therefore they revile reproach that as if it were impious against God fitter to infect souls then to save them seditious against the State fitter to make factions then to compose them and ignominious in it self fitter for Nazareth then for Jerusalem and rather to be called a Sect then a Religion but he knows it to be the onely way of sanctification of peace of glory and will not be discountenanced in it by their reproaches and much less driven from it by their menacies which is the resolution of every one that desires to be a man after Gods own heart and the performance of every one that is so Psal. 119. 61. the bands or the companies Hebr. the ropes the cables that are so twisted together as not to be unravelled and much less to be broken the bands of wicked men have robbed me have made a prey of me but I have not forgotten thy law If neither fear could drive Saint Paul nor shame could keep him from the profession of his Religion it is evident that he thought it necessary by a double necessity the necessity of command and the necessity of means conducing to the end necessitate praecepti necessitate sinis First the profession of our Religion is necessary in regard of the precept for we have the command of Christ for it S. Mat. 10. 32. whosoever therefore shall confess me before men him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven But you will say this onely concerns his person and who is such a reprobate as to deny his Saviour therefore see S. Mar. 8. 38. you will finde it doth also concern his doctrine whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinfull generation of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels If godly and devout and efficacious forms of prayer be not Christs words shame upon his Church for obtruding them if they be Christs words shame upon schismaticks for rejecting them if the apostles Creed be not Christs word how came it to be universally received and professed in Christs Church if it be how may it be disused or despised by any Christians Lastly if Christs own most holy prayer be not his words let us leave it out of the text if it be how can we leave it out of our prayers nay how dare we multiply cavils and blasphemies in stead of arguments or objections against the use of it for all pretence of excuse is here taken away let the adulterous and sinfull generation be ashamed of it but let not the righteous and the faithfull servants of Christ be so Though the whole generation adulterate the truth in corrupting the doctrine of it yet we must keep it undefiled though the whole generation bid defiance to the truth by neglecting and reviling the practise of it yet we must continue in our uprightness though the whole generation be adulterous and sinfull going a whoring after their own inventions and turning away from Christ yet that is not ground enough for us to bear them company For it is equally necessary for every Christian to profess the true Religion when he is thereunto called and to abandon idolatry and superstition that idolatrous decree might no more be obeyed which forbad Daniel to pray to the true God then that which commanded the three children to worship a false god In this case the omission is dangerous as well as the commission for the omission denies God whom it doth not worship as the commission blasphemes God by false worshipping and therefore we ought not to be terrified from the true Religion for fear of the lions ready to devour and break us in pieces no more then we ought to be terrified into the false Religion for fear of the fiery furnace ready to burn us to ashes And this Divinity we may learn not onely from the prophet Daniel in the captivity but also from the prophet Jeremy before it who of purpose to forewarn and forearm the Jews against the temptations of their bondage did put down that verse in Syriack Jer. 10. 11. whereby they were to reprove the Babylonians for their idolatry whereas all the rest of his prophecy is in Hebrew so little were the Iews to be ashamed or afraid of owning their Religion and their God in Babylon that they were to reprehend the Babylonians for their idolatry even in their own language and in their own territories and dominions and we that look upon the Scripture as a perfect rule of Faith and Life must look upon these prophets as teaching us how to behave our selves in persecution or adversity no less then we look upon the rest as teaching us how to behave our selves in peace or prosperity For so Kimchi himself tells us upon the fore-named verse of the prophet Ieremy that it was writ in Syriack to the intent the Iews might be ready to answer the Babylonians in their own language if in their captivity they should tempt them either to serve false gods or to deny the true for saith he this saying of God did the prophet Ieremy send to the children of the captivity that they might have it ready to answer the Chaldeans Secondly the profession of our Religion is necessary in regard of the end not onely in regard of Gods command but also in regard of our own salvation for we cannot have Christ without it so saith the Apostle Heb. 4. 14. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens Iesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession The inference must be this if we hold not fast our profession it is because we have not yet this High Priest to make intercession for us and without his intercession we cannot come boldly to the throne of grace the same exhortation he repeats again Heb. 10. 21 22 23. and reenforceth it with the same reason not for want of variety to express himself for he was called Mercury because he was the chief speaker Act. 14. 12. but to keep us from variety or rather inconstancy in our profession wherefore thus he argueth we cannot draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith unless we hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for the words are spoken consequenter by way of consequence and from the eversion of the consequent the argument is undeniable to the eversion of the antecedent Therefore they who are not true to themselves holding fast the profession of their faith cannot easily be true to their Saviour by drawing near to him with a true heart in full assurance of faith and accordingly he saith not Let us hold fast our faith which is onely internal but Let us hold fast the profession of our faith which is external It is not enough to say that we keep the one unless we also can shew that we keep the other And what then can be
the reason that so many men daily fall from the profession of the faith but meerly a twofold ignorance though they pretend to knowledge one of themselves another of their Saviour They are ignorant of themselves know not their spiritual state or condition know not when they are on the mount when they are called to the state of grace and therefore say not with Saint Peter Lord it is good for us to be here And they are ignorant of their Saviour acknowledge him not as the Captain of their salvation or they would never forsake his colours they look no further then the outworks of Religion look not into the foundation of it for if they did they would be unmoveable the foundation moves not no more can he be moved that sticks and cleaves to the foundation O thou which art the way the truth and the life the way wherein we should walk the truth to direct our goings and the life to reward us at our journeys end Forgive us our strayings and straglings out of thy way direct us in thy truth and never leave directing us till thou bring us to everlasting life to bless praise thee our most mercifull Redeemer with the Father and the holy Ghost world without end Amen Thus we see the necessity of being constant in our Christian profession if we will either hear St. Pauls doctrine or follow his example Let us in the next place observe the substance of that profession that we may be unshaken and unmoveable in our constancy For Religion is best when it comes nearest God as having holiness from his purity and peace from his unity so also having duration and perseverance from his enternity Accordingly St. Pauls Religion depends altogether on God and therefore in the profession and practice of his Religion we are sure to meet with nothing but with unquestionable true godliness for the substance of his profession is twofold professio cultûs professio fidei a profession of worship so worship I a profession of faith beleeving all things c. Concerning his worship it is evident he had the true Religion for he worshipped God and he had also the ancient Religion for he worshipped the God of his fathers His Religion was the true Religion in modo colendi in objecto cultûs in the manner of his worshipping and in the object of his worship First in the manner of his worshipping for it was with great fear and reverence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he which is a word derived from much trembling but whether it be so in the word or no is not material it must be so in the thing for it is the very nature of true Religion to fear God and therefore the one is expressed and explained by the other Deut. 6. 13. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him if there be no fear there can be no service if there be no reverence there can be no Religion Unless the Centurion and they that were with him had feared greatly they had never honoured Christ by saying truly this was the Son of God S. Mat. 27. 54. A Religion without fear cannot pierce the heart to make room for God much less open the mouth to glorify him and therefore the prophet Jeremy calling upon the Jews to return to their Religion labours to fill their hearts with the fear of God Jer. 5. 22. Fear ye not me saith the Lord will ye not tremble at my presence Secondly St. Pauls Religion was also the true Religion in objecto cultûs in the object of his worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I worship God Divineiy S. Aug. Quod colit summus angelus id colendum ab homine insimo what is worshipped by the highest angel that is to be worshipped by the lowest man angels then are fellow-worshippers with men not objects of their worship And as it is with Adoration so also with Invocation for they both alike tend to the acknowledgement of the Supremest excellency the one by Deed the other by Word the one by bowing to his Majesty the other by calling upon his Mercy And Bellarmine himselfe confesseth That the Invocation of Saints was no part of the Old Religion in the Old Testament because saith he the Patriarchs and Prophets before Christs death were not admitted immediately into glory In carceribus inferni detinebantur But is it not safer to say that Invocation being the highest honour we can give may not be given save onely to the most Highest by the Religion either of the old or of the new Testament for there is neither precept nor example nor promise for the Invocation of any but of God alone in all the book of God so that we cannot Invocate either Saint or Angel in Faith and whatsoever is not of Faith is sin Rom. 14. 23. And if our Prayers be turned into sin which was a curse prophetically intended onely against the person of Iudas for betraying our blessed Saviour Psa. 109. v. 7. nor can we have share in the curse unless we have a share in the treachery I say if our prayers be turned into sin what shall we do to pray for the forgiveness of our sins if so be that we still sin in praying So neerly doth it concern all Christians to be sure that their Religion be as St. Pauls was true in the Object of their worship And by the same reason that his Religion was the true it was also the ancient Religion Doceant Adamum Sabbatizâsse was an excellent challenge against those who maintained the morality of the Jewish Sabbath Let them shew it was a part of Adams Religion or they will never be able to prove it ought to be a part of ours for the same religion that saved him must save us if it be the truest it will appear to the first so is it here with S. Pauls religion as it was the true so was it also the ancient Religion for he worshipped the God of his fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Patrio Deo meo saith the vulgar Lat. My Fathers God and my God whereby he had both the credit and the comfort of his Religion First S. Paul had the credit of his Religion that it had been tryed by so long experience for so many years together and had justified it self in that tryal Religion like an aged-man requiring our esteem by being gray-headed and that practice of godliness being most venerable which is likest God in being the Ancient of dayes Dan. 7. 9. And we of this Church of England can have no better plea for our selves and ought not to use a worse then to say that our Religion is the same Religion with our Fathers though not the same Superstition with it wherein they had left their first Fathers the Apostles and the Primitive Christians therein onely have we left them for we profess with those Holy men Ezra 5. 11. We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and build the house that
with Martha you do make the greater noise for Christ learned by preaching if at all so to be learned onely sills the head and ofttimes unsettles the brain but Christ learned by praying fills the heart and never fails to establish it he that is come to this establishment is the onely true Christian for he is sure that he doth God good service and leaves it to others onely to think that they do so he that hath but a putâram for the ground of his doings can have but a nonputâram for the Apology of his misdoings If a man do but onely think that he is in the right he can onely say for himself I did not think I was in the wrong and that in ordinary matters is the apology of them that want wit but in matters of Religion it is the apology of them that want common honesty for what is imprudence in regard of the world is impiety in regard of God there it is unwise to be under an uncertainly or mistake but here it is unconscionable there it is insipiency but here it is irreligion For what shall we say Are those taxed by our Blessed Saviour for want of discretion or rather for want of Conscience who by killing Gods servants think they do God service S. John 16. 12. Since therefore it may be so dangerous onely to think we do God service let us in the first place make sure of it especially then when we more particularly profess to serve him for if indeed and in truth we do him true and laudable service we shall have the comfort of his servants here the joy of his salvation the reward of his servants hereafter the enjoyment of his kingdom this is that which he desires to preach to you but much more to pray for you who is Your Brother and Servant in our Common Saviour EDVV. HYDE The Contents of the several Chapters in the Ensuing Treatise CHAP. I. The assurance of our Religion in the order of Nature is before the assurance of our salvation and that the Apostles endeavour was to beget in all Christians the assurance of Religion against Heathenisme Judaisme mixture of Judaisme and depravation of Christianity What we want of Religion we want of salvation The neglect of Religion ends in Irreligion CHAP. II. The Certainty of Religion may be without the Assurance of it by reason of our Profaneness Hypocrisie and Perversness though scarce by reason of our Ignorance And that perversness is the way to the worst kinde of Irreligion or Atheisme CHAP. III. Of the Substance and the Exercise of Religion the difference between them in regard of the Authority Certainty and Immutability CHAP. IV. That though the Substance and the Exercise of Religion be different in themselves yet they ought not to be accounted so now in our Profession much less made so in our Practice for that whosoever is not sure of the Exercise of his Religion will not much regard the certainty that is in the Substance of it CHAP. V. The Assurance we have of the Substance of Religion in that it is spiritual and resembles God the Authour of it in his incommunicable properties of Simplicity and Infinity as also in his Immutability and Eternity which are the two consectaries of Infinity and also in his Omnipotency All-sufficiencie and Omnisciencie which are the three consectaries of Eternity CHAP. VI. The Assurance that we have of the Substance of Religion in that it resembles God in his communicable properties as Truth Goodness Purity and Liberty CHAP. VII The Assurance we have of Religion for that it resembles God in his Attributes of Justice Grace and Mercy CHAP. VIII The Assurance we have of Religion in that it makes us reverence and fear God ascribing the honour due unto his name and of the ten proper names of God collected by S. Hierome CHAP. I. The certainty of our Religion not to be gotten by Speculation but by Practice That the Apostles endeavoured to beget in all Christians a certainty of the Christian Religion against Heathenisme Judaisme mixture of Judaisme and depravation of Christianity What we want of Religion we want of Salvation The neglect of Religion ends in Irreligion THe certainty of salvation in the judgement of those who most earnestly contend for it even with more earnestness then discretion may be desired but cannot be attained without the certainty of Election and the chief proof of our Election is from our perseverance in Religion Thus the Apostle proves that God had not cast off his people whom he did foreknow from this Answer of his to Eliah I have reserved to my self seven thousand men which have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal that is to say who have not been guilty of Apostacie in this general defection of the Jews of which thou complainest but do still persist and persevere in the true Religion If God would have his prophets know he had Elected the Israelites because they had not fallen from his worship shall we think we can be otherwise assured of our Election then by making sure of our Religion Therefore whosoever hath bowed the knee unto Baal cannot rightly conclude that God hath Elected him but rather that God will cast him away because he hath first cast God away And will ye know what is this Baal let Beza tell ye Baal Patronum significat vel eum in cujus aliquis est potestate Baal signifieth a Lord and Master that hath power over any man so then a Religion that pleaseth my Master on earth but not my Father in Heaven is a bowing unto Baal He that will be Gods servant must acknowledge no other Master but onely God both for the Rule and the Practice of his Godliness and this man alone will be sure not to fall away from Gods service wherefore the best assurance we can have that God will not forsake us is that we do not forsake him for none can be assured of his goodness but they that continue in it his own Spirit thus attesting But towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off Rom. 11. 22. For Religion is as the way salvation is as the journeys end and a man must first make sure of his way before he can make sure of his journeys end I am the way the truth the life saith our blessed Saviour S. Joh. 14. 6. And he gives this reason of that saying No man cometh to the Father but by me As Christ is the way to his Father so the true Religion is the way to Christ we must all first come to Christ before we can come to God and we cannot come to Christ but by the true Christian Religion for though Religion in general is a knitting of the soul to God yet the Christian Religion which we must look to be saved by is a knitting of the soul unto God in and through our Saviour Christ. For since the great distance made
offend many of those that manifestly oppose the truth and immortally injure their brethren by turning them out of the road of salvation to look after some new by-paths no less doubtfull then perilous for if St. Paul did wish himself accursed from Christ for his brethren his kinsmen according to the flesh Rom. 9. 3. then none that takes upon him St. Pauls calling but is bound to have so much of St. Pauls zeal as to think the salvation of souls his greatest blessing and to make it his chiefest aim and he that doth the one will certainly do the other and consequently not regard the causless displeasure of many if he may take the right course to save but one and without doubt this doctrine doth immediately tend to the salvation of all which adviseth men to take heed of hypocrisie in professing Religion and of apostacy in renouncing it or of schisme in receding from it for schisme is a particular apostacy even as a apostacy is a general schisme For the onely way to be assured of our future communion with God in happiness is to be assured of our present communion with God in holiness and we cannot be assured of communion with the Father of lights unless we walk as children of the light It is in effect St. Iohns argumentation 1 Epist. c. 1. v. 5 6 7. He that saith he hath communion with God must walk in the light But all we that profess our selves Christians do say we have communion with God in and by our Saviour Christ Therefore we must all walk in the light We that do profess our selves Christians as we do say that we have communion or fellowship one with another so we do much more say that we have communion with God not inviting men to our civil but to our Christian communion and unless we make good that saying we cannot make good our own Christian profession for he that hath communion with Christ hath communion with the Son of God and he that hath the Son hath the Father also 1 Joh. 2. 23. Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father therefore Turks and Infidels and Antitrinitarians do not worship the same God with us Orthodox Christians but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also therefore Orthodox Christians in having Christ are sure they have communion with God For although these latter words He that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also be not in the Greek originals either of Greek or Latine Church for which cause they are by our Interpreters inserted in different characters from the text who did not desire to follow Beza where Beza did not follow the Church yet they are in the Vulgar Latine and are owned by Clemens of Alexandria in his comment upon this Epistle as it is recorded in Bibliothecâ Patrum and also by the Syrus Interpres and indeed are in effect owned by the Spirit of God himself for that they are virtually included in the former words by the rule of Contrariety or Opposition for by the same reason that whosoever denieth the Son hath not the Father it is most undoubtedly true that whosoever confesseth the Son hath the Father therefore all our labour must be that we may have the Son for in having him we are sure to have the Father And this is the grand doctrine of all the New Testament this is the main Gospel-truth that the Apostles maintained against all sorts of gainsayers in their time and they have left us their writings that we should also maintain it unto the worlds end That the Christian Religion is the only way to eternal salvation This their doctrine was strongly opposed in their days by four sorts of men 1. By the Gentiles not yet converted for they still maintained their heathenisme 2. By the Jews not yet converted for they still maintained their Judaisme 3. By the Jews not fully converted for they still maintained a mixture of Judaisme with Christianity they mingled together the Jewish and the Christian Religion 4. By the Christians converted but withal partly perverted for they brought in untrue professions and ungodly practises into their Christianity they corrupted and depraved the Christian Religion and the Apostles were accordingly very carefull as to confute these heresies so also to confirm and establish the contrary truth whence it is that all their writings are wholly taken up either in those confutations or in this confirmation For though the truth it felf is but one yet the controversies concerning it were no less then four and the Apostles thought it necessary not only to establish the truth in it self that it might appear truth but also to establish it in our hearts that it might appear truth to us that is truth without controversie not only a mystery of Godliness but also a manifest and confessed mystery 1. Tim. 3. 16. Wherefore it will not be amiss for us to see the state of the several Controversies that so we may the more clearly see the more firmly embrace the more constantly profess the truth The state of the first Controversie which the Apostles had with the Gentiles consisted of these two questions First whether there were a life everlasting to be looked for after this life Secondly whether that life everlasting were to be obtained by continuing in the idolatry of the heathen or by turning to the Religion of the Christians And in both these questions the truth of the Christian Religion is declared or rather demonstrated against the heathenish superstition out of the principles of natural reason and that truth summ'd up by St. Paul 1 Thes. 1. 9 10. How ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come There is a resurrection from the dead therefore the soul dies not with the body but lives eternally and this eternal life is not to be gotten by serving Idols but by serving the living and true God and there is no serving him but by waiting for his Son from heaven Thus was the Christian Religion justified against Heathenisme which afforded the first Controversie The state of the second Controversie which the Apostles had with the Jews not converted consisted but of this one Question Whether eternal life and salvation was to be obtained by the Jewish or by the Christian Religion And we finde the Apostles still proving out of the Old Testament the Ground of the Jews Religion and so acknowledged by themselves without the least doubt or contradiction that salvation was not to be had by Moses but by Christ so S. Peter in his several Sermons Acts 2. and 3. and 4. Christus Messias that Christ was the Messias the Saviour of the world is the subject of them all This he proves Acts 2. for that he had given the holy Ghost and was risen from the dead and both his proofs are out of the Old
was alwaies thus from the beginning and must be to the end so that the Apostles did many things by way of Condescention to the Iews which they would not have drawn to the countenancing of Iudaisine for that they intended no Galemofry of Religion no mixture of Iudaisme and Christianity but an utter abolition of Iudaisme and an absolute establishment of Christianity though the abolition of Iudaisme was to be brought to pass not in an instant but by degrees Ut cum honore mater Synagoga sepeliretur as S. Augustine speaks that their mother Synagogue might be laid in her grave with honour and without offence And thus was the Christian Religion justified against the mixture of Judaisme which afforded the third Controversie The state of the fourth Controversie which che Apostles had with the Christians converted but withal partly perverted consisted of as many questions as there were present errours against the truth or abuses against the purity of Christian Religion the errous were confuted by the Apostles and the abuses were rectified And thus was the Christian Religion justified against Heresie and against Profaneness First it was justified against all other false professsions and afterwards against its own false professours For it had been absurd to perswade men to a Religion that was not able to justifie it self against all Religions and men whatsoever because a Religion that cannot justifie it self is much less able to justifie those that profess it a Religion that cannot justifie cannot save a Religion that cannot save is a Religion but in word onely not in power for what man would ever torment his body were it not to save his soul Who would ever forsake the pleasures of the flesh were it not to enjoy the comforts of the Spirit therefore must the Christian Religion be looked on as the way to salvation that men may be carefull to walk in it and as the onely way that men may be fearfull to walk out of it For what they have of Religion that they have of salvation whether really or phantastically and what they do want of the one that they do also want of the other Accordingly S. Peter adviseth us all to make our calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. For though our Election be firm in it self we may bless God it is so especially since we are fallen under such strong delusions as might deceive if it were possible even the very Elect I say though our Election be firm in it self as being grounded on Gods immutable purpose yet is it daily more and more to be confirmed in us by making more and more sure of our calling that is to say of our calling to righteousness or of our Religion in daily bringing forth more and more the fruits of righteousness for we cannot make sure of Glory but by making sure of Grace nor can we be sure of Grace but from the fruits and effects of Grace which are the remission of sins and the purgation from sin according to that excellent gloss of Oecumenius upon the Apostles benediction to the Hebrews in his last words of that Epistle Grace be with you all Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace be with you that is The Remission of sins and the purgation from sin be with you or to speak more to our present custome and capacity the blessings of Justification and of Sanctification be with you for Justification is the Remission of sins and Sanctification is the purgation from sin and the work of Grace is to expel sin by justification and by sanctification to expel sin in its guiltiness or obligation to punishment by justification and to expel sin in its pollution or obligation to more sinfulness by sanctification for sin hath a two fold obligation upon the sinner it obligeth him to punishment by its guiltiness it obligeth him to more sins by its pollution and the work of Grace is to oppose sin in both these respects and the means whereby Grace effecteth this great work is the Christian Religion which is truly and properly our calling as we are Christians and callethus to the forgiveness of our sins by faith in Christ there is the justification and calleth us to the amendment of our sinfull lives by repentance from dead works there is thesanctification Wherefore to make sure of our Calling is to make sure of Grace and to make sure of Grace is to to make sure of our Christian Religion which alone produceth the works of Grace and how we may do this the same Authour teacheth us in the same place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If we do not wrong Gods goodness by sinning or by neglecting that is by Commission or by Omission by sinning against the light of Grace or by neglecting the power and means of Grace which two have without doubt occasioned all the grand mistakes and miscarriages of several Christian Churches in point of Religion They either sin by Commission against the light of Grace or by Omission against the power and means of Grace and at last come to make a new Religion by turning their old sins into new Tenents This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To sin against God and to neglect him to sin against him by Commissions and to neglect him by Omissions to do either is to wrong his grace and goodness much more to do both which as it may serve for a good caveat to all Christian Churches in general so also to every Christian man in particular for our Commissions are the great impediments of our justification because though the sons of men will yet the Son of God will not justifie a sinner that continueth in his sins our Omissions are the great impediments of our sanctification because though the spirit of errour may call him a Saint yet the Spirit of Grace will not sanctifie him or make a Saint of that sinner who neglects and contemns the means of Grace and these Commissions and those Omissions commonly go both together in the loss of Religion but the Omissions go generally before the Commissions As S. Paul saith of the Apostate Christians in his time Rom. 1. 21. and the same doctrine will hold true of all Apostates to the worlds end That when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankfull there 's their Omissions But became vain in their imaginations and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image c. There 's their Commissions And upon these follows the loss of their Religion ver 28. As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate minde 't is first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they did not approve then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were given over to such a minde as could not approve that which came from God this is a reprobate minde a minde void of judgement an undiscerning understanding which is sure to have sin with it and damnation after it for so saith the prophet Wo unto them
Isaac and of Jacob onely we trust in him not by Moses nor according to the law but by Christ and according to the gospel for the law which was given in Horeb is now antiquated for it was given onely to you Jews but the law which we serve God by is a law given to all nations of the world and is to abide to the worlds end for Christ is given unto us as the law and as an everlasting law his Testament as a faithfull Testament to remain for ever after which no law no commandment is to be expected or may be received Thus far Justin Martyr to the Jew because thus far the Apostle had stated the question to the Martyr and indeed to all Christians in the epistle to the Hebrews the sum whereof is briefly this that Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God coequal and coessential with the Father and the holy Ghost is perfect God and perfect man in the unity of the same person and is that onely eternal King Priest and Prophet which God in the fulness of time gave unto his Church to govern instruct and sanctifie it for ever and this he proves by the promises before the law by the types and figures under the law and by the general consent of all the prophets And therefore in this same Christ the Christian Church hath already a perfect knowledge of God in this world and shall have a perfect enjoyment of him in the world to come and therefore may expect no other Doctrine either for sanctification here or for salvation hereafter Now in that the old Testament is alledged to prove and confirm the New it is evident that the substance of Religion is one and the same in both Testaments unless we will suppose the Spirit of God to have made use of unfit and unproper proofs a thing not agreeable with the spirit of a prudent man who gains his knowledge by succession of time and much less agreeable with the Spirit of the omniscient and onely wise God who seeth all things at once in the looking-glass of eternity and if the Spirit of God confirm the new Testament by the old and hath left both the old and the new Testament to confirm us then it is evident that no Christian can seek to weaken or diminish the authority of either Testament but he must be an enemy to his own confirmation in the Christian faith Wherefore among all the contestations contentions that have been in the Church of Christ that controversie doth least become Christians and doth most shake the foundation of Christianity which doth seek to undervalue the authority of the word of Christ for if there be no infallible certainty in the word of Chrst it is impossible there should be any infallible certainty in the Christian Religion therefore they are the greatest enemies to the certainty of the Christian Religion who seek to add to the Church by detracting from the Scripture for if the Scripture hath not a most undoubted authority the Church can have none at all for sure we are the Scripture was delivered to the Church without any faults or corruptions and therefore we are bound not onely in common charity but also in common prudence and justice to beleeve that the Church hath so kept it because all the faults of the Text are to be layed upon the Church to whose care and trust God did commit the keeping of the text for God requireth two things of his Church first to be a faithfull keeper then to be a faithfull interpreter of his word and if we will needs say she hath not been faithfull in the keeping how can we choose but say she may be as unfaithfull in the interpreting of the word of God So that they are the greatest schismaticks that ever were who under pretence of extolling the authoritie of the Church do question nay debase the authoritie of the Scriptures for these men have begun an everlasting schisme which must needs last as long in the Church as there shall be any Christians so well perswaded of Gods truth as to think it was worth the registring and of the books wherein it was registred as to think them worth the keeping And Cassander himself seems to be of this opinion in his consultation of Religion in the chapter of the Church I cannot deny but the chiefest cause of this calamitie and distraction of the Church is to be ascribed to them who being puffed up with an empty kinde of pride of ecclesiastical power did contemn and repel those who rightly and modestly admonished them wherefore I think there is no firm peace to be hoped for unless they begin the reconciliation who began the distraction that is unless they who are set over the ecclesiastical government do remit somewhat of their excessive rigour and do yield somewhat to the peace of the Church and hearkening to the instruction and advice of many pious men do correct some manifest abuses according to the rule of Gods word and of the ancient Church from whence they have lately swerved I will set down the words in Latine for their sakes who do understand the Authour as well as I have the sense of them in English for their sakes who do desire to understand their Religion Non negarim praecipuam causam hujus calamitatis distractionis Ecclesiae illis assignandam qui inani quodam fastu ecclesiasticae potestatis inflati rectè modestè admonentes superbè fastidiosè contempserunt ac repulerunt Quare nullam firmam pacem sperandam puto nisi ab iis initium fiat qui distractionis causam dederunt hoc est nisi ii qui ecclesiasticae gubernationi praesunt de nimio illo rigore aliquid remittant Ecclesiae paci aliquid concedant multorum piorum votis monitis obsequentes manifestos abusus ad regulam divinarum literarum veteris Ecclesiae à quâ deflexerunt corrigant Cassander in consult de Rel. ad Ferdin 1. Max. 2. Imp. cap. de Ecclesiâ His judgment is plainly this that the Scripture is to rule and govern the Church and that to advance the authority of the Church against the authority of the Scripture much more above it is to give the occasion of a calamitous if not of a remediless schisme and distraction a distraction not possibly to be remedied till this irreligious tenent which is the cause of it be renounced and it is high time though the tenent it self be yet scarce one hundred years old for all good Christians that wish better to Christs interest then their own to renounce it and leave raising objections against the holy Scripture thinking to set up the Church by pulling down the word of God for besides that both Scripture and Church by their joynt authorities can never make us too sure of our Religion it is not possible for the Church to stand if the Scripture fall but they must needs both fall together Whereas let the Church not be
Eliah saith he was delivered after Eliah was ascended but the meaning is that the thing had been revealed by Eliah to one of the prophets who commanded him to write it in a book and give it to Iehoram tell him that it was a writing sent to him from Eliah that so Iehoram thinking the writing sent to him from heaven might humble his heart So will I here present our back-sliding age with a reproof from S. Paul that hath been so many years dead because I see that back-sliders do not regard the reproofs of their ministers who are now living and I cannot but hope if I have not willingly mistaken the Apostle that no cōsciencious godly man such as we all pretend to be will willingly mistake me We must then look on S. Pauls profession in this place as a true Christians profession because it is a profession of his Christian Religion consisting of two parts of his worship of his faith which are the two essential or substantial parts of Religion sides cultus faith in God and the worship of God though the faith be put last in the order of the words yet is it first in the order of nature for because S. Paul beleeved all things which were written in the law and in the prophets therefore did he worship the God of his fathers But before our Apostle shews the substance of his profession what it is he doth shew the necessity of it why it is for the necessity of his Christian profession is imported in these words But this I confess unto thee that after the way which they call heresie as well as the substance of it in these words so worship I the God of my fathers beleeving all things which are written in the law and in the prophets And indeed as it is the great duty so it should be the great labour of every Christian to keep his heart true unto his Saviour to keep his tongue true unto his heart to keep his heart true to Christ that he may be unmoveable in the love of his Religion and to keep his tongue true unto his heart that he may be unmoveable in the profession of that love and for both these we have here an excellent president So worship I the God of my fathers beleeving all things which are written in the law and in the prophets There his heart is true to his Saviour in the substance of Religion and before that but this I confess unto thee that after the way which they call heresie so worship I There his tongue is true to his heart in the profession of it for he looks upon the profession of his Religion as a necessary duty not to be omitted for fear not to be dissembled for shame I unto thee hints both these I a prisoner at the bar to thee a iudge upon the bench for Saint Paul was here arraigned as a felon for his Religion which hath been allways the portion of the godly for the wicked presidents and princes could not but say we shall not finde any occasion against this Daniel except we finde it against him concerning the law of his God Dan. 6. 5. I say Saint Paul had been indicted and was here arraigned as a felon or a delinquent that in the midst of a general refusal or denial of Christ he durst own to be a Christian and would be constant in the profession of his Christianity and he shews that notwithstanding all the affronts offered him and the aspersions cast upon him yet his profession being truly Christian was such as he might not be afraid would not be ashamed of I unto thee is enough against the fear which they call heresie is enough against the shame Let us put on the armour of proof against the fear and we shall need of no mask or vizard against the shame And surely this Ego in the Text Saint Pauls example is warrant enough not to be afraid for so saith the holy Ghost by his mouth Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ 1 Cor. 11. 1. Every man is bound to follow his Church where that follows his Saviour but because this refractory age thinks it the nearest cut to go to Christ to run away from his Church it will not be amiss to shew how our blessed Saviours example did move Saint Paul that so both examples together may the more forcibly move us not to be afraid to make profession of our Religion For so it is recorded of our blessed Saviour that before Pontius Pilate he witnessed a good confession or a good profession 1 Tim. 6. 13. can we be called before worse tyrants then Felix and Pilate Can we look for better examples then Saint Paul and our blessed Saviour the one the teacher the other the King of Saints lo Saint Paul professed his Religion before Felix our blessed Saviour before Pilate and both them professed it when there was the greatest danger of that profession when they were in danger of their lives not onely of their livelyhoods for professing it if the tyranny cannot be greater why should the profession be less for so Saint Chrysostome sets down the profession of Christ before Pontius Pilate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I came to be a witness to the truth or a martyr for it a witness to the truth in times of peace and prosperity a martyr for the truth in times of opposition and apostasie so should every Christian think and say that he was not born as a man much less new-born as a Christian for himself but for his Saviour to be a witness to he truth For if this principle of Religion were doctrinal in our hearts to beleeve it it would also be practical in our lives to perform it but we beleeve not the doctrine and therefore regard not the practise the faith is first dead then the work so saith the prophet He that beleeveth in him shall not make haste Isa. 28. 16. id est ex impatientiâ infidelitate ad res praesentes non confugiet saith Junius He that beleeveth in him shall not make such haste as out of impatience and infidelity to comply with the present occasions or opportunities more to keep his estate then to keep his conscience as those miscreants did v. 15. who said we have made a covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement when the overflowing scourge shall pass through it shall not come unto us for we have made lies our refuge and under falshood have we hid our selves Iunius thus rightly explaineth their wicked meaning we are as secure as if we had made a covenant with death we have done as much as wise men can do and more then honest men will do to preserve our selves to make an agreement with those that are too strong for us we have cast up our banks against the overflowing scourge and though you call it lies and falshood which we have done yet we know it
to do and not as an act of Custom we would all labour to be as unchangeable in our profession as we desire to be thought unchangeable in our Faith then would this distinction of Faith essentially accidentally Catholick come to nothing for as the Christian Faith is at all times equally Catholick in the Veracity of its perswasion so it would also all times be equally Catholick in the extent of its profession And good reason it should be so since it is grounded upon Gods Word which is as unchangeable as himself for so saith S. Paul Beleeving all things that are written in the Law and in the Prophets which is the reason or proof that his Faith is truly Catholick because it beleeves nothing but what is written Non credimus quia non legimus was S. Hieroms rule to confute Helvidius Mariam nupsisse post partum non credimus quia non legimus Hoc quia de scripturis non habet autoritatem câdem facilitate contemnitur quâ probatur We do not beleeve that the Blessed Virgin had any other childe after our Blessed Saviour because we do not reade it for what hath not its authority from the Scriptures is rejected with the same facility that it is alledged so S. Paul here urgeth the Scripture the written word as the rule of his Faith and the Law and the Prophets as the specification of that rule Out of this Rule our Saviour Christ confuteth the devil S. Mat. 4. nor doth the devil cavil with the manner of his confutation as some of late have done as if they thought it too little to be tormented by the devil unless they might also be condemned by him objecting the uncertainty of the Hebrew Points or the difference of the Greek and Latine Translations or the various readings of the Text and as various expositions of it yet it is observable that not one of those Texts there quoted by our Saviour Christ doth exactly agree with the original word for word not one Text is the same with the Original in words though every one be in sense As for example in Deut. 8. 3. no mention is made of Word yet our Saviour saith by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God so Deut. 6. 16. the Text speaks in the Plural number Ye shall not tempt Our Saviour quoteth it in the Singular Thou shalt not tempt So Deu. 6. 13. Moses saith Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him but our Saviour Christ quoteth him thus Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve altering one word and adding another O that men would be ingenuous with God and rather then not learn this good lesson would learn it from this bad Master who durst not in Gods cause refuse to be tried by Gods Word but was far from loading himself with more sin by seeking to load the Word of Truth either with Cavils or with Calumnies for if it be written in the Law in the Prophets it is not to be gainsaid it is not to be contradicted if it be not written there as it was not in S. Pauls Religion so it may not be in ours But you will say the specification of this Rule is too narrowly confined to the Law and the Prophets I answer that by these words is meant whatsoever is comprised in the Canon of the Old Testament as it was established and received in the Jewish Church For the holy Ghost plainly saith that to them i. e. to the Jews were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. now the Jews before and at the coming of Christ were of two sorts the one properly called Hebrews which lived in Jerusalem or Judea and understood the Hebrew tongue or else S. Paul would not have spoken to them in it Act. 21. 40. The other called Hellenists or Grecians either because they were dispersed among the Greeks as saith Baronius Judaeos in Graeciâ habitantes dictos Graecos in Palaestinâ Hebraeos or because they used in their Synagogues to read the Bible onely in Greek as Scaliger will have it Quia Biblia Graecè tantum legere soliti sunt We read of these two several sorts of Jews both together Act. 6. 1. There arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews that is of the Jews that used the Greek Bibles against those Jews that used the Hebrew Bibles in their Synagogues And hence it came to pass that as the Jews themselves were of two sorts so they did use a twofold Text of Scripture in their Synagogues the one in Hebrew the orher in Greek whence Tertullian in his Apology cap. 18. advising even Painims to search the Old Testament whereby they might be drawn to the Christian Faith saith That it was to be seen in Ptolemies library or to be heard in Rome and other places in the Jewish Synagogues who by paying a standing tribute did purchase this liberty of openly reading the Scriptures and that not onely in Hebrew but also in Greek in the same tongue wherein they were translated in Ptolemie's library as appears by a supplication of the Jews unto the Emperour Iustinian Authenti 146. Col. 10. quod sic incipit Aequum sanè wherein they make request That it might be lawful for them to read the Greek translation of the seventy Interpreters in their Synagogues as their custome before had been for in all probability the Jews of the dispersion made this petition because they understood not the Hebrew text as did not the Jews of Palestine who did partly understand it in it self but fully as it was translated in the Chaldee Paraphrase which was therefore read with the text in their Synagogues and hence it came to pass that the Greek text was first generally received by the Christian Church because those Jews which used it were dispersed among the Gentiles and the Greek was now become the common language of the world and this Greek text or translation having been used in the Apostles times for these reasons to wit for the uniting of the Jews and Gentiles into one communion and for the common edification of both being so united did happily cause Saint Luke to continue the name of Cainan in the genealogy of Christ because he found it in the Greek though it was not in the Hebrew Bible lest if he should have altered the long received translation he should have discountenanced the newly received Religion which evangelical condescension of his did no more authorize the Greek translation to justle with the Hebrew text then the Apostles condescension before of abstaining from bloud and meats offered to idols did authorize the Gentiles to turn Jews or the Jews to continue in their Judaisme But however sure we are the Greek Translation was first generally received because it was generally understood both by Jews and Christians whereas the Hebrew text was then fully understood onely by some few Jews and scarce at all by any Christians And thus did the Jews use
with us so that the best way to serve him cordially is to serve him with eye-service considering that he always looks upon us and therefore we ought always to act as in his presence Excellently the Casuist Reiginaldus Adjumenta operandi bonum in ordine ad nosipsos sunt consider are Christum ut mandantem spectantem adjuvantem The main helps that encourage any man in regard of himself to do that which is good is the consideration of Christs presence as if he were actually standing by him to command to observe and to assist him that he commands me to obey observes me in my obedience and assists me in obeying whosoever truly hath this consideration of Christ cannot but have his heart full of true Christianity and he that hath his heart full cannot have his mouth or his hand empty for out of the aboundance of the heart not onely the mouth speaketh but also the hand acteth and worketh But Gods Infinitie though it most appear to us in his Omnipresence yet is it the immediate property of his essence which being a pure act or form admits of no materiality to limit and to confine it and so also are the duties of Religion in some sort infinite in their very essence for nothing is proportionable to God but what is infinite and like himself and therefore it is said Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect St. Mat. 5. 48. God justly requires a perfection of degrees in all duties of Religion though he graciously accepts a perfection of parts it is well for us that the truth and sincerity not the measure and degree of our faith or repentance puts us in the state of salvation for else we should not onely be always doubtfull of that state but also very often come short of it and yet in truth our faith and repentance and obedience is infinite as it is in Gods acceptance though not as it is in our performance for though it be performed in much unrighteousness yet it is accepted in an infinite righteousness even the righteousness of the eternal Son of God 3. Communicatione essentiae Thirdly and lastly God may be said to be infinite in the communication of his essence which he hath communicated in an infinite variety to infinite sorts of creatures which all have their being onely from him So also Religion is infinite in this respect that it can never be enough communicated he that is truly converted himself will make it his whole work to strengthen his brethren according to that advice of our blessed Saviour St. Luke 22. 32. which having been given to St. Peter in his own person cannot but more peculiarly belong to all his successours then many things else that are more zealously claimed by most of them and how then may the Scriptures be denied to the people in a tongue they know or prayers be obtruded to them in a tongue they know not since the Scripture communicates Religion from God to man and prayer expresseth the desire of that heavenly communion Wherefore that of the Trent Council Sess. 22. cap. 8. Nè tamen oves Christi esuriant pastores frequenter aliquid in missâ exponant c. Least the flock of Christ should be hunger-starved the priâ—st ought often to expound the missal is in effect a tacit Confession that though Religion ought to be effectually communicated to the people to feed their souls unto the full yet they are resolved it must not be so but that they shall still wholly depend upon the priests for a little broken bread whereas all that know good to be naturally diffusive of it self most willingly acknowledge that Religion the greatest good of this world and the onely practise of the next the more it hath of goodness the more it ought to have likewise of the diffusion The third incommunicable property of God is his Immutability for as God changeth not in his essence I AM hath sent me unto you Exo. 3. 14. so he changeth not in his government or dominion of souls I am the Lord I change not Mal. 3. 6. he changeth not as our Lord and we cannot pretend to change as his servants for Religion hath also its share in this Immutability in which sense I perswade my self Iustin Martyr called Abraham a Christian and Socrates too though a heathen yet observing some of that righteousness all which we Christians do or should observe and he proves that the Christian Religion is that whereby God was then and is now truly worshipped and glorified what the heathen had of idols they had of Paganisme what of moral duties or of reasonable service they had of Christianity for there is no reason why the martyrs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may not agree with the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12. 1. So likewise the Iews and the Christians have the same Religion in substance though not in ceremonies or circumstance or the old Testament could not be brought so appositely to prove the doctrines of the New or Moses have been said to bear the reproach of Christ Heb. 11. 26. and so likewise all Christians have one and the same Religion though they have many different professions the Christian Religion being altogether unchangeable one and the same in all places and at all times and what is otherwise will be found either to be superstition or faction or matter of order but in no case matter of Religion it being impossible that what is truly Christian in one place or time should be made either Antichristian or Unchristian in another And this property of Immutability Religion partakes in a higher degree then the sublimest spirit in the highest order of Angels for they are all changeable by a power without them though not by a power within them but Religion is not so God himself cannot make another Religion or service of himself then that which he hath already made I mean as to the substantial and internal nature of holiness consisting in the immediate duties of Religion Aliquid dicitur mutabile dupliciter uno modo per potentiam quae in ipso est altero modo per potentiam quae est in altero Aquin. par 1. qu. 9. what is absolutely unchangeable cannot be changed by any power either within or without it self so is God so is the service of God Religion which God cannot change no more then he can change himself that is no more then he can change his truth that taught it his justice that prescribed it his excellent majesty that still requireth it his infinite mercy that still accepteth it for it was Gods own Spirit that spake those words by the mouth of Gamaliel Acts 5. 38 39. If this counsel or this work be of men it will come to nought but if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it and upon serious examination we shall finde it most true in our Christian Religion what hath been either in the doctrine or practise thereof meerly the counsel