resemblance of that holinesse which is in God If it cannot beget vertue but serues only to make vs hide our badnesse it hath but the force of an humane law if it doe but onely pare off but not root vp vices it is but a lecture of heathennish philosophy if instead of crossing it gratifies the ill humours of the flesh and world it is the doctrine of divells but if it bee fitted to the rendring of a man not onely a full renouncer of his owne lusts but a sincere imitator of his makers holinesse this is the truth that is fallen downe from heauen to bring vs vp thither Fiftly I must adioiyne this as a cognisance of the best religion that it calls especially for the inward man for nothing can be more agreeable to a spirituall and inuisible nature then a spirituall service surely the Father seekes such worshippers Ioh. 4.23 as speakes the sonne and I hope many such hee will finde though I cannot but feare there will bee still more who supposing that God loues whatsoeuer they themselues admire going about to put vpon him their owne humors place all religion in externall gawdes and shewes what a deale of mechannicall religion is there in the world whilest the Pharisaicall Iew is busy in the washing of his cupps and platters Mat. 23.25.14 and makes his obserued prayers long euen to hoarsnesse but to haue a cleane and sincere soule is his least care The blind heathen playes the Antique in gesture before his God Lact. Lib. 4. c. 3. and when his ceremony is ended his religion is ended The silly Papist with his fingers turnes ouer his beades with his knees creeps to his image with his tongue performes his confessors taske and then he hath done with God till the next holy day nay whilest so many amongst our selues meere Mimicks in religion are zealous rather in their eyes eares hands tongues then in their hearts that finde all religion in the temple and in the temple leaue it as they finde it neither bringing in nor carrying away any in their mindes which should be the hourely liuing Temples of God beautified with modesty perfumed with innocency and stored with the sacrifices of flagrant loue to God his causes his seruants seruices of the body were decent haue their place but not as distinctiue notes of a true religion which rather calls for the offices of a good and well guided minde Lastly I may not omit without wronging my wares that the truth which must be bought will be knowen by her antiquity and lastingnesse because it is the of spring of him that was and is Rev. 4.8 and is to come heere those of the Church of Rome will bee ready to pleade a purchase nameing vs Popes and auncestors for many yeares in whose hands their doctrine hath bin kept wee deny it not to bee too olde and yet wee graunt it not to be olde inough for antiquity hath its degrees we yeeld the second but the first is the best and that is ours wee say not this or that Pope but with Ignatius Christ is our antiquity Epist ad Philadelph nor to vse Cyprians Apologie doe wee so much attende what any others before vs haue done or taught * Epi. 63. sed quid qui ante omnes est Christus prior fecerit what Christ who was before them all did and commanded to be taught and done and this truth which in the Primitiue times was cleerely professed and in the darker daies of Antichristianisme preserued both in the Oracles of the vncorrupted word and in the hearts of persecuted witnesses our eyes eyes blessed if thankfull behold it not new but renewed and vindicated from the tirannie of former times if it had stood onely vpon humane props fraudes and forces might by this time haue vndermined it but by a higher hand it hath hitherto miraculously continued and no doubt will to the end of all things since there is no reason why God who is if I may so speake as wise at first as at last and as strong at last as at first should either change his minde or not afford his support Hauing thus shewed where truth is shopt and how it may be discouered the onely labour that is left mee is to stirre you vp to bee so affected that it may be possessed by you where not to bee so arrogant as to chalke you out a way of study in arts and sciences and languages and such like helps to the inquisition euen of divine truths this I leaue to the Gamaliels maisters of the Israell at whose feet I wish I might haue longer sate I shall onely accompt it my duty to admonish you and my selfe in a few words of the chiefest qualities wherewith wee should bee inuested who are inioyned to buy the truth And here let a high loue and esteeme of this ware be first wrought in vs for doubtlesse here is a thing of rich value before vs since the holy ghost doth so sollicite vs to the purchasing thereof wee may well giue it out that this is that one pearle of great price mentioned in the Gospell Mat. 13.46 which caused the wise merchant to goe and sell all that he had and buy it for if it be an excellency drawing toward Angellicall perfection to consider of things as indeed they are if it be so sweet a food to the soule of man to contemplate of those matters whereof she is capable without mistakeing if it bee the noblest schollership to coppy out into our vnderstandings that which is originally eternally in Gods if God bee so iealous of his honour and so vnlike those so ciable Gods of the heathen that one only prescribed worship can content him how should wee bee rauished with truth in which all this is found wee cannot but long to buy it if wee once bee thus perswaded of the worth of it Therefore I hope the next thing will bee heeded by vs which is as heartily to be affected with the excellency of scriptures aboue all other writings since in that holy paper is vnquestionably wrapt vp this heauenly ware 2. Tim. 3.19 much time would then bee spent as was done by Timothy in knowing the sacred letters and not suffer our selues to bee so bewitched with the name of humane polite literature that Philosophers Historians Poets yea and those Diuines too with whom Aristotle is more frequent then Paule should take vp our solemnest and devoutest studies and the Bible bee onely read at some by houres rather because we would not bee altogether ignorant thē that we would be very skil full in it surely they are worthy to bee deceiued in diuine matters who are infected with the humour of Angelus Palitianus who would not vouchsafe the reading of scriptures Vide viuem de veri fidei lib. 2. cap. de veter Testam as not containeing elegancies sutable to his wit and stile as if he meant to be saued by Criticismes and
sententia vide Lod. Vivem de verit Christ fidei lib. 4. which allowes not the people of God to try before they trust but because she findes the ignorance of the most to bee her greatest reuenue shakels the soules of infinit numbers in the prison of a darke implicit faith as if they could not be holy but in stupidity nor good Christians vnlesse they turne beasts and bee led without reason but shall we with such curious diligence suruey the nature and conditions of those wares that are commodious for the body and shall we trust a few plausible words of the Chapman goe no farther in matters of that moment as religion is vpon the truth whereof dependes the saluation of our soules Why Is it not possible for men to be men and erre are not many false prophets gone out into the world are there not many falshoods for one truth doth not falshood at the first blush sometimes seeme as truth Was there neuer any rotten wood varnished or painted was it neuer knowne that a strumpet put vpon her the attire and gestures of an honest matron Now how shall all this fraud bee discouered if wee will put out our owne eyes and not vse that discretion which God and nature hath left vs for the differencing of things I confesse indeed that if we will resigne vp our selues wholy to some others opinion and degrade our selues of our own vnderstanding wee may fall vpon some truths in the worship of God but this is by chance not iudgement and is not much better then if we should againe build vp the * Acts 17.23 Altar to the vnknown God To remedy all these inconueniences let vs embrace the allowance of the blessed Apostles 1 Thes 5.21 of St Paule who exhorts vs to try all things and hold that which is good 1 Iohn 4.1 of St Iohn who bids vs not to beleiue every spirit but try them whether they are of God 1 Pet. 3.15 of St Peter who requires that wee be ready alwaies to giue an answere to euery man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in vs. This that wee may be able to doe let vs goe on and shew the best meanes whereby wee may discerne truth from falshood in matter of religion Where first it is no reason why it should not easily be granted that that is truth which beares conformity to the minde of the first truth God for our vnderstanding is no otherwise true then as it is euen and adequate to things themselues considering them as they are nor are those Entitles true but as they are agreeable to diuine vnderstanding which is not only the measure but the cause of all things but if in any thing certainely in religion that is most true that beares correspondency with Gods minde and will for who should prescribe what belongs to his honour but himselfe Shall man who knowes so little in and about himselfe especially since his vnderstanding grew crazie by his fall attempt to define how his maker shall bee serued The effect of this presumption is too well known in the superstitious who measuring God by themselues thrust such vnseemely kindnesses vpon him as are wholy vnworthy of his maiesty yea to speake the truth worship their owne fancies insteed of a deity what an ilfauoured and mishapen peece of honour would it bee which a silly country fellow should lay downe for the right service of our king may we not quickly imagine what an vntoward forme of diuine worship that would proue which poore ignorant man a worme no man deviseth No no let vs let God alone with his owne honour he is best knowne how great he is to himselfe and can surely tell vs what his will is he cannot be deceiued because most wise he will not deceiue because most good It is by the sunne that wee behold the sunne it must be by God himselfe that wee can know God and therefore for this point wee may set vp our resolution with Ambrose in his epistle against Symmachus 2. Epist cont Symmachum coeli mysteria doceat me Deus ipse qui condidit non homo qui seipsum ignorauit cui magis de Deo quam Deo credam As for the mysteries of heauen let God teach vs who made vs not man who knowes not himselfe concerning God whom should we better trust then God himselfe That of Saint Hilary is of kinne to this Lib. 1. de Trinit concedamus cognitionem sui Deo idoneus enim sibi testis est qui nisi per se cognitus non est let vs leaue to God the knowledge of himselfe and since he is not known but by himselfe hee is fittest to be his owne witnesse but let vs with attentivest reverence marke the seuerity of God himselfe in the prophecy of his seruant Esay Es 29.14 the words whereof his owne sonne repeates in the fifteenth of Matthew Mat. 15.9 In vaine doe they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandements of men Now since the conceit of man is so vaine a measure of diuine worship and that God must bee honoured after his owne way it remaines to be but enquired where the seate of his will is * Saluianus readily answeres vs De guber mundi lib. 3. ip sum sacrae scripturae oraculum Dei mens est the oracle of holy scripture is the mind of God Ioh. 77.17 If it be truth we seeke for thy word O Father is truth saith our Sauiour Behold the louing care of God to man when by reason of our lame and blinde vnderstanding wee could not soare vp to God to enter our selues into his acquaintance hee hath descended downe to vs by those who haue beene from euerlasting in his bosome his deare sonne and spirit he hath conveied vnto vs his counsailes 2. Pet. 1.21 Greg. mag and by the men who spake and wrote as they were inspired hath sent vs as Gregories phrase is diverse epistles concerning his will here then may we rest that whatsoeuer his word enioineth is well-pleasing whatsoeuer it forbiddeth is vnacceptable to him whatsoeuer is of a middle nature it is vncertaine whether it may be wellcome It is most certaine it is not expected They are then too daring that thrust vpon the people of God as necessary to their saluation or their makers worship those obseruances that we are sure are beside they are not sure are not against this written word If it were possible in these contentious times for any one man of an humble and indifferent spirit no more to heare of those differences of religion which so much troubles the world then that good poore man in the story of* Alexander did of those wars that had filled all Asia in his time Vide Curtium in lib. 4. and had beene long round about him before hee had diligently read ouer the holy scriptures and if afterwards there should without all forestalling perswasions or Oratory
their brethren I speake not against the due punishment of men obstinate and irreclaimable but that they may not bee so I would haue all louing meanes first tryed to recall them yea and when a severe stroke is giuen I would haue it inflicted with demonstration of vnfained sorrow and loue as the primitiue Church did her censures with much mourning as may bee gatherered by St Paules epistles with whom to correct lament are symonimas as the iuditious writer of the Trent counsells history hath noted 1 Cor. 5.2 2 Cot. 2.4 Histor Confil. Trident. who obserues farther that in those times the excesse of charity in correcting did make the corrector feele greater paine then the corrected the proceedings of latter times haue bin so harsh and feirce that it may bee thought that some haue beene so far from greiving at the errors of others that rather they haue beene glad of them especially if they bee such the sedulous discouery punishment whereof would as they hoped insinuate them into the fauours of the great ones of the world men thus being more beholding to the errors of others then their owne vertues for their preferments or if this humour hath not tooke them it is to be feared another hath full of malignant vaineglory while they somewhat reioiceat the daily outbursting of error that so they might haue worke if not for their authority to vse the rod yet for their learning to imploy the pen or tongue in confuting them I thinke it a worthy worke to convince erronious doctrines and I hope this place will neuer want those that shall performe it readily and solidly but to desire errors to make ostentation of this skill is a perverseambition voide of all brotherly charity Epist 132. ad Florenlinam non vt quod scimus doceamus aliorum ignor antiam opt are debemus saith Austen to the end we may teach the world what wee know wee may not wish for the ignorance or error of another But so much shall suffice for the course intimated in our Apostles proceeding fit for vs to take in the recouering of others from their errors how wee shall preserue our selues it remaines to the prescribed Error is a sicknesse of the soule and the chiefe part at least the first degree of the cure is to know and stop the fountaine of the disease The causes of error are many I will not touch vpon those which may craue the mercy of our excuse and pitty and which are now so incident to our nature that they are past our avoidance for it is mischife sufficiently knowne and felt that our first parent his inordinat and ambitious desire of ouerwide knowledge brought himselfe and his vnhappy posterity into the darke prison of ignorance where lying and God as Dauid sets it forth Psalm 14.2 looking downe from heauen vpon the children of men to see if there were any that would vnderstand he findes not one they are all corrupt as in their wills so in their vnderstandings hee that readeth the third to the Romans where this passage of Dauid is alleaged shall perceaue Rom. 3.9.11 that no fauourable synecdoche can saue any of the posterity of Adam from his epidemicall contagion And although God the great Physition of soules by his spirit by his begotten word the sonne and by that word which he put into the mouthes of his prophets and Apostles hath purged the minds of many of much ignorance and made their vnderstanding more cleare and lightsome yet whether it bee that the disease is too deepely rooted in our nature to bee driuen out vpon a sodaine or whether it bee that God will haue sOme reliques thereof abide in vs to containe vs within the bounds of humility and doth not thinke it fit we should inioy all our happinesse at once whatsoeuer the reason is euen the best men doe ofter finde in themselues certaine grudgings of this malady Not only they bewray their ignorance but their error as Dauid ingeniously confesseth that before he went into the sanctuary the schoole of God Psal 73.17.22 in a matter of no small importance he was foolish and ignorant and euen brutish before God The truth is for an Apostle hath taught it that in this life 1. Cor. 13.9 we know but in part and no wonder is it if this penurious and incompleat knowledge leaue vs in the hands of diuers errors But this naturall seeblenesse of the vnderstanding although questionlesse it be the parent of sundry mistakes I come to pitty not to lash especially where there is a care to heale and strengthen such weaknesse of the minde by those wholsome remedies which God hath prescribed and there be no willing fomentation of but all manly resitance against erroneous fancies and if also since wee want the happinesse of being free from error and ignorance wee want not the wisdome to bee forry for our defects andto pray for their forgiuenesse and couering in Christ The leaders into errors against which my discourse is specially bent come forth not so much from the coasts of a naturally weake vnderstanding as of some morally bad affections which must be subdued or error will bee victorious For that the affections are of great force to sway the iudgement wee need not marvaile since the will is the most imperious faculty of the soule makes vse of the vnderstanding but as a councellor now as when a prince is strongly let vpon a thing and is resolued to haue his owne way the councellors many times what for feare what for loue or very flattery are plyant inough to his purpose and willingly suffer themselues to be corrupted that they may appeare serviceable so when once the will is in ordinately affected and mainely bent to that ill vpon which the affection is placed it giues little leasure and no leaue to the vnderstanding to dissent from it yea it dimns the eye of the sould that it cannot discerne the truth or fashions the sight to its owne wrong guise Iud. 16.16.19.20 when I read the story of Sampson I meet with no vnfit Embleme of this the affections dealing with the vnderstanding Dalilah first allures the man to betray his owne strength and then puts him into the hands of his enimies so doe the affections first emasculat the vnderstaning and corrupt its abilities and then deliuer it ouer into the hands of some dangerous falshood To the making good this point I supose euery mans experience will afford euidence For who cannot witnesse so much that when his minde hath beene transported with the violence of some bad passion or desire hee hath conceiued so and so of things and hath beene somewhat eager in the maintenance of his conceit who afterward when this storme of passion is gone ouer and the soule hath recouered her wonted tranquility and cleerenesse obserues his mistake changeth his opinion and growes somewhat ashamed of his vnderstanding Now if the suddaine vntuly commotions and wanton