dyed yea rather that is risen again And Christ was both delivered for our sins and is risen again for our justification implying to us that as it is in the principal so it is in the correspondent our sins indeed are potentially pardoned when they are marked out for death and crucifixion when by resolving and fighting against sin we dye to sin daily and are so made conformable to his Death but we must partake of Christs Resurrection before this Justification can be actual when we are dead to sin and are risen again unto righteousness then as we are partakers of his Death so we shall be partakers of his Resurrection saith S. Paul that is then we are truly effectually and indeed justified till then we are not He that loveth Gold shall not be justified saith the wise Bensirach he that is covetous let his Faith be what it will shall not be accounted righteous before God because he is not so in himself and he is not so in Christ for he is not in Christ at all he hath no righteousness in himself and he hath none in Christ for if we be in Christ or if Christ be in us the Body is dead by reason of sin and the Spirit is life because of righteousness For this the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that faithful thing that is the faithfulness is manifested the Emun from whence comes Emunah which is the Hebrew word for Faith from whence Amen is derived Fiat quod dictum est hinc inde hoc fidum est when God and we both say Amen to our promises and undertakings Fac fidelis sis fideli cave fidem fluxam geras said he in the Comedy God is faithful be thou so too for if thou failest him thy faith hath failed thee Fides sumitur pro eo quod est inter utrumque placitum says one and then it is true which the Prophet and the Apostle said the Just shall live by Faith in both senses ex fide mea vivet ex fide sua we live by Gods Faith and by our own by his Fidelity and by ours When the righteousness of God becomes your righteousness and exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees when the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us by walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit then we are justified by Gods truth and by ours by his Grace and our Obedience So that now we see that Justification and Sanctification cannot be distinguished but as words of Art signifying the various steps of progression in the same course they may be distinguished in notion and speculation but never when they are to pass on to material events for no man is justified but he that is also sanctified They are the express words of S. Paul Whom he did foreknow them he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son to be like to Christ and then it follows Whom he hath predestinated so predestinated them he hath also called and whom he hath called them he hath also justified and then it follows Whom he hath justified them he hath also glorified So that no man is justified that is so as to signifie Salvation but Sanctification must be precedent to it and that was my second consideration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which I was to prove 3. I pray consider that he that does not believe the promises of the Gospel cannot pretend to Faith in Christ but the promises are all made to us upon the conditions of Obedience and he that does not believe them as Christ made them believes them not at all In well doing commit your selves to God as unto a faithful Creator there is no committing our selves to God without well doing For God will render to every man according to his deeds to them that obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath but to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality to them eternal life So that if Faith apprehends any other promises it is illusion and not Faith God gave us none such Christ purchased none such for us search the Bible over and you shall find none such But if Faith layes hold on these promises that are and as they are then it becomes an Article of our Faith that without obedience and a sincere endeavour to keep Gods Commandments no man living can be justified And therefore let us take heed when we magnifie the free Grace of God we do not exclude the conditions which this free Grace hath set upon us Christ freely dyed for us God pardons us freely in our first access to him we could never deserve pardon because when we need pardon we are enemies and have no good thing in us and he freely gives us of his Spirit and freely he enables us to obey him and for our little imperfect services he freely and bountifully will give us eternal life here is free Grace all the way and he overvalues his pitiful services who thinks that he deserves Heaven by them and that if he does his duty tolerably eternal life is not a free gift to him but a deserved reward Conscius est animus meus experientia testis Mystica quae retuli dogmata vera scio Non tamen idcirco scio me fore glorificandum Spes mea crux Christi gratia non opera It was the meditation of the wise Chancellor of Paris I know that without a good life and the fruits of repentance a sinner cannot be justified and therefore I must live well or I must dye for ever But if I do live holily I do not think that I deserve Heaven it is the Cross of Christ that procures me grace it is the Spirit of Christ that gives me grace it is the mercy and the free gift of Christ that brings me unto glory But yet he that shall exclude the works of Faith from the Justification of a sinner by the blood of Christ may as well exclude Faith it self for Faith it self is one of the works of God it is a good work so said Christ to them that asked him What shall we do to work the works of God Jesus said This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent Faith is not only the foundation of good works but it self is a good work it is not only the cause of obedience but a part of it it is not as the Son of Sirach calls it initium adhaerendi Deo a beginning of cleaving unto God but it carries us on to the perfection of it Christ is the Author and finisher of our Faith and when Faith is finished a good life is made perfect in our kind Let no man therefore expect events for which he hath no promise nor call for Gods fidelity without his own faithfulness nor snatch at a promise without performing the condition nor think faith to be a hand to apprehend Christ and to do nothing else for that will but
it at all Remember that the Snail out-went the Eagle and won the goal because she set out betimes To sum up all every good man is a new Creature and Christianity is not so much a Divine institution as a Divine frame and temper of Spirit which if we heartily pray for and endeavour to obtain we shall find it as hard and as uneasie to sin against God as now we think it impossible to abstain from our most pleasing sins For as it is in the Spermatick vertue of the Heavens which diffuses it self Universally upon all sublunary bodies and subtilly insinuating it self into the most dull and unactive Element produces Gold and Pearls Life and motion and brisk activities in all things that can receive the influence and heavenly blessing so it is in the Holy Spirit of God and the word of God and the grace of God which S. John calls the seed of God it is a Law of Righteousness and it is a Law of the Spirit of Life and changes Nature into Grace and dulness into zeal and fear into love and sinful habits into innocence and passes on from grace to grace till we arrive at the full measures of the stature of Christ and into the perfect liberty of the sons of God so that we shall no more say The evil that I would not that I do but we shall hate what God hates and the evil that is forbidden we shall not do not because we are strong of our selves but because Christ is our strength and he is in us and Christs strength shall be perfected in our weakness and his grace will be sufficient for us and he will of his own good pleasure work in us not only to will but also to do velle perficere saith the Apostle to will and to do it throughly and fully being sanctified throughout to the glory of his Holy name and the eternal salvation of our souls through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father c. FIDES FORMATA OR Faith working by Love SERM. III. JAMES II. 24. You see then how that by Works a Man is justified and not by Faith only THat we are justified by Faith S. Paul tells us That we are also justified by Works we are told in my Text and both may be true But that this Justification is wrought by Faith without Works to him that worketh not but believeth saith S. Paul That this is not wrought without Works S. James is as express for his Negative as S. Paul was for his Affirmative and how both these should be true is something harder to unriddle But affirmanti incumbit probatio he that affirms must prove and therefore S. Paul proves his Doctrine by the example of Abraham to whom Faith was imputed for Righteousness and therefore not by Works And what can be answered to this Nothing but this That S. James uses the very same Argument to prove that our Justification is by Works also For our Father Abraham was justified by works when he offered up his Son Isaac Now which of these says true Certainly both of them but neither of them have been well understood insomuch that they have not only made divisions of heart among the faithful but one party relies on Faith to the disparagement of Good Life and the other makes Works to be the main ground of our hope and confidence and consequently to exclude the efficacy of Faith The one makes Christian Religion a lazy and unactive Institution and the other a bold presumption on our selves while the first tempts us to live like Heathens and the other recalls us to live the life of Jews while one says I am of Paul and another I am of S. James and both of them put it in danger of evacuating the institution and the death of Christ one looking on Christ only as a Law-giver and the other only as a Saviour The effects of these are very sad and by all means to be diverted by all the wise considerations of the Spirit My purpose is not with subtle Arts to reconcile them that never disagreed the two Apostles spake by the same Spirit and to the same last design though to differing intermedial purposes But because the great end of Faith the design the definition the state the oeconomy of it is that all Believers should not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit Before I fall to the close handling of the Text I shall premise some preliminary Considerations to prepare the way of holiness to explicate the differing sences of the Apostles to understand the Question and the Duty by removing the causes of the vulgar mistakes of most men in this Article and then proceed to the main Inquiry 1. That no man may abuse himself or others by mistaking of hard words spoken in mystery with alegorical expressions to secret senses wrapt up in a cloud such as are Faith and Justification and Imputation and Righteousness and Works be pleased to consider That the very word Faith is in Scripture infinitely ambiguous insomuch that in the Latine Concordances of S. Hierom's Bible published by Robert Stephens you may see no less then twenty two several senses and accceptations of of the word Faith set down with the several places of Scripture referring to them to which if out of my own own observation I could add no more yet these are an abundant demonstration That whatsoever is said of the efficacy of Faith for Justification is not to be taken in such a sence as will weaken the necessity and our carefulness of good life when the word may in so many other sences be taken to verifie the affirmation of S. Paul of Justification by Faith so as to reconcile it to the necessity of Obedience 2. As it is in the word Faith so it is in Works for by Works is meant sometimes the thing done sometimes the labour of doing sometimes the good will it is sometimes taken for a state of good life sometimes for the Covenant of Works it sometimes means the Works of the Law sometimes the Works of the Gospel sometimes it is taken for a perfect actual unsinning Obedience sometimes for a sincere endeavour to please God sometimes they are meant to be such which can challenge the Reward as of Debt sometimes they mean only a disposition of the person to receive the favour and the grace of God Now since our good Works can be but of one kind for ours cannot be meritorious ours cannot be without sin all our life they cannot be such as need no repentance it is no wonder if we must be justified without Works in this sence for by such Works no man living can be justified And these S. Paul calls the Works of the Law and sometimes he calls them our righteousness and these are the Covenant of Works But because we came into the World to serve God and God will be obeyed and Jesus Christ came into the World to save us from sin and
to redeem to himself a people zealous of good works and hath to this purpose reveal'd to us all his Fathers Will and destroyed the works of the Devil and gives us his holy Spirit and by him we shall be justified in this Obedience therefore when Works signifie a sincere hearty endeavour to keep all Gods Commands out of a belief in Christ that if we endeavour to do so we shall be helped by his grace and if we really do so we shall be pardoned for what is past and if we continue to do so we shall receive a Crown of Glory therefore it is no wonder that it is said we are to be justified by Works always meaning not the Works of the Law that is Works that are meritorious works that can challenge the reward works that need no mercy no repentance no humiliation and no appeal to grace and favour but always meaning works that are an obedience to God by the measures of good will and a sincere endeavour and the Faith of the Lord Jesus 3. But thus also it is in the word Justification For God is justified and Wisdom is justified and Man is justified and a sinner is not justified as long as he continues in sin and a sinner is justified when he repents and when he is pardoned and an innocent person is justified when he is declared to be no criminal and a righteous man is justified when he is saved and a weak Christian is justified when his imperfect Services are accepted for the present and himself thrust forward to more grace and he that is justified may be justified more and every man that is justified to one purpose is not so to all and Faith in divers sences gives Justification in as many and therefore though to every sence of Faith there is not always a degree of Justification in any yet when the Faith is such that Justification is the product and correspondent as that Faith may be imperfect so the Justification is but begun and either must proceed further or else as the Faith will dy so the Justification will come to nothing The like observation might be made concerning Imputation and all the words used in this Question but these may suffice till I pass to other particulars 4. Not only the word Faith but also Charity and Godliness and Religion signifie sometimes particular Graces and sometimes they suppose Universally and mean Conjugations and Unions of Graces as is evident to them that read the Scriptures with observation Now when Justification is attributed to Faith or Salvation to Godliness they are to be understood in the aggregate sence for that I may give but one instance of this when S. Paul speaks of Faith as it is a particular Grace and separate from the rest he also does separate it from all possibility of bringing us to Heaven Though I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing When Faith includes Charity it will bring us to Heaven when it is alone when it is without Charity it will do nothing at all 5. Neither can this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be salved by saying That though Faith alone does justifie yet when she does justifie she is not alone but Good Works must follow for this is said to no purpose 1. Because if we be justified by Faith alone the work is done whether Charity does follow or no and therefore that want of Charity cannot hurt us 2. There can be no imaginable cause why Charity and Obedience should be at all necessary if the whole work can be done without it 3. If Obedience and Charity be not a condition of our Salvation then it is not necessary to follow Faith but if it be it does as much as Faith for that is but a part of the condition 4. If we can besaved without Charity and keeping the Commandments what need we trouble our selves for them if we cannot be saved without them then either Faith without them does not justifie or if it does we are never the better for we may be damned for all that Justification The Consequent of these Observations is briefly this 1. That no man should fool himself by disputing about the Philosophy of Justification and what causality Faith hath in it and whether it be the act of Faith that justifies or the habit Whether Faith as a Good Work or Faith as an Instrument Whether Faith as it is Obedience or Faith as it is an Access to Christ Whether as a Hand or as a Heart Whether by its own innate Vertue or by the efficacy of the Object Whether as a sign or as a thing signified Whether by introduction or by perfection Whether in the first beginnings or in its last and best productions Whether by inherent worthiness or adventitious imputation Vberiùs ista quaeso c. that I may use the words of Cicero haec enim spinosiora priùs ut confiteor me cogunt quam ut assentiar These things are knotty and too intricate to do any good they may amuse us but never instruct us and they have already made men careless and confident disputative and troublesome proud and uncharitable but neither wiser nor better Let us therefore leave these weak wayes of troubling our selves or others and directly look to the Theology of it the direct duty the end of Faith and the work of Faith the conditions and the instruments of our Salvation the just foundation of our hopes how our faith can destroy our sin and how it can unite us unto God how by it we can be made Partakers of Christs death and Imitators of his life For since it is evident by the premises that this article is not to be determined or relyed upon by arguing from words of many significations we must walk by a clearer light by such plain sayings and Dogmatical Propositions of Scripture which evidently teach us our duty and place our hopes upon that which cannot deceive us that is which require Obedience which call upon us to glorifie God and to do good to men and to keep all Gods Commandments with diligence and sincerity For since the end of our faith is that we may be Disciples and Servants of the Lord Jesus advancing his Kingdom here and partaking of it hereafter since we are commanded to believe what Christ taught that it may appear as reasonable as it is necessary to do what he hath commanded since Faith and works are in order one to the other it is impossible that Evangelical Faith and Evangelical works should be opposed one to the other in the effecting of our Salvation So that as it is to no purpose for Christians to dispute whether we are justified by Faith or the works of the Law that is the Covenant of works without the help of Faith and the auxiliaries and allowances of mercy on Gods part and repentance on ours because no Christian can pretend to this so it is perfectly foolish to dispute whether
baubles do by Children when they are deadly sick But that only is faith that makes us to love God to do his will to suffer his impositions to trust his promises to see through a cloud to overcome the World to resist the Devil to stand in the day of tryal and to be comforted in all our sorrows This is that precious faith so mainly necessary to be insisted on that by it we may be Sons of the free woman liberi à vitiis ac ritibus that the true Isaac may be in us which is Christ according to the Spirit the wisdom and power of God a Divine vigour and life whereby we are enabled with joy and cheerfulness to walk in the way of God By this you may try your faith if you please and make an end of this question Do you believe in the Lord Jesus yea or no God forbid else but if your faith be good it will abide the tryal There are but three things that make the integrity of Christian faith believing the words of God confidence in his goodness and keeping his Commandments For the first it is evident that every man pretends to it if he calls himself Christian he believes all that is in the Canon of the Scriptures and if he did not he were indeed no Christian. But now consider what think we of this Proposition All shall be damned who believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness Does not every man believe this Is it possible they can believe there is any such thing as unrighteousness in the World or any such thing as damnation and yet commit that which the Scriptures call unrighteousness and which all Laws and all good men say is so Consider how many unrighteous men there are in the world and yet how few of them think they shall be damned I know not how it comes to pass but men go upon strange principles and they have made Christianity to be a very odd Institution if it had not better measures than they are pleased to afford it There are two great roots of all evil Covetousness and Pride and they have infected the greatest parts of mankind and yet no man thinks himself to be either Covetous or Proud And therefore whatever you discourse against these sins it never hits any man but like Jonathans Arrows to David they fall short or they fly beyond Salvian complained of it in his time Hoc ad crimina nostra addimus ut cum in omnibus rei simus etiam bonos nos sanctos esse credamus This we add unto our crimes we are the vilest persons in the world and yet we think our selves to be good people and when we die make no question but we shall go to Heaven There is no cause of this but because we have not so much faith as believing comes to and yet most men will pretend not only to believe but to love Christ all this while And how do they prove this Truly they hate the memory of Judas and curse the Jews that crucified Christ and think Pilate a very miserable man and that all the Turks are damned and to be called Caiphas is a word of reproach and indeed there are many that do not much more for Christ than this comes to things to as little purpose and of as little signification But so the Jews did hate the memory of Corah as we do of Caiphas and they builded the Sepulchre of the Prophets and we also are angry at them that killed the Apostles and the Martyrs but in the mean time we neither love Christ nor his Saints for we neither obey him nor imitate them And yet we should think our selves highly injured if one should call us Infidels and haters of Christ. But I pray consider what is hating of any man but designing and doing him all the injury and spite we can Does not he hate Christ that dishonours him that makes Christs members the members of an harlot That doth not feed and clothe these members If the Jews did hate Christ when they crucified him then so does a Christian too when he crucifies him again Let us not deceive our selves a Christian may be damned as well as a Turk and Christians may with as much malice crucifie Christ as the Jews did And so does every man that sins wilfully he spills the blood of Christ making it to be spent in vain He that hateth you hateth me he that receives you receives me said Christ to his Apostles I wish the world had so much faith as to believe that and by this try whether we love Christ and believe in him or no. I shall for the tryal of our faith ask one easie question Do we believe that the story of David and Jonathan is true Have we so much faith as to think it possible that two Rivals of a Crown should love so dearly Can any man believe this and not be infinitely ashamed to see Christians almost all Christians to be irreconcileably angry and ready to pull their brothers heart out when he offers to take our Land or money from us Why do almost all men that go to Law for right hate one anothers persons Why cannot men with patience hear their titles questioned But if Christianity be so excellent a Religion why are so very many Christians so very wicked Certainly they do not so much as believe the propositions and principles of their own Religion For the body of Christians is so universally wicked that it would be a greater change to see Christians generally live according to their profession than it was at first from infidelity to see them to turn Believers The conversion from Christian to Christian from Christian in title to Christian in sincerity would be a greater miracle then it was when they were converted from Heathen and Jew to Christian. What is the matter Is not repentance from dead works reckoned by S. Paul in Heb. 6. as one of the fundamental points of Christian Religion Is it not a piece of our Catechism the first thing we are taught and is it not the last thing that we practise We had better be without Baptism than without repentance and yet both are necessary and therefore if we were not without faith we should be without neither Is not Repentance a forsaking all sin and an intire returning unto God Who can deny this And is it not plainly said in Scripture Vnless ye repent ye shall all perish But shew me the man that believes these things heartily that is shew me a true penitent he only believes the doctrines of repentance If I had time I should examine your faith by your confidence in God and by your obedience But if we fall in the meer believing it is not likely we should do better in the other But because all the promises of God are conditional and there can be no confidence in the particular without a promise or revelation it is not possible that any man that does not
c. Since it is intended that from the Bishop grace should be diffused amongst all the people there is not in the world a greater indecency than a holy office ministred by an unholy person and no greater injury to the people than that of the blessings which God sends to them by the ministeries Evangelical they should be cheated and defrauded by a wicked Steward And therefore it was an excellent Prayer which to this very purpose was by the Son of Sirach made in behalf of the High-Priests the Sons of Aaron God give you wisdom in you heart to judge his people in Righteousness that their good things be not abolished and that their glory may endure for ever 4. All the Offices Ecclesiastical alwayes were and ought to be conducted by the Episcopal Order as is evident in the universal Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is the 40th Canon of the Apostles Let the Presbyters and Deacons do nothing without leave of the Bishop but that cafe is known The consequent of this consideration is no other than the admonition in my Text We are Stewards of the manifold grace of God and dispensers of the mysteries of the Kingdom and it is required of Stewards that they be found faithful that we preach the word of God in season and out of season that we rebuke and exhort admonish and correct for these God calls Pastores Secundùm cor meum Pastors according to his own heart which feed the people with knowledge and understanding but they must also comfort the afflicted and bind up the broken heart minister the Sacraments with great diligence and righteous measures and abundant charity alwayes having in mind those passionate words of Christ of S. Peter If thou lovest me feed my sheep if thou hast any love to me feed my lambs And let us remember this also that nothing can enforce the people to obey their Bishops as they ought but our doing that duty and charity to them which God requires There is reason in these words of S. Chrysostom It is necessary that the Church should adhere to their Bishop as the body to the head as plants to their roots as rivers to their springs as Children to their Fathers as Disciples to their Masters These similitudes express not only the relation and dependency but they tell us the reason of the Duty The Head gives light and reason to conduct the Body the Roots give nourishment to the Plants and the Springs perpetual emanation of Waters to the Channels Fathers teach and feed their Children and Disciples receive wise Instructions from their Masters and if we be all this to the People they will be all that to us and Wisdom will compel them to submit and our Humility will teach them Obedience and our Charity will invite their compliance our good example will provoke them to good works and our meekness will melt them into softness and flexibility For all the Lords People are Populus voluntarius a free and willing people and we who cannot compel their bodies must thus constrain their Souls by inviting their Wills by convincing their Understandings by the beauty of fair example the efficacy and holiness and the demonstrations of the Spirit This is experimentum ejus qui in nobis loquitur Christus The experiment of Christ that speaketh in us For to this purpose those are excellent words which St. Paul spake Remember them who have the rule over you whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation There lies the demonstration and those Prelates who teach good life whose Sermons are the measures of Christ and whose Life is a copy of their Sermons these must be followed and surely these will for these are burning and shining Lights but if we hold forth false fires and by the amusement of evil example call the Vessels that sail upon a dangerous Sea to come upon a Rock or an iron Shore instead of a safe Harbour we cause them to make shipwreck of their precious Faith and to perish in the deceitful and unstable water Vox operum fortiùs sonat quà m verborum A good Life is the strongest argument that your Faith is good and a gentle voice will be sooner entertained than a voice of thunder but the greatest eloquence in the world is meek spirit and a liberal hand these are the two Pastoral Staves the Prophet speaks of nognam hovelim beauty and bands he that hath the staff of the beauty of holiness the ornament of fair example he hath also the staff of bands atque in funiculis Adam trahet eos in vinculis charitatis as the Prophet Hosea's expression is he shall draw the people after him by the cords of a man by the bands of a holy charity But if against all these demonstrations any man will be refractory we have instead of a Staff an Apostolical Rod which is the last and latest remedy and either brings to repentance or consigns to ruine and reprobation If there were any time remaining I could reckon that the Episcopal Order is the Principle of Unity in the Church and we see it is so by the innumerable Sects that sprang up when Episcopacy was persecuted I could add how that Bishops were the cause that S. John wrote his Gospel that the Christian Faith was for 300 years together bravely defended by the Sufferings the Prisons and Flames the Life and Death of Bishop as the principal Combatants that the Fathers of the Church whose Writings are held in so great veneration in all the Christian World were almost all of them Bishops I could add That the Reformation of Religion in England was principally by the Preachings and the Disputings the Writings and the Martyrdom of Bishops That Bishops have ever since been the greatest defensatives against Popery That England and Ireland were governed by Bishops ever since they were Christian and under their Conduct have for so many Ages enjoyed all the blessings of the Gospel I could add also That Episcopacy is the great stabiliment of Monarchy but of this we are convinced by a sad and too dear bought Experience I could therefore instead of it say That Episcopacy is the great ornament of Religion That as it rescues the Clergy from contempt so it is the greatest preservative of the Peoples Liberty from Ecclesiastick Tyranny on one hand the Gentry being little better than Servants while they live under the Presbytery and Anarchy and Licentiousness on the other That it endears Obedience and is subject to the Laws of Princes and is wholly ordained for the good of Mankind and the benefit of Souls But I cannot stay to number all the Blessings which have entered into the World at this door I only remark these because they describe unto us the Bishops Imployment which is to be busie in the service of Souls to do good in all capacities to serve every mans need to promote all publick benefits to
that could not be deceived themselves in a matter so notorious and so proved and so seen and if this be not sufficient credibility in a matter of fact as this was then we can have no story credibly transmitted to us no Records kept no Acts of Courts no Narratives of the dayes of old no Traditions of our Fathers no memorials of them in the third Generation Nay if from these we have not sufficient causes and arguments of Faith how shall we be able to know the will of Heaven upon Earth unless God do not only tell it once but always and not only always to some men but always to all men for if some men must believe others they can never do it in any thing more reasonably than in this and if we may not trust them in this then without a perpetual miracle no man could have Faith for Faith could never come by hearing by nothing but by seeing But if there be any use of History any Faith in men any honesty in manners any truth in humane entercourse if there be any use of Apostles or Teachers of Ambassadors or Letters of ears or hearing if there be any such thing as the Grace of Faith that is less than demonstration or intuition then we may be as sure that Christ the first Fruits is already risen as all these credibilities can make us But let us take heed as God hates a a lie so he hates incredulity an obstinate a foolish and pertinacious understanding What we do every minute of our lives in matters of title and great concernment if we refuse to do it in Religion which yet is to be conducted as all humane affairs are by humane instruments and arguments of perswasion proper to the nature of the thing it is an obstinacy as cross to humane reason as it is to Divine Faith But this Article was so clearly proved that presently it came to pass that men were no longer ashamed of the Cross but it was worn upon breasts printed in the air drawn upon foreheads carried upon Banners put upon Crowns Imperial presently it came to pass that the Religion of the despised Jesus did infinitely prevail a Religion that taught men to be meek and humble apt to receive injuries but unapt to do any a Religion that gave countenance to the poor and pitiful in a time when riches were adored and ambition and pleasure had possessed the heart of all mankind a Religion that would change the face of things and the hearts of men and break vile habits into gentleness and counsel that such a Religion in such a time by the Sermons and conduct of Fishermen men of mean breeding and illiberal Arts should so speedily triumph over the Philosophy of the world and the arguments of the subtle and the Sermons of the Eloquent the Power of Princes and the Interests of States the inclinations of nature and the blindness of zeal the force of custom and the sollicitation of passions the pleasures of sin and the busie Arts of the Devil that is against Wit and Power Superstition and Wilfulness Fame and Money Nature and Empire which are all the causes in this World that can make a thing impossible this this is to be ascribed to the power of God and is the great demonstration of the Resurrection of Jesus Every thing was an Argument for it and improved it no Objection could hinder it no Enemies destroy it whatsoever was for them it made the Religion to encrease whatsoever was against them made it to encrease Sun-shine and Storms fair Weather or foul it was all one as to the event of things for they were instruments in the hands of God who could make what himself should chuse to be the product of any cause so that if the Christians had peace they went abroad and brought in Converts if they had no peace but persecution the Converts came in to them In prosperity they allured and enticed the World by the beauty of holiness in affliction and trouble they amazed all men with the splendour of their Innocence and the glories of their patience and quickly it was that the World became Disciple to the glorious Nazarene and men could no longer doubt of the Resurrection of Jesus when it became so demonstrated by the certainty of them that saw it and the courage of them that dyed for it and the multitude of them that believed it who by their Sermons and their Actions by their publick Offices and Discourses by Festivals and Eucharists by Arguments of Experience and Sense by Reason and Religion by perswading rational Men and establishing believing Christians by their living in the obedience of Jesus and dying for the testimony of Jesus have greatly advanced his Kingdom and his Power and his Glory into which he entred after his Resurrection from the dead For he is the first Fruits and if we hope to rise through him we must confess that himself is first risen from the dead That 's the first particular 2. There is an order for us also We also shall rise again Combustúsque senex tumulo procedit adultus Consumens dat membra rogus The ashes of old Camillus shall stand up spritely from his Urn and the Funeral fires shall produce a new warmth to the dead bones of all those who dyed under the arms of all the Enemies of the Roman greatness This is a less wonder than the former for admonetur omnis aetas jam fieri posse quod aliquando factum est If it was done once it may be done again for since it could never have been done but by a power that is infinite that infinite must also be eternal and indeficient By the same Almighty power which restored life to the dead body of our living Lord we may all be restored to a new life in the Resurrection of the dead When Man was not what power what causes made him to be whatsoever it was it did then as great a work as to raise his body to the same being again and because we know not the method of Natures secret changes and how we can be fashioned beneath in secreto terrae and cannot handle and discern the possibilities and seminal powers in the ashes of dissolved bones must our ignorance in Philosophy be put in balance against the Articles of Religion the hopes of Mankind the Faith of Nations and the truth of God and are our opinions of the power of God so low that our understanding must be his measure and he shall be confessed to do nothing unless it be made plain in our Philosophy Certainly we have a low opinion of God unless we believe he can do more things than we can understand But let us hear S. Paul's demonstration If the Corn dies and lives again if it lays its body down suffers alteration dissolution and death but at the Spring rises again in the verdure of a leaf in the fulness of the ear in the kidneys of Wheat if it proceeds from
Reward of pregnant Wits and hard Study he was remov'd into York-shire where first in the City of York he was an assiduous Preacher but by the disposition of the Divine Providence he hapned to be engaged at North-Alerton in Disputation with three pragmatical Romish Priests of the Jesuits Order whom he so much worsted in the Conference and so shamefully disadvantaged by the evidence of Truth represented wisely and learnedly that the famous Primate of York Archbishop Matthews a learned and an excellent Prelate and a most worthy Preacher hearing of that Triumph sent for him and made him his Chaplain in whose Service he continued till the death of the Primate but in that time had given so much testimony of his dexterity in the conduct of Ecclesiastical and Civil Affairs that he grew dear to his Master In that Imployment he was made Prebendary of York and then of Rippon the Dean of which Church having made him his Sub-Dean he managed the Affairs of that Church so well that he soon acquired a greater fame and entred into the possession of many hearts and admiration to those many more that knew him There and at his Parsonage he continued long to do the duty of a learned and good Preacher and by his Wisdom Eloquence and Deportment so gain'd the affections of the Nobility Gentry and Commons of that Country that as at his return thither upon the blessed Restauration of His most Sacred Majesty he knew himself oblig'd enough and was so kind as to give them a Visit so they by their coming in great numbers to meet him their joyful Reception of him their great Caressing of him when he was there their forward hopes to enjoy him as their Bishop their trouble at his Departure their unwillingness to let him go away gave signal testimonies that they were wise and kind enough to understand and value his great worth But while he lived there he was like a Diamond in the dust or Lucius Quinctius at the Plough his low Fortune cover'd a most valuable person till he became observ'd by Sir Thomas Wentworth Lord President of York whom we all knew for his great Excellencies and his great but glorious Misfortunes This rare Person espied the great Abilities of Doctor Bramhall and made him his Chaplain and brought him into Ireland as one whom he believ'd would prove the most fit Instrument to serve in that design which for two years before his arrival here he had greatly meditated and resolved the Reformation of Religion and the Reparation of the broken Fortunes of the Church The Complaints were many the Abuses great the Causes of the Church vastly numerous but as fast as they were brought in so fast they were by the Lord Deputy referred back to Dr. Bramhall who by his indefatigable Pains great Sagacity perpetual Watchfulness daily and hourly Consultations reduc'd things to a more tolerable condition than they had been left in by the schismatical Principles of some and the unjust Prepossessions of others for many years before For at the Reformation the Popish Bishops and Priests seemed to conform and did so that keeping their Bishopricks they might enrich their Kindred and dilapidate the Revenues of the Church which by pretended Offices false Informations Fee-farms at contemptible Rents and ungodly Alienations were made low as Poverty it self and unfit to minister to the needs of them that serv'd the Altar or the noblest purposes of Religion For Hospitality decayed and the Bishops were easie to be oppressed by those that would and they complained but for a long time had no helper till God raised up that glorious Instrument the Earl of Strafford who brought over with him as great affections to the Church and to all publick Interests and as admirable Abilities as ever before his time did invest and adorn any of the Kings Vice-gerents and God fitted his hand with an Instrument good as his Skill was great for the first Specimen of his Abilities and Diligence in recovery of some lost Tithes being represented to His late Majesty of blessed and glorious Memory it pleased His Majesty upon the death of Bishop Downham to advance the Doctor to the Bishoprick of Derry which he not only adorned with an excellent Spirit and a wise Government but did more than double the Revenue not by taking any thing from them to whom it was due but by resuming something of the Churches Patrimony which by undue means was detained in unfitting hands But his care was beyond his Diocese and his zeal broke out to warm all his Brethren and though by reason of the Favour and Piety of King James the escheated Counties were well provided for their Tithes yet the Bishopricks were not so well till the Primate then Bishop of Derry by the favour of the Lord Lieutenant and his own incessant and assiduous labour and wise conduct brought in divers Impropriations cancelled many unjust Alienations and did restore them to a condition much more tolerable I say much more tolerable for though he raised them above contempt yet they were not near to envy but he knew there could not in all times be wanting too many that envied to the Church every degree of prosperity so Judas did to Christ the expence of Oyntment and so Dionysius told the Priest when himself stole the golden Cloak from Apollo and gave him one of Arcadian home-spun that it was warmer for him in Winter and cooler in Summer And for ever since the Church by Gods blessing and the favour of Religious Kings and Princes and Pious Nobility hath been endowed with fair Revenues inim icus homo the Enemy hath not been wanting by pretences of Religion to take away Gods portion from the Church as if his Word were intended as an instrument to rob his Houses But when the Israelites were governed by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and God was their King and Moses his Lieutenant and things were of his management he was pleased by making great Provisions for them that ministred in the service of the Tabernacle to consign this truth for ever That Men as they love God at the same rate are to make provisions for his Priests For when himself did it he not only gave the 48 Cities with a mile of Glebe round about their City every way and yet the whole Country was but 140 miles long or thereabouts from Dan to Beersheba but beside this they had the Tithe of all encrease the first Fruits Offerings Vows Redemptions and in short they had 24 sorts of Dues as Buxtorf relates and all this either brought to the Barn home to them without trouble or else as the nature of the thing required brought to the Temple the first to make it more profitable and the second to declare that they received it not from the people but from God not the Peoples kindness but the Lords inheritance insomuch that this small Tribe of Levi which was not the 40th part of the People as the Scripture computes them