Physical evidence of Truth On this account mens agreement about Natural Notices is infallible It seems strange that all the World from Adam's time are agreed which is the first second and third c. day of the Week and not a day lost till now It could not be otherwise Because being a thing of Natural interest and notice if any Kingdom had lost a day by over sleeping or had agreed to falsifie it all the rest of the World would have shamed them Thus all Grecians Latines Englishmen c. agree about the sense of Words for if some would pervert them the rest would detect it Thus we are certain that the Statutes of the Land are not counterfeit For men of cross interests hold their Lands and lives by them and if some did counterfeit them the rest would by interest be bound to detect it Arg. 1. There can be no effect without an adequate cause But in Nature there is no cause that can make all men agree to assert a known falshood or deny a known Truth against all their known interest therefore there can be no such effect Arg. 2. A necessary cause will necessarily effect But where mens known Interest obligeth them to agree of a known Truth this is a necessary cause of certain credibility therefore it hath a necessary effect You know who were your Parents and when and where you were Born c. by such Tradition in a lower Degree This dependeth not on pretended Authority nor on meer honesty but on natural necessity Having premised this I come to prove that we have such Tradition of Physical infallible evidence that the Faith of the present Church in the Essentials is the same which the first Churches received infallibly from the Apostles 1. The World knoweth that ever since Christ's Ascension all that believed in him were Baptized as all Abraham's Covenanting seed were Circumcised And what is Baptism but a Profession of Belief in Jesus Christ as dead risen and glorified and a devoting our selves in Covenant to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost All that ever were Christians by solemn Vow profest this same Faith And this is such a Tradition of Christianity as humane Generation down from Adam is of the same humanity in the World 2. They that were Baptized were Catechized first in which the three Articles of Baptism were opened to them of which Christ's Death Resurrection and Ascension were part And this hath been an undeniable Tradition of the same Faith 3. The Summ of the Christian Faith was from the beginning drawn up in certain Articles called the Creed which expounded the three Baptismal Articles and all Churches on Earth had the same in sense and most in Words and all at Age that were Baptized professed this Creed Which is as full a Tradition of the same Belief in Christ's Birth Death and Resurrection Ascension and Glory as Speaking is a Tradition of the same humane Nature 4. Before Christ's Ascension he instituted the Office of the Sacred Ministry which Friends and Foes confess hath continued ever since And what is this Ministry but an Office of publishing the Gospel of Christ his Life Death Miracles Resurrection Grace c. What else have they done in all Ages in the World So that the Office is an undeniable Tradition 5. Christ and his Apostles instituted the Weekly Celebration of the Remembrance of his Resurrection on the Lord's days Friends and Foes confess the History that the first Day of the Week hath been kept for such Memorial ever since through all the Christian part of the World Which proveth the uninterrupted belief of Christ's Resurrection as a Notorious Practical Tradition 6. Christ and his Apostles ever since his Resurrection instituted Solemn Assemblies of Christians to be held on those Days and at other Times Once a Week was the least through the Christian World And what did they meet for but to Preach hear and profess the same Christian Faith 7. It was the constant custom of Christians in their Assemblies and their Houses to sing Hymns of Praise to Jesus Christ in remembrance of his Resurrection c. Pliny tells Trajan that this was the practice by which Christians were known by their Persecutors Which is a Practical Tradition 8. Jesus Christ instituted and all Christians to this Day have constantly used the Sacrament of Christ's Sacrifice called the Eucharist to keep in remembrance his Death till he come and profess their Belief that he is our Life And as the constant Celebration of the Passover with all its Ceremonies was a most certain Tradition of the Egyptians Plagues and Israelites deliverance more than a bare written History would be so hath the Lord's Supper been of the uninterrupted belief of the History of our Redemption by Christ 9. The Church hath from the beginning had a constant Discipline by which it hath kept it self separate from Hereticks who have denied any Essential Article of this Faith Which is a sure Tradition of the same belief 10. None question but Christians have from the beginning been persecuted for this same Faith and in Persecution made Confession of it Persecutors and Confessors then are both the Witnesses of the Continuance 11. When ever Hereticks or Enemies have written against Christians their Apologies and Defences shew that it was this same Faith that they owned 12. Most of the adverse Hereticks owned the same Matters of Fact 13. The Jews were long before in Possession of the Books of the Old Testament which bear their Testimony to Christ 14. The Books of the New Testament have by certain Tradition been delivered down to this present Day which contain the Matters of Fact and Doctrin the Essentials Integrals and Accidents of the Faith 15. No Enemies have written any thing against the Matter of Fact of any Moment 16. Yea the Jews and other bitterest Enemies confess much of the Miracles of Christ 17. Martyrs have cheerfully forsaken Life and all in confessing it 18. God by his wonderful Providence hath maintained it 19. The Devil and all the Wicked of the World are the greatest Enemies to it 20. The Holy Ghost hath still blest it to work the same holy and heavenly Nature and Life in all sincere and serious Believers Quest This proveth infallibly the Tradition of the same Faith in the Essentials But how prove you that the same Holy Scripture is delivered as uncorrupted Answ All the Bible is not brought down so unchanged as are the Essentials of our Religion When there were no Bibles but what Scriveners wrote no wonder if oversight left few Copies without some of their slips There are hundred of various Readings in the New Testament and of many no Man can be certain which is true But none of them are such as make any difference in the Articles of our Faith or Practice nor on which any point of Doctrine or Fact dependeth And the words are necessary but for the Matter which they do record And 1. All Ministers and all Churches
his saving Grace nor the presence of his Spirit as oft as it loseth heavenly delight Desire sheweth Love to him and to his Holiness And he never forsaketh those that love him As long as the Soul breatheth after Christ and after more communion with God and conscious of its imperfection would fain be perfect and resolveth to continue waiting for increase of Faith and Holiness in the use of the means which Christ hath appointed it is not forsaken Christ by his Spirit dwelleth and worketh in that Soul It may enter into a Cloud and Christ may be unseen and seem quite lost but the Cloud will vanish and he will appear and he will first find us that we may seek and find him If he appear to us but as in his humiliation and as crucified and thereby humble us and crucifie to us the World and the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts thereof and cause us but to seek first his Kingdom and Righteousness he will raise us higher and shew us his Glory when Grace and Conquest and Perseverance have prepared us We are in a cloudy World and Body and our sins are yet a thicker Cloud between God's glorious Face and us But as God is God and Heaven is Heaven so Christ is Christ and Grace is Grace when we see it not but fear that we are undone and entring into outer darkness And at Sun rising all our darkness all our doubts fears will vanish § 32. Luke 9. 15. There came a Voice out of the Cloud This is my beloved Son hear him Had I heard such a Testimony from Heaven would it not have set my Faith above all doubts and unbelief For the Voice that thus owned Christ and his Word might embolden me fully to trust all his Promises as it bindeth me to obey his Precepts God's Love is effective and communicative and as his Life and Light cause Life and Light so his Love causeth Love and Christ that is called his Beloved Son is likest him in Love None loveth us so much as God our Father and his Beloved Son who is also as God Essential Love And shall I think with cold or little Love of such a God and such a Saviour It is as unreasonable to fly from God or Christ as fearing that he wanteth Love to a capable Soul as to fly from the Sun as wanting heat or light O what an unruly froward thing is the corrupted Soul of Man When we think of God's judgment and how we are in his hands as to all our hopes for Soul Body we fear and are uncomfortable lest he have not so much Love and Mercy as should cause us confidently to trust him We could trust some Friends with Life and Soul were we in their power but infinite love itself and a loving Saviour we can hardly trust so far as to quiet us in Pain or Death And yet when Christ to cure this distrust hath manifested his Love by the greatest Miracles that ever God shewed to mortal men even by Christ's Incarnation his Life his Works his Death Resurrection Intercession and the advancement of humane Nature in him above Angels the greatness of this Incomprehensible Love occasioneth the difficulty of our believing it as if it were too great and wonderful to be credible Thus dark and guilty Sinners hardly believe our Fathers Love whether it be exprest by ordinary or by the most wonderful effects § 33. As Christ is called the Son of God so also are all his Members We have so far the same title that we might partake of the same comforts He is God's only Son by Eternal Generation and the hypostatical union upon his miraculous conception But through him we are Sons by Regeneration and Adoption And shall not the love of such a Father be trusted and the presence and pleasing of such a Father be desired If Manoah's Wife could say If he would have killed us Re would not have accepted a Sacrifice of us I may say If he would have damned me or forsaken my departing Soul he would not have Adopted me nor made and called me his Son Christ was made his Incarnate Son that we might be made his Adopted Sons And we are made his Adopted Sons for the sake and by the Grace of Christ his Natural Son § 34. The Command Hear him is Relative as to Moses and Elias 1. Hear him whom the Law and the Prophets typified and foretold and were his Servants and Preparatory Instructors to lead us to him 2. Hear him before Moses and the Prophets where his Coming and Covenant abrogateth the Law of Moses and as a greater Light he obscureth the less He hath revealed more than they revealed and the same more clearly Life and Immortality is more fully brought to light by him His Gospel is as the Heart of the Holy Bible We use the Old Testament Books especially as the Witnesses of Christ § 35. And whom should we hear so willingly so obediently as Christ Abraham sent not Dives's Brethren to the King or to the High-priest to know what Religion he should choose or what he should do to escape Hell torments But it was Moses and the Prophets that they must hear But God from Heaven hath sent us yet a better Teacher and commanded us to hear Him Moses was faithful in God's House as a Servant but Christ as a Son His Authority is above Kings and High-priests and they have no Power now but from him and therefore none against him or his Laws All commands are null to Conscience which contradict him The examples in Da. 3. 6. and of the Apostles tell us whether God or Man should be first obeyed Therefore it is that the Bible is more necâ—ssary to be searcht and learned than the Statute Book or Canons Were Man to be heard before Christ or against him or as necessarily as he why have we not Law Preachers every Lord's day to expound the Statutes and Canons to all the People And why are they not Catechized out of the Book of Canons or Law as well as out of the Bible And sure if we must hear Christ and his Gospel before Priests or Princes or before our dearest friends much more before our fleshly Lusts and Appetites and before a profane and foolish Scorner and before the temptations of the Devil O had we heard Christ warning us when we hearkned to the Tempter and to the Flesh how safely had we lived and how comfortably might we have died § 36. But this word Hear him is as comfortable as obligatory Hear him Sinner when he calls thee to repent and turn to God Hear him when he calleth thee to himself to take him for thy Lord and Saviour to believe and trust him for Pardon and Salvation Hear him he when calleth Come to me all ye that are weaty and heavy laden Ho every every one that thirsteth come whoever will let him drink of the Water of Life freely Hear him when he commandeth and hear
Either no Dreams or vain or troublesom Dreams are much more common And to say that Rest and Ease is my pleasure is but to say that my daily labour and cares are so much greater than my waking pleasure that I am glad to lay by both together For what is Ease but deliverance from weariness and pain For in deep and dreamless sleep there is little positive sense of the Pleasure of Rest itself But indeed it is more from Natures necessitated inclination to this self-easing and repairing means than from the positive pleasure of it that we desire sleep And if we can thus be contented every Night to die as it were to all our waking pleasures why should we be unwilling to die to them at once 5. If it be the inordinate pleasures forbidden of God which you are loath to leave those must be left before you die or else it had been better for you never to have been born Yea every wise and godly Man doth cast them off with detestation You must be against Holiness on that account as well as against Death And indeed the same Cause which maketh men unwilling to live a Holy life hath a great hand in making them unwilling to die even because they are loth to leave the pleasure of sin If the wicked be converted he must be gluttonous and drunken no more he must live in Pride Vain-glory Worldliness and sensual pleasures no more and therefore he draweth back from a Holy life as if it were from Death itself And so he is the lother to die because he must have no more of the pleasures of his Riches Pomp and Honours his Sports and Lust and pleased Appetite no more for ever but what 's this to them that have mortified the Flesh with the affections and lusts thereof 6. Yea it is these forbidden pleasures which are the great impediments both of our Holiness and our truest pleasures And one of the Reasons why God forbiddeth them is because they hinder us from better And if for our own good we must forsake them when we turn to God it must be supposed that they should be no reason against our willingness to die but rather that to be free from the danger of them we should be the more willing 7. But the great satisfying Answer of this Objection is that Death will pass us to far greater pleasures with which all these are not worthy to be compared But of this more in due place § 5. III. When I die I must depart not only from sensual delights but from the more manly Pleasures of my Studies knowledge and converse with many wise and godly men and from all my pleasure in Reading Hearing publick and private Exercises of Religion c. I must leave my Library and turn over those pleasant Books no more I must no more come among the Living nor see the faces of my faithful Friends nor be seen of Man Houses and Cities and Fields and Countreys Gardens and Walks will be nothing as to me I shall no more hear of the Affairs of the World of Man or Wars or other News nor see what becomes of that beloved Interest of Wisdom Piety and Peace which I desire may prosper c. Answ 1. Though these delights are far above those of sensual Sâ—â—ners yet alas how low and little are they How small is our knowledg in comparison of our Ignorance And how little doth the knowledge of Learned Doctors differ from the thoughts of a silly Child For from our Childhood we take it in but by drops and as trifles are the Matter of childish knowledge so Words and Notions and artificial Forms do make up more of the Learning of the World than is commonly understood and many such Learned men know little more of any Great and excellent Things themselves than Rusticks that are contemned by them for their ignorance God and the Life to come are little better known by them if not much less than by many of the unlearned What is it but a Child-game that many Logicians Rhetoricians Grammarians yea Metaphysicians and other Philosophers in their eagerest Studies and Disputes are exercised in Of how little use is it to know what is contained in many Hundred of the Volumes that fill our Libraries Yea or to know many of the most glorious Speculations in Physicks Mathematicks c. Which have given some the Title of Virtuosi Ingeniosi in these times who have little the more Wit or Virtue to Live to God or overcome Temptations from the Flesh and World and to secure their everlasting Hopes What pleasure or quiet doth it give to a dying Man to know almost any of their Trifles 2. Yea it were well if much of our Reading and Learning did us no harm and more than good I fear lest Books are to some but a more honourable kind of temptation than Cards and Dice Lest many a precious Hour be lost in them that should be employed on much higher matters And lest many make such knowledge but an unholy natural yea carnal Pleasure as Worldings do the Thoughts of their Lands and Honours and lest they be the more dangerous by how much the less suspected But the best is it is a pleasure so feâ—â—ed from the sloathful with Thorny labour of hard and long Studies that laziness saveth more from it than Grace and holy Wisdom doth But doubtless Fancy and the Natural Intellect may with as little Sanctity live in the pleasure of Reading Knowing Disputing and Writing as others spend their time at a Game at Chess or other ingenious sport For my own part I know that the Knowledg of Natural things is valuable and may be Sanctified much more Theological Theory And when it is so it is of good use and I have little knowledge which I find not some way useful to my highest ends And if Wishing or Money would procure more I would wish and empty my Purse for it but yet if many score or hundred Books which I have read had been all unread and I had that time now to lay out upon higher thing I should think my self much richer than now I am And I must earnestly pray The Lord forgive me the Hours that I have spent in reading Things less profitable for the pleasing of a Mind that would fain know all which I should have spent for the increase of Holiness in my self and others And yet I must thankfully acknowledge to God that from my youth he taught me to begin with things of greatest weight and to refer most of my other Studies thereto and to spend my days under the Motives of Necessity and Profit to my self and those with whom I had to do And I now think better of the Course of Paul that determined to know nothing but a Crucified Christ among the Corinthians that is so to converse with them as to Use and Glorying as if he knew nothing else And so of the the rest of the Apostles and Primitive Ages And