry a musket and perform all duties of a common Soldier forward upon all occasions to put himself into action And in this service he continued till the unhappy end of the war gaining still what time was left from military duties to the prosecution of his studies nay joining both together frequently holding his musket in one hand and book in the other and making the watchings of a Soldier the lucubrations of a Student But then when carnal weapons prov'd frustrate and Divine Providence call'd his servants to the more Christian exercises of praiers and tears for the defence of the King and the Church Mr. Allestree wholy betook himself to these and put himself into that warfare to which his former education had design'd him entring into Holy Orders at a time when there was no prospect of temporal advantage and his being in the service of God threatned no less danger than his having bin in the service of his Prince In that little interval of safety which the Articles of Oxford gave and was for some time continued while the two factions of the Rebels were in contest who should divide the spoil of the Nation and enjoy the price of bloud Mr. Allestree with great sedulity addicted himself unto his studies and became a Tutor of many young Gentlemen and other Students which trust he discharg'd with great sufficiency as he did also the office of Censor in the College moreover he bore a part in the signal test of the Loialty of the Vniversity of Oxford possibly the greatest that has bin given by any society of men I mean the passing of the solemn Decree and Judgement of theirs against the Covenant and Rebellion enflamed and fomented by it perform'd in Convocation when the City was held by a Garrison of the Rebels whose swords were at the throats of those Confessors and yet the decree was carried by a most unanimous suffrage of the whole body there being but one dissenter in that numerous Senate and he a person who had absented himself from the Vniversity during the war and taken part with the Rebels Soon after which great performance the Visitors of the pretended Parliament being at last come with a second Commission to kill and take possession having lost their first by outstaying in a long praier and sermon the time assign'd for the opening of it began their enquiry and did it not as one would have expected from men of Zeal and Godliness with an inspection into vice and immorality but set their whole affair upon the short issue of submitting to the Authority of the pretended Parliament and they who could prostitute their allegeance to their Prince and oaths to the Vniversity and their local Visitors and comply with the lust of these Vsurpers tho never so flagitious were immediatly receiv'd to favor all others however meriting were without farther regard proscrib'd the method whereof was to write the names of as many as they thought fit to sacrifice at once in paper and affix it upon the door of St. Maries Church wherein 't was signified that the persons there nam'd were by the Authority of the Visitors banisht the Vniversity and requir'd to depart the precincts thereof within three daies upon pain of being taken for spies of war and accordingly proceeded against By which practice often repeted the men of greatest hopes and merit in the Vniversity were spoil'd of all things and not suffer'd to breath the common air so that within the compass of few weeks an almost general riddance was made of the loial Vniversity of Oxford in whose room succeeded an illiterate rabble swept up from the plough tail from shops and grammar Scholes and the dregs of the neighbor Vniversity Tho in that scandalous number some few there were who notwithstanding they had parts and learning were prefer'd upon the account of their Relations who merited a better title to the places they possest and have since prov'd useful men in the Church and State Those of the ancient stock who were spar'd upon this trial were afterwards cast off upon the second test of the engagement till in the end there were left very few legitimate members in any of the Colleges In this diffusive ruin Mr. Allestree had an early share being proscrib'd about the middle of July in the year 1648. And tho he had the care of several persons of quality his Pupils and accounts of his own and theirs to make up he with difficulty obtain'd from the Governor of the town Lieut. Coll. Kelsey a little respit for his settling his affairs and doing justice to those for whom he was concern'd the Visitors utterly refusing his request for this reason as Dr. Rogers one of their number was pleas'd to word it because he was an eminent man Mr. Allestree being thus driven from Oxford retir'd into Shropshire and was entertain'd as Chaplain to the Honorable Francis Newport Esquire now Viscount Newport where he continu'd till such time as Richard Lord Newport the father died in France whither he had some time before retir'd to avoid the insolence of the conquering Rebels On this occasion Mr. Allestree was sent over to clear accounts and see if any thing could be preserv'd from the inhospitable pretence of the droit d'Aubeine which pillages those Strangers who happen to die in the French Dominions Mr. Allestree having dispatcht this affair with good success came back to his emploiment and continued in it till his Majesties march into England with the Scotch Army and his miraculous escape at Worcester at which time the Managers of the King's affairs wanting an intelligent and faithful person to send over to his Majesty desir'd Mr. Allestree to undertake the journey which accordingly he did and having attended the King at Roan and receiv'd his dispatches he came back into England At his return he found his friends Mr. Dolben and Mr. Fell the present Archbishop of York and Bishop of Oxford who had likewise bin banisht the Vniversity adventuring to sojourn privatly there and serve the uses of those who adher'd to the Church of England in performing Religious offices according to the order of the Church whereupon he join'd himself to
countenance from Scripture and for want of better they are therefore forc'd to interpret those words I will lift up mine eyes unto the Hills thus I will invocate the Saints Now will any say 't is the obscurity of this Scripture that does hinder Protestants from seeing the bright evidence of this argument and not rather that it is the weak foundation of this practice that does make the Romanists seek to build it on those mountains So among those several texts which in the 2d Nicen general Council are produc't for adoration of the images of Christ and of the Saints and are expounded to evince it none is plainer then that which I produced now from Bellarmin I shall give one or two examples from the Psalms Thy face Lord will I seek and Lord list thou up the light of thy countenance upon us and again the rich among the people shall entreat thy face therefore David thought the picture of Christ was to be ador'd It is their own conclusion from these texts and they have no better for it Yet they saw the doctrine in these so apparently as that with great opposition to great Councils and more bood-shed I think then yet ever any doctrine hath bin setled with it was impos'd Yea more the first experiment of the Popes power over Soveraign Princes was on the account of this same doctrine when for opposing Image-worship Gregory the 26d excommunicated the Greek Emperour Pope Constantine for the same cause indeed had 14 years before don so to Philippicus but he did not go much further whereas Gregory absolv'd the Emperor's subjects in the Roman Dutchy from their Allegiance commanded them not to pay him any tribute nor in any wise obey him whereupon they kill'd their Governors and swore obedience to the Pope And this was the beginning of St Peters patrimony and it was thus gotten by this doctrine which they saw so cleerly in these Scriptures when they cannot see the contrary in those plain words Thou shalt not make to thy self any whether Graven image or idol it matters not since it follows nor the likeness of any thing which is heaven above c. nor in those where God takes care expresly that himself be not worship't by an image Deut. 4. 15. and then judg if 't is obscurity or plainness that makes them see or not see doctrines in the Scripture rather if it be not meerly the necessity of prejudice So again we differ in the meaning of the 14th chap. of the 1. of Cor. where we think St Paul asserts and argues yea and chides against all service in an unknown tongue in the public assemblies saying all must be don there so as it may be understood and to edification But that which is perform'd there in an unknown tongue does not edify says he there yet to justify this practice they must make it have a different meaning which no Fathers countenance but which several expound as we do yea and diverse of their own do so too particularly their Pope John 8th in his 247th Epistle writing expresly on that Subject Once more so their half communion that it may be reconcil'd with that express command Drink yee all of it and this do obliges them to find another meaning drink yee all must be directed to them only as Apostles and do this must signify consecrate the Elements altho St Paul apply it most directly to the drinking and the drinking to his lay Corinthians Nor dare they say in truth it means the other for St Paul when he does say do this did not intend to make his Lay Corinthians male and female all priests and give them power to consecrate The words are plain there 's nothing in the text obscure that makes us differ but the practice had by little and little grown upon them till it became Universal and so grew into their faith and then since they believe they cannot erre they must expound Christ's words so as they may not contradict their practise because that would overthrow their Principle But the Church that builds upon no Principle but Gods word can have no temtation to pervert or strain it since what ever does appear to be the meaning of it that their Principle must needs engage them to believe And therefore if it say This is my body we believe it if it saies too after consecration it is bread we believe that also and because it therefore says 't is both we so believe it one that it may be the other which since both say it is impossible that it can be substantially neither hath God in express words told us which it is substantially therefore seeing when he calls it body he is instituting his Sacrament there 's all reason in the world he should mean Sacramentally since 't is the most proper meaning and by consequence 't is bread substantially as all waies of judging in the world assure us Here 's no stress on Scripture as there is no Principle to serve when as the other makes us differ not in Scripture only even where 't is plainest but tradition too For the most express and evident sayings of the primitive Fathers are on every head of difference as much the matter of contention as the texts of Scripture are as it were easy to demonstrate if that were my business So that it is meer deceit to lay our quarrels to defects in Gods word and particularly to its obscurity which a man would think were evident enough from this that Children knew it The last thing I am to speak to And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus I cannot pass this that it is St Chrysostomes observation that Timothy was nurst up in the Scriptures from his childhood Yea and since his Father was an Heathen he must have bin taught them by his Grandmother Lois and his Mother Eunice whose faith St Paul speaks of 2 Tim. 1. 5. Children therefore then and Women and they sure are Laics read the Bible Yea and since they knew it they must read it in a language which they understood and we know where that is unlawful now If we consider the first prohibition that appear'd in that Church with Synodical autority against such mens having any Bibles in their own tongue we shall find it was immediatly upon the preaching of the Waldenses one of whose doctrines it was that the Scripture was the rule to judg of faith by so that whatsoever was not consonant to that must be refus'd This they preach't in France and over Europe in the latter end of the twelf Century and that Council which forbad their having of the Bible we find lately put forth by the frier D. Achery as held at Tholouse in the beginning of the 13th Century It seems they apprehended then their doctrines hardly
would abide that touchstone and they therefore had no surer more compendious way for its security then to prevent such trial taking care men should not know what was or what was not in Scripture And it is not possible for me to give account why in their catechising they leave out all that part of the commandments Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image c. but this only that they dare not let the laity compare their doctrine and their practice with that Scripture But tho it is possible they might conceive some danger if the whole Scripture should be expos'd yet in those portions which the Church it self chose out for her own offices the little Lessons and Epistles and Gospels those sure one would think were safe no not their Psalter Breviary nor their Hours of the Blessed Virgin must they have translated in their own tongue as that Council did determin And truly when the Roman Missal was turn'd lately into French and had bin allow'd to be so by the general Assembly of the Clergy in the year 1650. and when it was don it had the usual approbation of the Doctors and some Bishops and then was printed at Paris with the license of the Vicars general of their Archbishop Yet another general Assembly of the Clergy the year 1660 whereat there were 36 Bishops upon pain of excommunication forbid any one to read it and condemn not only that present traduction but the thing in general as poysonous in an Encyclical Epistle to all the Prelates of the Kingdom and in another they say of him that did translate it and the Vicars general that did defend him in it that by doing so they did take arms against the Church attaquing their own Mother namely by that version at the Altar in that sanctuary that closet of her spouses mysteries to prostitute them and in another Epistle they beseech his Holiness Pope Alexander 7th to damn it not in France alone but the whole Church which he then did by his Bull for ever interdicting that or any other Version of that book forbidding all to read or keep it on severest pains commanding any one that had it to deliver it immediatly to the Inquisitor or Ordinary that it might be burnt forthwith Now thus whatever it be otherwise the Mass is certainly a sacrifice when 't is made a burnt offering to appease his Holiness's indignation when that verâ— Memorial of Christs passion again suffers and their sacred offices are martyr'd To see the difference of times 't was heretofore a Pagan Dioclesian a strange prodigy of cruelty who by his edict did command all Christians to deliver up their Bibles or their bodies to be burnt 'T was here his Holiness Christs Vicar who by his Bull orders all to give up theirs that is all of it that they will allow them and their prayers also that they may be forthwith burnt or themselves to be excommunicated that is their souls to be devoted to eternal flames And whereas then those only that did give theirs up were excommunicate all Christians shun'd them as they would the plague and multitudes whole regions rather gave themselves up to the fire to preserve their Bibles now those only that have none or that deliver up theirs are the true obedient sons of that Church and the thorough Catholics I know men plead great danger in that book it is represented as the source of monstrous doctrines and rebellions I will not say these men are bold that take upon them to be wiser then Almighty God and to see dangers he foresaw not and to prevent them by such methods as thwart his appointments but I will say that those who talk thus certainly despise their hearers as if we knew not Heresies were hatcht by those that understood the Bible untranslated and as if we never heard there were rebellions among them that were forbid to read the Bible For if there were a Covenant among them that had it in their own tongue so there was an Holy League amongst those men that were deni'd it While those that had the guidance of the subjects conscience were themselves subject to a forreign power as all Priests of that communion are How many Kings and Emperors have there bin that did keep the Scriptures from their people but yet could not keep their people from sedition nor themselves from ruine by it In fine when God himself for his own people caus'd his Scripture to be written in their own tongue to be weekly read in public too and day and night in private by the people and when the Apostles by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost indited Scripture for the world they did it in the language that was then most vulgar to the world what God and the Holy Spirit thus appointed as the fittest means for the Salvation of the world to define not expedient as the Holy Fathers of Trent did looks like blasphemy against God and the Holy Spirit But blasphemies of this kind are not to be wondr'd at from that kind of men that call the Scripture a dumb judg a black Gospel inken Divinity written not that they should be the rule of our faith and Religion but that they should be regulated by submitted to our faith that the autority of the Church hath given canonical autority to Scriptures and those the chief which otherwise they had not neither from themselves nor from their authors and that if the Scriptures were not sustain'd by the autority of the Church they would be of no more value then Aesops fables And lastly that the people are permitted to read the Bible was the invention of the Devil But to leave the controversy and speak to the advantages which may be had from early institution in the Scripture 't is so evident that I need not observe how 't is for want of principles imprest and wrought into the mind in Childhood that our youth is so licentious And 't is not possible it can be otherwise when they have nothing to oppose to constitution when 't is growing and to all the temtations both of objects and example no strict sense of duty planted in them no such notions as would make resistance to the risings of their inclination and seducements of ill company and they therefore follow and indulge to all of them And in Gods name why do parents give their Children up to God in their first infancy deliver him so early a possession of them as if they would have Religion to take seizure on them strait as if by their baptizing them so soon they meant to consecrate their whole lives to Gods service make them his as soon as they were theirs as if they had bin given them meerly for Gods uses And they therefore enter them into a vow of Religion almost as soon as they have them why all this if accordingly they do not season and prepare
of their faith and communion in Gods public worship among Christians as there is unity and communion between the several parts of one same person that their union in it should be so strict that all their assemblies for it should make but one body with one spirit so another end is to assure that as in one same body there are several parts for several uses without which it could not be an organiz'd complete animal body so in the one body of Christ the Church too there are several ministeries offices and powers some more noble others more inferior and the whole body may as well be all eie as each member in the Church a Seer every part be tongue as every man a Teacher St Paul from that Analogy deducing a necessity of several parts and their subordination also in that 1 Cor. 12. v. 28. and accordingly saith he God hath set several orders first Apostles after Prophets Teachers helps or ministerial offices and governments without which governments and which diversity 't is as impossible it can subsist as for a body to see without an eie or speak without a tongue consult direct and call it self without a brain or understanding Yet this same is exprest all in the other body of a building which my text relates to for Eph. 4. 11. Christ gave also some Apostles and some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and some Teachers for the perfecting the Saints compacting holding Christians together in assemblies for Gods public worship for the work of the ministry for the edifying or building up of the body of Christ. Now this embleme to the body of a building as the other is a type of Unity but yet of several and subordinate stations in the Churches unity For stones however excellently squar'd fitted are yet no parts of the structure till they be cemented to the rest that lean on the foundation the number possibly may make a heap but not a frame until they be dispos'd and order'd in their several stations for there are such in this body also every hewn stone cannot be a pinnacle nor corner stone so in the Church all are not capable of the same ministeries offices or powers And yet we may remember when it was so all assum'd all seiz'd the offices usurpt the powers executed all the ministeries all subordination was demolisht order broken Governments under foot the stones of the Sanctuary pour'd out in the top of every street as Jeremy laments the Vrim and the Thummim stones that gave the heavenly Oracles lost in ruins Now then God to make good the promis'd method of his Providential mercies when it was thus when these stones of Sion were in the dust the Ephod and the Priests thrown into it and the Priesthood and the Fathers of it the the whole life with all its offices and powers dying almost all that could continue it being laid in the dust and Sions Enimies expecting the expiring of the Order then the appointed time was come and God not onely did himself arise but made a resurrection of the Church too and from the dust these stones were again most miraculously built into a Spiritual House I cannot but acknowledg that the breaches which this desolation made were not wholly made up nor were well cemented and as uncemented breaches use to do decai'd more and more daily what arts were us'd to keep them open yea to widen them by whom for what ends too is so evident I shall not touch it But 't is sure we had not much face had no great appearance of the bodies that the Scripture represents the Church by for in those that were before broke off from her there was no subordination nor no order nor no unity every broken divided piece of ruin took upon it self to be the entire building the whole body every Faction was Christs Church each Assembly was his flock his Congregation when indeed it was onely a Spiritual riot And when things were dispos'd thus then at once to break down all the poor remainders he that takes his place to whom Christ said Thou art Peter and on this rock I will build my Church who yet as not content to thrust Christ out from being the alone foundation then which none can lay another true one 1 Cor. 3. 11. would be the chief head stone in the corner also on which whosoever should fall shall be broken but on whosoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder Matth. 21. 44. He I say in confifidence of that success attemts this on the Reformation and particularly on this as they thought tottering Church to lay her stones all in the dust And truly such the instruments emploi'd are that humanely speaking it must seem impossible to be avoided For in Gods name under the Autority of Religion with the greatest Sacredness that can be they contrive the bloudiest most irreligious most inhumane murders treasons assassinations imaginable make the holy Eucharist the bond of their confederacy in those so tremendous villanies Christ's bloud becomes the very obligation both to commit not confess them for which end they say and swear even at the point of death and upon their Salvation prov'd and confest falshoods Now what security or guard can mankind have against such whom no ties of Religion or humanity have any force on Whether these be the doctrines of their Church tho that be true in most part yet it matters not to them who are to be massacred if they be the constant practices and if they have such guides of conscience as can satisfy and thereupon engage the instruments that must effect them to those practices How they do that I must confess seems strange for they yet look upon those actions as for which they would have absolution therefore sins For tho there have bin dispensations sent from Rome permitting them to promise swear subscribe and do what else should be requir'd of them so as in mind they did continue firm and us'd their diligence to advance the Roman faith in secret yet such dispensations might be intercepted as those were in 1580. and brought to King James in Scotland and so might discover plots if they were us'd to give them in all such occasions besides that they would stare the head of that Church in the face betray his being privy to and abetting those designs of bloud which now if they miscarry they can cast at first upon some private Desperado's and then after lye laugh them out of mens belief Such dispensations therefore being not to be expected still they took other ways For seven years after Sextus V. offering by the Bishop of Dunblain to that King a marriage with the Infanta of Spaine if he would become a Catholic as he call'd it and join with them against the English and this being mightily resisted by the then Lord Chancellor which made that ineffectual and who was their constant adversary Father William Chrichton who had
our selves de malo conjuncto for as appetite is implanted for the use of him in whom it is implanted so it is not proper to it to have any aversation to evil except it be some way evil to him whose appetite hath that aversation and to greive at misery I must some way conceive it to concern my self Now then as he that does not conceive himself a member of a Church nor a fellow member nor any way relating to it he cannot truly greive so he that does not greive declares no communion with it he is another thing a member quite cut off or dead and so stupid and insensible Such a judgment doest thou pass upon thy self whoever doest not mourn outlawest and excommunicatest thy self neither belongst to Church nor State nor yet to Christ. 2. As thou hast no charity to thy Brother nor to thy afflicted Mother so neither hast thou any love to God whose glory tho it be asserted by the punishment of a sinful Land or Church he is also still dishonor'd by the sins which do then reign and to which he does permit for the most part the punishment of sin and that power and authority or discipline which divisions in the Church cut short hath for its consequent all unbridled looseness and profaness Blasphemy and Atheisme the calamities of a State are embitter'd by all sorts of licences that grow when Government is weakn'd to see a whole Land mourn with the dark purple of its bloud all which bloud as it is the punishment of that Nation so it is the guilt also to see the wickedness of a Kingdom plagu'd with the ruin of many thousands of men's lives and thousands of souls too that fell in actual iniquity and yet to think that this plague is the greatest wickedness of all arm'd with the most crying sins that are that the very punishment must call for punishment and revenge of it self and help to make up the measure of judgment that the sentence of desolation may be irreversible and utter to see two inundations overflow the Land two abysses of bloud and guilt and one deep calling upon another to meet and swallow us and bury us in their graves of sin and deep ruin yea to see iniquity become impudent and sin triumphant which is the great sign of utter ruin as it was to the Jews an omen worse than Comets or Blazing-stars the dismal voice of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea and in this ruin too I do not see how any will well free themselves from guilt for if they be the ruiners they are the great spoilers the sinners if the ruined they have contributed to make those others the sinful inflicters and if in all this there be not matter for a little mourning if God dishonor'd souls destroi'd lives perishing Church ruining and nothing but sin flourishing and ourselves not unguilty and if this be not an object for our tears we are the most uncharitable most obdurate creatures in the world Niobe's stone is not fit to be our embleme for that stone could sweat tears we are more rock than that which Moses struck whom the rod of God cannot make weep we are next degree to Lucifer himself for onely Hell is sure at ease to see its company increase 3. Lastly this not mourning in the judgment of a Nation is a sin which God does most heavily characterize and threaten Amos 6. 1 6 7 8. Isaiah 22. when the Prophet had describ'd how it should be in the day of desolation v. 4 5. then because they did not do it see the judgment v. 12 13 14. yea this very thing that men are insensible is as it were the very last judgment on a Nation and the sign of utter rejection Jer. 16. 5 6 7. But how can this duty of mourning consist with those so frequent Gospel-Commands to rejoyce in utmost afflictions James 1. 2 3. Count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temtations knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience and St Paul most often 'T is true indeed we are to rejoyce in them because they are Gods methods of bettering us by them he does purge ad cleanse us Isaiah 4. 4 5. and c. 1. 25 27. Redeem'd with judgment even with the judgment that I shall execute upon them But then 1. What reason have we to mourn also that we are such foul sinners as to need such ways of purging that Christs death should not have motive enough in it to turn us from iniquity that his bloud should not be sufficient laver enough to wash us but our own must be pour'd out also that our air should be so infected that nothing but an universal conflagration can purify that we should be such refractory stubborn persons whom nothing but wounding will do good upon nothing but ruin will reduce But then 2. How are we more to mourn that this very method should not be able to reduce us that we will run upon lashes swords and deaths to sin that in the midst of judgments and against them too we commit iniquity that every stripe does encrease our reckoning add to our iniquities no possible method left to reduce them whom correction will not make sensible but our villanies grow up with our sufferings and our sins are fatned by our bloud as the land is Yea lastly how are we to mourn that to the rest of our sins this also is added by us of not mourning at our judgments but using all possible means to prevent it to lay a sleep the sense of any judgment that is upon the Nation to be so far from bestowing one hour of sadness upon those so grand motives to it that they do all they can to keep it from them and if those judgments happen to some they look upon it carelesly as a thing that does not concern rather as a matter onely of rejoycing if to others whom they wish well to they search out wine and vice to quench and to divert the memory and thought of it to drown sad news in sadder sin this is to labor hard lest sadness and a virtue should creep upon me to search out means to assist me to keep Gods last method from doing any good upon me this is one cause of greatest judgment Isaiah 5. 11 12 13 14. The second and indeed the great exercise of this duty in the text is to mourn for our sins and First for the infirmities of our nature that stain that we were born with that engagement to death that we brought into the world with us and which is a clog and weight upon us throughout the whole course of our lives to disable us from doing our duty as we ought Secondly for the sins of our habits whereby we have advanc't those infirmities into customs made a covenant with that death to which we were born engag'd and our whole practice is the exercise of those things whose wages is death eternal or if we are not gon so far
they did receive from their immediate Forefathers as of Faith and saw their practice of For if this Principle were their Rule always and if it be now it must they say have bin so then the Faith of each succeeding Age must needs have bin the Faith of the preceding and by consequence there having bin no change the Faith of this Age must needs be the same with that of Christ and his Apostles Now since in the resolution of our Faith we proceed not by this Rule upon this Principle we have no Rule of faith nor certain resolution of it and by consequence no Faith Now it appears at first sight fully evident that this Rule of theirs does supersede and quite evacuate those Doctrines that maintain either the sayings of the Fathers or Decrees of Councils or the Definitions of the Popes or the infallible Autority of the Church whatever that Church signify hath any part or interest in the Rule of faith and very justly so for Fathers are but eminent Members of the Church Popes can pretend to be but Heads of that Church Councils but the Representatives and what infallible Autority soever can be in the Church that Church being the Congregation of the Faithful and those onely being Faithful that hold the true Faith therefore till it be known which is the true Faith it cannot be known who are the ture Faithful nor by consequence which is the Church nor therefore which is Head Member or Representative of it or hath that Autority and therefore before all those men must have a Rule for their Faith whereby they may try which is the true But when we say we have God's own Revelation of his will what he would have to be believ'd his Word the Scriptures they add that since we cannot know which is the Scripture but by the continued testimony of those that recommended it from the beginning neither can that be the Rule which needs another Rule to establish it nor can that which is believ'd upon that other Principle of universal testimony be any part of the Rule since what is believ'd is the Object of Faith and so presupposes the Rule of Faith and therefore we who make that to be the onely Rule have no Rule no not a part tho the Trent Council do allow the Scriptures to go shares with Tradition 'T is easy to reply that that which is the Object of that Faith whereby we assent to it as a book written by such inspir'd men or as a true historical Narration of which Testimony does assure us may yet be the Rule of that Faith whereby we assent to Doctrines as reveal'd from God which we believe those are that we find there recorded And it were as easy to retort that if this arguing were good men could not know that the Doctrine which Christ and his Apostles orally deliver'd to them was from God but by the testimony of the Miracles they taught therefore neither could Christ's or the Apostles oral tradition living voice be a Rule of Faith to those Ages since they were the Objects of belief and presuppos'd those Miracles as the Rule by which men did believe what Doctrines came from God nor can the Succession of Doctrine be the Rule for we know not the whole Succession but by the living voice of the present Church that does deliver Doctrine by the foresaid Rule or Principle But not to reply to this Scholastically but suppose for their sakes that Scripture could be known to be the word of God no otherwise than by testimony yet that it might be the Rule one short familiar instance shall evince irrefragably to the meanest understanding We know the Books of Scripture are entituled Books of the Old and New Testament both Scripture it self and Fathers giving cause for that expression Now in making a man's testament the Testator's last bequests or that which he last of all wills as to the disposal of his goods and possessions is the primary rule we know by which they are to be disposed off and when that disposition and will of his is put into writing sign'd and seal'd that writing or that Instrument is secundarily the rule by which Legacies must be demanded and upon performance of conditions the Inheritance entred upon Now possibly they that either demand Legacies or the Executors yea the Heir indeed himself it may be know not either hand or seal however that the writing was in good deed honestly subscrib'd and sealed by the deceased party none can know but who were present and saw or heard him declare and publish it and if any are concern'd to be assur'd whether it be a true will neither forg'd nor alter'd or deprav'd they can no otherwise be satisfied than by their testimony It is on that account that men give credit to that will from thence it is of force and afterwards continues to be so as to all ends and uses of a Will by being witnessed and sworn to that is prov'd and then enrolled and layd up in an Office for that purpose and by that becomes a firm Record and as such is there conserved Now certainly no man is so far destitute of common sence to say either the Witnesses or their Testimony or the Office that conserves the Instrument or the Clerks and Registers or Judg of that Office is the Rule by which the man's goods must be distributed or the Rule of those things that the Heir or the Excecutors must perform for the man's last Will I shew'd you was the prime Rule that Will put into writing sign'd and seal'd that is that Instrument the secondary Rule of all that and the Testimony Office Clerks and Judg are but onely means of bringing that Will to the knowledg of all such as are concern'd the way of assuring the truth and uncorruptness of the Instrument and of conserving it entire for after uses The Application of this to Christ our Savior's Testament is easy If by Penmen which himself inspir'd he caus'd his last Will in disposing the Inheritance of Heaven to be written and what things he would have believ'd what don all which he seal'd with his own God's Seal with Miracles and if those Penmen and the other Witnesses before whom he declar'd and publish'd it did attest it and gave it to the Church to be conserv'd there and her Pastors are perpetual successive Conservators of the integrity of these Records 't is plain our Lord's Will here is primarily the Rule of Faith and Action and secondarily the Testament that authentic Instrument is so and the Testimony is no more that Rule here than in the man's Will nor yet than the prerogative Office nor the Pastors or the Head if such an one there were than the Clerks the Judg of that Office nor all nor any of these are the Rule it self The Testimony is but the means of conveying down to us the knowlege of that Testament and of the uncorruptness of it and as far as that Conveyance and that
Church First If the Church of Rome have reason to expect infallible assistance of the Spirit in any case it is as much in Canonizing of a Saint as in any other it being as unhappy to determine a false Object for Religious Worship to their Church as a false Article of Faith there is as much need that there should be an infallible proposal of the one as other for when she does Decree by the Authority of the Omnipotent God such a one is a Saint receiv'd in Glory and so renders him the Object of their Worship if he should chance to be a Reprobate to cause the People to fall prostrate to the Shrine of one that 's damn'd and call his flames to warm Gods Altar and the Votaries breast to make the whole Church worship one that is in Hell is liable to greater aggravations of impiety than an erroneous Opinion in very many of their points of Faith can be But it is known their Church hath Canoniz'd one of this Nation Becket who though he was indeed illegally and barbarously Murthered yet 't is not the Suffering but the Cause that makes the Martyr now he did not fall a Sacrifice for his Religion but was slain because he did disturb the State by suspending all the Bishops that upheld the Kings just cause against him so that neither King nor State could live in peace for him for opposing also those Laws which himself had sworn to Laws that were not onely truly Sovereign Rights but are maintain'd even unto this day as Priviledges by the Gallican Church and they not branded for so doing In a word he was slain for those actions which his own Bishops condemned him for as a perjur'd man and a Traytor And for persisting in them to the death he was Sainted Now whatever the estate of this man be in the next World I meddle not with that Yet for Disobedience and Rebellion to place one in Heaven whence for those things Lucifer did fall does seem to shew what Spirit they are of that Canonize such Saints For the Church to pray to Christ that by the wounds of this Saint he would remit their sins does express what rate their Church does set upon the merits of resisting Princes and disturbing States in the behalf of Holy Church When such actions make men fit to be joynt purchasers with Christ in the Redemption of the World But when the French Histories say 't was disputed long after in Paris whether he were Damn'd or Sav'd that the Church in her publique Offices should pray to go thither where he is gone to have his Society though it express their most infallible assurance of the condition of those men who for their sakes resist the Secular Powers yet O my Soul enter not thou into their counsels in this world neither say a Confederacy to whom they say a Confederacy much less pray to be in their Society who by resisting S. Paul says do receive unto themselves Damnation Secondly It is notorious that in their first General Council at Lyons Anno 1245. the Emperour Frederick the second by the Sentence of the Pope and the whole Council after long deliberation and producing several Arguments which they say are not sleight but effectual to prove the suspicion of Heresie is depriv'd of his Empire all his Subjects are absolv'd from their Oath of Allegiance and by Apostolical Authority forbidden to obey him Therefore that such things may be done in the cases of Religion hath the Authority of a General Council 't was that Council that Decreed Red Hats to Cardinals Hats red it seems not onely with the Royal Purple but with the Blood of Kings and of Royalty it self Thirdly I should have urged the well known Canon of the General Council of Lateran the greatest their Church ever boasted of which says That if the temporal Lord shall neglect to purge his Territories from such as the Church there declares Hereticks he shall be Excommunicated by the Metropolitan and if he do not mend within a year complained of to the Pope that so he may declare his Subjects absolv'd from their Allegiance and expose his Lands to be seiz'd by Catholicks who shall exterminate the Hereticks saving the right of the chief Lord Provided he give no impediment to this But the same law shall be observed to those that have no chief Lords that is who are themselves Supream This I should urge but that some say that penal Statutes which are leges odiosae tantum disponunt quantum loquuntur Therefore this Canon since it does not name Kings it does not they say concern them although 't is plain it do sufficiently enough But that there may be therefore no evasion Fourthly In the General Council of Constance that part of it I mean that is approv'd by their whole Church The Pope and Council joyn together in commanding all Arch-Bishops Bishops and Inquisitors to pronounce all such Excommunicate as are declared Hereticks in such and such Articles and that of Transubstantiation half-Communion and the Pope's Supremacy are among them or that favour ot defend them or that Communicate with them in publique or in private whether in sacred Offices or otherwise etiamsi Patriarchali Archiepiscopali Episcopali Regali Reginali Ducali aut aliâ quâvis Ecclesiasticâ aut mundanâ proefulgeant dignitate And Commands them also to proceed to Interdicts and deprivation of Dignities and Goods and whatsoever other Penalties vias modos Thus that Council though it took away the Peoples right to the Blood of Christ denying them the Cup in the Sacrament gave them in exchange the Blood of their own Kings making them a right to that And that they extend the force of these Canons to the most absolute Princes even to him that pleads exemption most to the King of France is plain because when Sixtus the fifth thundred out his Bulls against the then King of Navarre afterwards King Henry the fourth of France and the Prince of Conde depriving them not onely of their Lands and Dignities but their Succession also to the Crown of France absolving their Subjects from their Oaths forbidding them to obey them he declared he did it to them as to relapsed Hereticks favourers and defenders of them and as such fal'n under the Censures of the Canons of the Church Now there are no other Canons that do take in Kings but these which can touch him for that of Boniface the eighth which says the Pope hath power to judg all temporal Powers is declared not to extend to France Cap. meruit de priviledg in extravag communibus Thus by the publique Acts of their Church and by the Canons of their General Councils we have found in causes of Religion Deprivation of Princes Wars and Bloodshed and the other consequent Miseries are establish'd Rebellion encouraged by a Law And if Rebellion be as the sin of Witchcraft then we know what manner of Spirit they are of that do
demonstrations had not convinc't them it had been no fault not to believe So when he had made appear he was that person whom their prophesies had pointed out the Messiah the Son of the living God and this not only his Disciples had acknowledg'd but the multitudes yea when his miracles had made one of the Pharisees confess Rabbi we know thou art a Teacher come from God for no man can do these miracles except God be with him Then if the Pharisees dispute against his Doctrine of Divorce urge the authority of Moses and Gods Law and the Disciples press the inconveniences that will happen If the case of Man be such with his wife he may answer them He that will not receive my Doctrines without dispute that is to say He that will not receive the Kingdom of God as a little Child shall not enter therein This King that cometh in the name of the Lord may well determin how we shall receive the Kingdom of God If he propose strange precepts to our practise it appears that he is sent from God and Gods commands are not to be disputed but obey'd if his revelations present dark unintelligible Mysteries to our faith his promises offer seeming impossibilities to our hope why yet he hath made proof he comes from God and surely we are not so insolent as to doubt that God can discover thing above our understanding and do things above the comprehension of our reason Therefore since we are as Children to all these it is but just we should receive them even as little Children With a perfect resignation of our understandings and of our whole souls Here 't is most true what S. Austin says Those are not Christians who deny that Christ is to be believ'd unless there be some other certain reason of the thing besides his saying Si Christo etiam credendum negant â—isi indubitata ratio reddita fuerit Christiani non sunt For to them that are convinc't of that 't is such a reason that he is the Christ. There is indeed no other name now under heaven to whom we are oblig'd to give such deference for however the modern Doctrines dare assert that Christ hath given the very same infallibility which himself had to all S. Peters successors as often as they speak ex Cathedrâ and that in matters both of right and of particular fact yet not to countenance this monster by admitting combate with it nor to put my self into the circle which these men commit who talk of the Authority of the Church to which they require us to resign our Faith I shall not stay to rack them on that their own wheel This I dare affirm it is impossible for any person or assembly to produce a delegation of authority in more ample terms then the great Councel of the Jews could shew sign'd both by God and Christ. According to the sentence of the Law which they shall teach thee and according to the Judgment which they shall tell thee thou shalt do thou shalâ— not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee to the right hand nor to the left faith God Deut. 17. 11. compar'd with 2 Chron. 19. 8 9 10 11. And our Saviour says They sit in Moses Chair all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do Mat. 23. 2. Let them of Româ— produce you a better and more large commission Yet did not this suppose that Councel was infallible either in the interpreting the Law or in attesting of tradition or in judging of a Prophet or that the Jews were blindly to give up their assent and their obedience to their sentence God did not mean the people should imagin that when he prescrib'd a Sacrifice for expiation of their errors in their Judgment when they found it out Lev. 4. 13. As their own Doctors do expound it Therefore God suppos'd that they might err and we know that their Traditions did evacuate the Law Mat. 23. 15. They judg'd and slew true Prophets v. 37. They declar'd the Messiah an impostor Mat. 27. 63. and blasphemer and for that condemn'd him Mat. 26. 65. and decreed what the Apostles told them they must not obey Act. 5. 25. But though there be no such Authority that 's absolute over the Faith of Men now upon Earth yet if this Jesus did acquire such by his Works if by the Miracles he wrought his raising others from the Dead his own Death and his Resurrection he sufficiently justified the Divinity of his Doctrine And if those Miracles were true they were not doubt sufficient and if those that did pretend they were eye witnesses and ministers of all this his Apostles and the Seventy Disciples and those others that accompanied him who conversed with him continually and could not therefore be deceived if they profess they heard and saw all this and Preacht it in the face of those that would have contradicted if they could and rather than their lives have proved all false yea Preacht it every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following If they consign'd that Word in Writing also which they Preacht to be a measure and a Standard of that Doctrine to fnturity which Word so Preacht and Written by agreeing would in aftertimes give mutual illustrious evidence to one another and if any Heter â—â—â—â—ies should at any time creep by degrees into the Articles or the external practice of the Church they might he easily discovered by those Records And if the multitudes that heard and saw and did receive all this and which were grown extreamly numerous almost in every Nation of the then known World while those Apostles and Disciples liv'd if these deliver'd what they must needs know whether 't were true or not deliver'd both that Doctrine and those Books of it as most certain truth by Preaching and by Writing and by Living to it and by Dying for it and engaging their Posterity to do so and they also did that to all Ages if all this I say be true then it is easie to conclude that we are to receive the Doctrine of that Jesiâ— and this Book the Records of it with the resignation of a little Child and absolutely to submit our Faith to them But that it was thus first as sure as any of us here who have not seen the thing can be that Christianity is now profest the Bible now received in all the Regions round about us throughout Europe or indeed that there are â—â—ch Regions and places so sure we may be for we have the testimony of the World that for example in the days of Dioclesian 't was over the World profest both with their mouths and lives owned in despite of Spoyl of Torments and of Death and they did value the Records of this Doctrine so much dearer than their Lives or their Estates that in prosecution of those Edicts wherein the Christians were required to deliver up
Royal. My LORD WHEN I consider with what reluctancies I appear thus in publick I have all reason to suspect and fear lest this offering which like an unwilling Sacrifice was dragg'd to the Altar and which hath great defects too will be far from propitiating either for its self or for the votary But I must crave leave to add that how averse soever I was to the publishing this rude Discourse I make the Dedication with all possible zeal and ready cheerfulness For I expect your Lordship to be a Patron not only to my Sermon but to my Subject Such a separate eminence of virtue and of sweetness mixt together may hope to ingratiate Your Function to a Generation of men that will not yet know their own good but resist mercy and are not content to be happy And for my self Your Lordships great goodness and obligingness hath encourag'd me not 〈◊〉 to hope that you will pardon all the miscarriages of what I now present but also to presume to shelter it and my self under your Lordships Name and Command and to honour my self before the World by this address and by assuming the relation of My Lord Your Lordships most humbly devoted and most faithful Servant RICH. ALâ—â—STRY SERMON XVI IN St PETERS WESTMINSTER January 6. 1660. ACTS XIII 2. The Holy Ghost said Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them AND as they ministred to the Lord and fasted the holy Ghost said Although that ministring to God by prayer and fasting be the indicted and appropriate acts to preface such Solemnities as this and that not Sermons but Litanies and intercessions are the peculiar adherents of Embers and of Consecrations and those vigorous strivings with Almighty God by Prayer are the birth-pangs in which Fathers are born unto the Church Yet since that now this Sacred Office is it self oppos'd and even the Mission of Preachers preach'd against and the Authority that sends despis'd as Antichristian whilst separation and pretence unto the Holy Ghost set up themselves against the strict injunction of the Holy Ghost to separate the Pulpit that otherwhiles hath fought against it must now attone its errours by attending on the Altar and the bold ungrounded claims of Inspiration that false Teachers have usurp'd be superseded by the voice of the Holy Ghost himself who in this case becomes the Preacher and says Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have call'd them My Text is a Commission parole from Heaven in it you have First the Person that sends it out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Ghost said Secondly the Persons to whom it is directed imply'd in the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate more particularly exprest in the foregoing words Thirdly the thing to which they were impowr'd by the Commission or which was requir'd of them set down in the remaining words of the Text wherein you have 1. The Act injoyn'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate 2. The Object 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate me Barnabas and Saul 3. The end for what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a work 4. The determination of that work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the work whereunto I have called them Of these in their Order and first I The Holy Ghost said Of those five things for want of which the second Jewish Temple sunk below the first and its Glory seem'd faint in the comparison the Chiefest was the Holy Ghost who became silent his Oracles ceast then and he spake no more by the Prophets A thing not only confest by the Thalmudists who say our Rabbins have deliver'd to us that from the time of Haggai Zechary and Malachy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Ghost was taken away from Israel but so notorious in experience that when St. Paul meets Disciples at Ephesus Acts 19. 1. and asks them if they have received the Holy Ghost whether at their Baptism the Spirit came down upon them as he did then on others they answer ver 2. We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost any extraordinary effusions of the Spirit whether he do come down in Gifts and Afflations such as we know were usual in the first Jewish Temple but have not been for a long time and we have not yet heard they are restored for of this pouring out of the Holy Ghost they must needs mean it not of himself of whom they could not doubt nothing was more known in the Jewish Church But as our Saviour did supply the other four with all advantage and so fulfilled the Prophecy and made the glory of that Temple greater so for the fifth the spirit he was restored in kind with infinate improvement that of Joel fulfill'd I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh for they were all baptized with the Holy Ghost baptized in rivers of living waters which did flow out of the belly of themselves for this he spake of the Spirit which all that believed on him should receiue Joh. 7. 39. so that Joel did scarce feel or fore see enough to prophesie of this abundance but the inundations were almost like Christ's receivings without measure Nor were his Inspirations as of old dark and mysterious Oracles direction in rapture where the Message it self was to have another revelation and it must be prophecy to understand as well as utter But in the Gospel his effusions run clear and transparent as the Water that expresseth them revealing even all the unknown languages that were the conduits and conveighances all plain express direction such as that of the Text. Now amongst all the several uses of the Holy Ghost for which he was pour'd out in this abundance amongst all the designs he did engage himself in and advance he does not seem to have a greater agency nor to interess himself more in any than in qualifying for and separating to Church-Offices This seems to be his great work And indeed how can he choose but be particularly concern'd in those Officer which are his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his gifts Timothy's is expresly call'd so in each of his Epistles 1 Tim. 4. 14. 2 Tim. 1. 6. And when our Saviour Ephes. 4 8. is said to give the gifts of the Holy Ghost to men it is added how ver 11. He gave some Apostles some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry namely because those gifts enabled for those Offices and all the reason in the World that he should have a special hand in giving where himself is to be receiv'd Receive the Holy Ghost that was from the beginning and is yet the installation to them And if we take them from their divine original from that great Pastor and Bishop of our souls who was the maker of them too Thus he was consecrated the spirit of the Lord is upon me therefore he hath anointed me to preach
Benedictions of those Gods chiefest Officers of blessing those that are consecrated to bless in the Name of the Lord and will have them in love for his works sake Their Third work is Government which may be some do look upon as priviledge and not as work the expectation and delight of their ambitions and not the fear and burthen of their shoulders But ambition may as rationally fly at Miracles as Government and as hopefully gape after diversity of Tongues as at presiding in the Church the powers of each did come alike from Heaven and were the mere gifts of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12. 18. It was so in the Law when God went to divide part of Moses burthen of Government amongst the Lxx he came down and took off the Spirit that was upon him and gave it to the Lxx Num. 11. 25. A work this that may have reason to supersede much of that which I first mentioned For notwithstanding all Saint Paul's Assistances of Spirit he does reckon that care that came upon him daily from the Churches amongst his persecutions and it summes up his Catalogue of sufferings 2 Cor. 11. Such various Necessities there are by which Government is distracted and knows not how to temper it self to them For sometimes it must condescend Paul notwithstanding Apostolical decrees made in full Council that abrogated Circumcision as the Holy Ghost had declared it void before yet is fain to comport so far with the violent humours of a party as to Circumcise Timothy at the very same time when he delivered those decrees to the Churches to keep Act. 16. 3 4. yet afterwards when Circumcision was lookt on as Engagement to the whole Law and to grant them that one thing was but to teach them to ask more and to be able to deny them nothing then he suffers not Titus to be Circumcised nor gave place to them by submission no not for an hour Gal. 2. 3 5. Thus the Spirit of Government is sometimes a Spirit of meekness does it work by soft yieldings and breaks the Adamant with Cushions which Anvils would not do The Ocean with daily billows and tides helpt on with storms of violence and hurried by tempests of roaring fury assaults a rock for many Ages and yet makes not the least impression on it but is beat back and made retire in empty some in insignificant passion when a few single drops that distil gently down upon a rock though of Marble or a small trickle of water that only wets and glides over the stone insinuate themselves into it and soften it so as to steal themselves a passage through it and yet Government hath a rod too which like Moses's can break the rock and fetch a stream out of the heart of quarre and which must be used also The Holy Spirit himself breathed tempest when he came blew in a mighty boisterous Wind nor does he always whisper soft things he came down first in a sound from heaven and spoke thunder nor did it want lightning the tongue was double flame Of some we knowwe must have a Compassion but others must be saved with terror Jude 22. 23. which drives me on to the last piece of their work The Censures of the Church the burthen of the Keys which passing by the private use of them in voluntary penitences and discipline upon the sick as they signifie publick exclusion out of the Church for scandalous Enormities and re-admission into it upon repentance have been sufficiently evinc'd to belong to the Governours of the Church The Exercise of these is so much their work that Saint Paul calls them the Weapons of their spiritual Warfare by which they do cast down imaginations and every high things that exalteth it self against the Knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. A blessed victory even for the Conquered and these the only Weapons to atchieve it with If those who sin scandalously and will not hear the admonitions of the Church were cast out of the Church if not Religion Reputation would restrain them somewhat Not to be thought fit Company for Christians would surely make them proud against their Vices Shame the design'd Effect of these Censures hath great pungencies the fear of it does goad men into actions of the greatest hazard and the most unacceptable such as have nothing lovely in them but are wholly distastful There is a Sin whose face is bloody dismal and yet because t is countenanc'd by the Roysting Ruffian part of the World men will defie Reason and Conscience Man's and God's Law venture the ruine of all that is belov'd and dear to them in this World and assault death and charge and take Hell by violence rather then be asham'd before those valiant sinners Satans Hectors and they must â—ever come into such Company if they do not go boldly on upon the sin is of more force with them than all the indearments of this World than all their fear of God and Death and that which follows Now if Religion could but get such Countenance by the Censures of the Church and every open sinner had this certain fear I should be turn'd out of all Christian company shall be avoided as unfit for Conversation would it not have in some degree the like effect and if the motive beas much exactly would not men be chast or sober or obedient for that very reason for which they will now be kill'd and be damn'd Without all question Saint Peter's Censure on the intemperate 1 Cor. 5. must needs be reformation to him 'T is such a sentence to the drunkard not to company with him whose Vice is nothing but the sauce of Company and who does sin against his Body and against his faculties and against his Conscience is sick and is a Sott and goes to Hell meerly for Societies sake Now the infliction of these Censures is so much the work to which Church-governours are call'd by the Holy Ghost that they are equally call'd by him to it and to Himself both are alike bestow'd upon them Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye retain they are retained John 20. 22. And in the first derivations of this office it was performed with severities such as this Age I doubt will not believe and when they had no temporal sword to be auxiliary to these Spiritual weapons And now to make reflections on this is not for me to undertake in such a state of the Church as ours is wherein the very faults of some do give them an Indemnity who having drawn themselves out of the Church from under its authority are also got out of the power of its Censures So Children that do run away from their Fathers house they do escape the Rod but they do not consider that withal they run away from the inheritance And many times in those that do not do so but stay within the family long intermission of the Rod and