is light and to make that obscure which is plain and easie of it self That hath befallen Divinity which the Stoick complained of in Philosophy Fuit aliquando simplicior inter minora peccantes Divinity was not so perplext and sullen a thing till Ambition and Faction made her so The very Hereticks and Schismaticks saith St. Augustine Catholicam nihil aliud quà m Catholicam vocant When they speak with Pagans they call the Catholick Church that Society of men which are divided from all the world besides by the profession of Christ This very word Our Father is enough to express it But by contentious spirits it hath been made a matter of business and the business of the Will And in these times if we will follow private humors in those Meanders and Labyrinths which they make we may sooner go to heaven then find the Church Which like the Cameleon is drawn and shaped out by every phansie like unto it self Sometimes it is a Body but nec caput nec pedes it must have neither head nor feet Sometimes it is a Spirit rather than a Body so invisible we cannot see it Sometimes it is visible alone and sometimes invisible And so we may ecclesiam in ecclesia quaerere seek for the Church even in the Church it self Who knows not what the Church is The subject is plain and easie But where men walk several wayes the discourse must need be rugged and uneven They who would bring in an Anarchy and make all the members equal are droven to this shift also to keep the Church out of sight And they who would raise a Monarchy are forced to set it upon a hill So that in talking so much of that company of children which make the Church we have almost lost the Father nay the Pater Noster and can but hardly consent that God should be a Father to us both For to say so is an error and mistake of charity No how can God be our Father when the Church is not our Mother How can Schismaticks and Rebels against the Church have their fellowship and communion with the Saints How can he be a Christian who is not a Catholick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Poet Mothers were wont to call up Hobgoblings and Cyclops to still and silence their children And what is all this but powder without shot What are these terms of Church and Catholick and Communion as the Church of Rome urgeth them but words and noyse We can say Our Father for all this and joyn with them in prayer too if they will pray as Christ taught We communicate with them whether they will or no as far as they communicate in the truth But if the Church of Rome tender us errors for truth if she obtrude upon us a multitude of things for fundamentals which are only the inventions of men and no way concern our Faith here non fugamur sed fugimus we did not stay till she thrust us out but we were bound to separate our selves from partaking of those gross impieties which proceeded from the Father of lyes and not from our Father which is in heaven That she sent thunder after us and drove us out by excommunication when we were gone may argue want of charity in her but makes no impression of hurt upon us For what prejudice can come unto us by her excommunicating us whose duty it was to make haste and leave her unless you will say that that souldier did a doughty deed who cut off the legg of a man who was dead before I am sure we are the children of God by the surer side for we lay claim by the Father when they so much talk of their Mother the Church that they have forgotten their Father who alone begets us with the word of truth Quot palestrae opinionum quot propagines quaestionum Hence what a wrestling in opinions hath there been what propagations and succession of quaestions Where our Church was when we separated We need answer but this That it was there where it was For they who have God to their Father may be sure they have the Church to their Mother Nor can any who find the truth and embrace it miss of the Church This is one devise ready at hand to fright and amaze those who have not maturity of understanding to take heed of their deceit The other is like unto it and a most the same the Communion of Saints which is here implyed in these first words of our Pater Noster In both which vacua causarum implent ineptiis When their cause is so hollow and empty that it sounds and betrayes it self at the very first touch they fill it up with chaff They make it fuel for Purgatory They draw it to the Invocation of Saints They make it as a Patent for their sale of Pardons They give it strength to carry up our Prayers to the Saints and to conveigh their Merits to us on earth They temper it to that heat to draw up the bloud of Martyrs and the Works of Supererogating Christians into the treasury of the Church and then shower them down in Pardons and Indulgences So that he that reads them and weighs their proofs would wonder that men of great name for learning should publish such trash and make it saleable and more that any man should be so simple as to buy at their market It is say they the general property of the Church that one member must be helped by another Therefore one member may suffer punishment for another Again One man may bear anothers burden Therefore he may bear his brothers sin It were even as good an argument to say He is my Brother Therefore he is my Mediatour Nobis non licet esse tam disertis We Schismaticks dare not pretend to such subtilty and wit We are taught to distinguish between the duties of Charity and the office of Mediation The unction we have from the Head alone but the Members may anoint one another with that oyl of Charity Though I cannot suffer for my brother yet I may bear for him even bear his burden Though I cannot merit for him I may work for him Though I cannot satisfie for him I may pray for him Though there be no profit in my dust yet there may be in my memory in the memory of my conversation my counsel my example In this duty high and low rich and poor learned and ignorant all are equal All have one Father who hears the low as well as the high the poor as well as the rich and the ideot as well as the great clerk Nihil iniquius fide si tantùm in eruditos caderet Faith and Religion were the unjustest things in the world if no place were a fit habitation for them but the breast of a Rabbi or a Potentate No God is our Father and every man claims an equal title to him Licet parva rati portum subire In the smallest bark and weakest vessel we may sail
commit Adultery but did you never cast a lascivious glance Perhaps you did never stab a man with your dagger but did you never run one through with your tongue and though you did not kill your Brother yet have you not been so much as angry with him without a cause Now he that commits the least sin deserves the Curse as well as he that commits the greatest for as St. James excellently gives the reason for the same God did forbid one as the other and he who stands at the door here is as well out of the Church as he who is 1000 miles off though not so far He that saith he hath no sin lyes saith the Apostle at the very heart he lyes St. Paul knew nothing by himself yet for all that he would not quit himself but refers that wholly to God He that judges me is the Lord 1 Cor. 4. 4. who knew his heart better then he himself did And David cryes out Cleanse me from my secret sins O Lord Sins which fly our sight that steal from us in crouds or borrowed shapes so slighly as man who is the most absurd flatterer of himself cannot discern them As pride in decency malice in zeal hypocrisie in devotion boasting in charity covetousness and extortion under the name of providing for our families wherefore when we meet with those terms of Holy Just and Righteous given unto men in Scripture we must not conceive them so as if they were absolutely Just Holy and Righteous no more than we can say there is pure earth or pure water without the commixture of any other Element But when we are said to be innocent 't is either meant in foro humano because the Law of man can take no hold of us though God the searcher of all hearts may as St. Paul saith He was blameless but not perfect Phil. 3. Or as righteous Lot in wicked Sodom was because he loathed to do such horrid things as they did though he committed Incest so soon as ever he came forth or else because God seeing our Hearts and Intentions towards him is pleased to cover our slips and failings with his mercy as David is said to have done all things well excepting the matter of Uriah not that he could indeed clear himself from all guilt for whosoever marks his story will find many foul actions besides this of Uriah but because he did not lye dead in any sin but this for he had a Child before ever he thought he had committed Adultery The Prophet Habakkuk puts the Question into more reasonable terms who inquires not Why the wicked should devour the Righteous but Why the wicked should devour the man who is more righteous then he A man may be more righteous yet not righteous neither Perhaps he did not deserve it from this or that man but from God he did As David deserved not the disloyalty from Saul Absolom and his familiar Friend yet he deserved so much from God as it was counted an escape when his Child only lost his Life The Lord also hath put away thy sin thou shalt not dye saith Nathan to him But with what face can we complain against God We of this sottish and sinful Nation whose sins are risen so high as we may very well conclude we were markt out to fulfill all the wickedness which is to fore-run the day of Judgment Do we murmur because our fears have compassed us when our Sins have beset us round about A Nation wholly divided between Debauchery and Hypocrisie between open profaneness the Sin of Sodom and Lying unto God the Sin of those Priests and Elders which crucified our Saviour What if our Churches be thrown down when we have profaned them by our empty formality by bringing our Bodies thither but leaving our minds and hearts fast with some lust at home This this was the Idolatry they so often twitted us withal these were the Images and Pictures we set up in Churches our empty Bodies that stood here without Souls and Hearts to attends Gods Service What would we call God to protect Stones and Morter when nothing besides zeal holiness and fervency of Devotion these are the Encania which do sanctifie consecrate and make a Temple The last thing which moves us to ask this Question Why the wicked prosper is because we think them in a better condition then they are Envy not the ungodly sayes the Psalmist as if the main ground of our Impatience were our Envy because we so earnestly dote on these earthly vanities as we grow mad with such as injoyes them from us and charge the most righteous God for bestowing them on others as this very Prophet does in the seventh Chapter whereas we quite mistake their Condition The Objection supposes a false thing For wicked men did never prosper in the world unless you will call it Happiness for a man to assure Gods wrath upon himself and to have a liberty to improve his sins and increase his damnation and this he does if you will believe Scripture to be the word of God for this which you call prosperity engages us most certainly to punishment The threats of Jonah saved Niniveh though God had set down the very day in which he would destroy it But when we go finely on in a wicked course of life when we raise an Estate by false-dealing this flatters us to go still further to put off the evil day far from us and cause the Seat of violence to draw near us Amos 6. 3. to pull our Lusts still closer and closer to us but remove the thought of Gods Judgments farther and farther off till at last we will not believe that he does see that he does understand and which is worse till we imagine God approves and blesses our sins because we thrive by it like Ephraim who concluded God should find no iniquity in all his labours because he was rich when at that very time he held the ballance of deceit in his hands Hos 12. 8. It is the last of Gods Judgments when he throws away the Rod when he will smite us no more when he lays down his pruning knife and will dress his Vineyard no more when he will not pour us out and wrack us any longer bus lets us settle upon the Lees to putrifie and corrupt when God gives us over to our vile affections and delivers us over to Satan already when he hath bound up our sins in a bundle as the Prophet saith Hos 13. 12. and laid them by himself till the day of his Feast his Sacrifice his Banquet for these are the terms by the which the Scripture expresses Gods laughter mirth and jollity when he means to glut himself with the bloud of his Adversaries Again we do not only assure our Damnation but encrease it by our seeming Prosperity by having power to commit more and more sins to treasure up wrath to proceed from evil to evil to add iniquity to iniquity and so raise
Chrysostom would not consent to give his suffrage for the condemnation of Origen's works Epiphanius subscribes to it and makes St. Chrysostom a Patron of those errors which did no doubt deserve a censure Both forgot that Meekness which they both commended in their Writings Epiphanius curseth Chrysostom and Chrysostom Epiphanius and both took effect for the one lost his Bishoprick and the other his Country to which he never after returned An infirmity this is which we cannot be too wary of since we see the strongest Pillars of the Church thus shaken with it An evil which hath alwaies been forbidden and retained in all Ages of the Church Zeal being made an apology for Fury and the Love of Truth a pretense to colour over that behaviour which hath nothing in it to shew of Truth or Christianity And therefore the Church of Christ which felt the smart of it hath alwaies condemn'd it When Eulalia the Martyr spit in the face of the Tyrant and broke and scatter'd the Idols before Prudentius and others were fain to excuse it that she did it impulsu Divini spiritûs by special revelation from the Spirit Which was indeed but an excuse and a weak one too For that Spirit which once descended in the shape of a Dove and is indeed the Spirit of Meekness cannot be thought to be the Teacher of such a Lesson But when other Christians in the time of Dioclesian attempted the like and were slain in the very enterprise to deter others from such an inconsiderate Zeal it was decreed in the Councel of Eliberis and the 60 Canon Siquis idola fregerit If any hereafter break down the heathen idols he shall have no room in the Diptychs nor be registred with the number of the Martyrs although he be slain in the very fact quatenus in Evangelio non est scriptum because we find nothing in the Gospel that casts a favourable countenance upon such a fact I have brought this instance the rather to curb those forward spirits now adaies which did not Fear more restrain them then Discretion would be as good Martyrs as these and with the same Engine with which they heave at the outwork in time would blow up Church Religion and all who are streight angry with any thing that doth but thwart their private humor or with any man that by long study and experience and evidence of reason hath gained so much knowledge as not to be of their opinion What mean else the Unchristian nick-names of Arminians and Pelagians and Socinians and Puritanes which are the glorious Scutchions the Meekness of these times doth fix in every place and the very pomp and glory of their triumph when factious men cry down that truth which they are not willing to understand Doth this rancor think you proceed from the spirit of Meekness or rather from the foul Spirit of Destraction Little do these men think that the Truth it self suffers by such a Defense that rash Zeal cannot be excused with intentions and the goodness of the end which is proposed that the crown of Martyrdom will sit more gloriously on his head who rather suffers that the Church may have her peace then on his who dies that he may not offer sacrifice to idols For in this every man hath been merciful and good to himself but in the former he merits for the whole and is a sacrifice for the publick peace of the Church whereof he is a part Talk of Martyrdom what we please never was there any Martyr never can there be any Martyr made without Meekness Though I give all my goods to feed the poor though I give my body to be burnt in the justest cause for the truth of the Gospel and have not Meekness which is a branch of Christian Charity it profitteth me nothing For my impatience will rob me of that crown to which my sufferings might otherwise have entitled me The Canonists speak truly Non praesumitur bono exitu perfici quae malo sunt inchoata principio The event of that action can never be good whose very beginning was unwarrantable Philosophers have told us that when the Sea rageth if you throw in oyl upon it you shall presently calm it The truth of this I will not now discuss but give me leave to commend this precious oyl of Meekness to powre upon your souls when Zeal or Ignorance shall raise a tempest in your thoughts Have men of wisdom tender'd to you something which falls cross with your opinion If you obey not yet be not angry If your obedience appear not in your practise yet let it be most visible in your Meekness Remember that private men who converse in a narrow Sphere must needs be ignorant of many things which fall not within their horizon and the compass of their experience that they may have knowledge enough perhaps to do their own duty which will come short in the performance of anothers especially of a Superiors If an erroneous Conscience bind thee from the outward performance of what is enjoyned yet let Truth and Scripture and Meekness seal up thy lips from reviling those qui in hoc somnum in hoc vigilias reponunt who do watch for thy good and spend their dayes and nights too that thou mayest live in all good conscience before God all the dayes of thy life To conclude this point Dost thou know or suppose thy brother to be in an error Take not mine but St. Paul's counsel and restore such a one in the spirit of Meekness considering that thou also maist be deceived And peradventure this may be one error that thou art perswaded that thy brother errs when Truth and Reason both speak for him Pride and Self-conceit are of a poysonous quality and if not purged out exhalat opaca mephitia it sends forth pestiferous vapors which will choak and stifle all goodness in us But Meekness qualifies and prepares the mind and makes it wax for all impressions of spiritual graces it doth no evil it thinketh no evil it cannot be provokt with errors in opinion nor with those grosser mistakes and deviations in mens lives and conversation We have brought Meekness to its tryal indeed For sure where Sin once shews its deformity all meekness in a Christian whose Religion bindeth him to hate sin must needs be lost It is true all created natures we must love because they have their first foundation in the love and goodness of God and he that made them saw that they were good But Sin is no created entity but without the compass of Nature and against her against that order and harmony which Reason dispenseth This only hurts us this is that smoke which comes from the very pit of Hell and blasts the soul even then when the body is untoucht This is the fornace in which men are transformed into Devils We cannot then hate Sin enough Yet here our Christian skill must shew it self and we must be careful that our Anger which frowns upon Sin
the Wilderness or an Owl in the Desert like the Leper under the Law whom no man must come near Have no company with him that is by thy company and familiarity give him no encouragement in his sin For good words and courteous behaviour may be taken for applause a smile is a hug and too much friendship is a kind of absolution And yet for all this have company with him for it tells us Count him not as an enemy but admonish him as a brother Deal gently and meekly with him but this we cannot do if we wholly separate our selves from him and avoid his company The rule of Charity directs us to think every man an heir with Christ or if he be not at least that he may be so And this is a kind of priviledge that Charity hath in respect of Faith Faith sees but a little flock but few that shall be saved makes up a Church as Gedeon did his Army who took not all that were prest out for the war but out of many thousands selected a band of three hundred and no more but Charity taketh in all and sees not any of that company which she will dismiss but thinks all though now their hands be weak and their hearts faint in time may be sweetly encouraged to fight and conquer You will say this is an error of our Charity But it is a very necessary error for it is my charity thus to erre and it is not a lye but vertue in me in my weak brothers case to nourish a hope of that strength which peradventure he shall never recover The holy mistakes of Charity shall never be imputed as 〈…〉 s no nor be numbred amongst those of Ignorance For he that errs not thus he that hopes not the best of all he sees though weltring in their bloud wants something to compleat and perfect him and make him truly worthy of the name of a good Christian And this error in Charity is not without good reason For we see not how nor when the Grace of God may work how sinful soever a man be Peradventure saith St. Hierom God may call unto him lying and stinking in his sins as in a Grave Lazarus come forth Charity therefore because she may erre nay because she must erre looks upon every man with an eye of Meekness If he erre she is Light if he sin she is a Physician and is ready to restore him with the spirit of Meekness And thus much for the Object of Meekness We proceed now to that which was in order next and as we have drawn forth Meekness in a compleat piece in her full extent and latitude so will we now in the last place propose her to you as a Virtue 1. most proper 2. most necessary to a Christian By which degrees and approaches we shall press forward towards the mark even the reward of Meekness the inheritance of the earth Of these in their order Meekness we told you is that virtue by which we may better know a Christian than by his name And this the very enemies of Christianity have acknowledged Vide ut se invicem diligunt Christiani was a common speech among the Heathen See how the Christians love one another when they broke the laws of Meekness and did persecute them Male velle malè facere malè dicere malè cogitare de quoque ex aequo vetamur To wish evil to do evil to speak evil to think evil are alike forbidden to a Christian whose profession restraineth his will bindeth his hand tacketh up his tongue to the roof of his mouth and curbeth and fettereth his very thoughts For as we are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without a Head so if we will be members we must be suppled with that oyl of Meekness which distilleth down from our Head Christ Jesus He came not saith Tertullian into the world with Drum and Colours but with a Rattle rather not with a noise but like the rain into a fleece of wooll not destroying his enemies but making them his friends not as a Captain but as an Angel and Ambassador of peace not denouncing war but proclaiming a Jubilee and with no sword but that of the Spirit Look upon all the acts of our Saviour whilst he conversed on earth amongst men and we shall find they were purely the issues of Tenderness and Meekness He went about doing good As he cured mens bodies of diseases so he purg'd their souls of sin When he met with men possessed though with a Legion of Devils he did not revile but dispossess them he rebuked the Devil but not the man His mouth was so filled with the words of meekness Thy sins are forgiven thee that he seldom spake but the issue was comfort He pronounced indeed a woe to the Pharisees and so he doth to all sinners For Woe will follow the Hypocrite whethersoever he goeth though it be not denounced a Wce to drive them from sin to repentance not a curse but a precept to fright them from that woe which he denounced It is but pulling off the visour casting away their hypocrisie and the Woe will vanish and end in a blessing He called Herode a Fox for as God he knew what was in him and to him every wicked person is worse then a beast No Fox to Herode no Goat to the Wanton no Tiger to the Murderer no Wolf to the Oppressour Obstinate sinners carry their Woe and curse along with them nor can they fling it off but with their sin And Christ's profession was to call sinners to repentance When the Reed was bruised he broke it not and when the flax did smoke he quench'd it not As he hath a Rod for the impenitent and it is the last thing he useth so he cometh in the spirit of Meekness and openeth his arms to receive and imbrace them that will meekly yield and bow before him and repent and be meek a 〈…〉 is meek Now our Saviviour is disciplina morum the way and the truth And that gracious way which it hath pleased him to tread himself before us the very same he hath left behind to be gone by us and hath ordered a course of religious and Christian worship which consisteth in Meekness and sweetness of Disposition An incongruous thing therefore it is that he having presented to us the Meekness of a Lamb we should return the rage of a Lyon that he should speak in a still voice and we should thunder And this is most proper to Christianity and the Church For first what is the Church of Christ but a Congregation of meek ones We cannot bring Bears and Lyons and Tigers within that pale Quomodo colligemus as Tertullian speaketh How shall we gather them together jungantur tigribus ursi We cannot bring them together into one body and collection or if we do but as Sampson did his Foxes to look several waies We are told indeed that the Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard lie down with
cast them behind him never to think of them so to forget them as if they never had been so must we He doth it too without respect of persons and so we ought to do We must forgive all for ever and so far must we be from respect of persons that we must acknowledge no title but that of Christian To conclude this point How slight soever we make of it there is no surer mark that we are not in the true Faith than Hatred of our brethren no stronger Argument that we are not Members of that Body whereof Christ is the Head then the I will not say Hatred but Not-loving of the weakest Member of it For he that loveth not his brother the love of God cannot dwell in him He may slatter himself with a vain opinion that he loveth God but the love of God is not really in him it abides not it dwells not it hath not residence in him And he that hateth his brother is in 1 John 2. 11. darkness He may think he enjoyes the light of the Gospel and that he is under the Covenant of Grace but there is no such matter He is Diaboli ludibrium the Devils laughing-stock nay the very forge of Satan wherein he hammereth and worketh all iniquity And he walketh in darkness saith S. John His Hatred hath blinded his eyes so that he walks on and thinks he is in the right way He labours in his vocation he goes to Church he receives the Sacrament of the Body and Bloud of Christ he can do any Christian office and so he thinks he is sound and healthful even when the poyson is at his very heart And therefore S. John addeth He knoweth not whither he goeth He falls into many sins whilst he thinks he doth well An opinion he hath he is in the right way to Heaven but no Christian knowledge thereof because that darkness hath blinded his eyes so blinded his eyes that he discerneth not any as he should If he be a Prophet he obeys him not if a just man he respects him not if otherwise a friend he knows him not For Malice hath as it were informed his soul and as she makes the Body her instrument so the Soul the place of her dominion and she reigns there as the Devils Tributary Custos peccatorum the keeper of the door of the soul that Sin fly not out And watchful she is too for she never sleeps If but a thought of repentance arise she will chain it up So that whilst Hatred possesseth thy heart thy heart is a stone Broken it may be but softned it cannot be And though thou flatterest thy self that thou hast repented of thy sins yet it hath no more reality then thy Eating or Running in a Dream Oh then Beloved let us put on brotherly love the certain sign and note that God in Christ hath begotten us his children Let us forgive our enemies that so we may resemble our Father Let us root out the bitter weed of Malice the strongest Argument of a true and serious Repentance Let us cloath our selves with Charity which will make our wayes otherwise rugged and uneven to be smooth and passable being the very barr and petard to break up each door and hinderance in our way Lastly in our Apostles words Let us be followers of God as dear children The Sixth SERMON PART II. EPHES. V. 1. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children WHEN my meditations first fastned themselves upon this parcel of Scripture I then thought that the space of an hour would have both quitted them and me But this holy Oyl like that of the Widows in the Book of Kings encreased under my hands and I could not then pour it out all unto you I therefore then became your debtor And it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a holy and sacred debt and I am come now to quit my promise to pour out the remainder of the Oyl and to pay my debt even there where I obliged my self in the holy Sanctuary I then observed that these words contained in them a Duty Be yee followers of God and the Persons enjoyned this Duty the Ephesians who are stiled dear children Which title includes motives to win and enforce them to the Duty 1. because they were children a great prerogative 2. because dear children a gracious adjunct The Duty hath been handled The Motives remain Which I say include a high priviledge or prerogative For if as we are men we esteem it honourable to be of such a race and stock to be descended from this Potentate or that Prince surely then as we are Christians when we have put on our better and more heavenly thoughts we shall account it the greatest honour to derive our pedigree from Heaven to be called the Sons of God as St. John speaketh to be filii Divini beneficii as St. Augustine children of the Divine kindness to be children of God and heirs of a Kingdom and that a heavenly Kingdom to have title to a Crown and that a Crown of life But so it is Beloved that when we hear of charters and grants of priviledges and prerogatives our thoughts go no farther but stay themselves in the meer grant and priviledge The Gospel is indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good news and we delight to hear of a Saviour of a Prince of peace of one that shall make our peace and take away the sins of the world But we think not of any allegiance or duty which we owe to this Prince Glad we are he is victorious and that he hath the Keyes of Hell and of Death And wear his colours too we would but we would not come under his banner we would not fight his battels Children we all would be but where is our Duty We desire to be endeared but where is our gratitude Nay further yet we would be accounted lovely and yet remain enemies to the Grace of God Our sins we would have cover'd but not blotted out We would have God forget them and yet still walk in them And here we mistake the nature of a Priviledge For the tye thereof is as strong as that of the Law and the greatest sins are those against the Gospel Our own Chronicles will tell us that riots and disorders in Cities in one Kings reign have weakned and disannulled Charters and Priviledges granted by a former King Beloved God is the King of Kings the same to day and yesterday and for ever and he grants not his priviledges or charters that we should let loose the rains to Impiety and make our strength the law of unrighteousness The trumpet of the Gospel sounds not that we should take up the weapons of Sin to prepare our selves to the Devils battel Neither did that Tree of life grow up that we should sin securely under the bough and shadow of it And therefore the Apostle here exhorting the Ephesians to Imitation of God uses this method He taketh not his argument ab inutili
and Preferments in the Kingdome of Christ Let us not fit Religion to our carnal desires but lay them down at the foot of Religion Make not Christianity to lacquey it after the World but let Christianity swallow up the World in victory Let us clip the wing of our Ambition and the more beware of it because it carries with it the shape and shew of Virtue For as we are told in Philosophy In habentibus symbolum facilior transmutatio amongst the Elements those two which have a quality common to both are easiliest changed one into the other so above all Vices we are most apt to fall into those which have some symbolizing quality some face and countenance of Goodness which are better drest and better clothed and bespeak us in the name of Virtue it self like a strumpet in a matrons stool Let us shun this as a most dangerous rock against which many a vessel of burden after a prosperous voyage hath dasht and sunk By Desire of honor and vain glory it comes to pass that many goodly and specious monuments which were dedicated rather to Honor then to God have destroyed and ruined their Founders who like unfortunate mothers have brought forth beautiful issues but themselves have dyed in the birth of them They have proved but like the ropes of silk and daggers of gold which Heliogabalus prepared to stab and strangle himself withall adding pretiosiorem mortem suam esse debere that his death ought to be more costly then other mens and they have served to no other end but this ut cariùs pereant that the workers of them might dye with greater state then other men and might fall to the lowest pit as the sword-players did in the Theater with noyse and applause I have spoken of the Occasion of the Question and of the Persons who put it Come we now in the last place to the Question it self Who is the greatest in the kingdome of heaven The Disciples here were mistaken in terminis in the very terms of their Question For neither is Greatness that which they supposed nor the Kingdome of heaven of that nature as to admit of that Greatness which their phansie had set up For by the Kingdome of heaven is meant in Scripture not the Kingdome of Glory but the Kingdome of Grace by which Christ sits and rules in the hearts of his Saints When John the Baptist preacht Repentance he told the Jews that the Kingdome of heaven is at hand When our Saviour tells us that it is like seed sowen in good ground like a net cast into the sea like a pearl like a treasure hid in the field what else can he mean but his Kingdome of Grace on earth not his Kingdome of Glory in heaven So that for the Disciples to ask Who is greatest in this kingdome was to shape out the Church of God by the World Much like to that which we read in Lucian of Priams young son who being taken up into heaven is brought-in calling for milk and cheese and such country cates as were his wonted food on earth For in the Kingdome of Grace that is in the Congregation of Gods Saints and the elect Members of Christ there is no such difference of degrees as Ambition taught the Disciples to imagine Not that we deny Order and Government in the Church of God No without these his Church could not subsist but would be like Aristotles army without discipline 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unprofitable rout To this end Christ gave Apostles and Teachers and Pastors for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ His Teachers call us his Governors direct us to this Kingdome But the Disciples being brought up in the world thought of that Greatness which they saw did bear the sway amongst men Much like the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who thought that God bare the shape of a Man because they read in Scripture of his Feet and Hands and Eyes and the like But that it was not so in Christs Kingdome may appear by our Saviour's Answer to the Question For he takes a Child and tells them that if they will be of his Kingdome they must be like unto it By which he choaks and kills in them all conceit of Ambition and Greatness For as Plato most truly said that those that dye do find a state of things beyond all expectation diverse from that which they left behind so when we are dead to the World and true Citizens of the Kingdome of Christ we shall find there is neither Jew nor Greek neither bond nor free neither male nor female but all are one in Christ Gal. 3. 28. Jesus God looks not what bloud runs in thy veins he observes not thy Heraldry If Greatness could have purchased heaven Lazarus had been in hell and Dives in Abrahams bosome Earl and Knight and Peasant are tearms of distinction on earth in the Kingdome of heaven there is no such distinction Faith makes us all one in Christ and the Crown of glory shall be set upon the head of him that grindeth at the mill as well as upon his that sitteth on the throne Christ requires 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the nobility of the Soul and he is the greatest in his Kingdome who hath the true and inward worth of Honesty and Sanctity of life though in this world he lye buried in obscurity and silence Here Lazarus may be richer then Dives the beggar higher then the King and a Child the least is greatest in this Kingdome A main difference we may see between this Kingdome and the Kingdomes of the world if we compare them First the Subjects of this Kingdome are unknown to any but to God himself The foundation of the Lord standeth sure saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 2. 19. having this seal The Lord knowes who are his And if they be unknown who then can range them into orders and degrees Secondly of this Kingdome there is no end Thirdly the seat of this Kingdome is the hearts of the faithful Cathedram habet in Coelo qui domat corda His chair is in heaven that rules the hearts of the sons of men here on earth This earth that is this body of clay hath God given to the sons of men to the Princes of the earth under whose government we live But our Heaven our better part our inward and spiritual man he reserves to himself Kings and Princes can restrain the outward man and moderate our outward actions by their laws and edicts Illa se jactat in aulâ Aeolus Thus far can they go They can tye our Hands and Tongues and they can go no further For to set up an imperial throne in our Understandings and our Wills belongs to Christ alone He teacheth the lame to go and the blind to see and recovers the dry hand He makes us active in this Kingdome of Grace Lastly as their Subjects and Seat are different so are
one Quare resolved with so many Answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Basil This is not a matter of jest but earnest For would you have divers Families drawn into one body politick This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very bond and tye of Society Would have the Laws kept This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a watch a guard set upon the Laws Nay would you have any Laws at all This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law-giver For as Julian calls the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Child of Justice so may we call it the child of Authority For as Authority nurseth and defendeth and strengthneth it so it was the Midwife which brought it forth and the Mother too which conceived it When it was in semine in principiis when it lay hid in the lap of the Law natural Authority framed and shaped and limb'd it gave it voice and taught it to speak its own language but more audibly declared expounded amplified it and was its interpreter Will you have a Church Authority gathers it Would you have the Church continue so a Church still and not fall asunder into Schisms nor moulder into Sects nor crumble into Conventicles Authority is the juncture the cement the Contignation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pale the fence the wall of the Church keeping it so that neither the Wolf break in nor the Sheep get out that neither Heresie undermine the bulwarks without nor Schisme raise a mutinie within Such an accord and sympathy there is between the Secular and Spiritual Sword between the Church and body Politick that if the one be sick the other complains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Socrates at the same time If the Common-wealth swell into tumors and seditions you may see the marks and impressions thereof in the Church and if the Church be ulcerous and impostumate you may see the symptomes and indications in the body Politick So that now we may well render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non sine causa There is good cause good reason that a Sword should be held up that Authority be established And to this Non frustrà we may add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Authority is not onely not in vain but profitable And we may now ask not onely Quare but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely Wherefore but What profit is there And we can answer and resolve with the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Much every manner of way For let Cities talk of Charters and Tradesmen of gain let Scholars speak of learning and Noble-men of honour let the Church sing of peace to the Common-wealth and the Common-wealth echo it back again to the Church Attribute these to what you will this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is all This is Isaiahs nayle in a sure place on which hand both Laws and Church and Common-wealth If you but stir it you endanger if you pluck it out and remove it you batter all And this argument ab utili quite shuts up Frustrà 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is profitable is good and that which is good is not in vain But to step one degree further To this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we may add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Necessity to Profit Profit may lead me Necessity chaineth me I run and meet with Profit but I am forced and pluckt by Necessity And if it be not onely well it should be so but be so as that it cannot be otherwise then is it not in vain It not Profit yet Necessity excludes Frustrà And necessary Authority is not so much on Gods part as on ours For as Aquinas speaks of the natural Temple Propter Deum non oportuit Templum fieri God had no need of a Temple made with hands but Man had need that God should have one so God could have redeemed us by his own immediate absolute Soveraignty he could have govern'd us without a Sword but it was not good for Man to be so govern'd We were gone away from God and set our selves at such a distance that it was not good he should come too nigh us And therefore St. Basil calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his love to Man that as he had drawn Heaven as a curtain and made it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the veile of his Divine Majesty so in all his operations and proceedings upon Man he is still Deus sub velo God under a veile hidden but yet seen in dark characters but read silent and yet heard not toucht but felt still creating the world by conserving it I say Necessity hath put the Sword into the hand For God appears through other veils by other Mediums but we hide the face and will not see that light which flasheth in our eyes He is first sub velo naturae under the veile of natural impressions speaking to us by that Law which Tertullian calls legem naturalem and naturam legalem and speaking in us but at a distance preventing us with anticipations dropping on us and leaving in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those common notions and practick principles To love God hate evil To worship God and the like domi nascuntur To do as I would be done to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is my contemporary my domestick born and bred with me I received it with my first breath and it will live in me though I attempt to strangle it it will live with me though I would chase it away Non iniquitas delebit saith Augustine These things are written with the finger of God and Sin it self cannot blot them out But though I cannot blot them out I may enterline them with false glosses though I cannot race them out I may deface them My Envy may drop on them my Malice blur them and my Self-love misplace them On this foundation of Innocence I may build in bloud on this ground-work of Justice I may set up Oppression I may draw false consequences from these true principles I must do good I do so to my self when I wrong my neighbour I must shun evil I think I have done that when I run from goodness Like those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Aristotle those stiff and stubborn defendants to what is first proposed we easily yield assent but at last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we hunt-out tricks and evasions We are all Sophisters but it is to cheat and delude our selves And now if we read these principles in the worlds corrupt edition if unjust man may be the Scholiast thus they lye see and read them INJURIAM FECISSE VIRTUTIS EST to do injury is vertue To oppress is power Craft is police Murder is valour Theft is frugality The greatest Wisdom is not to be wise to salvation And therefore in the second place God presents himself again under another Medium sub velo legis scriptae He would be read as it were in tables of stone And in these tables he writes and promulges his Law Moral Will this
to a marriage-feast without a wedding-garment Yet we see many so come with their old cloaths and torn apparrel with the works of darkness not cast off but hanging still fast about them so that though they be there we may make a stand and doubt whether they be guests or no. We may doubt whether all be Christians in Christendome whether all in the Church be parts and members of the Church Did I say we might doubt Ecclesiam in Ecclesia quaerere Why no doubt Guests they are They were invited to the wedding and so guests They are in the company of those who were called to the feast and so of that Church and Congregation All this they may be even guests cum privilegio they may partake of all Church-prerogatives be washed in Christs laver frequent his house sit-down at his table and yet for all this be questioned nay be thrust out of doors and cast into utter darkness The Cardinal maketh it a controversie and methinks a needless one Whether magni manifesti peccatores great and open sinners and reprobates be not members of the true Church And it is the Heresie forsooth of Wickliff Hus and Calvin to deny it Novum crimen Cai Caesar Shall I say a new heresie and till of late unheard of No a plain truth it is and St. Augustine long since cryed it up with an Absit Absit ut monstra illa in membris illius Columbae computentur Lib. 2. contra Crescon Don. God forbid that these monsters should be reputed members of that innocent Dove Can we conceive Christs body with dry arms and dead parts and the City of God to be inhabited by devils Or is it possible Christs members should be thrown into hell Indeed let the Church be as he makes and presents it visibilis palpabilis a Church that may be seen and felt Let her have a body as well as a soul as St. Augustine gives her And then members they are but not intrinsecùs and in occulto intus as St. Augustine speaks not intrinsecally in that Collection of Saints not veritate finis as himself confesseth to that end and purpose they are called Nominals not Reals numero non merito in number not in weight equivocal members as we call a painted hand a Hand and a dead man a Man But we had rather let the Cardinal tell us what members they are Capilli sunt ungues mali humores they are his own words The true Christian is placed in the body as an Eye or an Ear or a Hand or a Foot But the wicked what are they Even as the Hair or Nayls or bad Humors in the body Cives non cives such members of Christs Church as Traitours are of a Common-wealth as Cataline and Cethegus were at Rome members that would eat-out the very bowels of their body and subvert Church and Christ and all But we will not funem contentionis ducere as Tertullian speaks teaseout the controversie too far Upon the upshot we shall find that we are fallen upon that fallacy which by the Logicians is called Ignoratio elenchi We fight in a mist and mistake the question quite Let us joyn issue agree upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the matter in hand let the face of the Church be the same and not vary and change colour in our alteration and the question is stated the controversie at an end For it is agreed upon on all hands That Christ hath a Floor to be purged That there are Tares amongst his Wheat That at the marriage of the Kings Sons though the guests perceive it not the King when he comes will spy some one or other that hath not on his wedding-garment That in the Church of God mali miscentur bonis the Evil are mingled with the Good to file them to an edge and brightness saith Gregory Call them Guests Friends Christians Members of the Church give them what titles you please syllabae non salvant Heaven we may gain by violence but not by spells and inchantment Names and titles will not save us Write the Devil saith Bede calculo candido in a fair character in white silver letters yet he is a Devil still and his signification is Darkness Write out an Aegyptians name with chalk yet who will say an Aethiopian is white Paint Thersites in Achilles 's armor will it stile him valiant A lame commendation it is to be a Christian in a picture to have a name only that we live to give-up no more than our names to Christ and take no more from him than his to come into the Church by the water of Baptism and to go-out by a deluge of sin A poor comfort to be the Kings guest and be questioned intrare ut exeamus to enter into his courts and then be turned out of doors This is the cafe of the Guest here who in a throng was as good as the best as well apparelled as well prepared as any but coram Deo in the Kings eyes naked and miserable and is therefore questioned Quomodo HUC INTRASTI How camest thou in hither Which is our next Part. The King is moved at the sight of the guests and one of them he questions Affections are commotions saith the Philosopher They make an earth-quake in us they move us to speak oftentimes what otherwise we would not Commonly then the language is violent and peremptory not in cold terms and by way of a plain declaration of our mind but by a sudden and abrupt interrogation Thus in Fear What shall I do saith the Steward in Love How fair art thou oh my beloved saith Christ to Luke 16. his Church in Anger Who made thee a judge say the to Moses in Acts 6. Admiration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostles of the Temple Mark 13. 1. What stones and what buildings are these And here the King comes-in one would think to welcome his guests but upon the sight of an unpleasing object he is moved spying one there who had not on a wedding-garment he is quick and round with him He says not It is not well done to come naked If you will taste of my dainties you must bring your garment with you but How cam'st thou in hither But what moved the King What raised the storm May we not set up a Quare against the Kings Quomodo May we not ask why the King asketh how he came thither How came he thither Why he was invited to come he was sent for and intreated kindly to come and he had been very unadvised if he had stayed behind We know it cost some their lives slain they were that refused Quomodo in the dining-room is a strange question v. 7. but a cold welcome to invite a guest and then ask him how he came thither But this King we know is never angry without cause He is not as Man Numb 23. 19. that he should lye is not as some men are qui irascuntur quia
rather That he who thus loveth riches may cry as loud as he will but cannot call God his Father Ye have heard of the Goodness and Love of God a Love infinite as Himself It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a perpetual circle beginning proceeding from and ending in himself All which is wrapt up and comprehended in this one word Father This is Gods peculiar title and all other fathers in comparison are not fathers Hence Christ saith Call no man your father upon the earth for one is your Father which is in heaven Yet some there have been found who have made God not a Father but a Tyrant a mighty Nimrod to destroy men for delight and pleasure perinde atque injuriam facere id demum esset imperio uti as if to set-up his children for a mark and to kill them with the same liberty a hunter doth a Deer were to be a Father What is become of Gods Goodness now Or shall we call him Father whose hands do reek in the bloud of his own children Or is it possible that his Goodness should make them to destroy them We should call it cruelty in Man whose Goodness is nothing and can we imagine it in God whose Goodness is infinite Doth a fountain send-forth at the same place sweet water and bitter saith St. James What can this James 3. 11. argue but a dissolution of that internal harmony which should be in Nature All men are made after Gods own image Now to hate some and love others of his best creatures would infer as great a distraction in the Indivisible Divine Essence as to have a Fig-tree bear olive berries or a Vine figs and imputes a main contradiction to his infinite Goodness All things were made out of meer love and to love the work of his hands is more essential to God then for Fire to burn And Gods Love being infinite extends to all for even All are less then Infinite God cannot hate any man till he hate him nor indeed can any man hate God till he hate himself God is a Fountain of Love he cannot hate us and he is a Sea of Goodness we cannot hate him Tam Pater nemo tam pius nemo No such Father none so loving none so good He that calls him Father hath answered all arguments that can call his Goodness into question But yet there is a devise found out and we are taught to believe that God is a Father though he damn us that the reprobate must think he hath done them a kind of favor in condemning them that they are greatly indebted to him and bound very much to thank him for appointing them to death and for casting them into hell-fire for ever with the Devil and his Angels Imò neque reprobi saith one habent cur de Deo conquerantur sed potiùs cur ei gratias agant The Reprobate have no cause to complain but rather heartily to give God thanks A bloudy position and which these men would not run away with such ease but that they have made a shift to perswade themselves that they are none of the number of those on whom God hath past such a sentence For should God reveal it to them that he had past such a decree upon them to damn them to hell and withal that he did it to manifest his power and glory I much doubt whether they would for their own particular in judgment and resolution be well-pleased or be so grateful as to thank him or so submissive as to call him Father Melius est matulam esse quà m simplex lutum It is better to be a vessel of dishonor than bare clay It is better to be miserable eternally than not to be are thoughts which they only can entertain who are too secure of their honorable estate here and of their eternal happiness hereafter Our Saviour who knew better than these men spake it of such a one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simply and without such qualification by distinction that it had been good for that man that he had never been born I will not build a controversie upon such a word of Love as FATHER but rather admire and adore Gods Love which he hath pledged and pawned bonis suis malis suis not only doing us good but suffering evil for us buying us with his bloud his labor his death not that we were of any worth but that we might be so even worthy of the Gospel of Christ worthy of immortality and eternal life We proceed now from the contemptation of Gods Goodness and Providence to that which we proposed in the next place the Liberal diffusion of it on all his children by which we are enjoyned to call him ours God is Christs Father peculiariter saith St. Ambrose and there is no Pater noster for him but Ours communiter by a full communion of himself unto all and therefore we are taught to pray Our Father For by the same Goodness by which he hath united us unto himself by the same hath he linkt us together amongst our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Nazianzene with spiritual ligaments From the same fountain issue our Union with Christ and our Communion with one another Therefore if we diligently observe Christs institution as we are bound then as often as we pray so often must we exercise this act of Charity towards our brethren and that in gradu supremo in the highest and greatest extent as far as concerns their good And we must do it often because every good man every disciple of Christ must make it his delight and practise to speak to the Father in the language of his Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Nazianzene How long do we hear of Mine and Thine in the Church It is not Paul is mine and Gospel is mine and Christ is mine but Paul is ours and The Gospel is ours and Christ is ours and Christ Gods Where there is Charity there MEUM and TUUM are verba frigida but icy words which melt at the very heat of that celestial fire If the Church be a Body then must every Rom. 12. 5. member supply The Foot must walk for the Eye and for the Ear and the Eye must see and the Ear hear for the Foot saith Chrysostom If a House then must every part every beam and rafter help to uphold the building If she be the Spouse of Christ then is she the mother of us all The Philosopher building up his Commonwealth tells us Civis non est suus sed civitatis Sure I am Christianus non est suus sed ecclesiae As a Citizen is not a Citizen for himself but for the whole Commonwealth so each action of a Christian in respect of its diffusive operation should be as catholick as the Church Without this friendly communication the Christian world would be as Caligula spake of Seneca commissiones merae arena sine calce stones heapt together without morter or as pieces of boards without
Father Such as care for nothing but to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof cannot put on the Lord Jesus Christ as the Apostle biddeth Rom. 13. 14. us They who will still go brave and drink deep and feed high and fare deliciously every day with the Glutton in the Gospel are likely not only Luke 16. to suffer Lazarus to starve at their doors but also to pine and begger their own souls to eternity It may seem somewhat strange that St. Paul calls Esau 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fornicator and a profane person since Moses no Hebr. 12. 16. where recordeth it And Thalassius the Monk moves the doubt to Isidore Pelusiote lib. 1. Epist who returneth a ready answer That it was no marvel at all that he should sell his chastity who first had sold his birthright for a mess of pottage For this Bread of Luxurie doth not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle speaks corrupt our health but doth aggravare animam layeth a burden upon the soul that she can neither take the wing and raise her self in the contemplation of God and his goodness nor yet prompt the Eye or Hand or Tongue to do those offices for which they were created It makes her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weaker saith Clemens and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 slower 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weak sensless stupid For quorum corpora saginata eorum animi in maciè When the body is too full streight leanness enters into the soul I may seem perhaps to have divided this Bread with too sparing a hand I will therefore give you the whole Loaf and more I cannot give you And by Bread here we will understand that provision that wealth those necessaries which every particular mans calling requires or which may fit that place which he bears either in Church or Common-wealth For I am not so strait-laced as to imagine that every Artificer should be furnisht as richly as a Noble-man or that every Nabal should make a feast like a King Not the same measure and proportion for Joab the Captain of the Hoast and for David the King for Shaphan the Chancellour and for Josiah for Gellio the Deputy and for Caesar the Emperour It is true in many respects there is no difference between man and man but all are equal We have all one Father who hath made of one bloud all nations of men And as we Matth. 2. 10. Acts 17. 26. are all made of one mold so are we all bought with the same price The soul of him that sitteth on the throne cost Christ no more then did the soul of him that grindeth at the mill All are one in Christ Jesus All true Gal. 3. 28. Christians have the same holy Spirit to sanctifie and guide them all have an army of holy Angels to pitch their tents about them all are spiritual Kings and Priests all are now vessels of grace and shall hereafter be vessels of glory And at the day of doom the great Judge will not look who lieth in a winding-sheet and who in a sheet of lead nor will he pardon this man because he was a King and condemn that other because he was a Begger Yet for all this he hath made up his Church here not of Angels but of Men who live in the world and therefore must live under Government Ecclesia non subvertit regna The Church and Secular powers stand not in opposition but so well sute and sort together that God hath left this as a blessing unto his Church and part of her dowry That Kings should be her nursing fathers and Queens her nursing mothers Now Kingdoms and Common-wealths Isa 49. 23. cannot be governed and maintained unless there be a disparity of persons and places It hath pleased God therefore to dispense his gifts in a wonderful variety amongst the children of men that so they might be fitted for several professions and callings men of ordinary fashion and parts for lower and meaner vocations to handle the Plough or the Spade or the Flail or the Sheep-hook to trade in the Shop or to traffick by Sea or to serve in the Wars but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher calleth men of more then ordinary endowments choice active persons picked out of thousands these deserve to become famous in their generations to attend on Princes to bear office in Court or Camp or Church or Common-wealth Sic opus est mundo There is a necessity of disproportion between men and men Nihil enim aequalitate ipsâ inaequalius For there is no greater disproportion in the world then in a body politick to have all the parts equal Being so it cannot long subsist Indeed some fantastick persons have long talkt of a Parity and Community but it is to make themselves supream and the greatest Impropriators in the world For were the world so weak as to yield to their holy counsel and advice you should then see these ravenous Wolfes strip themselves of their lambs-skins and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 openly before the Sun and the People invest themselves with that power which they cry down for Antichristian Sint pares protinus erunt superiores Let them part stakes and they will have all Let them be your equals they will soon be your superiors and give them but leave to stand on even ground with you and they will before you can be aware of them lay you level with the ground Now a Hezekiah is no better than a Senacherib a Constantine than a Julian every King is a Tyrant every Bishop Antichrist no Guide but the Spirit no Court but Heaven no lash but that of Conscience Meum and Tuum are harsh words in the Church Almost of the mind of the Carpocratians in Clemens who because the Air was common would have their Wives so too Quid verba audio These words are most notoriously false and deceitful For did they once rerum potiri could they but shift the scene and return back cloath'd with that power and jurisdiction which they libel their own writings which most barbarously call for the bloud and lives of men for no other reason but because they cannot be fools enough to be of their opinion shew what meek and gentle spirits we should find them Now No King No Bishop No Government But then they will reign as Kings Their little fingers would be bigger then the most cruel Tyrants loyns and we who before did not feel so much as a scourge by these unhallowed Saints should be whipped with Scorpions But I must not stray too far out of my way to follow Thieves I leave them to the mercy and justice of God who in his due time will either work their conversion or confound their devilish practices and machinations To proceed then God doth give every man his portion of bread He did so in the beginning of the world before the Floud he did so in the restitution of the world after