beyond appearances Ans. Yes and the prospect of that animated the Apostles to go on couragiously in converting the World an attempt impossible in all human judgment And all Ancient and Modern Worthies to set on any Publick Reformations in evil times and do the World good against their wills And all honest Men whose cause was good and dear to God to hope he would stand by it and restore it even when they saw it reduced to the last extremities In summ in licentious times it has heretofore and must still strengthen Magistrates in asserting Laws and Justice and Ministers in preaching down prevailing errors and reigning vices and all Publick Spirits in pursuing Pious or Charitable Projects and all Good Men in supporting the oppressed in curbing vice in breaking wicked customs in setting on any great honour of God or good Men in their several stations They must not hastily think they shall not be able to effect what they have cause to hope God will set forward but believe as S. Paul said that they can do all things through Christ strengthening them Phil. 4. 13. But then their hope and confidence must still be fixed in God not in themselves or outward aids and when they go to meet difficulties it must be as David did to meet Goliah only in the Name of the Lord of hosts 1 Sam. 17. 45. Quest. Must this consideration of God's having in him the Power of all his Creatures teach us any thing else Ans. Yes to trust his Providence for the supply of any wants especially where he has given us any Word and Promise Nay then to hold on trusting even in the most destitute cases and against all probabilities For all things even the hardest and most improbable are equally easie unto God so that nothing must seem improbable which he declares he will bring about When Faith and Trust is in Man or any Earthly thing it is ruled by probability But when it is in a Power Almighty it makes no difference of likely or unlikely As Abraham's Faith did not when he believed Gods Promise to send him a son though at that time both Sarah and he were too old in course of Nature to have one and to make that Son a numerous seed which he firmly believed at the same time he was commanded to offer him up and so could have no Son by him unless he were first restored to him from the dead Quest. This indeed shows a high esteem and confidence in God to relie upon his Word when there is not the least sign of its taking effect but things look as if there were no way for it to be effected Ans. Yes so it doth And therefore among all acts of Religion there is none that doth more endear Men to God. This our Father Abraham found it being upon this account that he became so dear to God as to be called the friend of God Jam. 2. 23. and the father of the faithful Rom. 4. 11. 16. and that his bosom should be made the receptacle of the blessed Luke 16. 22. For his Faith saith the Apostle above all his other virtues was imputed to him for righteousness Rom. 4. 3 9. And among all his acts of Faith those God was pleased to impute to him as the most notable which were shown in these two difficult instances He staggered not at the unlikelihood of his having a son but was fully persuaded that what God had promised he was able to perform and therefore saith S. Paul it was imputed unto him for righteousness Rom. 4. 19 20 21 22. And when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar says S. James then the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God Jam. 2. 21 23. Such is the extraordinary value and recompence of trusting God in a seemingly most improbable and desperate case where 't is visibly put to a push of Omnipotence to make good his Promise Quest. I see God can do whatsoever any things in the World can do But can he also hinder any things in the World from doing whatsoever they are naturally bent or wont to do Ans. Yes for as by him they were all made so as the Apostle says in him they still subsist and move and operate and therefore whensoever he pleases to suspend or withdraw their Power they have no longer use of it Thus the fire could not consume nor singe Shadrach Meshach and Abednego nor the hungry Lyons fasten on the Prophet Daniel nor the venemous Beast sting the Holy Apostle nor the destroying Angel touch an Israelite nor the Plague or Pestilence or other contagious Disease infect or seize the Psalmist nor the wicked Jews act their spite on our Saviour Christ nor the Infernal Spirits touch Job or try his Patience whilst God was pleased to withhold them He suspends the Operations of all hurtful Creatures evil Men and wicked Spirits at his Will so that they invade no Person and act at no time but only when and so far as he allows them Quest. And what must this teach us Ans. Not hastily to conclude any case of good Men desperate and incapable of cure or ease For when dangers or disasters from the most hurtful things or Persons threaten most 't is but for God to interpose and either divert or suspend their power and then the most fierce and mischievous things become tame and harmless and the dangers from them little or none at all And thus he is wont to interpose for good Men rescuing them as he did Holy David frequently out of the very jaws of Death and saving them as he did S. Paul after he had the sentence of death in himself 2 Cor. 1. 9. Quest. But what if we are at the last extremities must we hope still when evil is fastning upon us or at the very door Ans. Yes if we have any express promise of deliverance for God as I noted formerly never forgets his Word though sometimes he may delay the performance of it to the last Or if we have an express command for the work wherein the danger meets us as S. Peter had for coming to Christ upon the water For since Christ bid him do the thing he should have hoped to the end that he would stand by him and therefore was rebuked for doubting and staggering in Faith though it were when the wind was boistrous ready to bury him in every Wave and he already began to sink Matth. 14. 29 30 31. Or lastly if we have no other claim for relief but only from God's Providence whose Protection we may generally presume on in his own ways and in pursuit of all good and prudent enterprizes as our Lord intimates when he rebukes the Apostles for want of Faith in fearing Shipwrack though they neither had any particular command to Sail nor express promise of a safe Voyage but were to ground this Faith
Answ. Yes or else considering the infirmities and defects of most if not of all his Followers we could never have any comfortable hope in him much less so great as to desire and Pray for his Appearance And yet the Apostles give this as the Character of good and acceptable Christians who may therefore hope to be made happy when they are qualified for it according to Humane measures The Crown of Righteousness is for me and all that love his appearing saith St. Paul 2 Tim. 4. 8. Look for and by your Prayers haste on the coming of the great Day of God saith St. Peter 2 Pet. 3. 12. Come Lord Jesus come quickly saith St. John Rev. 22. 20. And in our daily Prayers our Lord himself has taught us every day to say thy Kingdom come Quest. Are we not indebted for all this indulgence to the merit of his Death Answ. Yes for we are accepted in the Beloved in whom we have Redemption through his Blood Eph. 1 6. 7. And owing all to him we must both Pray and give thanks for it in his Name Joh. 14. 13. Eph. 5. 20. Quest. All these acts of favour you have recited are marvellous instances of Gods clemency to all his faithful Servants and the Gospel I see encourages us to expect them at his hands But are we sure at that Day God will stand to these Gospel Terms Answ. Yes most sure For he never repents of his promises nor can deny himself Besides the same Jesus who once came from God to make us these gracious offers is then to come and Judge us according to them and make good his own Proposals Nay since there may seem the same Reason for his retaining them on to the consummation as for his resuming them at the Resurrection he may probably come as some of the Ancients have thought with the Glorious Scars of the Spear and Nails and the signs of his Meritorious wounds which purchased all this Grace about him And then as all the Wicked shall look on him whom they have pierced with horror and consternation so shall the Righteous with unspeakable comfort most joyfully beholding in his wounds both the heighth of their most dear and compassionate Judge's Love and the Price and assurance of their own Salvation Quest. This indulgence of our Almighty Judge will be an inexhaustible Fountain of ravishing joy and comfort to all serious and considerate minds And indeed without such clemency as you have described the thoughts of the future judgment must needs be a very melancholly consideration to the best Persons But expecting so much Candor and Benignity from him they have cause enough not only to look for but to love and desire his appearing But what shall be the effect of all this to good men Answ. They shall be sentenced to an Everlasting Life and Rewarded with all the Glory and Happiness of an Eternal Kingdom For having fairly and impartially heard their Cause and made all these Allowances and found them Righteous he will say to them Come ye Blessed Children of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Beginning of the World Mat. 25. 34. Quest. And in that Allotment and Proportioning of Rewards will he consider the Difficulties and Oppositions in Doing Good which some Men meet withal above others Answ. Yes As these Tryals and Temptations are Proofs of a greater Love they will in proportion be a Ground of a Greater Reward Thus St Paul says the adding of Affliction to his Bonds or Multiplying his Trouble in preaching of the Word would surely turn to his greater Salvation in the End Phil. 1. 16 19. Quest. Will he also consider the Costliness of it as when 't is done with hazard or Loss of their Friends or Estates or it may be of their Lives Answ. Yes one single Act under such hazards may shew as much Religious Love and Zeal as would suffice to great Numbers when they are free from such incumbrances When we obey God with present Damage he will not only consider our Services but our Loss in his Cause and recompence abundantly not only all we did but likewise all we suffered for him For every one that forsakes Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my Name 's sake says our Saviour shall receive therefore an hundred fold Mat 19. 29. And the Martyrs that were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus shall rise first and Reign with Christ a thousand years but the Rest of the Dead not till the thousand years are finished Rev. 20. 4 5. And therefore whensoever God calls Men to suffer for Righteousness they must not look upon it as a Calamitous Scourge but as a Favour and Priviledge such Suffering being sent in Truth as opportunities of accumulating Bliss and securing to themselves not only more ample but when their Sufferings proceed to Blood more early shares of the Future Glories To you 't is given saith St. Paul in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake Phil. 1. 29. Count it all joy saith St. James when you fall into diverse Temptations Jam. 1. 2. When you are Reviled and Slandered and Persecuted for Righteousness sake says our Saviour then think your selves Blessed and Rejoice and be exceeding glad for your Reward in Heaven shall be great for it Mat. 5. 10 11 12. As the Apostles did who when the Council had beaten them departed from their Presence rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ's Name Act. 5. 40 41. And the Hebrews who took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods as knowing they had in Heaven a better and more Durable Substance Heb. 10. 34. Quest. But numbers of the Evils we endure come not on us for keeping God's Commandments but only as our share of that Misery and Trouble which God has allotted for us in this Life And will he at that Day Rate these and consider any persons having endured more Poverty Oppression Shame or Sickness in this World than other good Persons who yet are no better nor Dearer to God than themselves Answ. I suppose he will for he is no Respecter of Persons And therefore when Persons of equal or higher Goodness through the present ordering of his Providence want much of their Brethrens Temporal Encouragements they may hope for a more Liberal share in a better place For his extraordinary Measure of Evil things in this present time Lazarus had a proportionable surplusage of Good in Abraham's Bosom Luk. 16. 24. Blessed are ye that live in Poverty and Hunger now says our Saviour for ye shall be filled Blessed are ye that weep now for ye shall laugh Noteing thereby such an ample Recompence for these present Evils in the next World as would render them to all good Men not the Miseries as this World esteems them but the truest Favours and Gainful Blessings of their Lives Luke 6. 20 21. This seeming
not an ill Man have some Good in him And have not several practised some Virtues who yet were void of the Spirit and saving Grace Answ. Yes For Herod an ill Man heard John Baptist gladly and did many things Mark 6. 20. And the Foolish Virgins kept pace in some Points with the Wise Mat. 25. 1 2. Either that general Grace which is common to all Persons or their particular Inclination or Interest or Natural Conscience can carry on Men who are Enemies to God in the main to the Performance of some Duties And therefore I said these Vertues are a Sign of the Spirit and of Saving Grace not when some few or more of them meet by chance in an otherwise evil Man but only in those who have a general Care and Conscientious Regard to all of them Quest. You have shewn how these Graces are the Fruits of the Spirit and the Gift of God. But since God's Spirit is thus to work them in us may we not leave God's Work to himself and think our selves free from any Care or Pains about them Answ. No by no means For he that made us Men will not also make us Saints without our selves He created us by himself alone but will renew and save us only through our Concurrence with him Quest. In carrying on this Work of God what must we do towards it Answ. Our Heart and Will must go along with it and our Care and Endeavour too t Quest. When God's Spirit begins any Grace or Vertue in us must our Heart go along with it and are we readily to embrace and make choice of it Answ. Yes for he will not force an unwilling Mind into Goodness And therefore our own Wills are call'd upon when we are press'd to become Good. I have set before you Life and Good Death and Evil Chuse Life Deut. 30. 15 19. And when we obey such Calls some good Tempers of our Wills are noted as the Cause of it The Word and Grace accompanying it brought forth Fruit because it wat received in an honest and good Heart Luke 8. 15. And if we refuse them and continue Bad our own Wills still are charged with it Ye will not come to me that ye might have Life Joh. 5. 40. and Why will ye die O House of Israel Ezek. 18. 31 32. Quest. And when our Heart is thus bent upon any Graces and Good Things must our Care and Endeavour also be put forth in attainment of them Answ. Yes for God gives these Graces as a Blessing upon our own Care and Pains and works them in us when we work with him So that they are to be the Fruit of our Industry as well as of his Bounty God calls to us Make you clean Isa. 1. 16. Turn your selves Ezek. 18. 30 32. as well as we pray to him Turn thou us Jer. 31. 18. and Give us clean Hearts Psal. 51. 10. Quest. But is not God before-hand with us and gives us some Grace before we endeavour any thing I was found of them that sought me not saith the Prophet Isa. 65. 1. Answ. Yes the Grace of outward Revelations and Opportunities These prevent our Care and are given before we ask them In this Kingdom for Instance we have the Light of the Holy Scriptures the Guidance and Care of Pastors the Benefit of Publick Assemblies and the Protection of Laws for Christianity which is not so in Heathen Countries And we have the Scriptures in our own Language and Purity of Doctrine and a truly Primitive Edifying way of Worship which is not so in many Christian Nations And all these with other Advantages came to us unasked we did not seek them but were born to them And of these Isaiah speaks who is not treating of inward Assistances but of outward Revelations which God would make to the Gentiles who made no inquiry after them but had the Revelations brought to them For the Heathen World did not seek out to the Apostles but the Apostles sought them Quest. And doth not he prevent us too with good Desires and inward Motions Answ. Yes he doth with the First Motions and Beginnings of his Grace But as for the Ripening of these and our growing up to a Mastery over our Lusts and a Saving Pitch that requires our own Care and Endeavours which these First Stirrings of Grace must awaken in us And when we do so endeavour after them God will still give more Grace and by his Spirit effect in us such Virtues as we labour after but he will withdraw what he has already given if we are idle and labour not at all For concerning this Improvement of God's Grace by our own Care and Pains our Saviour says To him that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance but from him that hath not i. e. hath not improved what God bestowed shall be taken away even what he hath Mat. 25. 29. Quest. God's Giving then is only an Encouragement for our Seeking since he gives those Graces as he gives our Food and Maintenance not to idle careless Men but only to such as diligently and wisely labour after them Answ. Very true and therefore we are press'd to work them out our selves by that very Reason work out your own Salvation for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do Phil. 2. 12 13. Quest. What way should we seek these Graces of the Spirit that by God's Blessing we may attain them Answ. First Pray for them If any man lack Wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all Men Liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him Jam. 1. 5. And God will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him Luk. 11. 13. Quest. And must we pray in Faith that is ask with an expectation to Receive them Answ. Yes for God cannot bear to see us question his kindness or distrust his Promise Our distrust is enough to make him deny us any thing but we are sure to receive the Graces he has promised if we dare confide in him Whatsoever ye shall ask Believing you shall receive Mat. 21. 22. And if any man lack Wisdom let him ask of God. But let him ask in Faith nothing wavering Jam. 1. 5 6. Quest. What other ways of seeking these Graces would you direct to Answ. Secondly a frequent and serious use of the Holy Sacrament That is no unfruitful Ordinance but conveys Spiritual strength into our Souls as Bread doth to our Bodies This the Scripture intimates when Christ's Eucharistical Body is called Bread Joh. 6. 51 55. And when the eating Bread and drinking Wine is called the Communion of his Body and Blood that is the Communication of all those Graces and Benefits to us which were purchased by them 1 Cor. 10. 16. Quest. Have you any other Rules Answ. Yes Thirdly with Prayers and Sacraments we must joyn a Diligent use of wise and likely means of attaining the Desired Graces When we seek to God for Daily Bread and maintenance it
the Tenor of Christ's own Laws For then they only speak the Language of Christ's own Rules and as Tertullian says are a true anticipation or Fore-hand Draught of the great Judgment And when his Officers only pronounce and say after him there is no doubt but he will confirm what they have pronounced in his Name Quest. But from what you have formerly discoursed I perceive that some things in Religon being against the Prime and Fundamental Doctrines are so Damnable in themselves as not to be capable of any Favour or Allowances And that others being only against inferior Truths are Damnable only as accompanied with an Evil Mind but capable withal of being incurred under Pardonable circumstances Now in these last Points many Persons that mean well and serve Christ sincerely in the main and essentials of a Christian may yet be unhappily mislead into wrong Opinions or Practices And if for their fixedness and obstinacy in these they happen to be cast out of any Church do you think they are always cut off from Christ too and that he will Finally Anathematise and condemn them in his Sentence Answ. No. For the Church as all humane Judges being unable to see into Mens Hearts give sentence in these cases according to outward Actions But Christ in his judgment of them looks also at the mind and heart of the Actors Rateing exactly not only the Punishableness of the Offences but also the Degrees of voluntary and involuntary which makes a Pardonableness or Punishableness of the Offenders And making these Allowances on such scores as fall not under their Notice 't is reasonable to believe he will still own and receive several compassionably mislead who are cast out on these accounts by the Churches Censures Quest. This validity and effect of Church-Censures you say is when they proceed according to Christ's own Rules and upon just cause But if they bind where the Gospel says they should loose and Excommunicate against Reason I suppose those Censures are meer Scare-crows that may serve to make a show but bring no hurt with them Answ. Very true Blessed are ye says our Saviour when Men shall separate you from their Company and expunge or cast out your Name as evil for the Son of Mans sake for so persecuted their Fathers the Prophets Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy for your Reward is great in Heaven Luk. 6. 22 23. If good Christians are Excommunicated in any Church for not going against the Scriptures and complying with it in ill things as poor Protestants are by the Romish Church they lose nothing thereby with God who will not ratifie a wrong sentence but will increase their Reward for having bravely suffer'd in his Cause Quest. By what you have said I see how God forgives Sins But when they are committed against us we are bid to forgive them too and that as we our selves hope to be forgiven I pray you what doth that imply Answ. Not our remitting Future punishments which lye at God's mercy not in ours Nor always that we sit still without offering to defend our selves when we are assaulted or to seek redress when we are injured But only that we bear no malice to them in our hearts and if the case require Redress that we seek it not in Spiteful ways and that beside the Reparation of our own Wrong we aim not at our Adversary's Prejudice nor seek his hurt afterwards nor Pray to God or to the Magistrate for vengeance as the Jews might to ease an angry mind when we are able to do no more against him our selves Quest. What use must we make of this Belief of the Forgiveness of Sins Answ. Admire the mercy of God who can forgive such Profligate and Provoking Offenders And the wonderful love of Jesus Christ who could dye to procure this Forgiveness for his utter Enemies And not despair of mercy but stedfastly hope there is place of Pardon after any of our sins And above all to shew true Repentance and forgive others and perform all those things which are the condition and Terms of Forgiveness thereby to secure it to our selves Quest. And when we are once forgiven may we embolden our selves from God's readiness to forgive to Repeat our sins Answ. No by no means Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound in pardoning God forbid Rom. 6. 1 2. Now thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come upon thee said our Saviour Joh. 5. 14. Such ingratitude and abuse of Grace is not only most provoking to the Spirit and tempts him to withdraw from us and calls down from God heavier and surer Punishments But also it brings in force against us all the old scores which were all struck off as I said only on presumption of our Perseverance in repenting of them CHAP. XI Of the Resurrection of the Body and the Life everlasting The Contents The Resurrection not meerly of our Spirits from sin but of our Bodies from the Grave This to be brought about by the Almighty Power of God. The Perfections of Glorified Bodies viz. Immortality Spirituality and Glory The Bodies of the Wicked Immortal And exquisitely sensible Some Inferences from the Resurrection of our Bodies Good Souls carried straight-way into a Place of Bliss Of Eternal Life wherin there is Full and unmixed Happiness Of the satisfaction of their Senses Their clear and distinct Knowledge Perfect Holiness And without Reluctance Blissful Companions Perfection of Love and Kindness Honour and Eminence of Place All these to be injoy'd in the Highest Heavens without satiety or weariness For evermore Of the miseries of the Damned in Tormenting Passions The worm of Conscience Fire and Flames Disgrace Under all which no favour of God. No company but of Tormenting Devils and damned Spirits None to condole when they cannot relieve No rest and sleep for Recruit of Spirits No end of their miseries The Use of this Quest. WHat is the Eleventh Article of the Creed Answ. I believe the Resurrection of the Body Quest. May not the Resurrection be interpreted only of a Spiritual Resurrection from sin Answ. So some taught of old as St. Paul testifies saying the Resurrection is passed already i. e. when Men rose from a State of sin to the fear of God and these says he get credit and overthrow the Faith of some 2 Tim. 2. 18. But the Resurrection we expect is a Resurrection of the Body Our Bodies after we have laid them down by Death shall at the Day of Judgment be quickned and raised up again Then all that are in the Graves shall hear Christ's voice and come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of Damnation Joh. 5. 28 29. This mortal Body must put on immortality and this corruptible must put on Incorruption that so all that being revived which Death destroyed Death may be swallowed up in Victory 1 Cor. 15. 53 54. Quest. The
tender plant out of a dry ground he hath no form nor comeliness there is no beauty that we should desire him He is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him being ashamed to own him Isaiah 53. 2 3. By these accounts in outward appearance he was to come more like a Peasant than a Prince But his Kingdom so much cried up was to be Spiritual giving Laws not only to Overt-Acts which are triable in Secular Courts but to Mens Hearts and Consciences protecting and aiding them by unseen Providences and Spiritual Assistances rewarding and punishing not with Temporal but Eternal Recompences not medling with a Secular Domination over Mens Persons or Purses in things relating to this Life but leaving that Power in the same hands where it was lodg'd before And such a principality as this our Saviour claimed telling Pilate he was a King but that his kingdom was not of this world for if it had his servants would have fought to have delivered him from the Jews John 18. 36. Quest. Was Messiah to do any other notable thing which would still be a further manifestation of him Ans. Yes Sixthly He was to convert the Heathen world from their Idol-worship and make Pagan-Idolatry fall before him In that day saith Isaiah describing Christ ' s Kingdom both over Jews and Gentiles the Lord alone shall be exalted and the Idols shall he utterly abolish Isaiah 2. 17 18. In that day says God by Zechary I will cut off the names of the Idols out of the land and they shall no more be remembred Zech. 13. 2. All nations then shall serve him all nations shall call him blessed saith the Psalmist Psal. 72. 11 17. Quest. Did Jesus perform this when he came Ans. Yes he drave the proud Spirits out of their Temples and silenced them in all their Oracles and other Divinations and convinced the World that those they had hitherto worshipped for Gods were Devils and that those are no Gods which are made with hands And of this there were so many instances as there were of Heathen Men and Heathen Nations that turned Christians Quest. Those Converts indeed are so many plain proofs of the overthrow of Idols since the first step in Christianity is the renouncing of the Devil and of all Idol gods But how doth it appear that he put an end to their Oracles and other Divinations which were the strongest argument of their Divinity among their Worshippers Ans. As his Birth drew near they all grew dumb God stopping all their false mouths against that time that his own Eternal Word might be heard alone The famed Apollo was then so sparing of his Responses that Cicero thought his renowned Oracle at Delphos had ceased in his days And though afterwards he did speak sometimes as I shall note in several instances yet by the Power and Spirit of our Lord when his Religion had got footing in the World his Mouth was wholly stopped and locked up with the Keys of never Divining silence as he himself says in a Farewel Answer recorded by his Champion Porphyrius And so were also the Mouths of Jupiter Ammon and of all other impure Spirits most famed for Oracles in other places This their devout Worshippers with grief beheld and admired and Plutarch a learned Heathen who lived within an hundred Years after Christ writ a Book about it still extant wherein he inquires the best he can into the causes of it Quest. I see their general silence is beyond question But can you show that Jesus silenced them Ans. Their own professed Advocates make him the cause of the Demons withdrawing themselves from Men both in this and in other effects of their presence with them For since Jesus began to be worshipped says Porphyry the Gods are no longer conversant with Men nor has any Man received any publick benefit by them Nay the vanquished Spirits themselves who gave so many Testimonies to him when he drove them from before his personal Presence here on Earth in their Oracles and other Divinations confessed so For when Augustus in whose time our Saviour was born inquired of Apollo who should succeed him in the Empire his Reply was as Suidas reports That an Hebrew Boy who rules the blessed Gods had commanded him to pack away to Hell and leave that place so that he was like to give them no more answers Again in the days of Diocletian as Constantine relates in his Edict to the Provincials of the East he gave out another Oracle Declaring he could give no true Answers because of the just Persons upon the Earth And when Diocletian asked Who were those just Persons the Priest answered They were the Christians Which Constantine declares and calls God to witness was said in his hearing who being a very Youth attended the Emperour at that time Afterwards in the Reign of Julian when his Temple at Daphne celebrated for Oracles was confronted by a Christian Church wherein were laid the Bones of the Martyr Babylas he presently grew speechless And when Julian pressed him for an Answer by magnificent Gifts and Sacrifices at last he told him He was hindred from giving Oracles by the dead Bodies in that place Which the Emperour well understanding singled out the Coffin of Babylas without disturbing the other dead whereof many lay there interr'd and ordered the Christians to remove it Indeed when the Heathens at any time consulted their Gods by Sacrifice and were to read their Answer painted upon the entrails if any of their Christian Servants happened to stand by the wicked Spirits fled away without giving the accustomed signs and their deserted Prophets could make no Predictions Which being complained of to their wicked and superstitious Princes was several times the chief cause as Lactantius notes which enraged them to persecute the Christians In particular it inflamed Diocletian to begin his Persecution the Bloodiest of all others For his madness against them as the same Author reports was because their presence and profession of Faith in Jesus stopped the mouth of his Gods and troubled all his Sacrifices So that whilst any of them was there though he offered often one time after another this superstitious Man an insatiable inquirer into Futurities could receive no answer Nay to shew further the Power which as I say not only Christ himself but every common Christian had to command and controul these unclean Demons Tertullian desires the Emperours to make the Experiment and bring any that is vexed by a Demon or any Prophet that is thought inspired by him before the Judgment-seat and there set any poor Christian to command that Demon to speak who he is And if saith he not daring to lye to him he doth not as truly there before you all confess himself a Devil as he had falsly otherwhere proclaimed himself a God then let that malapert Christian be put
Predictions and which startled Cicero when the Quindecemviri who had the custody and exposition of them were bringing out thence the news of a King into the Senate were spoke of Christ and fully verified in him who was no abandoned Person And did not Demons here foresee and foretel such futurities as depend on God and were wrapt up as you said in his Counsel Ans. No for very probably the Spirit that revealed those things to these Heathen Sibyls was not any infernal Spirit but the Spirit of the true God which sometimes inspired Heathens as it did Balaam the Aramite to Prophesy of several events particularly of Messiah thereby even among the Gentile World to raise an expectation of him who was to be the desire of all Nations Or if they had it not from the Spirit of God at the first hand yet had they it thence at the second viz. by reading it in the Jewish Prophets by whom God had before foretold these things which is a thing not improbable since they express them sometimes in their very Forms and Allegories The Demons revealed not these things to their Prophets or if they did the Prediction was not their own but as Tertullian says they stole their Divination Quest. The powers of darkness then can only guess at such futurities whose causes are at work and whereof they see signs and appearances like Politicians or discover things ready to take effect when they have been in the club of the Actors and Conspirators or presignifie what they intend to do with such as God has delivered into their hands or repeat Predictions from God's true Prophets in the Holy Scriptures in some one or other whereof did their fore-sight consist in Heathen Divinations But as for the voluntary actions of all under God's Protection and all such remote and contingent futurities as are not determinable by natural causes but depend upon Mens free-will and God's free Providence they are above their reach so that we are sure of the true God where we have such Predictions Ans. Yes and therefore it is evident Jesus came from God because he as I said and his Apostles after him by his Spirit did foretel such as these as I have shewn in several instances Quest. What other Miracles did Jesus work which are peculiar to God and above the power of a wicked Spirit Ans. Secondly He saw into Mens hearts and secret thoughts discovering before any outward proofs and manifestations the fickleness of some Disciples John 2. 24. and the veil'd falshood of the Scribes and Pharisees who stood as insidious Spies upon him Luke 6. 8. and adapting his Answers and Discourses not only to Mens Questions but also to their inward Thoughts and Surmizes before they expressed and proposed them to him as he did with the Pharisees Matth. 12. 25. and in several other places And this is another work which God claims as peculiar to himself stiling himself the searcher of hearts and trier of reins yea claiming the knowledge of them for this reason which is peculiar to him because he is to judge and recompence them I the Lord search the heart and try the reins to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings Jer. 17. 10. And thou even thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men saith Solomon 1 King. 8. 39. Quest. Did Jesus any more Miracles which are performable only by the finger of God and are above the force of Magick Ans. Yes Thirdly He raised the dead as Jairus's daughter and the widows son of Nain when he was carried out to be buried and Lazarus after he had been four days dead And this again is peculiarly God's work For when once Souls are separated from their Bodies they undergo God's Sentence and are secured in such places as he allots whence they cannot return or be remanded but by his Licence and Power that effects all things There is no God with me for I kill and I make alive saith God by Moses Deut. 32. 39. All separate Souls are under Locks and Keys and 't is a Divine Hand which holds the keys of hell and of death Rev. 1. 18. Quest. Have you any more instances Ans. Yes Fourthly Casting out Devils And those not only where they were of the most stubborn sorts which had proved too hard for his Disciples but also where they were in greatest numbers the Devils ejected by him out of one Man being called by themselves Legion which notes a Roman Army of six thousand Men Mark 5. 9. Yea not only expelling but as their awful Judge whose Rod they dread and at whose frown they tremble terrifying them and forcing them often to cry out Let us alone thou Holy One of God thou Son of God we beseech thee torment us not art thou come to torment us before the time Mark 1. 24. Luke 8. 28. Nay he impowered the seventy Disciples and afterwards the very meanest of his followers in virtue of his dreadful Name with like Triumph to eject them Luke 10. 17. And what is more when some that did not adhere to him would try to scare and controul them by his Sacred Name the trembling Devils fled before them Mark 9. 38. And this is another work peculiar to God which whatsoever some Potent Demons can to be sure they never will imitate Indeed in some particular instances the higher Orders may command and eject some particular inferiour Spirits and thereby serve their own designs But to go on ejecting all Ranks and Orders and those where they are in the greatest numbers and combinations and that with terrors consternation and torments is plainly to commence an open War among themselves which as our Saviour argued must needs destroy the Devil's Kingdom and therefore is a thing too foolish and absurd to be imagined of intelligent subtle and designing Spirits Matth. 12. 25 26. Quest. I see the Miracles of Jesus were evidently distinguished from the lying wonders of Satan by the very kind of them in these instances Pray now show also how they were as convincingly discriminated by their intent and design in all others Ans. Because all the Miracles of Jesus were apparently wrought to exalt the honour and service of the true God and to promote the real good of Men and to plant Tempers and Practices diametrically opposite to the way and genius of evil Spirits aiming to root out all those Errors and Superstitions which they had cultivated with utmost care through all former Ages to overthrow their Altars reduce their Worshippers and utterly exclude them from all that Domination which they had so long usurped among Men. And 't is certain that a worker of Miracles for these Pious Heavenly and Charitable purposes is not acted or directed by wicked Spirits For if they cease to be God's Enemies and ours they cease to be Devils If they turn Preachers of Humility Purity the Love of God and of
or will he do it with Equity and Candor as one plainly inclined to shew all reasonable favour Answ. He will be the most Fair Equitable and Candid Judge our Hearts can wish for He is our Judge who is our Advocate and has all along espoused our Cause our Friend that Loved us better than his Life and shed his Blood for us So that when we are brought before him we may promise our selves all the Favour that is consistent with Justice Quest. Will he favourably interpret our Performances when they come before him and make the best of every thing that it can justly bear and be as ready to note what may make for us as what may make against us Answ. Yes for in the Description of the last Judgment Mat. 25. he assigns good deeds to those on his Right-hand viz. the Feeding and Cloathing and Visiting him which in strict Truth they had not done having never seen him but only by a favourable interpretation from their having done so to his Brethren for his sake which shews had they seen him in that want they would much more have done it to himself Come ye Blessed of my Father for I was an hungred and ye gave me Meat thirsty and ye gave me Drink c. And when they shall answer Lord when saw we thee to do any of these things for thee He tells us he will reply in as much as ye have done it to the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me v. 34. to 41. Nay to assure us further of his extraordinary Favour in Censuring of his Friends behold his marvellous Candor in judging of the worst Actions of his Enemies and that too at a Time when if ever he should have been prone to pass a hard Construction For representing the most Barbarous Murder of himself to God as he hung upon the Cross and had a most pungent sense of it he imputes it to the most Pardonable Principles and says they acted so through Ignorance the only possible thing that could be suggested for their excuse censuring that horrid Act which he of all Men had cause to make the worst of not as an Accuser but rather like a retain'd Advocate Luk. 23. 34. Thus in that Day will the most benign Judge be of Counsel for all the Prisoners and spye all their Virtues and make the best he reasonably can of every bad Case And as for good Men he will impute their Failures to the most pardonable Causes and Remember their good Services when they have forgot them setting them off by a kind interpretation and thinking better of them than their own Humility and Modesty would allow themselves to do Quest. But what say you to the seeming Rigor of his own Laws which require us to Love and serve him with all our Heart and strength And if this be drawn out to a full stretch and strained to mean our utmost Possibilities no Candor to our Performances can construe them to come up to this pitch Answ. The seeming Rigor of that Expression he will interpret with great condescension to the Measures of Men. He will reasonably allow and abate for our many Temptations and Distracting Thoughts our Natural Backwardness and Forgetfulness and other Frailties so incident to our present State and Circumstances And when all that is candidly deducted the rest which in our Circumstances we are honestly and fairly able to Do will pass for serving him with all the heart and strength according to the Commandment Quest. How will you make that out Answ. Because the Scripture Declares he will bear in Reason with our Infirmities Heb. 5. 2. And because he has done so in several judged Cases expresly declaring of several that they have kept this Commandment when they needed these abatements Thus of Asa it is said that his Heart was Perfect before God 1 King. 15. 14. And of David that he followed God with his whole Heart Yea that he turned not aside from any thing he commanded him all his days except in the matter of Uriah 1 King. 14 8. and c. 15. 5. And of Josiah that he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord neither declining to the Right Hand nor to the left 2 King. 22. 2. And of Zachariah and Elizabeth that they walked before God in all the Ordinances of the Law Blameless Luk. 1. 6. Now all these were Persons of our own Frailties and Infirmities They were defective in their Care as we are and though they went beyond the pitch of others yet fell below the utmost of their possibilities as the Scriptures have recorded of them in several instances They served God indeed with all their Souls in one sense of the Precept as that notes their adhering only to his Worship and allowing no part of their Heart to any Idol God. But as it note◠the intireness of Degrees in serving him Such failings as were pardonable under humane Circumstances and infirmities were first taken out and so much as they were able to do after that abatement was judged their serving God with all their Heart according to the Commandment Quest. Will Christ then after he has thus made the most of their good Performances make reasonable Allowances also for mens Slips and Failures either in committing ill or in omitting Good things Answ. Yes when they fail in either through some innocent and well meant Error or Ignorance Or when they slip through pure haste and unadvisedness and are surprized into some ill Thoughts or sudden Passions or rash words but correct themselves as soon as they consider what they have done and do not continue in it with Observation He will then have Compassion on these when he comes as our Judge as now he has when he acts as our Priest and intercedes for us For as the Jewish Priests had so can he have compassion on the Ignorant and Erroneous or as the †word notes he can Suffer in moderation or reasonably bear with them Heb. 5. 2. Quest. But what if men are Ignorant because they neglect to learn their Duty nay perhaps stop their Eyes and Ears and Refuse to see or be told of it Answ. Then that will be no excuse to them where they fail of performing it they being as St. Peter says willingly Ignorant 2 Pet. 3. 5. Quest. I perceive he will shew Favour towards our involuntary Failures But this will not avail us if he be Strict and Rigorous in judging of that Involuntariness For alas what man doth all that is Possible to prevent Ignorance or Surprize And if we do not all we can against them he may say they come through our own wills and sufferance if he will judge in Srictness Will he therefore shew Candor in judging any escapes to be Pitiable and unwill'd Miscarriages without which all his Candor in other Things will not support us in his Presence Answ. Yes He will shew all Reasonable Favour in admitting Actions for involuntary
any Church locks up her Publick Prayers and Offices in an unknown Tongue good People must seek out another where they may offer up the same Services in a Language their Spirits can joyn in and Worship as the Scripture requires to Edification 1 Cor. 14. 26. We must not separate as I said from a sound Church only because it seems less edifying But we must separate when there is no Devotion but what is directly contrary to Edification Quest. If we may not separate where there are such real Faults in a Church then much less for the dislike of received Customs Rites and Usages when confessedly as you said in indifferent matters Answ. Most certainly To rend the Body and make disturbance for light things shews an ill Member in all Societies Not to yield to an innocent Custom as I noted before from St. Paul shews a man to be no lover of peace but a lover of contention 1 Cor. 11. 16. Nay if any man would shew himself a Catholick Christian he must not only readily comply with the indifferent Rites and Usages of his own Church which has Authority over him but as he has occasion to pass by them or converse among them with the Usages of other Churches or Christians tho' very different from his own so long as there is no sin in them a Catholick Christian must have a Catholick Spirit and be ready to shew he owns all other Christians 'till they are regularly cast out of Christ's Church for Brethren and fellow-members and never stick out from exercising with them the common Christianity whereby all Christians serve and honour Christ by reason of the particular Rites in any Church or Place which are no offence to him Quest. If we may not lawfully separate from a Church whose Constitution has some Faults yea some great ones as were among the Churches in the Apostles times I suppose we may much less separate when the Church it self in its constitution is faultless meerly for the ill and scandalous Lives of its Members Answ. Most certainly And accordingly St. Paul is most severe against the Schisms at Corinth tho' in the same Church he complains of the horrible prophaneness of many among them who came drunk to the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11. 21. and of the Wraths Envyings Strifes Back-bitings Swellings Tumults unrepented Uncleanness Laciviousness and Fornication for which he feared God would humble him when he came among them 2 Cor. 12. 20 21. The Church of God in all times under the Ancient Patriarchs and afterwards in the Nation of the Jews was a mixt Society of good and bad livers And in Christianity it is compared to a Net that catches Fish of every kind and to a Field sown with Tares as well as Wheat and wherein both must grow together till the Great and General Harvest 'T is always its misfortune here together with some true Saints to have some Hypocritical Professors So that were we to separate from a good Church for this Cause we must separate from all Churches and could hold Communion with no Church on Earth And therefore men must never think of leaving a good Church because it happens to have some corrupt People or scandalous Ministers From the Sins we must separate which give the scandal but unite and adhere to the Church which condemns them the good must not desert it because the bad will not obey and be ruled by it Quest. But what if it doth not use the Rod of Discipline to correct them Answ. We are not to separate notwithstanding as the Apostles told the Churches where the Sins were too strong And the Sinners too numerous for Discipline or the Pastors too remiss in using it Thus the Pastors were at Corinth who instead of mourning over the incestuous Person were rather puff'd up with him 1 Cor. 5. 2. And yet for all this St. Paul would not bear to hear of any tendenoies towards Schism among them 1 Cor. 3. 3. Thus also it was at Pergamus where several were infected with the scandalous Doctrines of the Nicolaitans Rev. 2. 15. and at Thyatira where the followers of Jezabel the False Prophetess were suffer'd to go on in their Spiritual Fornication and Sacrificing to Idols v. 20. And in other Churches which either out of necessity or neglect relaxed the reins of Discipline and tolerated scandalous Persons in the Apostles own times But yet no plea for separation would ever be admitted by them on this pretence In these cases the Church must answer for the neglect of its power and scandalous Sinners for the scandals they give but as for any private Christians whilst they neither help on their scandals nor imitate them their Consciences are not defiled with them Besides the growth of Schism has been one of the greatest weakners of Discipline one Congregation admitting and harbouring men when another rejects them And therefore to pretend want of Discipline for separation is not only a most dis-ingenuous thing but the way to bring Discipline which they complain of as too little already to be none at all Quest. By what you have discoursed on this Point I perceive we are never Guilty of Schism in separating from any Church when we have just cause But that all breaking off from any Part of Christ's Body is Schismatical which is Causeless Answ. Yes And so is all Driving others into Separation by imposing sinful Terms as the Condition of their Communion And then which is the last thing I shall note concerning it Schism from any Churches is most compleat when we do not only separate from their Religious Assemblies and Divine Offices but withal deny them to be Members of Christ's Body or Parts of the Catholick Church This is the Highest step in Separation and leaves not the least Ground for Church-Communion For 't is only the Members of Christ's Body that must Communicate under him their Head in the proper Offices of Christianity and the Communion of Saints profess'd in the Creed is only within the compass of the Catholick Church So that if we cut off any Societies from being Members of Christ and a true Church we must have no more Communion with them than if they were profest Heathens And this was the Sacrilegious Breach of the Donatists and Novatians the Consummation of whose Schism was their confining the Catholick Church to their own Party and allowing no Church no Sacraments or Promise of Salvation but among themselves Quest. There remains yet one instance of the Communion of the Primitive Christians mentioned by St. Luke viz. Continuing in the Apostles Fellowship Act. 2. 42. I pray you what is meant by that Answ. Owning their Authority and continuing under their Government They were appointed by Christ as his Deputies to Govern his Church and therefore adhering to them as the Delegates of Christ is call'd living in their Fellowship Quest. But how can we live in their Fellowship and adhere to their Government now they are dead Answ. By adhering to and