is divinely undeceivable Take away This and all her other Impositions will fall to ruin of Themselves But by the Help of This Errour All the rest must needs be swallow'd how gross soever To wit That the 2 Books of Maccabees and All the rest of the Apocrypha are as much the Word of God as the 5 Books of Moses or any other at least since the Canons of the Council at Trent to whose Authority forsooth The Holy Scriptures owe Theirs That in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper it is the Interest and the Duty of every Christian to be a Canibal even materially and grosly to eat and drink the Flesh and Bloud of The Man Christ Jesus That the single Bishop of Rome is the Vniversal Pastor Head and Monarch over the whole Catholick Church both Diffusive and Representative though in an absolute Contradiction to Four famous Councils which with the Papalins themselves do pass for General to wit of Pisa Constance Basil and Siena Not to insist on those other Councils of Chalcedon Constantinople Antioch and Africa That there must be an Infallible Judge of Controversies on Earth over and above the Word of God Though they who say it are not agreed who the Judge of them should be whether the Diffusive or Representative or That which They call the Virtual Church Catholick or Their Principium Vnitatis as they call the Bishop of Rome who proudly Lords it over them All. That though nothing is to be added to The Apostles own Creed consisting of but 12 Articles Each Apostle casting in One as Ruffinus tells us yet the 12 more at least thereto added by Pius Quartus and the Council of Trent are to be sworn to and Believed as of equal Necessity to Life Aeternal To sum up all in a word No Contradiction can be so gross no Absurdity so great as not to be readily entertained by Those Jesuited Bigots who have beforehand devoured and swallow'd down without chewing That Breeding Blasphemy and Falshood That the Pope is as Infallible as Jesus Christ as often as he speaks ex Cathedrâ even without a General Council not in Questions onely of Right but in those of Fact also Let no man therefore deceive us with his pretended Infallibility more than with his being God or wholly Impeccable upon Earth For He who cannot be deceiv'd can as little Sin they are Attributes peculiar to God alone § 18. But now 't is time that I proceed to the second general Member of Sub-Division by which a Caveat was enter'd against Deceipts of all sorts as well of the best as the worst of Men. For As heed is to be taken that no evil man deceive us by good Appearances and Praetenses so there is use of as great heed that no good man deceive us against his will by the evil Example of his Miscarriage There being at least as much danger of the one as of the other If we allow our selves to think we may safely do what some very good People have done before us the consequence of it will be This that we shall imitate the worst in the best of Men and leave the best to be Their peculiar And therefore here 't is very fit for our observation that 't was not said by our Saviour Matth. 10. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beware of Men that is of Some men Those of the Consistories or Sanedrim amongst the Jews who yet are aimed at in especial manner But with an article praefixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beware of Men that is of all men in general not excepting the very best For let Erasmus and Vatablus say what they will the praefixing of the article seems to import the whole species as Tostatus and Casaubon at least do judge Let us not say therefore with Bellarmin that so good a Woman as Sarah had never prompted her Husband to lie with Hagar if she had not well known it to have been lawfull No nor yet with a greater man that Abram might dissemble and tell a lie to save his life Nor think the better of Adultery or wilfull Murther for being committed even by David after a state of Regeneration Nor look upon Incest itself as venial because 't was acted even by Lot who in the holy Scripture is stiled Righteous Nor imagin it does the rather consist with Wisedom to be Idolatrous for that Solomon Himself did worship Idols who is renowned for his Wisedom throughout the World Nor be so illogical as to conclude in the behalf of Polygamy because so honest a man as Jacob had two Wives at once and is no where reproved in all the Scripture Nor may we give an ear to Them who do excuse the worst Impieties of all such men as have been Regenerate by imputing them wholly to the infirmity of the flesh and not as well to the filthiness of the Spirit Some there are who are serious in the use of such Logick be it spoken to the disgrace of their wit and learning though it is patcht up of nothing but one gross Fallacy à benè divisis ad malè conjuncta Many things are very false in a compound sense which being divided are very true and many are true being compounded which in sensu diviso are very false David was holy and committed wilfull Murther in conjunction with Adultery But it was not committed by holy David for This would imply a Contradiction in adjecto He was holy before and holy after but in a state of Vnholiness and Condemnation whilst he lay snoring in his impieties as he did for some months without repentance So Solomon was wise and a Worshipper of Idols But he was not Then wise when he stood guilty of Idol-Worship Solomon and Solomon were just as different as Peter in the Hall and behind the Door or as the Book of Kings and the Book of Ecclesiastes When That impiety was committed it was by Solomon the Fool who recover'd not his Wisedom till he repented that is to say till he amended and chang'd his life till he became a new Creature and brought forth fruits meet for Repentance § 19. And if heed is to be taken that no good man deceive us we may not sure neglect Him who has nothing of good but in bare appearance If the former may deceive us by the example of his Sin well may the later deceive us too by the lying sanctity of his life Then let not any man deceive us by any means Neither by giving smooth Speeches nor by wearing rough Garments Neither by using Foxes words nor by having Sheeps Cloathing Neither by Spirit nor by Letter Not by the current of his Prosperity not by the reddiness of his Praying not by the commonness of his Preaching not by the plausible Demureness called the Godliness of his Practice For the Devil were but a Dunce in case he could not fish whilst he is angling after Souls with more Baits than These and too contemptible a
rather insist upon in my Design upon the Welfare and the Conversion of our Schismaticks the most Disorderly Walkers of all my Text alludes to or comprehends in its Importance because I can no more separate no not so much as in my Conception the Sin of Schism from Disobedience to just Authority than Disobedience from Rebellion against the Gospel or a State of Damnation from either of them They are all three united in the Schismaticks of old as S. Jude describes them For speaking in his Epistle of Certain men crept in unawares despising Dominion and speaking evil of Dignities Clouds without Water carried about of Winds raging Waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame wandring Stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever He proceeds in his Description to call them Murmurers Complainers Walking after their own Lusts Separating themselves from the Church Establish'd and pretending to have but indeed having not the Spirit This is S. Jude's Hypotyposis or Description of the Gnosticks who were the first and worst Schismaticks the first and worst Haereticks the first and worst Rebels in the Primitive Church the first who separated themselves upon this account that they thought themselves perfecter and purer Christians than others were the first who preached up Christian Liberty to consist in an Exemption from all Authority upon Earth from all Superiours whatsoever whether Masters or Kings or Apostles and Governours of the Church The first we meet with in all the Gospel match'd and parallel'd for wickedness with Cain and Core yea with Sodom and Gomorrah yea with Those Schismaticks in Heaven the Angels that kept not their first Estate but left their own Habitation v. 6. and were thrown headlong by their Schism from Heaven to Hell Briefly the first in the New Testament who are set forth for an Example as Sodom and Gomorrah were in the Old of suffering the Vengeance of eternal Fire therein tormented day and night for ever and ever Rev. 20. 10. And so they are parallel'd for their Misery as well as Sin with them that separated themselves from the Church Triumphant reserved therefore by the Judge in everlasting Chains under Darkness unto the Judgment of the Great Day In all this S. Jude agrees exactly with S. Paul 1 Tim. 6. 3 4 5. and as exactly with S. Peter in his whole 2 d Chapter of his 2 d Epistle as if the one had taken Notes out of the other No less terrible are the Expressions of the Epistle to the Hebrews concerning such as persevere in the Sin of Schism Heb. 10. 23 25. to v. 30. where They that do not hold fast the Profession of the Faith without wavering v. 23. but forsake the Assembling of themselves together at the Stated Times and Places by just Authority appointed as the manner of some is v. 25. are inferr'd to sin wilfully after they have received the knowledge of the Truth v. 26. and there remains nothing for such but a certain fearfull looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation v. 27. § 9. Nor indeed is it a wonder that the Holy Ghost's Penmen and Amanuenses should set themselves as 't were on purpose to terrifie Schismaticks from their Schisms and to persuade them into Conformity by shewing the Terrours of the Lord by thundering out Damnation more to That single Sin than to all the rest For a wilfull and a Groundless Separation from the Catholick and Apostolick Church or from a National Church onely which is a true Part of the Vniversal such as is the Church of England where nothing sinfull is required as the Condition of our Communion whether by Breach of that Communion in which a man ought to have continu'd or by a Refusal of that Communion which 't is his Duty to be of and that as well by Divine as by humane Laws is so infinitely far from walking orderly or according to the Tradition we have received of S. Paul that is according to the Rule of a Christian Life deliver'd to us in the Scriptures that 't is to give the greatest Scandal which can be given to Christ's Enemies and tends to make the whole Gospel of none effect It helps to justifie the Turks the Jews and Gentiles in the Praejudices they have to the Christian Name It helps to harden them in their hatreds and even tacitly forbids them to be Believers 'T is true that Haeresie and Schism do so agree in one generical Signification that Haeresie is Schism in point of Doctrin and Schism is Haeresie in point of Vse But they are so very different in their specifical acceptions that Schism is many ways the worse as I said before And if S. Paul by the word Haeresies does not signifie them Both it follows that Haeresie of itself is rank'd with Hatred Idolatry Witchcraft Murthers Gal. 5. 19 20 21. And then how damning a Sin is Schism whereof Haeresie is but a Part as I shew'd before This is also there reckon'd among the Works of the Flesh For Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions what are they all but several Members or Concomitants of Schism implying Schism to be a System or Body of Sin epitomiz'd S. Paul accordingly speaks of Schism as of a complicated Carnality which like the proverbial Trojan Horse carries an Army of Impieties within its Bowels 'T was That by way of eminence S. Paul accused of having made his Corinthians carnal And the Character which is given to the Double-minded man Jam. 1. 8. belongs as well to the Schismatical or Carnal-minded man that he is unstable in all his ways For such exactly is the Schismatick by way of peculiarity who having faln from his Center The Church of God knows not after where to fix but wanders about from Sect to Sect from Party to Party from Haeresie to Haeresie from Schism to Schism and so indeed does try all things in a most perverse and peevish sense as never to hold fast what is good Experience is the Mistriss by which we have been taught This. I mean the wofull Experience of Six and Thirty years old And we are most prodigious Dunces if after so many years Instruction in the School of Affliction and Experience we are no whit the wiser for such a Lesson For what things are there in Holy Writ how essential soever to Christianity which have not been question'd and disputed if not deny'd and rejected since Schism took place in the Chair of Scorn To this alone we owe the raging of the Sea and the roaring of the Waves whereby the Madness of the People is oft express'd To this alone we owe the Legion I do not say onely of Creeds of Religiosities of Dogmatizings here in England since the year 41. in especial manner but even of Skepticism Apostasy and of Atheism it self § 10. Now if any are desirous to know the Reasons why our Schismaticks rather than others however Scundalous in their lives are singl'd out from
a witness and were partakers with their Fathers in the blood of the Prophets and so were far from being Followers of Peace and Holiness unless as Worldlings follow their Traffick for filthy Lucre dealing as Hucksters in Religion and Trading in Godliness as 't is an Instrument onely of Gain For they were call'd by our Saviour even then when at the Top of their painted holiness not onely Serpents and Vipers but Brands of Hell too such as could not escape Damnation Matth. 23. 33. Nor are there wanting amongst us Christians who are religiously carefull to sprinkle themselves with holy-water to say a chapletfull of Ave Maries to visit the Sepulchers of the Saints to cross their Foreheads and their Breasts and to salute ye every Morning in nomine Domini Nay some there are amongst us Protestants for 't is fit we should be just in our Observations who place a great deal of vertue in an exact coming to Church in daily reading so many Chapters in lifting up to heaven both hands and eyes in walking softly and looking sadly and hanging down the head now and then like a Bull-rush and so we may say they have attain'd to an handsom Outside of Religion that they are well-fashion'd Christians as addressing themselves to God with a Civil Carriage such as well behav'd Enemies do seldom fail of But so far from being Followers of Peace and Holiness that they want the very Body much more the Soul of Christianity whilst they will rather sow the Seeds of the most execrable Rebellion than comply vvith Superiours in things Indifferent vvhich cannot but be lawfull because Indifferent and not onely lawfull but binding too as soon as the signature of Authority is stamp'd upon Them Do These men think there is a God or a Devil a Corruption of the Body or Immortality of the Soul an Hour of Death or a Day of Judgment vvho vvill rather break Peace vvith all their Governours than submit to the use of a Publick Liturgy vvhich is not onely lawfull but transcendently good so long as establish'd by Law and Canon I vvish that all sorts of men vvho are immediately concerned in vvhat I say vvould but take this obvious Truth into their serious Consideration That as there vvere Things under the Law such as the Rite of Circumcision and Forbearing Swines Flesh vvhich however commanded by God himself vvere not commanded for being Good but vvere Therefore onely good because commanded so things Indifferent under the Gospel though they are not commanded for being Necessary do yet become Necessary by being commanded and are mediately commanded by God himself as far as commanded by That Authority which God hath commanded us to obey From whence it follows unavoidably That what may lawfully be done before commanded as soon as commanded cannot lawfully be omitted For Rebellion against the Second Table is as bad as Rebellion against the First And so they cannot be followers of Peace or Holiness who in a meer pretense of Holiness do hinder Peace An hearty Follower of Peace will follow the Things that make for Peace He will not be so much as a Non-conformist but press with earnestness after Vnity by Vniformity in the Church And if his Conscience hath any Scruples arising meerly from the weakness not from the wilfulness of the man he will infinitely rather forsake his City or his Country than stay in either to its Disturbance § 23. Such was the pious Exhortation of Clemens Romanus to the Corinthians which he also made good by his own Example Who says he is there among you of tender Bowels and Generosity let him sacrifice if he is such his private Interest to the publick And say If I am either the Author or the Fautor of any Difference I divest my self of All the Wealth and Honour which I injoy and inflict upon my self a most gratefull Exile Now that S. Clemens made good his Exhortation by his Example I am induced to affirm from this particular Consideration That I can find no better way to reconcile the several Authors who will have Clemens to be the Second and the Fourth Bishop of Rome than by saying with Epiphanius till we can find a better reason That Clemens laid down his Bishoprick during the Empire of Tiberius and took it up again in the Time of Nero. The first of which he did freely and the second by compulsion but Both in order to the Vnity and Peace of Christians Such was also the publick Spirit of the renowned Gregory Nazianzen who gladly threw the Archbishoprick of Canstantinople behind his Back for the composing of the strife that arose about it God forbid said he at parting to all the Prelates there met in the General Council that we vvhose Office 't is to teach and to bring Peace to others should scandalously break it amongst our selves Rather let Me forsake my Throne and be cast out of the City than not contribute all I can to the publick Peace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Like to this spake S. Chrysostom in one of his Homilies to the People That if He were thought the Cause or the Occasion of their Divisions he would recede from his Arch-Bishoprick and be gon whither they pleas'd vvould suffer any thing rather than Schism which he protested he thought a Sin as great and damning even as Heresie and which rather than administer occasion to he would strip himself of the Rich and Splendid Preferment which he possess'd A Charity like That of the Prophet Jonas who for the quieting of the Tempest chose to be cast into the Sea And to preserve a whole Ship was easily content with a private Ruin Which Example of S. Chrysostom and other Fathers more Primitive every honest man will follow in these our Days if he is earnestly a follower of Peace and Holiness And this is one of the chiefest Touchstones whereby to difference a weak from a wilfull Brother They who do not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pursue with eagerness the Things which do make for Peace do not serve God solidly in the Duties of the First and the Second Table in Piety and Probity in Godliness and Honesty in loving God with all their Hearts which is to serve him in Holiness and their Neighbour as themselves which is to follow Peace with all men and so they want the two Hinges on which the Door of Salvation does chiefly turn and whereupon does clearly hang All the Law and the Prophets § 24. I cannot follow Peace enough in the Discourse I am upon for the following of it till I observe how the Prosperity does most especially depend on the Peace of Christians and also say by what means as well as by whose Instrumentality we may attain to so much Peace and good Agreement amongst our selves as may redeem some of the Credit which we cannot but have lost by our foul Divisions There being no greater Stumbling-block either to Those that are without or within the Church than
it is commonly as Pearl cast out to Swine Many sit not at ease whilst the Priest is in the reading of Psalms and Chapters and many loyter without the Church until they are very well assur'd the Preacher is going into the Pulpit not at all laying to heart what yet they cannot but assent to if ever it enters into their Heads whilst their Heads are Christian that the chiefest part of God's Service hath been performed in the Pew For the most powerfull words of Men can but edifie at the best whereas the pure word of God is apt to sanctifie and cleanse us Joh. 17. 17. and as S. Peter once said to the Jewish Sanedrim we ought to obey God rather than Man So in this Case also we ought to hear God rather than Men. Now the Lesson which is read out of the Law and the Prophets is the very word of God which he hath spoken by his Servants And so the Lesson out of the Gospel is the very word of God which he hath spoken by his Son Whereas the customary Discourse which we call a Sermon though it is profitable and pious and therefore worthy of all acceptance yet 't is of human Contrivance and Composition if it is not all taken word for word out of the Scripture and if it is it is no more than so much Scripture as fills an hour And how far it is from That our own experience may inform us from several Pulpits wherein we are often entertain'd with accurate Essays and Harangues with florid Discourses and Declamations which have a very strong savour of Art and Diligence and are deservedly applauded for Wit and Learning but are so far from being drawn from the VVell of Life so far from being wholly made or mostly deduced out of Scripture as to have hardly any Tincture or Rellish of it As if their Authors were afraid with Cardinal Bembus and other Romanists who are complain'd of and accus'd by Dominicus Nanus Mirabellius to fully and flatten their Elocution with the Oracles of God As if they had the same opinion touching the Language of the Pulpit with the Prophane Cardinal Hosius touching the wellfare of the Church when he said it had been better if no Gospel had been written As if the Scripture had seem'd to Them what once it did to S. Austin before he was absolutely converted very unworthy to be compar'd with Cicero's Elegance of Expression I wish we might not complain of some who are call'd to be Preachers of the Gospel as Laurentius Valla was said to do of Cardinal Sadolet and Politian and other Orators of their Age Gentilem illos Sermonem magis quà m Ecclesiasticum deamâsse That they have rather lov'd an Ethnical than Ecclesiastical way of speaking And yet if in a zealous Enmity to such affected Idolizers of human Eloquence the Preacher frames his whole Sermon word for word out of the Scripture what is This but the Recital of so much Scripture as fills an Hour And then 't is certainly as regardable when barely read out of the Pew as when with Emphasis and gesture it is rehearsed out of the Pulpit § 11. Refuse not therefore him that speaketh upon any Pretense to be imagin'd Not for the meanness of the Person by whom he speaks Not for the Plainness of the language in which he speaks Not for the Hardness or mysteriousness of the things that are spoken by him Not for the cheapness or the commonness of what he speaks Nor yet for any other Objections which some who are wittily profane are wont to urge against the Scriptures For I suppose it to be true because I find it in the writings of an honourable Author That some of those who do acknowledge both the Truth and the Authority do find I know not how many faults with the stile of Scripture As that it is too obscure and immethodical and contradicting to it self incohaerent and unadorn'd flat and unaffecting abounding with things that are either trivial or impertinent and also with useless Repetitions Monsters more prodigious than any Africa can afford us who acknowledging the Authority and Truth of Scripture can so blasphemously detract from the Credit of it § 12. But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for all the scandalous Aspersions that either the Wit or the Malice of Men or Devils shall at any time contrive to be cast upon him in his Word And First refuse not him that speaketh for the meanness of the Person by whom he speaks The word of God being as sacred when pronounced by the Mouth of the lowest Priest as when by That of the profoundest and greatest Prelate in the Church Nay his word being as pure out of a vitious man's Lips as the Beams of the Sun when daily reflected from a Dunghill or as the most uncorrupted and limpid Water when it is running through a sordid and earthy Channel As the Blessing of God to Israel was not the worse or the less welcome for proceeding from the Lips of a cursed Balaam so his Rebuke sent to Balaam was not the less to be attended for being spoken by the Mouth of an arrant Ass Be not therefore as impatient of being spoken to by a Priest of the poorest Talent and Degree as Nabal was of being spoken to by a persecuted and destitute but royal Prophet nor so impatient of a Reproof from any the meanest of God's Embassadours as Abner from Ishbosheth or as Herod from John the Baptist or as Ahab from Micaiah who for speaking an unpleasant but wholsome Truth was presently clapt up in Prison and fed with the Bread of Affliction too Entertain not the vilest of all Christ's Messengers as the Pharisees and the Rulers did Christ Himself when they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deride and scoff at him for the despicable Garb of his Appearance But be as civil to him at least as ye would that your Equals should be to You and even because ye are unwilling to have your Messages refus'd for being sent by the basest of all your Servants therefore See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for the meanness of the Person by whom he speaks § 13. Secondly do not refuse him for the plainness of the Language in which he speaks For what is Plainness but Perspicuity and of all those Virtues which are required in an Orator Perspicuity and Pertinence are worthily reckon'd amongst the chief So far forth as the Scriptures contein a Covenant and a Law the one of Works and the other of Faith That delivered by Moses and This by Christ there is nothing more becomes the State and Majesty of its Author than to communicate with his People in greatest Plainness Or is the Gospel very destitute of what the world calls Wit and Eloquence call to mind that God the Father hath sent it to us by God the Son and pay an humble Veneration to what is spoken
Fleshly Lusts in general p. 273 c. to p. 315. from Disobedience to Authority in particular 317. to 343. Antinomians from whence 150. Atheism expressed in the Denial of Spirits 3 4 c. by Rebellion against Governours 82 83. by Impudence in Sin 251. confuted 390 397 c. to 421. an effect of great Dulness in witty men 430 431 c. Authority though humane is of Divine Right and as well the Subordinate as the Supream 319 320 c. See Humane Laws Obedient Indifferent Things C. CAlvinistical Doctrines 148 149 170 171 c. Charity inconsistent with Schism 63 64. Circumspection in thesi 79 80 c. in hypothesi 115 116 c. Commandments how to be found in Peace and Holiness 212 213 c. how the most rigorous are indeed the most mercifull 263. Conscience what and how a Rule to live by 103. 104. to 108 and 151 152. Church of England how far from Popish 68 69 142 143 c. Christ how a stumbling-block to titular Christians as much as to the Jews and Gentiles 365 366 c. Christianity a Warfare 293 294 c. but full of pleasure 206 207 c. brought into credit by obedience to humane Laws 321 322 c. Credulity antidoted 29 30 31 c. D. DAmnation to whom 't is due by way of eminence 33 34. Dangers incompassing every Christian 189 190. Deceivers if old more plausible than of late 26 27 c. Demonstration Metaphysical more compulsive of Assent than Mathematical 404 405 406 c. 419 420 c. Discretion of what moment in Religion 108 109 c. Distrust a Duty 124 125 c. Drollery how dangerous 138 139. Duellers how Impious 249 250. E. ELect why they cannot fall finally though many Regenerate may and do 180 181 c. Enemies how to be obliged 204 279. Enthusiastical Pretenders their most false Rule of Trial. 9 10. F. FAith essential to Religion and more rewardable than knowledge 422 423 424 c. Divine described as differing from humane 432 433. c. How to he secured from failing 434 435 c. Fallacies in Religion and Practice provided against 103 c. 140 142 c. 283 c. False Prophets and False Christs in the Primitive times 116 117 118 c. 135. False Teachers Devils 133 134 c. Fear consists with true Fortitude 123 124. Necessary to Faith 161 c. Flattery fatal 294 295 c. Flesh its frailty in the Best 270 271 299 300 c. Fornication how to be prevented 289 290 c. G. GOD His Glory the best motive to a good life 278 279. How he fights for us 309 310. His Being demonstrated by Mental and Metaphysical more clearly than other things by Mathematical Demonstration 399 c. 404 to 420. the things of God which may be known 428 429. Gospel brought into Disgrace by the Schisms and Seditions and Disobedience of its Professors 321 322 c. In what degree to be heeded by us 363 364 c. Grace sufficient not still effectual 167 168 c. H. HAeresie what and how differing from Schism 45 c. Happiness not in this life 162 163. Hobs how monstrous 3 10 11 12. Holiness how important 198 199 c. Humane Laws asserted 146 147 c. 227 228 c. 317 318 to 343. Humility a chief mark of God's Spirit 35 36. Hypocrisie in its Height 31 32 c. 207 208 218 219 239 240 c. 248. I. JEalousie dangerous to Souls as well as too much want of it 95 96 142. Jesuites why Antichristian 22 23 19 20 129 130. Impudence in sinning worse than hypocrisie 249 250 c. Indifferent things become Necessary by humane Laws 71 72 c. 220 221 317 318 c. Infallibility of Rome falsified 153 c. Justice how a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 198 199. K. KIngs alone can procure the Peace and Vnity of Christendom and they can do it if they will 227 228 c. Their Supremacy asserted 318 319 c. Knowledge damning without Obedience 196 364 365 c. how inconsistent with Belief 392 393. how less worthy and why less required 423 424 c. as such infallible 401. L. LAws See Humane and Indifferent Lawfull things to be avoided 262 c. Lent why its Abstinences prescribed 245 246. how to be kept 247 275. Liberty truly Christian wherein it stands 146 147 c. Life when to be despised 266 267. Lusts of the Flesh 275 276 c. Luxury in its height 250 251. M. MAN to Man a God or a Devil 125 127 128 c. the Best not to be follow'd in all cases and occasions 155 156. O. OBedience to Government a Fundamental to Christianity 19 20 48 49 74 75. must be impartial 230 253 c. to 260. to humane Laws due by the Laws divine 318 319 c. Occasions of Sin to be avoided 110 111 112 263 264 c. 290 291. P. PEace of what value 76 77 194 195 c. Pleasures in Self-denial 305 306 c. Popery why laid to the charge of Protestants and by whom 68 69 142 143 c. confutes it self 153 154. Preaching condemns whom it does not convert 346 347 c. 365 366 c. The Best 384. Pride in its Height is seen in Schismaticks 58 59 c. Prosperity no constant mark of God's favour 30 31. Prudence consists of three parts 84. 59 c. wherein of most use 163. Publick good to be prefer'd before Private 221 222 c. R. REbellion the constant effect of Schism 66 67 68. the most damning piece of Carnality 118 119 c. Regenerate may finally fall from Grace 173 174 c. Religion lies in a little room 194 195. How it differs from Science and is more excellent than It. 421 422 423 c. How evacuated by the Tongue 257. S. SAlvation on what terms to be had 217 218 231 232 c. Schism worse than Haeresie 45 46 47 c. 54 55. why more damning than other Crimes 56 57 58 c. an Amulet against it 336 337 c. Scripture wrested by the Heathens 135 136. to be attended how much and why 351 352 c. 372 373 c. why more than the Discourses which are commonly call'd Sermons 376 377 378 379. how despised by some great Papists 378 379. and by others 380 c. an Apology for it 381 382 c. Security most treacherous 98 99 c. Self-deceiving the worst 126. Self-denial for publick Peace 221 222. how pleasant 305 306 c. 312 c. Sense the outward not so infallible as the inward 401 402 c. Separatists in England why the worst 68 69 c. Sermons how to be heeded and why and with what difference 345 346 c. to the end Sincerity how to be proved 253 254 255 c. Sins the worse the more spiritual 33 34. the least how damning 255 c. to 261. Soul of man of what value 302 303
as with the Scaffold by which 't is rais'd with All their Actions in a lump as well as with the most specious and fairest of them And when This is done throughly Then let the Hypocrites and Impostors be what they will let the Forms of Godliness and the Features of Religion be never so artificially and neatly drawn let the Colours be laid on with never so delicate a Pencill and let that Pencill also be managed with never so exquisite Address 't will be most easie to find the difference between the Picture and the Life Let Zeuxis his lively Grapes be never so apt to deceive the Birds yet the Deadness of his Boy will unfold the Cheat. § 9. The very Truth of it is We should be utterly unexcusable if we should fall into the Snare of The certain men among us crept in unawares of either sort because their Arts of deceiving are gross and obvious fit to infatuate Understandings of the lowest size onely and such as are willing to be deluded There were Counterfeits in the most primitive and purest Times of the Church who were brave Cheats indeed who besides their Form of Godliness besides their Praying and their Preaching could also set forth themselves by Signs and Wonders The Devil had taught them That subtil Trick of transforming themselves into Angels of light and so of deceiving if it were possible the very Elect. Such were Barchochebas Apollonius and Simon Magus Whereof the First had got a faculty even of vomiting flames of Fire the Second could tell the men of Ephesus what in That very Hour was done at Rome the Third like a Cherub could fly abroad into the Air. So that They had some kind of Colour for their giving out themselves to be the Messengers of Heaven some Pretences for their Broaching a New Theology to the People because their Counterfeited Miracles however derived from below might seem at least to short Reasons to have been given them from Above And to be couzen'd by such as These were a more tolerable Infirmity a Credulity more to be pitied and very much more rather than less to be pardon'd also The Magicians also in Aegypt were such admirable Deceivers that They were able as well as Aaron to turn their Rods into Serpents and their Slime into Frogs and their Waters into Bloud So as if Moses and Aaron through God's Assistance had not publickly convicted them of downright Sorcery and Inchantment wherein the Magicians grew eminent through the Assistance of the Devil If Aaron's Rod at last had not swallow'd up Their Rods and turn'd the Dust into Lice through all the Land w ch the Magicians could not doe but confessed to their own shame that The finger of God was in it Lastly if Moses had not smitten the very Sorcerers themselves as well as the rest of the Aegyptians with Boyls and Blains insomuch that the Magicians could not stand before Moses They had had a shrewd Advantage in the deceiving of the People and the People so deceiv'd had been excusable à Tanto Whereas our modern Enthusiasts or Pretenders to Revelation and to a Testimony within them from God the Holy Ghost are not so much as good Jugglers They are woefull Impostors and silly Cheats such as Satan indeed has furnished with very much Industry but with very small Wit whereby He does not more strongly Tempt them than he discovers them to be His. They being so far from being indow'd with extraordinary Gifts whereby to prove to us an extraordinary Commission so far from setting out themselves by Signs and Wonders like those Primitive Deceivers of whom our Saviour gave all his Disciples Warning in the 24 th of S. Matthew or like Those of whom Moses forewarn'd His People in the 13 th of Deuteronomy that they come short of most men of the Church of England even in Those very things wherein they would be thought eminent The onely Gifts of the Spirit which they pretend to are but Praying and Preaching in their Performances of which they signalize themselves by Nothing or at least by nothing more than Noise and Nonsense The Gift of Tongues or the Gift of Healing or the Gift of being subject to Higher Powers for Conscience sake or for the Lord's or any other such remarkable Apostolical Gift of the Holy Ghost I never heard that our Adversaries on either side did ever yet so much as pretend unto They seem to be as unapt to obey their Governors for Conscience sake which is one special Gift of the Holy Ghost as to speak with new Tongues or to raise the Dead § 10. Now if those Exquisite Pretenders in the Infancy of the Gospel Barchochebas a Jew and Apollonius Tyanaeus an arrant Heathen Simon Magus Menander Basilides and the like who by Profession at least were Christians were not Then to be believ'd notwithstanding their Inchantment and Magick-miracles If a false Prophet under the Law who led the People into New Errours as Vincentius Lirinensis expounds that Passage Deut. 13. 1 2 3. and applies it to a false Teacher in the Times of Christianity in particular and by name to Valentinus Donatus Photinus Apollinaris was not onely not to be heeded or hearkened to but also was by That Law to be put to Death yea one step farther If an Angel from Heaven who shall preach another Doctrin than what hath hitherto been deliver'd whereby to lead us into Rebellion or Schism or Sacrilege or any Conspiracy whatsoever against the Government we are under must be no otherwise entertain'd than with an Anathema Maranatha How much less may our Shallower and Vnskilfuller Impostors be believed to be of God upon their own single Word and without a Witness whilst they cannot confirm or commend their Novelties no not so much as by seeming Miracles no not so much as That Man of Sin That Son of Perdition of whose Coming S. Paul saith to his Thessalonians that 't is after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and with stupendous though lying Wonders But grant they had what they have not an Ability to shew us some Signs and Wonders yet Apollonius Tyanaeus would put them down Suppose they preached extremely well as 't is plain they do not yet Photinus and Nestorius would go beyond them Do they make very long Prayers So did the Pharisees for a Pretence that they might the more slily devour Orphans and Widows houses Have they a readiness and facility in citing Scripture So had Julian the Apostate when he disputed against the Gospel So had Satan in his tempting our Blessed Saviour when he wrested God's Oracles with as much subtilty and address as the keenest of our Recusants of what strain soever are wont to do Do they pretend their being warranted by an immediate Revelation So did Numa the Roman and so did Eumenes the Greek so did Mahomed the Saracen and Alarichus the Goth lastly so did the Pretenders in the Primitive Church which
made S. John exhort Christians to Try the Spirits alledging This for his reason that many false Prophets are gone out into the World Is God's permitting them to be prosperous or to sin on with great Impunity any Argument that he approves them No 't is the weakest way of reasoning which our Adversaries of Rome have delighted in For besides that we find them confuted often by their Afflictions God permits what he abominates his own Dishonour How patiently did he permit the Disobedience of the First Adam and Crucifixion of the Second All the Villanies in the world do come to pass by God's Permission however contrary they are to his Rules and Precepts And if prosperous Impiety does therefore cease to be Impiety because 't is prosperous and permitted that is not hinder'd by force and violence inconsistent with a free and a moral Agent Then the great Sultan and the great Cham and the great Mogul as well as the great Bishop of Rome are by an equally-sound Consequence the greatest Favourites of Heaven And then the Argument of Symmachus had been unanswerably conclusive against the Primitive Christians who for 300 years and upwards lay groaning under the Yoke of the Heathens Tyranny Lastly if Permission were still a Mark of Approbation Then Dionysius or Diagoras had argued logically well when having robb'd the Delphick Temple immediately after escap'd a Shipwreck he gave it out that the Gods had approv'd his Sacrilege Not at all that he believ'd but laught at Providence § 11. What now can be said farther in the behalf of our Pretenders to the same Spirit 's Illumination which clear'd the Heads of the Apostles and warm'd their Hearts Can it be said they live strict and religious lives though lives of Schism and Disobedience to humane Laws and Lawgivers expresly said in Holy Scripture to be the Ordinances of God But admit it were True which yet is so false that it implies a Contradiction 'twere not prevailing For the Heretick Montanus grew so proud of his Strictness of his Demure Course of life in point of Abstinence and Sobriety and suffering Hardships as to believe himself in Time to be The Paraclete downright not a Godly man onely but even The Holy Spirit of God In which case 't is very evident that even his strictness was his Disease and that the Spirit which overrul'd him was from his Spleen The Heathen Brachmans also of India were so temperate and chast and so addicted to Self-denials in order to their gaining upon the opinions of the People with whom they liv'd that they seemed in all appearance to use This World as not abusing it exactly so as S. Paul exhorts the followers of Christ Such an externally-strict Person was the Papalins S. Francis who yet discover'd his Humility and passive Meekness as I have read many years since apud Authorem nescio Quem as Cicero speaks in the like case to have partly been a Cloak and partly an Instrument of his Pride For being ask'd why he rejoyced amidst the hardships of his Imprisonment Because said he the whole world will even adore and canonize me among their Saints Hereby we see the strict Necessity of the last Rule I mention'd for the right using of the Great Rule by w ch the Spirits are to be Tried For Lastly by neglecting to Try the Spirits of Pretenders whether or no they be of God and to try them impartially by every part of That Touchstone I lately gave How very many have we known of our poor Separatists in England acted as they have been by the late Emissaries of Rome so strangely shallow and over-credulous as readily to imagin that every Schismatick is a Saint who is not a Sabbath-breaker or Swearer not a Drunkard or an Adulterer and is so or so qualified in point of Judgement or to speak more exactly in point of Party and of Opinion It must therefore be well consider'd and carried constantly in mind by such as These that of the two 't is less intolerable to be a Swearer than a Rebel a Drunkard than a Thief a common Thief than a Sacrilegious one and a less horrid thing to be corporally vile than to be spiritually proud of one's own Perfections We must beware of all the former as we ever hope to fly from the wrath to come but more especially of the latter as being much the more Luciferian Sins Sins which can never attend men to Heaven having brought down the Angels of Heaven to Hell Drunkenness and Whoredom however damning are Sins the Devil cannot commit but Envy and Malice and Schism and Sacrilege Hypocrisie and Rebellion and intoxicating Pride are peculiar to him they are the Devil's Sins so properly that they are properly call'd Devilish in Men or Christians whereever found And as These of all Sins are much the most Diabolical so they are the most damning of any other for ought I can collect from the words of Christ Matth. 23. 14. and by the words of S. Peter 2 Pet. 2. 9 10. If they who hate our Congregations and way of Worship because they judge the Holy Ghost to have forsaken our Meetings and to dwell onely in theirs or because we do not easily shut the Door against Sinners till by Authority authoriz'd though they are under the Reputation either of Drunkenness or Whoredom or any other the like Scandalous and Deadly Sin but not under the Sentence of legal Excommunication till when we cannot lawfully shut them out from our Communion I say if the Censurers of our Patience and Longanimity towards such would but turn their Eyes inwards or duely reflect upon themselves and compare those Sins which the Devil never commits with those several other Sins which are proper to him If they would not onely observe but also remember and consider and religiously lay to heart the terrible Emphasis and force S. Peter puts on the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying of Them who despise Government that they are chiefly or most especially reserved by the Lord unto the day of Judgement to be punished and the most formidable Importance of That Greater Damnation which our Saviour has denounced against those Hypocrites who for a Pretence do make long Prayers I say again if our dissenting separating Brethren in love and pity to whose Souls we pray preach for their Conformity would have the Patience and the Humility to chew enough on these things They would think with more Charity of our Communion and with less Arrogance of their own They would not separate from us Then unless for contrary Inducements than now do move them They would separate from us Then in an humble opinion of their own Vileness saying from the heart with the meek Centurion Lord we are not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under our Roof and are by consequence unworthy to have admittance under Thine They would not separate from us Then unless in the Spirit of S. Peter afraid