vain without them Therefore as the miracles of the Old Testament were occasioned for confirmation of all or part of the Law and the maker thereof so when alteration in that and confirmation of the Gospel was required it was requisite as great or greater should be shewed Till these things were done it was impossible for natural discourse to assent to misteries so much above its reach Nay an infidelity it had been to have departed from truths already so firmly established without higher ground Therefore our Saviour saith If I had not done amongst them those works that never any man did they had not had sin But if when custome and education as in the other example and these of our Saviour to the Jewes was so prevalent as not to give sense the greatest assurance we have leave to discern between truth and falsehood what can be expected from men now living that have onely an historical faith in that case to relye upon For although in each Religion the proof of miracles be brought in as a divine and infalible evidence of its truth yet the truth of their story depending upon the truth of that traditional Doctrine or that Scripture out of which the relation it self is framed it must follow that where difference in these things is not made by reason Religion ordinarily must have its ground and rise from meer education And so however the founders of each religion have left unto their Disciples some set or standing record or written direction both for guidance of their belief and actions yet when the same comes to be taken into credit onely upon the score of tradition and humane authority it will follow that the proof thereof can have in our belief no higher certainty then the evidence of education and authority will bear which was all the premises we made use of to frame this conclusion by But by this means having entertained a ground work in our phancy for beliefe of some principle for our direction and guidance in all things else hence comes the Bible with Christians the Talmud with the Jewes and Alcoran with the Turks to be had in such esteem that what is in them asserted is firmly believed For although to some men there may happen such freedom and ability as sometimes to eâ—quire the foundations of things yet then as it must on the one hand distaste through a plain affront to their judgement setled the other way already so cannot it on the other hand be naturally of avail farther then as true reason can without prejudice be brought to assist in the discovery For without it pretence of divine attestation to be gathered from that particular majesty and elegancy of stile which Mahomet himself and his followers do so much brag of to be found in their Alcoran as an infalible signe that it was delivered by the holy Ghost will be far from carrying the force of demonstration to persons unprejudiced It being most apparent that since thousands have and do dayly read it without any such discovery that this assent of theirs going alwayes along with such and none but such as have in their education had it perpetually inculcated unto them that it was indeed so written can proceed from nothing else but prejudice and prepossession of judgement For they cannot but conceive that if God had intended conviction that way he could have so plainly and efficaciously have done it as that those miracles they put upon him might well have been spared But it is to be considered that although from reading of books containing new argumentations and reasonings men may be altered in their judgement from what they were yet in things delivered Magistrally and by way of authority onely the assent must arise from prepossession For I read not of any Proselites made amongst the Egyptians or others from those translations of the books of several Religions wherewith Ptolomies Library was furnished So that now tradition and authority being the chief evidence it will rest the chief object of enquiry even from the universality soundness and other strength thereof for reason to lay her grounds for future certainty and belief and that not onely in preferring the sacred Scriptures in general above the records of other religions but also in discovery and distinction of the true Cannon thereof from other counterfeit or Apocriphal writings For how else shall he satisfie himself amidst those many disputes that have been from time to time raised in the Church it self and by the prime members thereof what books were true and what forged as well in the Old as in the New Testament which for so great a part of them have been controverted And whilst some of those received have been disputed of how shall he know that those refused might not with more reason have been brought in in their rooms And so again of the particular Chapters and Texts in these books how shall he finde any assurance that amidst those many Heresies that have from time to time gotten such strength in the Church some of them have not been corrupted to serve their turns Which happening but to some will cause all to be suspected for unless those places could be distinguished it may for ought I know happen to be that Book or place of Scripture which I am most to relye upon In which doubts Scripture alone cannot satisfie me For besides that nothing can be an evidence to it self if one book should undertake for attesting the rest that book must still want his attestation it being impossible to be higher or other to us that stand so far removed from evidence of the miracles brought to confirm it then is our confidence of the ability and sincerity of the tradition or those several hands and conveyances by which the record and report hereof hath come unto our hand On which if we will not altogether implicitly rest and take the truth of our religion on the hazard of our Births and education we must then as in a matter of so great weight and concern make use of that stock of reason and discourse God hath blessed us withall to discover and direct us in the way we are to go Which when done with humble petition for divine assistance it usually follows that the same grace of ingenuity that made us thus able to reach above ordinary is usually accompanied with ability thus prudentially to be advised That since the light of nature and reason discover to them a deity and also a necessity of his worship although herein they can settle themselves on no demonstration yet for satisfaction of their fears and hopes which in Atheism could never be they shall finde it more reasonable to rest on the highest probability they can get then have no rest at all Nor can this prudent course be yet left off For unless we will be altogether implicite in our beliefs and rest wholly on education for the sense and meaning of these Scriptures our reason againe must be taken up to
one or many men had their distinct copies such a total losse could not have happened And although it may be well thought that the gift of tongues might have enabled such of the holy penmen as wanted natural learning to deliver themselves notwithstanding in Greek yet this cannot make it supposable that all of them the Epistles especially were so written originally because their address is not to the Grecians or Gentiles And that Epistle to the Hebrews and those of Saint Peter and Saint Iames c. must imply them to be written in that language which was best understood by those they were addressed unto and who were to be directed by him Else it were to suppose a miracle wrought to a wrong end even that which Saint Paul doth elswhere dislike namely the speaking in an unknown tongue by which he means no doubt a tongue unknown to the Auditors In which respect to speak or write in Greek to them that understood not the language renders the Writer a Barbarian to the Auditor as well as the Auditor one to him Upon which grounds I do believe against them that doubt that the Gospel of Saint Matthew was like the other Gospels written in Greeks and that because its general address did require it to be set forth in that language which was most generally understood but for some of the Epistles I cannot be so perswaded And if that first exercised gift of tongues be marked we shall finde those endewed therewith speaking to every Auditour in his owne language And although question be made whether those auditours of divers nations might not at the same time have been endewed with the miraculous gift of interpreting and understanding a strange tongue to avoyd a greater difficulty of supposing all of them speaking at once or any one speaking several tongues at once the which Saint Peters after-speaking alone may give countenance unto yet it will plainly appear that as that gift of tongues was then used to edification and to be understood even so afterwards no doubt the penmen of holy Scripture made use of the same upon the like useful occasions and none other And as for Authors quotation of Scripture texts in this language onely none beginning to write till these books had been by the Church all collected into one volume and so put into that one most intelligible language it proves no more their writing at first in the Greek then our Saviours and others quotations of the Greek translation of the Septuagint proves the old Testament to have been written in that language also Not that we would be understood by what hath bin spoken as forbidding the publike knowledg of the Scriptures for even the same reason that makes them chiefly to be trusted to the Church and its head namly to know the better how to govern all others under them will in that regard also make them useful to Fathers Masters and many of the Subjects themselves who by their offices and callings shall have things or persons under their power and government In both which respects if they come not occasionally to concern every one as he may have his Neighbors good or ill under his trust and power even in cases remitted by his Superiour yet will they concern every one in their general precepts to patience humility obedience c. which as the proper and necessary vertues of Subjects and which must constitute government are fit for the notice of all in general without exception of the Prince himself who as under the power of God almighty must submit in a far higher degree then his Subjects can to him The knowledge of which and other necessary duties fit to direct us in our charitable abearances whither in acting upon or suffering from one another may also afford sufficient reason why there should be many precepts of all sorts of duties and concerning all sorts of people promiscuously set down in the New Testament notwithstanding that Gods immediate rule was to be inward even for that our Saviour and his Apostles having charge and guidance of souls under them it was needful for their good deportment sake that they should leave to them and unto such as should succeed in the Christian Churches besides the fundamentals such farther precepts and directions â—s might keep them in a steady course of Charity and peace one towards another when they found their duties set forth by so good authority For want of due regard whereof and of that different respect which the Scriptures do carry in their instructions and for want of that necessary and truly Christian grace of humility instead of learning and practicing those more proper duties which concern us in our distinct callings and relations for which onely we stand accomptable before God we are through pride and partiality too often found to be studious and inquisitive after so much onely as doth concern others in theirs even such as are above us for whose faults we are not to answer that thereupon we may appear more fit to teach then be taught to govern then be governed And this is not onely practised in the more civil relation of Subjects or Servants against their Prince or Master but through this misused liberty a general usurpation is almost every where now made for interpreting Scripture against the sence and authority of the whole Church and of our more spiritual guides therein to whose charge they are most particularly entrusted from which preposterous proceeding what can be expected but what sad experience doth witness even Heresie Schisme disorder and civil broyles to the scandal of Christian religion it self But now when we finde the persons in authority to be expressed in the plural number as Those that have the guide over you those that must give an account for your souls c. or else our obedience directed to the Church in general we are to understand thereby the head of each Church to be chiefly meant In which respect as there were many distinct Churches and thereupon also many heads as before shewed so the Apostle might in his general admonitions to obedience put them in the plural number of those and them And as in this sence we are to understand that precept of tell it to the Church namely to the judiciary head thereof so also are we to interpret and apply the power of the keyes and of binding and loosing to be given to the Churches head and not the diffused body which can never in all its members meet nor can otherwise then by their head hear and determine And hereupon we shall finde this power to be expresly given to the Apostles in Saint John where Christ is saying to them As my Father sent me even so send I you thereby giving them authority over their particular Churches and trusts By which means as he had formerly answered that the Son of man had power on earth to forgive sins So these sons of men also may without Blasphemy in
and trust being above mine the fault must light on him according to his determination that said He that shall break one of the least of these Commandments and shall teach men so he shall be least in the Kingdome of heaven that is shall have no share in heaven or be most punished hereafter But he that shall do and teach them he shall be greatest in the Kingdome of Heaven or in heavenly reward Which words as they shew the following power that some must have of teaching others so do they declare their greater punishment or reward to follow their trust therein according to that other saying Unto whomsoever much is given of him much shall be required and to whom men have committed much of him will they ask the more And that this was meant in regard of power of government intrusted and that also of that particular deligation of power and trust made to the higher powers in the Church appears by the occasion of its delivery having relation to the foregoing parable and admonition where the Church under the notion of the house of Christ its Lord is to be carefully watched by its present overseer put in authority by Christ from whom these Stewards are to expect their reward or punishment according to their behaviour in this charge Where by the way we may note the Monarchical designation of each Churches government because the Steward or Master of the house is still set downe and alluded unto in the singular number And we may also note that it could not be meant as appropriate to the Apostles or others as they were Ecclesiastical men and preachers onely but must intend such as are to have civil authority also as appeares by that prohibition of beating the men servants and maidens which as it must import an Officer of authority to inflict such severe and tyrannical punishments so these punishments being corporal could not denote the function of any spiritual person because they could not pretend any right hereunto From all which our benefit and duty in obedience being apparent we are not to be carryed about with every winde of doctrine So that whilst striving to serve God according to his will revealed in Scripture we might neither on the one hand be in danger to be entrapped by the wiser sort and such as have worldly ends even by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive nor on the other hand fall into the danger of such as may seem more simple and uninterested because the unlearned and unwary do rest Scripture to their own damnation But we are to know that no Scripture of God is of private interpretation that is to be interpreted by private persons but that its chief drift being to instruct us in the fundamentals of our salvation and in order thereunto to declare those misteries and general precepts that were necessary to our belief practise therein it left private men for particular guidance to the authorised interpreters thereof At first it was the Prâ—ests lips should preserve knowledge and thou shalt seek the law at his mouth they having this their law particularly set down by Moses And so also when they were to have kings he was to have a book thereof and to do thereafter But now in the Gospel as these particular legal precepts stood not of litteral divine authority but as presidents useful upon occasion so the Ministers thereof were Ministers not of the Letter but of the Spirit Whereupon it still appears that the whole drift of the Gospel and new Testament were but to set forth Christ the foundation unto us and to leave us unto the present higher powers for direction of our practice thereafter according to the light of Scripture or natural reason Therefore as we first find the scope of each Gospel to record the miracles Christ did in proof hereof so shall we finde the other discourses and doctrines therein contained usually to follow but as occasioned thereupon For Saint Iohn speaks plainly That if all that Iesus did should be written the whole world would not contain the books that should be written but these things are written that ye may believe that Jesus is Christ the son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name And so again for the other part of the New Testament namely the Epistles we are not to conceive that all that was written by the Apostles or such as had inspiration is now left unto us for of some of them there appears nothing at all and of some very little Nay Saint Paul that wrot most we may think yet wrot more then is come to our hands even as he had more gentile Churches in his charge then what his Epistles do mention by their directions and titles All which no doubt would have been divine and edifying also as well as those that are come had not want of care in those particular Churches or the calamitous condition of those times deprived us of them But now however we are to acknowledge and admire the care and providence of God and the Church in preserving and delivering to us those books and Epistles left yet in and by them we may observe that they were all but occasionally written and that no Writer did undertake to set down the whole platform of Christian obedience or to compose an entire and perfect body of Divinity but in delivery of these instructions they were still respective and even as they had particular and separate charge of Churches so wrote they unto them such instructions and precepts as they conceived most fit for their proper directions And therefore we may finde those writers not onely to differ from one another in those directions but also Saint Paul whose Epistles we have written to several Churches doth in them differ in his directions also according to that exigence and occasion which he foresaw the present condition of that people required For since at that time all Churches could not have all his or the other Apostles Epistles for if they could the same things needed not at all to have been repeated it must be supposed that what was to them already written was sufficient to instruct them in things necessary to salvation and that they in their other necessary Christian behaviours had direction by Tradition from him or elsewhere which was the occasion of that frequent admonition of keeping them And for what might be wanting in both these he refers them to be guided by the Church and such as had the rule over them under the general notions of whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise think on these things and this most especially he doth to those he wrot least For it is likely that
p. 12. CHAP. VI. Of Honor p. 16. CHAP. VII Of the Laws of God leading to Government p. 24. CHAP. VIII Of the Master of the Family p. 28. CHAP. IX Of Soveraignty and its Original and of Monarchy or Kingly power p. 41. BOOK II. CHAP. I. OF Anarchy p. 79. CHAP. II. Of Faction and its original and usual supports p. 98. CHAP. III. Of Rebellion and its most notable causes and pretences p. 104. CHAP. IV. Of Liberty p. 114. CHAP. V. Of Tyranny p. 122. CHAP. VI. Of Slavery p. 126. CHAP. VII Of Property p. 130. CHAP. VIII Of Law Justice Equity c. p. 139. CHAP. IX Of Publike good Common good or Common-weal p. 158. CHAP. X. Of Paction and Commerce p. 161. CHAP. XI Of Magistrate Councellors c. p. 177. CHAP. XII Of the Right of Dominion p. 186. BOOK III. CHAP. I Of Religion in its true ground p. 213. CHAP. II. Of Religion as commonly received p. 116. CHAP. III. Of the Church Catholike and of the Fundamentals of Religion p. 222. CHAP. IV. Of each particular Church and its power p. 226. CHAP. V. Of the forms of Church Government and of the jurisdiction claimed by Church-men p. 233. CHAP. VI. Of the head of the Church and the Scriptures interpretation p. 249. CHAP. VII Of Love and Obedience and of our state of Innocence thereby p. 261. CHAP. VIII Of the Coincidence of Christian Graces p. 277. CHAP. IX Of Charity as it stands in Nature p. 299. CHAP. X. Of Patience Long-suffering Humility Meekness c. p. 310. CHAP. XI Of Idolatry and Superstition and of the power of each Church her head in the establishment of Ceremonies and divine worship p. 328. CHAP. XII Of Antichrist p. 349. CHAP. XIII Of the mystical delivery of some divine Truths and the reason thereof p. 388. CHAP. XIV Of Athiesm p. 403. BOOK IV. OF the causes of like and dislike of content and discontent and whether it be possible to frame a Government it self pleasing and durable without force and constraint p. 419. BOOK I. CHAP. I. Of Deity FRom the observation of the dependance of one thing upon another as of its Original and Cause we must come at last to fix on such a cause as is to all things Supreme and Independent For to proceed infinitely we cannot but shall lose our selves as in a circle whose ends will be as hardly brought to meet in our conceit as it is to imagine the most remote cause and most remote effect to joyn by immediate touch Observe we again That no Operation or Effect could ever have been produced in regular and orderly manner unless the direction thereof had first or last proceeded from a voluntary Agent So that when we find the Superiour Bodies Elements and other Creatures void of sense and will by their constant endeavours either pointing to any end at all or such other ends as have respect and benefit beyond themselves they must be concluded but as Passive Agents in both cases and the latter respect especially weighed will at last bring us to pitch upon one Agent or Authour of such universal power and concern in all things as to be the true Creator and Director of them all One I say for should each Element by it self or should the will of more then one be the Guider of Productions and Effects would it not follow that this Procession of chance or different aim and will must necessarily set Nature sometimes at a stand for want of sufficient power and direction what course to follow or as it were by a kinde of Civil War make her endeavours so distracted and weak that nothing but dissolution and confusion could follow From all which we may conclude both a Deity and the unity thereof and that as a free Agent no operation could have proceeded from him without an end whereby as by an immutable Law the effects and endeavours of other Creatures stand directed and limited unto certain ends and bounds which otherwise would not proceed at all or else do it infinitely or destructively to one another And upon the same reason of having the vertues and endeavours of natural Agents and Elements thus stinted and directed it will follow that as there must be such original Elements as might have fitness to answer thesâ— Laws and Rules of Providence so this pre-existent matter could not be equally eternal with Deity but must be at first created by the same hand it is now guided for should they not or should there have been no creation at all but a perpetual pre-existence of Elements before they had by the Rules of Providence their vertues and abilities harmoniously directed they must by their irregular courses have been the destruction of one another As therefore in the first case to skip and balk the more immediate and instrumental causes of things and fasten them as immediate upon God the Supreme after the usual way of the ignorant were so to confound and jumble Causes and Effects that there should not in nature be any certain Production at all because if the Supreme Cause should be an immediate cause to the most remote effect then in order backward that remotest effect must be a cause to that which was his immediate cause before and so on or else what was the immediate effect to the Supreme before will now by its removal therefrom and coming to be as immediate cause to the most remote effect want a cause for its own Production so in this latter case the like would befal if through want of good and true observation of the dependance and reason of effects and causes till we come to the Supreme Cause or Reason we should fasten the Productions of Elements or first matter on Chance for if they be constant and uniform how shall Chance own or lay claim to them Again to make them Co-eternal with Deity is to deny his Eternity or their dependance on him who must precede the Chaos in time as that again must precede the Endowment and Regulation of the qualities of the Elements themselves in time also For so fire was before heat as the cause is before the effect which had it been Eternal and the qualites of burning thereto annexed without limit which must have been had it been from it self only what would have become of the race all things else in this general conflagration which now keeping its degrees and being confined within such and such subjects and bounds by a Superiour Power is a great and necessary help to their Production That and all things else readily obeying the Law of their Maker from whom as from a most wise Omnipotent and Bountiful Creator nothing but works and operations suitable are to be expected CHAP. II. Of Providence and its Rules in general AS therefore the perfection of this Worlds Maker doth sufficiently argue the perfection of the work so doth the perfection of the work as justly plead for continuance Continue it could not by any other Power then
in the particulars in each kind Gods goodness and power should not have been so remarkably set forth as now Nay this very Office of Kingship will not be lost by his subjection for its chief duty being protection this will be alwayes residing more or less in his power so far as by such redresses of oppression amongst men or other creatures as shall be the occasional objects of his pity he shall prove himself actually a King herein and also so much more resembling God then he as he shall be more ready and propense thereto rateable to his small degree of power And the same order may creatures below us go untill they come to inanimates on which the lowest of sensitives taking its pleasure and content as it is thereby provoked to rejoyce which is in its kinde to thank and praise â—is Maker so that inanimate or vegetive again being not sensible of any pain or injury continues in its kinde still obliged as before For as power can be no where in perfection but in God himself so to make it subsistent in other things as approaching him it must be in making them so only in comparison of one another And as the original of power is one so the more it is diffused the more weak and unworthy it is For if all men should have power over all men after a Democratick supposition as all men have power over all other creatures or as all Lyons or other Species of creatures have power over other Species below them also how would power come to nothing for want of eminence for being thus levelled he that should have most power having but what the meanest would have had in the degree of subordination and so he that hath least having still but what he hath above other things for over his fellows he must be supposed to have none he of the lowest rank is not increased in his obligation and all the other orders are decreased in theirs So that then if there were not the necessity of subordination as for peace and government sake yet as to perfection and approach to Divine resemblance by bringing the diffused power in perfect creatures to unity and existence it would be needful to men as with Angels that from the lowest order of all it should be gathered to fewer in the next rank and so on to fewer still till after the Divine examplar it were centred in one Whereby as man is the perfection and Epitome of all other creatures and as Adam contained all men so should he or some other if our fall had not crossed have stood as the more worthy for receit of Divine favor in himself and distribution of it to others with no small advantage to the whole race even as now we finde it come to pass by that fountain of mercy but in a far higher degree since the dignifying of our nature by that one person of our Saviour and so by him having access we come to be capable of those benefits which without him could not be expected In which respect we may finde him so often expressing himself under the notion of the Son of man even as one who having taken on him the Semen or original element of our kinde should to our undoubted comfort thereby make the whole race capable of dignity and bliss also And this not only in respect of our future condition as Jesus being that fundamental Corn of wheat by whose Resurrection and exaltation the several Individual graines of mankinde should be drawn unto him but also in respect of many temporal advantages arising to us here as Christ and King In order to the receit of which temporal advantages Christ himself having in the several parts of his Church his particular deputed Christs by means of them and their representing of him amongst us it comes to pass that each particular man is again made capable of the benefit of Divine protection at least so far as concerns society and government as shall be more fully declared in the next book And therefore we may observe that when God appears in kindness it is to one at once and that he never makes a general manifestation of himself but in judgement and terror as to those stubborn Israelites who thereupon said Let God speak no more to us least we die Meaning that they would have some worthy and eminent person like Moses to beare their person and represent them to Godward The which people again although as they were then Gods peculiar Church and people and had all other nations blessed or punished as they were to them benigne or averse yet was that very love and favor God cast towards them both at first placed and afterwards continued from that more eminent love and favor setled in their first father and original In such sort that after their rejection of their and our Saviour a remnant according to the election of grace should come still to be beloved for the Fathers sakes by that God who out of particular kindness had once stiled himself the God of Abraham And so we shall again finde favors and blessings promised them even for his servant Davids sake the King and representer of that Church and people From all which it will be evident that subordination in power is from God and for the good of the people it is that one is by his providence thus set over them who should as their Representative stand for them to Godward But to come neerer to shew what that power or liberty is which is requisite or proper in political constitutions we must consider each man as having an appetite and end to follow But then inasmuch as before shewed in the attaining and pursuit of these our ends we did often cross and interfere one upon another it was necessary that Laws and Rules of Government should be setled to accommodate our actions to Peace and Agreement For the same Liberty we might before justly claim as men and due to us by Nature we cannot now expect as Subjects linked in politique Societies because as I then acted for my self onely I needed no prohibitions from evil or invitations to good but now common concern makes Liberty suspensible to common approbation And because this first natural Liberty was by our fall forfeited and would if by our corrupted wills put in full use prove our destruction it was necessary the same should by his power and Laws and such as he should therewith intrust for Society and Government sake be so far restrained as the mutual good and peace of the whole should be advanced and not the wanton affected Liberty of any part of the State or Kingdom in prejudice thereof regarded And therefore the true Liberty of Subâ—ects will appear to be in the removal of all external impediments which cross his desires without regard of more publike utility And the two extreams thereof are first Slavery when this Liberty of the Subject is not regarded at all as to his
and command us cannot fail of a constant power to govern guide us also and thereupon they depending not so wholly on sense but being usually above its controul are not in like danger of a defeat by a negative from thence For Logick must assertain us by the rule of all or none whereas the other needs but look like truth and by joyning with that which hath been so fully assented unto already stands always generally proved where it is not totally contradicted To prove that there is a God a Resurrection and future judgement and the like faith is enabled by absence of negatives from sense by degrees to silence doubtings and to contract a positive assurance In which case when that which from authority or report of others or conceit raised in my self is at first apprehended as a thing that may be it will afterwards through absense of dissent or denial shake off its first state of doubting and become as a certaine conclusion of that which most assuredly is when neither experience in my self nor sufficient aurhority elsewhere doth or can demonstratively contradict Demonstratively and highly demonstratively it must be also after such time that this opinion hath once fastened it self upon these prevailing affections Even as we find that children will be so far scared by formidable tales and the apprehensions of such objects things as they could never from sense have notice of as to avoid being in the dark lying alone or the like And although these conceits were first entertained from the ungrounded reports of such persons as are of much less credit with them for ability and learning then those that do contradict it yet can it not take off the prevalence of that which hath so steady a support within and hath not strong experiments to contradict it from without This steady and effectual way of prevalence it pleased the All-seeing providence to make use of in the propagation of the Gospel it self divine wisdom never overthrowing nature but by his grace steering and directing her For although at the first for the remove of pre-occupation and making an impression in the hearts and affections of men he did extraordinarily appeal to sense by miracle yet had the encrease of the Christian faith its ordinary and next dependance on this effectual way of preaching even as that had again on the efficacy of the holy Ghost Towards the furtherance whereof as well in the first receipt as growth afterwards it pleased God Almighty also to make that natural thirst to be always living and that imbred sense of Morality accompanied with that continual humor of each mans adjudication for his own merit and for the demerit of others to serve as steps and degrees whereby to enter as well as preside in the belief of mankind and that in a more high and steady degree of energy and effectual operation then could be done by any doctrine brought in and made dependant on such philosophical disputes as were then raised in the Grecian Schools For although it be not hard to prove both a Deity and the excellency of the Christian faith by such like disputations as S. Paul once used in the School of Tyranus which may also be sometimes necessary for conviction of such as are capable of impressions that way soonest yet considering that even the wise and best learned are swayed by natural affections as well as others it is not to be doubted but that the reliance on these two mastering passions of hope and fear would render the instructer to be most generally and steadily prevalent even by proposal and pressing upon them rewards and punishments of so great height as were above the degree of any former comprehension In which case of exaltation of and pressure upon these affections especially that of fear we shall be often drawn to seek or avoid benefits or dangers which are neither present nor can have other sensible assurance that they will be and in the mean time stand neglectful of those which sense it self demonstrates both to be and to be formidable For there is none that can have equal assurance of the reality of Purgatory or Hell fire as of that which is in his kitchin yet by reason of this so often and pressing presentations thereof to the fancy and so to the affections by fear he will through the instigation thereof have his will inclined to take notice of that which he believes is most to be feared and so consequently will prosecute or avoid all those courses which he is made believe will acquit him of the danger hereof These things well considered there will be good cause found even in reason also for that prevalency and spreading ability which attended the Professors of the Protestant Religion over those of the Church of Rome For those more nice and retired speculations of the Schoolmen could not with all their fine subtilties so accurately delivered in their Books and Disputations be reasonably presumed half so efficatious for conviction in those things where reason was but subservient as was those more familiar insinuations which the Protestant Preachers applied themselves unto in their sermons made suitable to the affections of their present Auditors For first there are more that hear Sermons then read Books and again the Preacher can better know and distinguish the temper and inclination of his Auditory then the writer can of those that shall read him And besides there is a great efficacy to be attributed to elocution and gracefulness of delivery And in the sub-divisions of Protestants again we find that side still most prevalent and encreasing that is most sedulous in this course of Preaching also and that also in the plainest manner For that language and exact method that would hecome a Sermon made at S. Maries would be unfit and ineffectual to be used in a Country Auditory In the first it is expected he should be exact in his observation of Order and Scholastick Rules and Expressions whereas he that makes a Sermon or writes a Book of a vulgar address it behoves him to be more copious and plain in his delivery even so far as he conceives his hearers or readers not fitted with pre-notion enough to conceive and understand him in a more compendious and exact method and in case he find them possessed with strong aversions and pre-occupations he is then to enlarge himself and to make use of repetition and inculcation of Doctrine whereby he may be able to convict at several times and by degrees such as could not or would not be won at once and on a sudden the which I hope may serve as an apology for my self in those itterations and ways of pressure I have used all along this present Treatise by which or by transferring and reflection on my self if I have become a fool for truths sake and for conviction of such as are puffed up against one another and against Christs Ministers too I am not wanting of good Authority and