resisting Princes and disturbing States in the behalf of Holy Church When such actions make men fit to be joynt purchasers with Christ in the Redemption of the World But when the French Histories say 't was disputed long after in Paris whether he were Damn'd or Sav'd that the Church in her publique Offices should pray to go thither where he is gone to have his Society though it expresse their most infallible assurance of the condition of those men who for their sakes resist the Secular Powers yet O my Soul enter not thou into their counsels in this world neither say a Confederacy to whom they say a Confederacy Much lesse pray to be in their Society who by resisting S. Paul sayes do receive unto themselves Damnation Secondly It is notorious that in their first General Counsel at Lyons Anno 1245. the Emperour Frederick the second by the Sentence of the Pope and the whole Councel after long deliberation and producing several Arguments which they say are not sleight but effectual to prove the suspicion of Heresie is depriv'd of his Empire all his Subjects are absolv'd from their oath of Allegiance and by Apostolical Authority forbidden to obey him Therefore that such things may be done in the cases of Religion hath the Authority of a General Council 't was that Councel that Decreed Red Hats to Cardinals Hats red it seems not onely with the Royal Purple but with the Blood of Kings and of Royalty it self Thirdly I should have urg'd the well known Canon of the General Councel of Lateran the greatest their Church ever boasted of which sayes That if the temporal Lord shall neglect to purge his Territories from such as the Church there declares Hereticks he shall be Excommunicated by the Metropolitan if he do not mend within a year complained of to the Pope that so he may declare his Subjects absolv'd from their Allegiance expose his Lands to be seiz'd by Catholicks who shall exterminate the Hereticks saving the right of the chief Lord Provided he give no impediment to this But the same law shall be observed to those that have no chief Lords that is who are themselves Supreme This I should urge but that some say that penal Statutes which are leges odiosae tantum disponunt quantum loquuntur Therefore this Canon since it does not name Kings it does not they say concern them although 't is plain it do sufficiently enough But that there may be therefore no evasion Fourthly In the General Councel of Constance that part of it I mean that is approv'd by their whole Church The Pope and Councel joyn together in commanding all Arch-Bishops Bishops and Inquisitors to pronounce all such Excommunicate as are declared Hereticks in such and such Articles and that of Transubstantiation half-Communion and the Pope's Supremacy are among them or that favour or defend them or that Communicate with them in publique or in private whether in sacred offices or otherwise â—tiamsi Patriarchali Archiepiscopali Episcopali Regali Reginali Ducali aut aliâ quâvis Ecclesiasticâ aut mundanâ praeâ—uâ—geant dignitate And Commands them also to proceed to Interdicts and deprivation of Dignities and Goods and whatsoevâ—r other Penalties vias modos Thus that Councel though it took away the Peoples right to the Blood of Christ denying them the Cup in the Sacramcâ—t gave them in exchange the Blood of thâ—ir own Kings making them a right to that And that they extend the force of these Canons to the most absolute Princes even to him that pleads exemption most to the King of France is plain because when Sixtus the fifth thundred out his Bulls against the then King of Navarre afterwards King Henry the fourth of France and the Prince of Conde depriving them not onely of their Lands and Dignities but their Succession also to the Crown of France absolving their Subjects from their Oaths forbidding them to obey them he declared he did it to them as to relapsed Hereticks favourers and defenders of them and as such fal'n under the Censures of the Canons of the Church Now there are no other Canons that do take in Kings but these which can touch him for that of Boniface the eighth which sayes the Pope hath power to judge all temporal powers is declared not to extend to France Cap. merâ—it de priviledg in extravag communibus Thus by the publique Acts of their Church and by the Canons of their General Councels we have found in causes of Religion Deprivation of Princes Wars and Bloodshed and the other confequent Miseries are establisht Rebellion encouraged by a Law And if Rebellion he as the sin of Witchcrast then we know what manner of Spirit they are of that do encourage it sure witches have no spirit but the Devil for familiar But the Church of England on the other side in her publique Doctrine set down in the Book of Homilies establisht in the 39. Articles of her Religion says in expresse words that it is not lawful for Inferiours and Subjects in any case to resist and stand against the Superiour Powers that we must indeed believe undoubtedly that we may not obey Kings Magistrates or any other if they would command us to do any thing contrary to Gods Commands In such a case we ought to say with the Apostle we must rather obey God than Man But nevertheless in that case we may not in any wise withstand violently or rebell against Rulers or make any Insurrection Sedition or Tumults either by force of Arms or otherwise against the Annoynted of the Lord or any of his Officers 1 Book of Hom. 2 part of Serm. of Obed. Not for Reformation of Religion for what a Religion 't is that such men by such means would restore may easily be judged even as good a Religion surely as Rebells be good men and obedient Subjects 2 Book of Hom. 4. part of the Serm. against wil ful rebellion The very same thing is defined in the first of the Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical of the year 1640. for Subjects to bear Arms against their King offensive or defensive upon any pretence whatever is at least to resist the Powers which are ordâ—in'd of God and though they do not invade but only resist S. Paul tells them plainly he that resists receives unto himself damnation This was the Doctrine of the Church in those her Constitutions although there was no Parl. then sitting to enact these Canons into Lawes yet since that time the Law of England is declar'd to say the same and we obliged by it to acknowledge that it is not Lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King by this Parliament whose memory shall be for ever blessed And now it is not hard to know what manner of Spirit our Church is of even that Spirit that anoynts the Lords Anoynted that is which
he did return to slay them then they sought him and they returned to enquire early after God and they remembred that God was their Rock and the high God was their Redeemer Psal. 78. 34 35. So that from such induction the Prophet might pronounce that when Gods Judgments are in the Earth the Inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness Esay 26. 9. and S. Peter in the Text they that have suffered in the flesh have ceased from sin Which calls me to my second Task 2. To shew first by what arts the flesh engages men into courses of sin and by what methods it does work them up to the heights of it That I may Secondly declare how sufferings blast those methods and make all the arts of flesh either unpracticable or too weak 1. That the carnal appetite should reach after and give up it self to sensual delights is so far from strange that it is its nature 't is the law of the members the very signature of flesh an inclination imprinted into it of which it can no more devest it self than the heated Deer can restrain it self from thirsting and panting after water brooks But when Reason and Religion have set bounds to this appetite for it to scorn these mounds for that Law in the members to fight with and prevail against the Law in the mind those original dictates born in it and Christian Principles infused into it this is the Fleshes aim and sin Now this it does by exciting to ill actions as being sauc'd with pleasures and contents and by indisposing to good actions as being troublesome or not at all delightfull to the sense and as for all other delights it hath no apprehension of but indisposeth for them perfectly So that this it does it engages too much in Pleasures here and it takes off all cares or thoughts of any joyes hereafter both these I will shew you and thus it works 1. It prevails with us to indulge our selves the fall use of lawful pleasures and for this the Flesh will urge it is the end of their Creation to do otherwise were to evacuate Gods purpose in the making Did he give us good things not to enjoy them Thus every sort of sin insinuates it self at first Youth will not deny it self converses with temptations although he have reason to fear they will commit a rape upon his warmer passions which are chaf't by such encounters But God has not forbid him Conversation and why should he be an Anchoret and recluse in the throngs of Cities and of Courts Another that would not by any means be luxurious or intemperate yet goes as near them as he can and contrives to enjoy all those delights that do indeed but sauce Intemperance and make Excesse palatable And truly why should he restrain himself from meats and drinks and be a Jew again All these believe they live righteously soberly and Godly enough This resolution works in every recreation pleasure honour and advantage of this World men are content to make as near approaches to the sin as they can and indeed believe they have no reason to be morose unto themselves I will deny my self nothing that God hath not denyed me but enjoy as far as possibly and lawfully I may But then by doing thus it Secondly does oft take in somewhat of the immoderate and unlawful which cannot be avoided both because it is hard to set the exact bounds and limits of what is lawful The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Line that meers out Vertue from its neighbour Vice is not so plain in every place as to chalk out exactly to this point thou mayst come and no farther hence the man sometimes mistakes himself into a fault however the extremity of lawful is we know the confines and very edge of vice And then to him that playes upon the brink of sin it is a very easie step into it and indeed unavoydable when a man is rusht and hurried on not onely by his inward stings and incitations but by the practise of the World which makes use of that holy Name of Friendship to bring vice into our acquaintance and to befriend us into everlasting Death of such Friends I can have legions in Hell and the God of this World will serve me upon this account to procure for my Sin and my Destruction but howsoever when the Appetite is heated they are not to be denyed Thirdly this happening therefore sometimes proves a Snare and bait still to go on both as it takes away the horrour and the a versation of the sins which at the first seem uncouth till a man be experienced in them and also as it smooths the way for such beginnings do nurse up an Habit and prepare a Custome and make vice very easie which at first it is not while the Appetite is modest and not able to digest full Doses till use enlarge and stretch it And now the Mind which by these means tasts diverse Pleasures and the Degrees of them and finds a gust in them yet not being satisfied in any one as 't is impossible it should be stirs up the Appetite to vary and proceed that that contentment which single pleasures could not afford diversified might make up Wretched Nature using that as an Attractive which should repell for who would hugg a Cloud embrace that which does not cannot satisfie but onely Flesh which for that very reason hunts on and follows the scent And by doing so a while it brings upon it self Fourthly Something like a necessity of doing so Thus Continence would be some mens Disease and the Intemperate cannot live without his Vice but gapes as much as Thirst and Feavour do and if he have not satisfaction suffers as many qualms and pangs as his riot used to cause in the Apprentisage of his sin so that there is a kind of necessity of the practise and he wisely seeming to make a vertue of necessity begins to think them the onely happiness at least of this life freely without reluctancy embracing them And now the Flesh is Callous and if you doubt how it could so harden it self as not to be pervious to any stings of Conscience but Proof against all Pricks though Experiment may perswade you yet I will shew you the Method As all Appetite you know is blind so the Guides also of Carnall appetite The senses are very short sighted they cannot look forward to the next Life to the hopes of Heaven or the pains of Hell to bring them into the ballance with the present pleasure and see which does over weigh The Flesh onely lives extempore looks but upon that which is before it scarce on that We have sufficient experience of this for when one vice will not look forwards a year or two to the penury and rottenness some courses do pull down And when another vice as if it had learnt to fulfill our Saviours command and take no care for the morrow will not think of the next mornings pains and
fire kindles his sacrifice with the flames of Hell for so S. James does call those heats He that gives God any of his performances and hath a naughty Heart like Nadab and Abihu he presents his offering in an unhallowed Censer and all his holy worship will get nothing else from Heaven for him but a consuming fire as theirs did He that will offer any thing to God must take a care it be not tainted with such mixtures which spoil all the Religion making it not sincere and also spoil the Heart by making it not clean and undefiled The last remaining sense A Clean and undefiled Heart Of those things which our Saviour sayes defile the man some are meerly sins of the Heart such as may be consummated within the Soul and for the perpetration of which a spirit is sufficient to it self such are Pride especially spiritual pride the sin of those that think none holy as themselves and cast the black doom of Reprobation upon all that do not comply with their opinions and interests such also are uncontentednesse with our estates inward repinings at the dispositions of Providence concerning us black malice bitter envyings Now in these as the mind does need no outward members to consummate them requires no accessary organs to work them out so neither does it require any outward accessary guilt to make them liable to condemnation we know 't was one sin of the spirit onely that made Angels Devils If a foul body be abominable to the Lord shall a foul spirit be less odious he that defiles his Soul offends God in a much neerer concern of his because that speaks neerer relation to him then the body this was only his workmanship made out of Earth the Spirit was created out of himself a foul body is but filthy Clay but he that does pollute his Soul does putrefie the Breath of God and stains a beam of the Divinity The other sort of things that are said to come from the Heart and to Defile are those which S. Paul calls works of the Flesh such as if they be committed must be committed outwardly Murders Drunkennesse Revellings Revenge Wrath and Contentions Seditions Factions Schismes all Uncleannesses c. In these indeed the Heart can be but partiall Actor the utmost it can do is to desire and to intend them and to contrive and manage the designs of compassing them which yet Providence or the Innocence of others may put out of the reach of mans power or his own temporal fears may make him not dare to set upon them though he do cherish the desires Now if they beobstructed from committing most men use to conclude gently of their guilts while they do keep within the Heart the Execution of them is the onely thing that does look mortal and till the sin be perfected there is no death in it And truly I confesse that as it happens many times on a sudden surprize of soul when a bright gilded temptation strikes the heart and dazles the mind we see that the Will rushes on it instantly consents and wishes heartily yet within a while the Spirit does recover out of the surprize puts by the thrusts of fancy and the stabs of the temptation and that Will languishes and dies like a velleity as if it had been nothing but a woulding and now the man would not by any means consent to the commission In this case though there be a guilt to be repented of and cleansed with many tears yet this is Innocence in the comparison but if the Will purpose contrive and do its utmost it is the same to the man as if he had committed T were easie to demonstrate this that whatsoever evill thing a man intends and does fixedly resolve he is guilty of though he do nothing or though the thing he chance to do be never so much lawful Those sayings of S. Paul I know and am perswaded by the Lord Jesus that there is no meat unclean of it self but to him that esteemeth any thing unclean to him it is unclean Rom. 14. 14. and he that doubteth is damned if he eat v. 23. These could have no truth in them unlesse the heart by choosing and pursuing to the utmost any thing that it does judge unlawful incurr'd the guilt of that unlawfulness even to Damnation and all that meerly by it self without the Action which in that case had nothing sinful in it A weight that is upheld by a mans hand and otherwise would rush down to the earth does surely gravitate as much it is as heavy though it do not fall quite down as if it did and were it let alone it would A settled tendency a resolv'd inclination to sin that presseth with its utmost agitation is that weight which though it may perchance be stopt in its career yet it tends to the Abysse its center and will not rest but in that Pit that hath nor rest nor bottome the Heart in this case is as liable as it can be because here it hath done its worst and such a will shall be imputed to it self And now I need not tell those who are still designing sin or mischief in the heart although it never dares come out of those recesses how far they are removed from the goodnesse of God to Israel A Father finds a way to prove such souls have larger doses of Gods Vengeance who when he had asserted that the soul does not dye with the body and then was askt what it did in that long interval for sure it is not reasonable that it should be affected with any anticipations of the future Judgment because the business of the day of Judgment should be reserved to its own day without all prelibation of the sentence and the restitution of the Flesh is to be waited for that so both soul and body may go hand in hand in their Recompences as they did in their demerits joynt partners in the Wages as they were in the Works To this he answers The Soul does not divide all its operations with the Body some things it acts alone and if there were no other cause it were most just the Soul should there receive without the Body the dues of that which here it did commit without the Body That 's for the former sort of sins those meerly of the Heart And for the latter sort the Soul is first engaged in the commission that does conceive the sin layes the design of compassing and does contrive and carry on the machination and then why should not that be first in Punishment which is the first in the Offence Go now and reckon that thy outward grosse transgressions are the only dangerous and guilty ones and slight thy sins of Heart but know that while thy flesh is sleeping in the quiet Grave at rest and ease thy Spirit then 's in Torments for thy Fleshes sins and feels a far severer Worm than that which gnaws thy Body Poor Soul Eternity of Hell from Resurrection to For-ever
by early engagements tyed themselves to the observation of its duties if principles of probity in Nature fomented by others instil'd with Education have made impressions of duty on the mind and wrought a reverence and awe of God and of Religion which is a fence about them and does keep off Vice by making it seem strange uncouth and difficult while these fears and aversations are rooted in them why then the first thing that they do as soon as Youth and the Temptations do stir within them is to poyson these their own Principles by evil Conversation and from that and Example take infusions which shall impregnate them with humours of being in the fashion of the World Thus they labour to strangle the then troublesome modesties of Nature and of Virtuous breeding thus they look out ill Company to infect themselves And surely they that seek the Plague and run into infection we have cause to fear they have a Resolution to dye But Secondly If notwithstanding this in the first practises of Vice their former Principles stir and ferment within and fret the Conscience set that on working why then if the sin sting gently do but prick the heart and make an out-let for a little gush of Sorrow then in spight of Scripture they do teach themselves to think that grief Repentance and by the help of that conceit this sorrow cools and doth allay the swelling of the mind washes away the guilt and thought of the commission they have been sad and they believe repented as if those stings opened the fountain for transgression and those little wounds did flow with Balsom for themselves And by this means that sting of the old Serpent fin while it pretends to cure by hurting thus proves indeed the Tempter to go on For if this be all why should a man renounce all the Contents and satisfactions of his Inclinations and mortifie and break his nature to avoid a thing which is so easily repented for No if it be no worse they can receive this Serpent in their bosome dare meet his sting and run upon these wounds and they do so till the frequent pungencies and cicatrices have made the Conscience callous and insensible the heart hardned But if their first essays of sin were made unfortunate by Notoreitie or some unhappy circumstance and so the wound were deep and the Conscience troublesome and restlesse because this is very uneasie these inward groans make discord in their cheerful aires make their life harsh they therefore find it necessary to confront the shame with Courage of iniquity go boldly on that so they may outlook it sear their own Conscience that its wounds may not bleed And as those Fiends of Men who Sacrific'd their Children in the fire to Moloch that they might not hear their Infants shreek nor their own Bowels croke had noyses made with Timbrels to out-voice them So these to drown the cryes and howlings of their wounded mind put themselves in perpetual hurry of divertisement and vice make Tophet about themselves and with the noyse of Ryots overcome all other because they will not hearken to those groans that call for the Physician of Souls and then sure these resolve to dye Nay if this will not keep them quiet you may see them sometimes ruffle with their own Consciences defie present Convictions in the very instant of Commission men so set on Death that they Condemn themselves in that which they allow And though a man would think there should be little satisfaction in those pleasures which Condemnation thrusts it self into and which have an alloy of so sad apprehensions yet such are it seems the satisfactions of sin For while it stabs and gashes He brave Hero of Iniquity can charge the wounds and take the Vice Yea Thirdly though the Lord himself appear and take part in the Quarrel joyn with our Principles and Conscience against the fin and with importunate calls alarm us give us no rest ordain a Function of men by whom he does beseech us dresses their Messages with Promises of that which God is blessed in and arms them too with Terrors such as Devils tremble at and joyns his Holy Spirit too that Power of the Highest sends him in Tongues of Fire that he also may Preach this to our very Hearts and fright us with more flame And yet the sinner breaks these strengths and vanquishes the Arts and strivings of Divine Compassion If these Embassadors speak Charms it is but what God tells our Prophet in this Chapter v. 32. And lo thou art unto them as a very lovely Song of one that hath a pleasant voyce and can play well on an Instrument And it does dye like that as it there follows They hear thy words but they do them not And if they flash in Hell against their vices in torrents of threatning Scripture they concern themselves no more than they would in the story of a new Eruption of Mount AEtna or Vesuvius Yea they do quench the Spirit and his fires do not like the deaf Adder stop their ears against his whisperings and the charms of Heaven that were a weaker and less valiant guilt but are Religious in hearing them curious that they may be spoke with all advantages to make it harder not to yield and live that so they may expresse more resolution to perish and with more courage and solemnity may sin and dye Nay more when God hath found an Art to draw themselves into a League and Combination against their vices bound them in Sacraments to Virtue made them enter a Covenant of Piety and seal it in the Blood of God and by that foederall Rite with hands lift up and seizing on Christ's Body and with holy Vows oblige themselves to the performances or to the Threats of Gospel which they see executed in that Sacrament before their eyes see there death is the wages of iniquity they shew themselves its damned consequences while they behold it tear Christ's Body spill his Blood and Crucifie the Son of God yet neither will this frightful spectacle nor their own ties hold them from sin and ruine they break these bonds asunder to get at them The Wiseman sayes that wicked men seek death and make a Covenant with it and so it seems But sure they are strange wilful men that seek it at Gods Table in the Bread of Life that will wade through an Ocean of mercy to get at Perdition and find it in the Blood of Christ will drink Damnation in the Cup of Blessing men that poyson Salvation to themselves They that contract thus for Destruction and tye it to them at the Altar with such sacred Rites and Articles are sure resolv'd and love to dye Fourthly God had provided other Guards to secure men from sin and Death the Censures of the Church of which this Time was the great Season and the discipline of abstinence we now use is a piteous relique all that the world will bear it seems But as the
raised to life again by it we shall rise to Immortality of Life and blessednesse receive all that we do believe more than we can comprehend receive the end of our Faith the salvation of our Souls Which God of his Mercy state us all in for the sake of Jesus Christ the Authour and the Finisher of our Faith and the Captain of our Salvation To whom with the Father c. SERMON IX VVHITE-HALL Sixth Wednesday in LENT 1664 5. GAL. 11. 20. I am Crucified with Christ. THE Ancient Observation of this Time would justifie my choyce make the Text Seasonable in the most severe sense it can put on when in their Exomologeses they ate onely the Bread of Sorrow and tears were their Drink day and night so as that in the Agonies of their Repentance they did Crucifie without a Metaphor and mâ—rtifie the Body of Flesh as well as Sin But it seems to have happened in our Sins as in our great Diseases men are grown more skilfull and have found out much more grateful wayes of Cure there is no need of going through a discipline of Torments a whole course of Medicinal Cruelty but they can heal at least palliate with more ease and speed Besides that Christianity is now of a more delicate and tender make and cannot bear austerities neither come I here to call for them or to provoke their Constitutions if they have found a softer and more pleasant way to Heaven on Gods Name let them walk in it onely in our walk we are now coming within ken of the Crosse of Christ and we can bear commemorations of his Passion they make the closing Ceremony of this Season which was set aside on purpose by the preparations of Humiliation to fit us for the performances and expiations of that Day by Repentance to to put off our Old Man the whole Bâ—dy of Sin that we may hang it on his Crosse as we go by That is the onely use of this time and the onely application of that Day Which I crave leave to shew you how to make at once And without this that Ceremony howsoever solemn will be meâ—rly pageantry not Worship the observation but dramatick and we shall have no part in the Atonement onely in the Scene of that dayes Tragedy rather than Sacrifice He onely Celebrates that Passion onely he partakes that Offering who can say with S. Paul I am Crucified with Christ. In which words we shall first endeavour to discover what this person is I. Secondly what the Nature is of that Condition and estate which S. Paul does affirm here of that person and that First in it self Crucified I am Crucified Secondly in its adjunct with Christ Which because it cannot signifie conjunction in time he is not now upon the Crosse that I might say now I am Crucified with him nor when He was was I that I might say then I am Crucifiâ—d with Christ but we shall find it hath other importances First it implies a likeness to Christ's Passion I am Crucified as he was so it means through the whole Rom. 6. and the being crucified with Christ is what S. Paul elsewhere expresses by the being made conformable to his death Secondly it imports more even Communication and partaking with him in his Passion being planted together in the likenesse of his death Rom. 6. 5. and I am Crucified with Christ does mean I have a fellowship of his Sufferings as he words it Phil. 3. 10. Thirdly it means also a conjunction of causal relation that there is a Vertue and Efficacy in the Crosse of Christ to work the Sinner into Crucifying of his sin so the particle must needs import Ephes. 2. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath set us together with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Where we are neither in conformity nor fellowship but onely in our head and in our cause so I am Crucified with Christ does mean his Passion hath an influence to Crucifie and cause in me the death of Sin Of these in order and First what this person is I say not who we know it was S. Paul but what And the reason of the Enquiry is because we find indeed elsewhere crucifying the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts required and we are also bid to mortifie our members that are on the Earth such as Fornication and Uncleannesse Covetousnesse and the like But these are not I how am I mortified in these Is it because it may be they are grown so dear to me that I am Crucified in their destruction and long practice and acquaintance hath riveted them into my very heart Now the Wen we know though an excrescent tumour but an accessory bag of noxious humours yet if it lay hold on any noble part take in some Nerve or Artery then he must cut the thread of Life that cuts it off So he must rent my heart indeed that tears my pleasures from me Life it self does seem to have so little satisfaction without them that it is a death to me to part with them Or else hath the Old Man no Soul is he all Flesh and hath Iniquity debas'd the whole of him so that his very Spirit is become Body of Sin so as that Wickednesse should be our very Being be all one with us and I and my corruptions prove denominations of one importance signifie the very same so it is indeed Besides the carnal part that is sold under sin and consequently does deserve the Cross that punishment of Slaves the part also that is in the quite opposite extream that lusts against the flesh that must be made away Be ye transform'd by the renewing of your mind Rom. 12. 2. And if there be any sublimer and more defaecated part in that it must submit to the same Fate Be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind Ephes. 4. 23. Corruption hath invaded that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the diviner ruling part is grown a slave to the Beast part of him it hath debaucht its notions whereby it should discriminate good from evil so that now it can discern no natural difference between them but does measure both meerly by his present inclinations and concerns and the eternal Lawes of Honesty are blotted out and principles of interest and irreligion rais'd there in the place and buttress'd by false reasonings and discourses Now all these Fortresses of Vice that maintain and secure a man in sin must be demolisht all such imaginations cast down and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and every thought brought into Captivity to the obedience of Christ That Spirit of the mind must be destroyed and we transformed into persons of new notions and reasonings But above all the remaining part of man his own Will must be mortified which besides its natural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by perverse inclinings to sollicitations of flesh is most corrupted and most dangerous in that which way soever it
like our Disciples that would call for fire from Heaven on the Village that rejected Christ these will raise up fire from Hell to consume their own Prince and his Progeny the whole line of Royalty the Church and Nation also in their representative and all this onely for refusing him that calls himself Christ's Vicar There are I must confesse among them that renounce the practice and say 't was the devise only of some few desperate male contents wicked Catholiques and design'd by the Devil And they will allow their Father Garnett to have had no other guilt but that he did not discover it having received it in Confession And this gives me occasion to propose a story to your patience and conjectures Not long before the time of this attempt a Priest of the Society of Jesus in a Book he publisht does propose this case of Conscience Whether a Priest may make use of what he hath learnt in Confession to aveâ—t great impendent mischiefs to the Government as for Example One confesses that himself or some other had laid Gun powder and other things under such an House and if they be not taken thence the House will be burnt the Prince must perish all that passe throughout the City will be either certainly destroy'd or in great peril and resolves it thus 'T is the most probable and safe opinion and the more suitable to Religion and to that reverence which is due to the Sacrament of Confession that it is not lawful to make use of this his knowledge to that end That his Holiness Clement the 8. had just before by a Bull sent to the Superiours of the Regulars commanded most studiously to beware they make not use of any thing which they come to know by Confession to the benefit of the secular Government He adds that in cases of Confession the Priest must not reveal though death be threatned to him but may say he knows it not nor ever heard it quia rever à non scit nec andivit ut homo seu pars reipub Tea he may swear all this if he but mentally reserve so as to tell you 'T is Del Rio in 6th Book of his Mag. dis 1. Cap. Sec. 2. It seems 't is safer to break all the obligations to Allegiance and to truth his duty and his oaths the Princes and Gods bonds than the Seal of Confession But I did not mention this to let you see the kindness these men have to Princes and their Government I shall avoid producing any the opinions of particular persons howsoever horrid in my arguments this day but I onely ask whether it be not very probable this instance was the thing to be attempted on this day Whether the resolution was not publisht the Pope's Bull if not made yet produc't at least to caution any Priest that should receive it in Confession and should be so honest as to abhor the Fact yet from betraying it and hindring the Execution of it If it were the case this was not then any rash attempt of some few desperate malecontents but a long contrivance and of many heads and its taking its effect was the great care of their Church Well they are even with us yet and lay as horrid Projects to the charge of Protestants Among our other Controversies this is one whether are the worse Subjects bloody sayings are produc't from Authours on both sides yea there is the Image of both Churches Babel and Jerusalem drawn by a Catholique Pen and then you may be sure all Babell's divisions and confusions make the draught of ours and are said to be the issue of the Protestant Doctrines Whereas such things though countenanc't by some particular Authours of their Church were never own'd by any publique Act or Doctrine of a general Councel to which they provoke us I must needs confesse our Calendar can shew a thirtieth of January as well as a fifth of November There are indeed that say the Romanists hatcht that dayes guilt and challenge any man to call them to account for saying so But whether so or not which Churches Doctrines such things are more suited to I will now put to tryal that we may know what Spirit each is of And I will try it by the publique Acts and most establisht Doctrines of the Churches and here undertake to shew the Church of England most expresly does declare against all practises against the Prince for the cause of Religion But the Romish in those acts wherein she hath most reason to expect infallibility of Spirit also in the publique Acts of the Church representative in General Counsels does abett the doing them not onely for Religion but for the cause of Holy Church First If the Church of Rome have reason to expect infallible assistance of the Spirit in any case it is as much in Canonizing of a Saint as in any other it being as unhappy to determine a false Object for Religious Worship to their Church as a false Article of Faith there is as much need that there should be an infallible proposal of the one as other for when she does Decree by the Authority of the Omnipotent God such a one is a Saint receiv'd in Glory and so renders him the object of their Worship if he should chance to be a Reprobate to cause the People to fall prostrate to the Shrine of one that 's damn'd and call his flames to warm Gods Altar and the Votaries breast to make the whole Church worship one that is in Hell is lyable to greater aggravations of impiety than an erroneous opinion in very many of their points of Faith can be But it is known their Church hath Canoniz'd one of this Nation Becket who though he was indeed illegally and barbarously Murthered yet 't is not the Suffering but the Cause that makes the Martyr now he did not fall a Sacrifice for his Religion but was slain because he did disturb the State by suspending all the Bishops that upheld the Kings just cause against him so that neither King nor State could live in peace for him for opposing also those Lawes which himself had sworn to Lawes that were not onely truly Soveraign Rights but are maintain'd even unto this day as Priviledges by the Gallican Church and they not branded for so doing In a word he was slain for those actions which his own Bishops condemned him for as a perjur'd man and a Traitour And for persisting in them to the death he was Sainted Now whatever the estate of this man be in the next World I meddle not with that Yet for disobedience and Rebellion to place one in Heaven whence for those things Lucifer did fall does seem to shew what Spirit they are of that Canonize such Saints For the Church to pray to Christ that by the wounds of this Saint he would remit their sins does expresse what rate their Church does set upon the merits of
executions of that Mercy and while God was plotting an Incarnation for the everlasting Safety of Mankind prevails with him to decree Ruins by the means of that Salvation to Decree even in the midst of all those strivings of his Mercies that that Issue of his kindnesse should be for the fall of such as they Oh! let such consider whether they are likely to escape that which is set and ordein'd for them by God Whether they can hope for a Redemption when the onely great Redeemer is appointed for the Instrument of their Destruction and God is so bent on their ruiâ—e that to purchase it he gives this Child his Son Yea when he did look down upon this Son in Agonies and on the Crosse in the midst of that sad prospect yet the Ruin of such sinners which he there beheld in his Sons Blood was a delight to him that also was a Sacrifice and a sacrifice of a sweet smell to him For S. Paul sayes We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that perish because we are the savour of Death unto death to them As if their Brimstone did ascend like Incense shed a persume up to God and their everlasting burnings were his Altar-fires kindled his holocausts and he may well be pleased with it for he ordein'd it 'T is true indeed This Child riding as in Triumph in the midst of his Hosannas when he saw one City whose fall he was set for on this very accompt He was so far from being pleas'd with it that he wept over it in pity But alas that onely more declares the most deplored and desperate condition of such sinners Blessed Saviour hadst thou no Blood to shed for them nothing but Tears or didst thou weep to think thy very Bloodshed does but make their guilt more crimson who refuse the mercy of that Bloodshed all the time that is offered Sad is their state that can find no pity in the Tears of God and remedilesse their Condition for whom all that the Son of God could do was to weep over them all that he did do for them was to be for their fall too sad a part indeed for Festival Solemnity very improper for a Benedictus and Magnificat To celebrate the greatest act of kindness the Almighty could design onely by the miseries it did occasion to magnifie the vast descent of God from Heaven down to Earth onely by reason of the fall of Man into the lowest Hell of which that was the cause My Text hath better things in view The greatnesse of that fall does but add height to that Resurrection which He also is the cause of For Behold this Child is set for the rising again of many My remaining part Rising again does not particularly and only refer to the fore-going fall here in the Text which this Child did occasion as I shewed you but to the state wherein all Mankind both in its nature and its Customes lay ingulfâ—d the state of Ignorance and sin A state from which recovery is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a resurrection and a reviving in this Life and so call'd in Scripture often as Ephes. 5. 14. Wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and arise from the dead And Rom. 6. 13. Yield not your members as instruments of unrighteousnesse unto sin but yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead Now to raise us from the death of sin into the life of Righteousnesse by the amendment of our own lives to recover us into a state of Vertue is the thing this Child is said here to be set for This was that which God thought worth an Incarnation Neither was there any greater thing in the prospect of his everlasting Counsel when he did decree his Son into the World than that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is set for this The Word was made Flesh to teach practise and perswade to Vertue To make men Reform their lives was valued at the price of a Person of the Trinity Piety and his Exiâ—anition yea his Blood and Life were set at the same rates All of him given for our recovery The time would fail me if I should attempt onely to name the various methods he makes use of to effect this How this Child that was the brightnesse of his Fathers Glory came to lighten us shining in his Doctrine and Example How he sent more light The fiery Tongues Illuminations of the Holy Ghost to guid us in the ways of Piety How he suffered Agonies and Death for sin to appale and fright us from it How he Rose again to confirm Judgment to us to demonstrate the rewards of Immortality to them that will repent and leave their sins and everlasting Torments to those that refuse this Grace Grace purchased with the Blood of God to enable them to repent and leave Besides all these the Arts and Mesnage of his Providence in preventing and following us by Mercies and by Judgments importuning us and timeing all his blessed Methods of Salvation to our most advantage Arts God knows too many if they serve us onely to resist and turn to wantonnesse and aggravation if we make no other use of Grace but this to sin against and overcome all Grace and make it bolster Vice by teaching it to be an incouragement to go on in it from some hopes we entertain by reason of this Child instead of doing that which he was set Decreed to make us do And really I would be glad to see this everlasting Counsel of the Lord had had some good effects some though never so little happy execution of this great Decree and that that which God ordein'd from all Eternity upon such glorious and magnificent terms were come to passe in any kind Now certainly there are no evident signs of any great recovery this Child hath wrought among us in the World that 's now call'd Christian. After those Omnipotent inforcives to a vertuous life which he did work out if we take a prospect of both Worlds it would be hard to know which were the Heathen and there would appear scarce any other notice of a Christ among us but that we blaspheme Him or deride Him Sure I am there are no Footsteps of him in the lives of the community of Men And I am certain that you cannot shew me any Heathen Age outgoing ours either in loosnesse and foul Esseminacies or in sordidnesse and base injustice or in frauds and falsenesse or Malignity hypocrisie or treachery or to name no more even in the lowest most ignoble disingenious sorts of Vice In fine men are now as Earthy Sensual yea and Devilish as when Sins and Devils were their Gods Yea I must needs say that those times of dark and Heathen Ignorance were in many men times of shining Vertue and the little spark of Light within them brake out through all obstructions into a glory of Goodnesse to the wonder and Confusion of most Christians