general is also true of this Scripture in particular Namely that tho' there be many Floods yet there are many Fords tho' there be many Depths where the greatest Elephants may swim yet there are also some Shallows where the least Lambs will be able to wade In some places the Holy Spirit soars aloft above the reach of the Highest and in other places he stoops so low as to condescend even to the Capacity of the Meanest And so he doth here in the Text where there are no difficulties to puzzle us but plain things to instruct and direct us The Text is a part of that Epistle which was sent by Christ to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus Ephesus was a large City upon which depended several lesser places as the Learned Hammond and others observe And according to that Government Christ had set up in his Church there was an Angel or Bishop constituted to oversee the Flock of Christ in these places Hence St. Austin speaking of the seven Angels which are mentioned in this Book of Revelations stiles them the Bishops or Governours of these seven Churches Such a Bishop or Angel was set over the Church of Ephesus and Antiquity tells us Onesimus was their Bishop to this Bishop or Angel doth Christ send an Epistle as may be learn'd from ver 1 of this Chapter Vnto the Angel of the Church of Ephesus write The whole Epistle besides the Prologue and the Epilogue consists of four Principal Parts First A commendation of them for their Labour and Patience and unwillingness to suffer them that are Evil ver 2 3. Secondly A Reprehension wherein they are blamed for leaving their First Love and abating something of the Zeal and Fervour for the Gospel of Christ vers 4. And Thirdly An Exhortation to things of great Importance here in the beginning of the Text Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works And Fourthly A Commination in the last words of the Verse Else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy Candlestick out of his place For the fuller understanding of which words First We will first inquire why the Church of Christ is compared unto a Candlestick Secondly Shew you that this Candlestick may be removed out of his place Thirdly That it is an heavy Judgment to have this Candlestick removed out of his place Fourthly The Causes of this heavy Judgment And Fifthly The Means to prevent it I begin First With the first of these Namely to enquire why the Church of Christ is compared unto a Candlestick That the Church of Christ is compared to a Candlestick is plain from Chap. 1. 20. where we are told that The seven Stars are the Angels of the seven Churches and the seven Candlesticks are the seven Churches And well may the Church of Christ be compared unto a Candlestick since it holds forth the Word of God which is so often compared unto a Light We have a more sure word of prophesie saith St. Peter whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light shining in a dark place 2 Pet. 1. 19. To the same purpose is that of David Psal. 119. 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path The World indeed of it self is a very dark place and stands in need of Light It is a dark and dismal place in respect of those manifold troubles and miseries which infest this Life Now the Word of God is a Light which helps to scatter and disperse these Mists of Trouble So King David found it Psal. 119. 50. This is my comfort in my affliction thy word has quickned me The whole world saith St. Iohn lieth in wickedness and it were impossible for us to find our way to Heaven without the light of God's Word But God is so gracious as to give us his Word to be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths How ought we then to prize and value the Church of God which is no less than the Light of the World without the direction whereof we must have wandred up and down the Wilderness and never have found out the way to Canaan There is no Salvation out of the Church Nec erit illi Deus Pater cui non est Ecclesia Mater God saith St. Cyprian will not be his Father who doth not own the Church for his Mother Had we been born without the Pale of the Church we had been Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel Strangers to the Covenant of Promise without God without Christ and without Hope in this World Sure then we who are born within the Pale of God's Church and enjoy the glorious Light of the Gospel should rejoyce in this Light and learn to Prize and Value it otherwise we may be deprived of it and lose all the advantages thereof as will appear by considering the Second General Secondly Which is to shew that this Candlestick may be removed out of his place This is plain from the words of the Text where we have our Saviour speaking thus to the Church of Ephesus Except thou repent I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy Candlestick out of his place Christ's Church therefore may fail and be extinguish'd But for the more distinct decision of this point we must carefully distinguish of Christ's Catholick and Universal Church and of some particular Church of Christ seated in some particular Kingdom or Nation as the Church of England the Church of Scotland the Church of Denmark and the like Now 1st It is certain in the first place that the Catholick or Universal Church can never fail and be totally extinguished this larger Candlestick shall never be removed We have several promises in Scripture which assure us of the perpetuity of Christ's Church and that it shall continue even unto the end of the World So our Saviour promises his Apostles Mat. 28. ult Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world And again Mat. 16. 18. it is said that Christ has built his Church upon a Rock and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Thus firm and stable is the Catholick Church as St. Chrysostom speakes elegantly it may be assaulted but not defeated it may be distressed but not destroyed it may be wounded but it shall not fall it may be tossed but not wreck'd it may and shall be militant but yet never be overcome But 2ly Tho' the Catholick and Universal Church be thus stable and perpetual yet no particular Church can claim this priviledge The Church of any particular Place or Nation may utterly fail and have its Candlestick removed from it This is threatned in the Text to the Church of Ephesus and has been the sad fate of several other particular Churches For where are those many Famous Churches in Africa which were so glorious and flourishing in the days of St. Austin Where are those seven Golden Candlesticks those seven Famous Churches of Asia
be taken in this Figurative sense this Cup represents my blood For it follows presently after I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine saith Christ until that day when I drink it new with you in my fathers kingdom The fruit is called sometimes the blood of the Grape but sure without a figure it cannot be called the blood of Christ. Thus you see that our Church is Apostolical also in denying Transubstantiation 6. The Adoration of the Host is accounted by the Church of England a most dangerous crime for since as you have heard there is no Transubstantiation but it remains bread we dare not pay our Adoration to it which we believe a Creature for it is the plain Doctrine of our Saviour Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve 7. The Church of England in condemning the Worship of Images condemns only what the Apostles and Prophets had condemned before for this charge is given in the Second Commandment Thou shalt not make unto thy self any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them Here we are forbid and that in most comprehensive terms the making of any Image whatsoever to Worship it It is not said Thou shalt not make Images of Idols or false Gods but it is said Thou shalt not make any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing To make an Image of the true God is a violation of this Commandment for the Golden Calves are condemned in Scripture notwithstanding the Children of Israel worshiped the true God under those representations Our Church therefore doth not allow her Members to picture God the Father in the likeness of an Old Man or the Holy Ghost in the similitude of a Bird or Dove For God is a Spirit yea an infinitely glorious Spirit and consequently cannot be pictured without an injury but to worship such Pictures or Images is as S. Paul speaks Rom. 1. to change the glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like unto corruptible Man and to Birds 8. The Church of England does also justly condemn the Invocation of Saints by mental and vocal Prayers as the Trent Council enjoyns This Doctrine of the Church of Rome by the confession of Learned Papists hath neither Precept nor Example in Scripture to warrant it and consequently it cannot be built upon the foundation of the Text i. e. the foundation of Apostles and Prophets The Temple of old was called the house of Prayer to denote that Religious Prayer is a principal part of the Worship of God and does not our Saviour say expresly Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve To hear mental Prayers belongs only to God who alone trieth the reins and searcheth the heart and therefore to make such Prayers unto Creatures is to make them more than Creatures The Saints must be Omnipresent if they can hear all their Votaries who pray to them in all quarters of the Earth Now Omnipresence is an Attribute which belongs to the Divine Essence Thou art a God that heareth Prayers saith the Psalmist and therefore unto thee shall all flesh come We are told in Scripture that there is but one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Iesus and since he is most willing and able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by him we do not use the Intercessions of the Saints for fear we should injure the merits of that All-sufficient Mediatour who ever liveth to make intercession for us By these few Instances which I have given and I might have given you many more it cannot but be evident to all serious unprejudiced persons that the Church of England keeps close to the Rule of the Scripture and like the Church of Ephesus in the Text is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets And because the Testimony of an Adversary has always been thought considerable I shall conclude this head with the Testimony of Pope Paul IV. who as Bishop Andrews Reports made this offer to Q. Elizabeth that if she would but own his Supremacy he would confirm our way of serving God in all things appertaining to his Worship in the very same manner as we now do Sure this Holy Father would never have confirmed the Religion of the Church of England had he not thought it consonant to the Doctrine of the Apostles But since he was pleased to offer his Confirmation we will requite his kindness by valuing our Church the more upon his Approbation Thus I have dispatcht the Three Generals I proposed I have shewn you That the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets is the only Foundation upon which the True Church is built That this Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets is sufficiently delivered to us in the Holy Scripture and that the Church of England like that of Ephesus in the Text is built upon this and no other foundation I shall now in the close leave a word or two of Exhortation with you and beseech you to continue stedfast in the Communion of the Church of England It is the chief design of St. Paul in this Epistle to keep the Ephesians stedfast in the Faith of Christ He desires them Chap. 3. not to faint and bows his knees to the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ that he would strengthen them by his Spirit in the inner Man He bids them Chap. 4. have a care they were no more Children tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive As he would not have them scared out of their Religion by fear of Persecution so neither would he have them gull'd of it by the sleights and subtleties of false Teachers It is therefore our duty when we have found the True Church to continue stedfast in the Communion of it We must resemble those best of Christians of whom it is said Acts 2. 42. That they continued stedfast in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship But alas how apt are men to barter away Religion for some worldly emolument How many are there who carry their Religion in their Pockets and stick not with Iudas to betray their Master for Thirty pieces of Silver unless perhaps their Covetousness be greater and a larger sum be requisite to patch up their broken Fortunes If Naamans Preferment be inconsistent with his Religion you must allow him a dispensation and permit him to bow in the House of Rimmon and to name no more rather than Pilate will hazard the loss of Caesars favour he will pronounce our Saviour innocent one hour and condemn him the next Thus Christ is made to truckle under the World and Gain will be Godliness in spight of the Bible But those that are sober and serious in the World they will
advantages and priviledges of his Holy Ordinances Indeed our sins call aloud for such heavy Judgments Our Superiours both in Church and State have acknowledged for us that prophane Swearing Perjury Drunkenness and a violation of God's Sabbaths have sadly made this Land to mourn And may we not add a great contempt of God's Word a misusing of his Messengers a slighting of his Ordinances besides those Factions and Schisms which abound among us And may not God justly visit for these things Oh then it is time that we should all smite upon our Breasts and return unto the Lord with humiliation and repentance that our iniquities may not be our ruin but every kind of Repentance will not serve the turn the Greek word in the Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Lactantius translates mutationes mentis in melius that is a change of the Mind from worse to better not a change of the Looks or hanging down the Head like a Bullrush for all this may be done by a Pharisee or an Hypocrite It is not a change of our Apparel or a putting on of Sackcloath for such humiliation and repentance may be performed by a wicked Ahab but the Repentance of the Text denotes a real change of the Mind or as the Prophet Ioel describes it a turning unto the Lord with all our Hearts Chap. 2. 12. Such a Repentance as this will make us fruitful in every good word and work and pay an universal Obedience to all God's Commandments it will make us reform our Lives honour God's Gospel value his Ordinances and have no hand in the encouraging those Schisms and Divisions which are amongst us This is the Repentance Christ recommends and if it be carefully Practised by us we may prevent the heavy Judgment of the Text and procure the continuance of the Gospel amongst us which God Almighty grant for the sake of Jesus Christ c. The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the Love of God c. SERMON III. 2 Pet. iii. 28. But Grow in Grace IT is a Famous Dispute among Papists and Protestants where St. Peter was when he wrote this and his former Epistle The Papists would have him to be at Rome that they may the better establish their Papal Monarchy and derive the Succession of their Bishops from that great Apostle But St. Peter himself tells us that he was at Babylon 1 Pet. 5. 13. The Church that is at Babylon elected together with you saluteth you Indeed St. Iohn in his Book of the Revelations takes Babylon in a mystical sense for Rome which well became his prophetick and mystical style but there is no reason to believe that St. Peter who in these Epistles writes no Prophesie but only plain Instruction for the dispersed Iews should take Babylon in any other than a Literal Sense namely for that Antient and famous City which was the Metropolis of Chaldea and indeed there are sundry Arguments to induce this belief As First St. Paul who about this time wrote this Epistle to the Romans makes no mention at all of St. Peters being then at Rome notwithstanding he sends Commendation to all that were of Eminency in the Church Secondly It is agreed on by both Papists and Protestants that the Apostleship of the Iews was in a peculiar manner committed to St. Peter as that of the Gentiles was to St. Paul This St. Ierom calls Principale Mandatum the main of their Commission from whence it necessarily follows that St. Peters chief imployment must be where the greatest numbers of Iews were Now it is certain that Babylon in Chaldea was the place where the Iews resided in greatest numbers after their Captivity Thirdly St. Peter directs his Epistles to the Iews scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia which all belonged to the Jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Babylon Fourthly St. Peter writing to these dispersed Iews rehearseth several Nations where they resided as Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia but leaves out Chaldea where they resided in greatest numbers which he would never have done had not Chaldea been the place from whence he wrote these Epistles I shall add but one Argument more from Acts 18. 2. where we are told that Claudius Caesar commanded all the Iews to depart from Rome so that we may conclude St. Peter would not keep his residence there where he wanted his Flock committed to his Charge and therefore it is more rational to believe he resided at Babylon where vast numbers of the Iews resided also I have premised thus much to prove that St. Peter wrote these two Epistles from Babylon in Chaldea because it will follow from hence that the Papists have not one Text of Scripture to found their belief of St. Peters being at Rome tho' on it depends their whole Papal Monarchy For this is the only Text they pretend to and you see how little it makes for their purpose so that they have nothing but human Testimony to build this great Article of their Faith upon and that such as is derived from Papias a weak credulous person as Eusebius stiles him By this time you will in some measure understand the Place from which and the Persons to whom St. Peter writes and being shortly as he tells them to put off his Earthly Tabernacle we need not doubt the excellency of those Instructions he bequeaths to the Iews All which he concludes with the most important words of the Text Grow in Grace For the better understanding of which First We will first consider the Duty it self Grow in Grace Secondly We will enquire what is that degree or stature of Grace a Christian must grow to before he can assure himself of Eternal Salvation Thirdly Whether any farther growth in Grace be attainable in this Life Fourthly What Reasons and Encouragements we have to endeavour after the highest degrees of Grace I begin with the first of these First Namely to consider the Duty it self which is to Grow in Grace A Christians life must be a continual progress in Holiness he must not with Hercules erect his Pillars and write a non ultra upon them saying hitherto will I go and no farther for true Grace is of a growing and multiplying Nature so that the good Christian must not be content with his present attainments but with St. Paul he must always be pressing forward forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before To this purpose is that Character Solomon gives of the just Man Prov. 4 18. The Paths of the Iust is as the Shining Light that shineth more and more unto the perfect Day He is not like Iosuahs Sun that stood still in the Firmament much less like Hezekiahs which went ten degrees backward but he is like Davids Sun which cometh forth as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber and rejoyceth as a Giant to run his Race Now this growth in Grace denotes at least these two blessings First The getting
this Book of Psalms If after such wonderful deliverances as you have heard this day we still indulge our selves in sin our most costly Sacrifices will prove an abomination the Lord will even spread the very Dung of them on our Faces See therefore with what passion Ezra exhorts the Iews to this Duty after their Deliverance from the Babylonish Captivity Ezra 9. 13. VVhen we have received such deliverance as this should we again break thy Commandments wouldst thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us We must therefore keep holiness in our Lives otherwise we shall not be fit to keep an Holy-Day to the Lord. It becometh well the just to be thankful let the high praises of God be in their Mouths and it will please him better than a Bullock that has Horns and Hoofs Let us therefore reform our Lives and being thus wonderfully delivered from the Hands of our Enemies let us serve without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our Life which God of his Infinite Mercy grant c. SERMON V. 1 Cor. xi 19. For there must be also Heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you COrinth being seated on the Peloponnesian Isthmus had the advantage both of the Ionian and Aegean Sea to bring into its Bosom all the Treasures of the World And indeed these Temporal Blessings flowed there in such great abundance that Corinth is styled by Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by Pindar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in plain English the Rich and Happy City of Corinth And as Corinth was thus happy in respect of its Trade and Commerce so it was much more happy in having the Gospel planted there by the great Apostle S. Paul It was accounted the honour of these Primitive Churches to have some Apostle or other to be their Founder and the more eminent the Apostle was the greater was the honour of the Church he planted Now in this respect Corinth was inferiour unto none as being founded by St. Paul the great Apostle of the Gentiles one who is sometimes styled by the Antients Prince of the Apostles and who in that modest Character which he has left of himself in 2 Cor. 11. 5. tells us expresly That he was not a-whit behind the very chiefest Apostles The honour therefore of the Church of Corinth could not but be great since it was planted by this great Apostle St. Paul And the honour of it will appear yet greater if we add the observation of a Learned Author Super hac Ecclesia maxime triumphat Paulas St. Paul saith he tho' he converted several other Nations and planted several other Churches yet he seems to glory most yea even triumph in the Conversion of the Corinthians These he calls his special work in the Lord and the very Seal of his Apostleship Chap. 9. of this Epistle ver 1 2. And as the Church of Corinth had the honour to be planted by the Labours of St. Paul so it had also the happiness to be watered by the Eloquence of Apollo and the powerful Preachings of St. Peter Now one would have thought a Church thus happily Planted and Watred might if any in the World have promis'd it self an immunity from Schisms and Divisions at least so long as these Infallible Apostles and Unerring Guides were still alive But alas even Infallibility it self is so far from proving an Antidote against Schisms that it was a great means of raising and promoting them here at Corinth for in the first Chapter of this Epistle we find them crying out I am of Paul I am of Apollo and I am of Cephas And besides these Schisms which took their rise from the eminency of their Teachers we find in this 11th Chapter several other Divisions about the Sacrament Unity is indeed a signal Blessing yet such as the best of Churches may not always enjoy Corinth as Glorious and Eminent a Church as it was was rent in pieces by Factions and Divisions nay which is stranger yet St. Paul in the Text stamps an Oportet upon them there must saith he be Heresies or as he calls them in the foregoing Verse Divisions among you Satan and his Instruments will always watch their opportunity to sow these Tares And God it seems is willing to permit them that the rottenness of some and the integrity of others may be discovered So much St. Paul tells us in the Text for there must be also Heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you From which words I shall endeavour to shew you First That the best of Churches are subject to the Misfortune of Schisms and Divisions Secondly VVhat those Causes are which make Schisms and Divisions in some sort necessary Thirdly That God's design in suffering these Schisms and Divisions is to discover the Rottenness of some and Integrity of others Fourthly That those are truly Noble and Honourable Persons who continue stedfast in the Communion of God's Church amidst these Schisms and Divisions which arise in it These are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the approved ones in the Text. There must saith St. Paul be Heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest I begin with the first of these First Namely to shew you that the best of Churches are subject to the misfortune of Schisms and Divisions He must be a very great Stranger both to Scripture and Ecclesiastical History who does not know that the misfortune of Corinth in the Text is the usual fate and misfortune of other Churches There is not any Church mentioned in the New Testament but what was sadly distracted with Schisms and Divisions We find at Galata such as preacht up Iudaism and bewitched the Galatians with a Dangerous Opinion of the necessity of Legal Rites St. Paul warns the Colossians of such as were ready to spoil them through vain Philosophy and bids them take care that no man beguiled them in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels When he wrote his Hierarchial Epistle to Titus the first Bishop of Crete It seems Hereticks were so numerous in that Church that he was obliged to give him this Apostolical Canon among the rest An Heretick after the first and second Admonition reject If we take a view of the Seven Churches of Asia recorded in the Book of Revelations St. Iohn will shew us a Synagogue of Satan in the Church of Smyrna Nicolaitans and Balaamites in the Church of Sardis Hereticks stigmatized with the name of Iezabel in the Church of Thyatira and in Ephesus the Mother Church Counterfeit Apostles who said they were Apostles and were not but upon trial were found Liars Tho' the Faith of the Romans was at this time so famous that it was spoken of saith S. Paul throughout the whole World yet they were not so happy as to be free from Divisions for our Apostle gives them this Advise Rom. 16. 17. I beseech you
shines the brighter when others are unsettled by the turn of the Times or by the crafty subtilties of Schismaticks and Hereticks And the honourableness of such stedfastness will appear more at large by these few Particulars 1. This Steadfastness is an Argument that men have formerly taken just pains to inform themselves about matters of Religion As Ignorance is a Stain to Human Nature so Knowledge on the contrary must be the Honour and Glory of it This is one of the greatest perfections of the Soul without which as Solomon tells us the Mind cannot be good and as Knowledge in the General is thus honourable so no Knowledge is so Honourable as the Knowledge of Religion Religion is the chiefest concern of Mankind and consequently ignorance of this is the most shameful brand and yet such ignorance as this for the most part are they guilty of who prove unfaithful to the Church of God Hence St. Paul 2 Tim. 3. 6 7. speaking of some who suffered themselves to be perverted by Seducers he calls the silly Women such as are ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth Nay elsewhere he styles them Children in understanding who are tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrin For a man therefore to be steadfast in the Truth must needs be Honourable because it argues him to be a Knowing Man and that in matters of the highest importance 2. Stedfastness in Religion must needs be honourable because it is an Argument of the greatest Wisdom To be accounted wise is a piece of Honour men have always been covetous and ambitious of and there are none think they have a better title to it than such as change their Religion to serve their Temporal Interests Indeed our Saviour tells us That the Children of this World are in their Generation wiser than the Children of Light It must be acknowledged they are wiser as as to worldly Affairs and by renouncing their Religion they may make better provisions for the remainder of their Life here But alas What is a man profited if he gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul Esau in the judgment of St. Paul was a very prophane Person when he sold his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage and Iudas made but a sorry Bargain when for thirty pieces of Silver he betrayed his Saviour and his Soul together such worldly Policy is not the best sort of Wisdom He is truly the wisest man who prefers his Soul before his Body Heaven before Earth and Eternity before a Moment Now none is such a Wise Man as this but he who adheres stedfastly to the Church of God and values his Religion above Estate Life and all the fading Enjoyments of this transitory World 3. Stedfastness in Religion must needs be Honourable because such shall be honoured by Christ in an especial manner at the day of Judgment God has promised that those that honour him he will honour Now we have no better way to honour God than by owning his Truth and adhering to his Church Religion is the great concern God has in the World for the Honour and Advancement of which all those Miracles were wrought which are recorded in the Bible It is not therefore possible to please God more than by being true and faithful to Religion Hear what Honour our Saviour promises to put upon such at the day of Judgment Whosoever shall confess me before men saith Christ him shall the Son of Man confess before the Angels of God Luke 12. 8. However sincere Christians may be reviled and evil intreated by a wicked World it seems they will be own'd and honour'd by their Dearest Saviour and if there be one Crown of Glory larger than another he will bestow it on such as are faithful to the death I might if the time and your patience would permit add several other Arguments to shew the Honourableness of those Persons who continue stedfast in the Communion of God's Church but these I am confident will suffice at present I shall therefore conclude with a word of Exhortation beseeching you to continue stedfast in the Communion of the Church of England It will not be prudence in me to make any Reflections on other Churches but this I hope may be said without offence that I know not any Church this day upon Earth with which we may more safely Communicate than with the Church of England The Church of Rome is deservedly reckoned one of the Ancientest Churches in Christendom and yet if we may believe Baronius one of the best of their Historians the Church of England is Senior to it more than five years The Government of this Church is known to be Episcopal That Government which was instituted by Christ and was the only Government in the Church for fifteen hundred years after the Times of the Apostles And as this Church is governed by Bishops so we have had a continued Succession of them from the very beginning to this present day as may be learned from Godwins Catalogue of Bishops and Parkers Antiquitates Britannicae The Faith which our Church professes may be found in her Creeds which are the Apostles the Nicene and the Athanasian Creeds the only Creeds which were owned by the Primitive Church so that if we may be saved by that Faith which was thought sufficient by the Apostles and the best of Christians we need not seek a new one from any Church in Christendom No Church can pretend to more Loyal Principles or recommend it Self more to the Favour of Princes by the constant Fidelity of its Members than the Church of England This also is that Church which enjoyed Lucius the First Christian King and had the honour to have born in it the First Christian Emperor and Empress namely Constantine the Great and the most Religious Helena These are great and signal Honours such as no other Church is able to boast of and I shall add one greater than them all namely that the Religion of our Church was sealed by the Blood of King Charles I. the first Royal Martyr that ever was in the World This certainly is a Church none of us have the least reason to be ashamed of and as little reason to be afraid to own since we are so well assured of their present Majesties Gracious Protection I shall therefore conclude this Discourse as St. Paul does the 15th Chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians VVherefore my Beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the VVork of the Lord for asmuch as you know that your Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. To God the Father c. SERMON VI. Luke xxiii 39 43. And one of the Malefactors which were hanged railed on him saying If thou be Christ save thy self and us But the other answering rebuked him saying Dost thou not fear God seeing thou art in the same condemnation And we indeed
enjoys the bright beams of Heavenly light whilst all the World besides groans under worse than Aegyptian darkness This is the true Gideons fleece which is watred with the dew of Celestial Grace whilst the other parts of the Earth lyes dry and parch'd not unlike some barren and cursed wilderness This in St. Austine's comparison is the true Ark in which alone we can be secure from the deluge of God's wrath Thus great is their happiness who are in the Church of Christ But some difficulty there is to find out the true Church as Tertullian observed of Old faciunt favos vespae faciunt Ecclesias Marcionitae the most dangerous Wasps have their Cells saith he even so the worst of Hereticks are ready to cry out the Temple of the Lord are we That therefore we may not mistake Leah for Rachel or embrace a Cloud instead of a Iuno we must carefully observe that description St. Paul gives us of the true Church he tells us it is founded on the Doctrine of Heaven or if you had rather take it in the words of the Text it is saith he that houshold of God which is built upon the foundations of the Apostles and Prophets From the words thus far explained I shall crave leave to prove these four things First That the Doctrine of the Apostle and Prophets is the foundation on which the true Church is built Secondly That this Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets is sufficiently delivered to us in the Holy Scriptures Thirdly That the Church of England is built upon this foundation of the Apostles and Prophets And Fourthly That such as continue in the communion of this Church are as happy as were those Ephesians of whom St. Paul says they were no more strangers and forreigners but fellow-Citizens with the Saints of this houshold of God I begin with the first of these to shew you that the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets is the only foundation upon which the true Church is built The Church of Ephesus if we 'l believe St. Paul was the houshold of God or a true Church of Christ and it seems it was so because built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets we are sure these inspired Ministers of the Holy Iesus preached and planted none but the true Religion and we may be sure it can be no bad Church which owns and professes the same Religion I know there are several marks given of the true Church such as Unity Universality Antiquity Succession Sanctity and the like but tho' these where they are found are Great Ornaments to a Church yet the best and most infallible mark to know it by is its conformity to the Doctrines delivered by the Apostles For the true Church as the Apostle speaks elsewhere is the ground and Pillar of Truth but it will not deserve this honourable Character if its Doctrines be repugnant to the Doctrines delivered by the Apostles It 's said of the best and most Catholick Christians Acts 2. 42. That they continued stedfast in the Apostles Doctrine And therefore such as follow the Primitive example will be far from deserving the brand of Hereticks Does not our Saviour himself tell us that his Sheep will hear his Voice and not the Voice of Strangers And where is this voice of Christ to be heard but sounding in the writings of these Apostles and Prophets This therefore is the sure word of Prophecy whereunto saith St. Peter ye do well if you take heed nor is this any other mark of the Church of God then what is generally own'd by the antient Fathers Tertullian brings in the Church speaking such words as these Sum Apostolorum sic teneo sicut illi testamento caverunt I am Heir saith she to the holy Apostles whatever Truth they left me in their Writings whatever Doctrines they bequeath'd me in their Testament these I firmly believe these I will constantly hold Ireneus calls the Gospel columnam firmamentum Ecclesiae the Ground and Pillar of the Church St. Chrysostome treating at large upon this Question How the true Church may be known returns this answer more than once The true Church is best known by the holy Scriptures saith he that is the Christian Church which agrees with these sacred Oracles and that is the Heretical which is repugnant to them None speaks more largely or more excellently to this point than the great St. Austine who in his admirable Book against the Donatists writes thus The question between us and the Donatists is where we shall find the Church What therefore shall we do shall we seek it in our own words or in the words of our Lord Iesus Christ I think we had rather seek it in his words who is the truth and best knoweth his own Church Let not therefore these Speeches be heard amongst us This I say and this thou sayest but let us hear Thus saith the Lord There are certain Books of God to whose Authority we both stand we both consent we both believe there let us seek the Church there let us try our cause I will not have the Church demonstrated by Man's teaching but by the holy Oracles of God Setting therefore aside all such matters let them shew forth the Church if they can not by the speech and rumours of the Africans not in the Councils of the Bishops not in the Writing of any Disputer not in Visions and Revelations not in Signs and false Miracles because God's word has abundantly prepared us and made us ready against these things But let them declare it out of the Prescript of the Law the predictions of the Prophets the Songs of the Psalms the testimonies of the Apostles the words of the Pastor himself whether they have a Church or no let them declare only by the Canonical Books of the holy Scripture these be the instructions these be the foundations these be the supporters of our cause Thus far St. Austine and because he is so clear and so full to this case I shall not need to trouble you with any further Authorities especially since the Church of Rome doth acknowledge in her Trent Catechism that no Church is Catholick that does not profess that faith which is built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles She must not hold any new faith say they but that which was delivered of old by the holy Apostles And it follows in the same Catechism the Nicene Fathers did well to add the word Apostolick to their Creed saying I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church namely that all might know that is the only true Catholick Church which is Apostolick That therefore must needs be the truest mark of the Church which both Romanists and Protestants own to be so and indeed without this all those other marks which are pretended will signifie nothing Unity without Apostolical Doctrine is so far from being a mark of the Church that it may not only be found in the Societies of the worst of Men
St. Iohn mentions in the three first Chapters of this Book of Revelations Are they not utterly ruin'd and destroyed And dwells there any thing in these places but Ignorance Barbarity and Mahumetanism Thus ye see it is most plain that tho' the Catholick shall never fail yet the Church of any particular Place and Nation may Tho' he will not remove his Candlestick quite out of the World but will always have a Church in some place or other yet it is not certain it shall be in this or that Nation He may remove his Candlestick from England or Holland or any other particular Nation which has filled up the measure of their Iniquity In such a case he deals with them as our Saviour threatens to deal with the Iews Mat. 21. 43. Therefore I say unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof Thus Christ threatned and because the Iews did not repent he dealt with them accordingly for they are now become Lo-ammi no more a People but wrath is come upon them to the uttermost I cannot dismiss this point without an Inference or two And 1st If every particular Church may fail then the Church of Rome is vain in boasting so much of her Perpetuity and Indefectibility We know she is but a part of the Catholick Church and a very corrupt part of it too and therefore in vain do they fancy that the gates of Hell shall never prevail against them St. Paul gives them better advice Rom 11. 21 22. Be not high minded but fear for of God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee This Epistle ye know is written to the Church of Rome and if this Church of Rome had been Infallible and Perpetual St. Paul had mightily fail'd in his Logick for he makes them subject to the same fate which befell the Iews and that they might fail as well as they had done 2ly Since particular Churches may fail then this should make them study their preservation and use such means as may be effectual to that purpose If the Professors of Christianity in any Nation shall become vain in their imaginations exchanging plain and wholesome Truth for fond Speculations and Opinions if they shall turn Factious and Schismatical neglecting their Spiritual Guides and Pastors if they be Dissolute in their Manners and confute their Religion by their Lives they will provoke God to remove his Candlestick and bring confusion upon them Christ is so far from promising safety and protection to any particular Church and People who neglect their own safety that he threatens ruin and destruction to them except thou repentest I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy Candlestick out of his place How careful then should we of this Nation be to preserve the Gospel among us left God carry it away from us unto a People that will better bring forth the fruits thereof And to excite us all to this study and carefulness I proceed in the third place to Thirdly Shew you that it is an heavy Judgment to have this Candlestick removed out of his place It is in the Text threatned as an heavy Judgment to the Church of Ephesus Except thou repent saith Christ I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy Candlestick out of his place So our Saviour threatens it as an heavy Judgment unto the Iews Mat. 21. 43. Therefore I say unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof And the greatness of the Judgment will appear at large from these following particulars 1st It deprives a Nation of its chiefest Honour As it is the highest Honour in this World to be related to an Earthly King so it is a much higher Honour to be related to the King of Kings Hence is that of the Prophet Isay Chap. 43. 4. Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable Now all this Honour is lost when once a Nation loseth its Relation to God Thus God dealt with the Iews Hosea 1. 9. Then said God call his name Lo-ammi for ye are not my People and I will not be your God When God removes his Candlestick and rejects a Nation from being his People they become then as contemptible as Heathens and Infidels as vile and despicable as the Iews have been in the World ever since God disowned them for his People 2ly This heavy Judgment does also deprive a Nation of God's special care and providence We know God's Church and People are as dear to him as the Apple of his Eye and he is as he has promised a Wall of Fire round about them Now a Wall of Fire is both Defensive and Offensive and denotes that God by his special Providence does not only defend his chosen People but also offends and destroys their Enemies Behold saith the Psalmist Psal. 33. 18. Behold take notice of this saith he namely that the Eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him Of these he takes a special Care and exercises a most tender and watchful Providence over them to deliver their Soul from Death and to keep them alive in the time of Famine thus happy are the People whose God is the Lord. But if by our Sins we provoke God to remove our Candlestick out of his place and reject us from being his People then shall we lose our right and title to this his special Care and Providence we shall soon then become a prey unto our Enemies a reproach and by word to all that are round about us When the Jewish Nation had filled up the Measure of their Iniquity a Dreadful Voice was heard in their Temple saying Migremus hinc migremus hinc let us go hence let us go hence intimating that God and his Holy Angels were then departing from them and withdrawing their Care and Providence over them And presently after this the Abomination of Desolation was brought upon them so that they have ceased ever since not only to be the Church and People of God but also to be a Nation being scattered and dispersed up and down the World and hated in all places But this will appear yet farther 3ly To be an heavy Judgment if we consider that the Holy Ghost in Scripture esteems it an heavier Judgment than others are Adversity and Oppression are heavy Judgments and yet but light in comparison of this So much may be gathered from Isaiah 30. 20. Tho' the Lord give you the Bread of Adversity and the Water of Affliction yet shall not thy Teachers be removed into a corner any more but thine Eyes shall see thy Teachers and thine Ears shall hear a Voice behind thee saying this is the way walk in it Tho' oppression and Adversity be heavy burthens yet are they nothing to the loss of Teachers and the deprivation of God's Ordinances So long as God's Candlestick shines amongst us and we enjoy
the great advantages of Prayers Sermons and Sacraments other Judgments may the better be dispensed with Famine is another very sore Judgment when this rages God is said to march through the Land in indignation Hab. 3 12. and we will not stick to believe it when we consider the direful effects and consequences of Famine We read in our Chronicles that there was formerly such a dreadful Famine in this Island that when Malefactors were lead out of Prison towards the place of Exeeution the poor hungry People would presently fall upon them and tearing them in peices eat them up And we will not wonder at it when we read Ezek. 5 10. Of Fathers eating up their Sons and Sons their Fathers And which is stanger and more unnatural yet we find Lamen 4 10. Tender compassionate Women forced by the extremity of hunger to seeth their own Children These are horrid instances of a dreadful Judgment and yet we have a sadder instance of it and Famine is said to be such a devourer as causes a man to devour himself as you may read Isai. 9. 20. where every man is brought in eating the Flesh of his own Arm. Thus great and heavy a Judgment is Famine yea by some it is thought to be one of the sorest Heaven can inflict and yet it is inferiour to this of the Text when God in wrath removes our Candlestick out of his place when he takes his Gospel away from us and deprives us of all the priviledges and advantages of his Holy Ordinances No less than this is asserted Amos 8. 11 12. Behold the days come saith the Lord God that I will send a Famine in the Land not a Famine of Bread not a thirst of Water but of hearing the Word of the Lord And they shall wander from Sea to Sea and from the North even to the East shall they run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and shall not find it Thus a Famine of the Word is a sorer Judgment than the Famine of Bread and well indeed it may since the one destroys only the Body the other destroys the Soul If the Light of the Gospel be taken away worse than Egyptian darkness will ensue such as will cause us to fall and that into the bottomless Pit from whence there is no Redemption Thus I have dispatched the three Generals and shewn you that 't is an heavy Judgment to have our Candlestick removed out of his place For this heavy Judgment deprives a Nation of its Chiefest Honour and makes them become Lo-ammi or no people It deprives them also of God's special Care and Providence and renders them an easie prey unto their Enemies And lastly it surpasses the sorest of God's Judgments and a Famine of Bread is far more tolerable than a Famine of the Word These Considerations if any will teach us to value God's Ordinances at an higher rate than formerly we have and excite our greatest care and diligence to prevent such an heavy Judgment as this and to help us to perform this Duty the better I come in the fourth place Fourthly Briefly to consider some of those Causes which bring such an heavy Judgment upon a Nation And 1st Sin is the General Cause of this heavy Judgment we need no other proof of this than the Text it self where Christ bids the Church of Ephesus remember from whence she had fallen and repent and do the first works Nothing but our Iniquities can separate betwixt our God and us if we do not repent of them they will be our ruin For God will not continue his Gospel to a backsliding and disobedient People but will take it away and give it to a Nation that will better bring forth the Fruits thereof 2ly The contempt of God's Word and his Messengers is another Cause of this heavy Judgment This may easily be gathered from 2 Chron. 36. 15 16. Where we are told that the Lord God sent to the Iews by his Messengers rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion on his People and on his dwelling Place But they mocked the Messengers of God and despised his Words and misused his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his People till there was no remedy So Amos 8. where the Prophet threatens them with a Famine of the Word he assigns this among other reasons ver 5. namely because they prophaned his Sabbaths and despised his Ordinances And indeed when a Nation undervalues the Light of the Gospel and judg themselves unworthy of it it is but just with God to remove their Candlestick and carry his Gospel to a People more worthy of it 3ly Schisms and Divisions are another grand Cause of this heavy Judgment Historians tell us that this was it which opened the way to the Turks and Saracens to overflow the Eastern Churches and let Mahumetanism into the World It was this which brought that deluge of Goths and Vandals and other barbarous Nations upon the West And indeed we need not wonder at it since S. Iames tells us Chap. 3. 16. That where envying and strife is there will be confusion and every evil work Thus I have dispatched the fourth General and shewn you some of those Causes which provoke God to remove his Candlestick from a People and Nation Sin in the General is the Cause of it In particular the contempt of God's Messengers and his Ordinances and those Schisms and Divisions which rage in a Nation And if we should now reflect upon our selves I fear we should find so much wickedness and debauchery raging in the Land such gross prophanation of God's Sabbaths contempt of his Messengers and his Ordinances and withal so many dangerous Schisms and Factions amongst us as may justly cause us to dread the heavy Judgment of the Text. But I will not foretel your danger but exhort you to prevent it and that by Repentance as the Text directs Which Fifthly brings me to the fifth and last General proposed which is to shew you the Means to prevent this heavy Judgment Now this cannot better be learned than from that advice Christ gives the Church of Ephesus in this place remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works Repentance therefore is the best means we can take to appease God's Wrath and prevent his Judgments If we repent of the evil of our ways God also will repent of the evil we have reason enough to fear he is bringing upon us Hear what is said to this purpose in the Prophet Jer. 3. 12. Return O back sliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful What a gracious motive is here urged What will perswade us to repent if the hopes of Mercy will not In what a sad condition should we be if God should remove our Candlestick out of his place if he should take away his glorious Gospel from us and deprive us of all the
all sorts of Graces And Secondly Serious endeavours after the highest degrees of them First This growth in Grace denotes the getting all sorts of Graces It is a known Maxim in Philosophy aucto toto augetur quaelibet pars in the Natural Growth of Plants when the whole increaseth every part increaseth also and the Maxim holds in Spiritual Growths too For all the Faculties of the Soul are improved together and the New Creature must be adorned with all sorts of Vertue To this purpose is that saying of Cicero Omnes virtutes inter se nexae conjugataeque sunt all the Vertues saith he are linked and joyned together so that he that has one must have them all Hence we find Christ's Spouse in the Canticles compared to a pleasant Garden which is adorned with great variety of Flowers and perfum'd with all sorts of Fragrant Spices thus the Kings Daughter must be all Glorious within The good Christian that will grow in Grace must be possessed with all sorts of Virtues according to that exhortation our Apostle gives Chap. 1. 5. Give all diligence saith he and add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly Kindness Charity All these Vertues must dwell together and that man hath none of them who has them not all in some degree and measure But Secondly This Growth in Grace as it denotes the getting all sorts of Vertues so it denotes our serious endeavours after the highest degrees of them As the growing Christian must add Vertue to Vertue and pile one Grace upon another so he must not sit down with some lower attainments but advance to the highest pitch and degree of every Grace I need not tell you that there are several degrees in every Grace and Vertue the number of which is variously reported by Learned Men. Aristotle that Prince of Philosophers reckons but eight Gregory the Great fifteen Iohannes Climachus doubles the number and makes them Thirty But these Great Men do all fall short of the truth for there cannot be fewer than infinite degrees in every Vertue seeing God Almighty possesses them all in infinite degrees of Perfection Now this is the Pattern which is proposed to the Christians imitation For as our Saviour speaks he must endeavour to be perfect even as his Heavenly Father is perfect Sure then he must endeavour to grow very high who is to grow as high as Heaven he must not be content with low attainments who is to imitate the infinite Perfections of the Divine Nature Thus the Righteous must hold on in his way and he that hath clean Hands must wax stronger and stronger according to the advice of St. Ierom it must be his constant study to grow in Grace as he grows in Years Like the Vine to which the Holy Ghost so frequently compares him he must know no other period of his growth than that of his Life and like Caleb must be active and vigorous even at eighty years of Age. The serious Christian still finds something that needs to be amended something also decayed he must be careful to repair and something not yet attained he must press hard after As the diligent Bee flies from Flower Flower that it may gather greater plenty and abundance of Hony so the serious Christian goes from Duty to Duty and from Ordinance to Ordinance out of a longing desire to gain higher degrees of Grace To this purpose is that Character the Psalmist gives of a Righteous Man Psal. 92. 12. c. The Righteous shall flourish like the Palm-Tree he shall grow like a Cedar in Lebanon those that be planted in the House of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God They shall still bring forth Fruit yea even in Old Age they shall be fat and flourishing What elegant and significant Expressions are these Here is not only mention of growing but of Flourishing too and here is Flourishing mentioned no less than three times and it is the flourishing not of an ordinary Tree but of a Palm tree which is famous for its Flourishing under the heaviest burthens Nay further it is flourishing like a Cedar and that not growing in a barren Wilderness but in Lebanon it self where the Best the Goodliest the Tallest Cedars grew Nor is he said only to Flourish in Boughs and Leaves but also in Fruit and that not for one year only but the Righteous Man is still bringing forth Fruit and that not only in the Years of his Youth or the beginning of Grace but in Old Age too What a Divine Climax what an Elegant Gradation is here used by the Holy Ghost to represent the continual growings of a Righteous Man in Vertue He is still climbing higher and higher till he climbs as high as Heaven Thus have I considered the Duty it self Grow in Grace And come now in the Second place Secondly to enquire what is that Degree or Stature of Grace a Christian must grow to before he can assure himself of Eternal Salvation I have shewn already that the degrees of Grace and Vertue are no less than Infinite so many indeed that the best of Christians may more easily endeavour after them than ever perfectly acquire or attain them But notwithstanding all this there are certain degrees of Grace which must be attained to before a Christian can have any comfortable assurance of his Eternal Salvation There is such a state of Holiness and Perfection he must grow to in this Life before he can have any evidence of his Title to a better Life Now for your better information in this important Point I shall shew you these two things First That there is a certain growth in Grace attainable in this World which is sufficient to assure us of Eternal Salvation Secondly What this saving growth in Grace imports First Let me shew you that there is a certain growth in Grace attainable in this World which is sufficient to assure us of Eternal Salvation Solomon tells us Prov. 4. 18. That the Path of the Iust is as the shining Light which shineth more and more unto the perfect Day There is therefore a perfect Day of Grace the Just Man may arrive at and this will receive farther light from those Elegant Expressions of our Apostle 2 Pet. 1. 19. We have saith he a more sure word of Prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as to a Light shining in a Dark Place until the Day dawn and the Day-Star arise in your Hearts It is plain from hence that the Day-Star of Grace doth arise in the Hearts of Believers in this Life such as will be sufficient to bring us to Heaven It is yet a clearer proof of this which you 'l find Ephes. 4. 11. where St. Paul tells us that Christ at his Ascention gave Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers for the edifying of the Church and the perfecting of
but of the Devils themselves For it is the known saying of our Saviour that Satan's kingdom if it were divided against it self it could not stand Unity indeed is such a blessing as the Church of God will earnestly desire and pray for but yet the Church of Corinth did not cease to be a true Church when it wanted this blessing and was torn in peices by divisions In vain also do some Men make Universality or largeness of extent a mark of the Church for we are told plainly in the Holy Scriptures that Christ's flock is but a little flock and it is at this day so far exceeded in Amplitude both by Mahometans and Pagans that if the whole World were divided into thirty Parts as Breerwood calculates in his Inquiries five only would be found Christians six Mahometans and nineteen Pagans As for Antiquity which some pretend is the mark of the Church tho' we may well allow it to be a great Ornament when attended with truth yet when this is wanting it is but vetustas erronis as St. Cyprian calls it not Age but dotage nothing but error of a longer standing and so harder to be rooted out Some also are fond of a long Series or uninterrupted Succession of Bishops in the Church but as St. Ambrose speaks those who have not St. Peters faith cannot succeed to St. Peters Inheritance and since the Pontificate of Aaron may sometime descend upon a wretched Caiaphas such an antient Pedigree as this may be more honourable in Heraldry than it can be in Religion But of all the marks which some make of the true Church that of Holiness best deserves the name for the Church of Christ should be holy like its Head but when we say the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets is the true mark of the Church we do not exclude but include Sanctity for since the Doctrine of the Apostles is as St. Paul defines it a Doctrine according unto Godliness where this Doctrine is preach'd in its greatest purity there substantial holiness free from from all Superstition and Hypocrisie is most likely to be found and if such holiness does not at all times flourish alike the fault is not in the Church but in the Professors of it These are reckoned by some the principle marks and Characters of the true Church but since they are so far from being true marks that without Apostolical Doctrine they signifie little I hope you will allow me to conclude according to the Sense of the holy Scriptures and the Ancient Fathers That the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets is the only foundation on which the true Church is built I come now in the next place to shew you That this Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets upon which the true Church is built is sufficiently delivered to us in the holy Scriptures Whatever Doctrines are contained in these sacred Oracles are own'd by the Church of Rome as well as by us to be the Doctrines of the Apostles and Prophets but they are pleased to charge the holy Scriptures with imperfection pretending that they contain not all things necessary to Salvation but must be aided by their unwritten and uncertain Tradition but sure if there were any such Traditions handed down from the Apostles through the several Ages of the Church to this present Age these Traditions must needs pass thro' the hands of the Ancient Fathers before they could come to ours but the Ancient Fathers knew no such Traditions but every where assert the Perfection and Sufficiency of the holy Scriptures Ireneus calls the holy Scriptures such a Rule of Faith as none must vary from St. Chrysostome says that all things that are necessary are plain and manifest in the holy Scriptures Non credimus quia non legimus we believe no more than we read saith St Ierome I shall only add the Authority of St. Basil who saith it is contrary to Faith and a certain argument of Pride to reject any thing contained in the Scriptures or to impose any thing that is not written there Thus the Fathers knew nothing of any unwritten Traditions that were to cut out the holy Scriptures but they refer us to them as to a perfect Rule And well indeed they might since St. Paul tells us they are able to make us wise unto Salvation and he adds more fully yet if it be possible to do so when he tells us they are able to make the man of God perfect throughly furnished unto every good work Thus great is the perfection of these holy Oracles and thus plain it is that the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets on which the true Church is built is fully and sufficiently delivered to us in the holy Scripture I come in the Third place to shew you that the Church of England is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets King Charles the First as he was not unwilling to dye a Martyr for the Church of England so at his death he left her the richest legacy he could even the most honourable Character that could possibly be bestowed on the best of Churches for this advice he gave to his Royal Sons The best profession of Religion I have ever esteemed that of the Church of England I tell you I have tried it and after much search and many disputes I have concluded it to be the best in the World as coming nearest to the word of God for Doctrine and the Primitive example for Government Whosoever does but look into the Articles of our Church will find how well she deserves this most honourable Character For she professes to believe the Holy Scriptures which as I shewed above contains the whole Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets She believes the same Faith and no other than that which is comprized in the Apostles Creed and explained more largely in those Creeds which are called the Nicene and the Athanasian And as for those Doctrines which are controverted between us and the Church of Rome a little examination will discover which Church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets And 1. Let us examine that Supremacy which the Church of Rome does challenge for St. Peter If we look into the Holy Scriptures we shall find nothing there that makes St. Peter the chief of the Apostles For if Christ had ever intended St. Peter any such Power over the rest he would doubtless have declared so much when the Apostles were at strife who should be the greatest But so far is our Saviour from declaring St. Peters Supremacy that he chides them for their vain strife and contention yea tells them in plain terms that it should not be among them as in secular Kingdoms and Monarchies where one is chief And if St. Peter had at any time afterwards been made a Prince we cannot imagin St. Paul could have been ignorant of it and yet he tells us 2. Cor. 11. 5. That he was not behind the very chiefest Apostles
We read also Gal. 2. 9 11. that he did not only rebuke St. Peter openly at Antioch but also took of him the right hand of fellowship Now we cannot suppose St. Peters Supremacy but we must convict St. Paul either of gross Ignorance when he said he was not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles or of greater rudeness when he took place of his Prince and yet so true it is that he did so that in memory of it the Popes own Seal hath St. Paul and St. Peter engraven upon it and St. Paul is allowed to hold the dexter point 2. If we examin by Scripture that Controversie between the Church of England and the Church of Rome about the Deposing Doctrine we shall find which is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets For how does the Scripture every where abhor and detest that most disloyal and Antichristian Doctrine Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers saith St. Paul and that not only for wrath but also for Conscience sake Observe Let every Soul of what rank quality or degree soever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostome upon these words Tho thou art an Apostle tho an Evangelist tho a Prophet yea what ever thou art thou must be subject to the higher Powers Thus saith St. Paul yea St. Peter also from whom the Pope pretends to derive his Power is so far from challenging any power over Kings and Princes either for himself or Successors that he requires Christians to submit themselves not unto him but unto the King as Supreme Nay he would have them be subject not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward And is not this the Apostolical Doctrine of the Church of England which teaches all her Members to pay active obedience unto all the lawful Commands of Princes and when their commands interfere with the Laws of God not to resist but to obey Passively 3. The Prayers of our Church are made in a Language well known unto the People and such as will tend if they are not wanting to themselves to their Edification And sure I need not tell you that this is agreeable to the Doctrine of the Apostles when St. Paul hath spent a whole Chapter to assure us of it For in 1. Cor. 14. 14. If I pray saith he in an unknown Tongue my Spirit prays but my understanding is unfruitful but I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the understanding also Again ver 16. How shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayst Again v. 19. In the Church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown Tongue These are plain Texts of Scripture and shew the practice of our Church to be Apostolical 4. The Church of England allows the Laity the Cup as well as the Bread and this is no other Doctrine than what Christ and his Apostles teach For our Saviour delivering the Cup to his Disciples says Drink ye all of it Mat. 26. 27. And S. Paul assures us that in his time the People partook of the Cup as well as of the Bread 1 Cor. 12. 13. We have all been made to drink into one Spirit But I need not produce any more Texts of Scripture for the proof of this since it is acknowledged by the Church of Rome For in the Council of Constance we find these expressions Notwithstanding the Institution of Christ and the Practice of the Apostles we decree and determine that the Laity shall not partake of the Cup. It seems they find some inconvenience in the Institution of Christ and the Practice of his Apostles but our Church thinks it convenient to stick close to both 5. The Church of England condemns Transubstantiation as being contradictory to Sense Reason and Scripture Our Senses tell us it is Bread and not Flesh after Consecration Our Reason will not allow one and the same body to be in millions of places at the same time And as for Scripture S. Paul 1. Cor. 11. 26. c. calls it Bread at least three times after Consecration But tho we have all this to say for our selves yet we are anathamatized by the Church of Rome because we refuse as they say to believe as plain words as any are in the Bible For what can be plainer say they than these words of our Saviour This is my body But in truth if these words were as plain as they tell us we would be content to sacrifice both our Sense and our Reason to our Faith But if these words of our Saviour be taken in a literal Sense as they take them they are so far from being plain that their Learned men are very much divided about the meaning of them For ask them only what is the subject of the Proposition or what is denoted by this demonstrative Pronoun Hoc or This and you will find them mightily at a loss about it for Scotus says it is Hoc ens this entity is my body Aquinas this substance Bellarmine these species of bread the Sarbone this Individuum vagum and the famous Glossary Hoc nihil or this nothing Now if these words of our Saviour were so very plain and easie as they say 'T is very strange their Learned men should differ so much and at last make nothing of them But indeed if we take them in a figurative sense as Protestants use to do they will be plain and easie enough For the demonstrative particle Hoc or This must needs relate to bread for it is said in the Text that as they were eating Iesus took bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to the Disciples and said Take Eat This is my body It seems what our Saviour took blessed brake and gave to his Disciples was bread and of this and nothing else can he speak when he saith This is my body Now this bread is my body is false if we take it in a literal sense for bread is not flesh but it is true in a Figurative sense This bread is i. e. does signifie Christs body And this kind of Dialect or manner of speech is very usual in Scripture Gen. 41. 26. we read these words concerning Pharaohs Dream The seven kine are seven years i. e. they signifie seven years So again Exod. 12. 11. Moses speaking of the Paschal Lamb says it is the Lords Passover i. e. it signifies the Lords passing the Children of the Israelites when he destroyed all the First-born of Egypt Now if according to this known Dialect of Scripture we interpret our Saviours words This is my body the meaning will be plain and natural this bread does signifie or represent my body And this will appear to be the sense of these words if we consider what our Saviour says of the Cup namely This is my blood which must
remember such Texts of Scripture as these Prove all things hold fast that which is good 1. Thess. 5. 21. Take heed lest ye being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness 2. Pet. 3. 17. Nay St. Iude carries the duty one step higher and tells us we must contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints Ministers must contend by their Tongues and Pens Magistrates and Gentry by their Power Interest and Authority and private Christians by their Prayers and open Profession of it And if St. Iude would have the Primitive Christians not barely own but even contend and that earnestly for the faith when they groaned under the heavy Persecutions of Pagan Emperours sure we have little reason to be afraid to do so who live under the Protection of a most gracious King And since these things are so I hope I shall need no more than these two Motives to back the Exhortation and to enforce the Duty 1. Let us consider The great happiness of such as continue stedfast in the Faith of Christ and Doctrine of the Apostles 2. The lamentable condition of those that shall dare to disown it 1. Let us consider the great Happiness of such as continue stedfast in the Faith of Christ and Doctrine of the Apostles As the Church of Christ is that Golden Candlestick which holds forth the light of the Gospel so it is the Treasurer of all the Riches of Heaven for to it belong the Adoption and the Glory to it appertain the Covenants the Service of God and all the Promises Here we may enjoy all the Ordinances of God and satisfie our Souls with the marrow and fatness of his Sanctuary Yea if we will believe our Apostle in the Verses following my Text every Christian does now grow into an holy Temple in the Lord he becomes an habitation where God vouchsafes to dwell and manifest his special Presence by the saving Operations of his Holy Spirit Happy Souls who have the Honour and the Privilege to lodge and entertain their God! What Joys and Comforts will now crowd into the Soul and attend this glorious Guest And yet all this is only a preparatory for much greater Happiness For these happy Believers as our Apostle speaks are now become fellow citizens with the Saints such are here of the houshold of God and if they make a just improvement of that Grace which is afforded them they shall hereafter be admitted into the Society and Fellowship of Saints and Angels And what Tongue is able to express this Happiness How great an Honour how great a Priviledge was it thought of Old to be a free Citizen of Rome and to have a right to all the Offices and Franchises of that Imperial City So highly valuable was this Freedom that the chief Captain in the Acts tells us he did not obtain it but with a great sum of Mony To these Priviledges S. Paul alludes when he tells the Ephesians and in them all Christians that if they are of the houshold of God and built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets then they are fellow citizens with the Saints that is Denizons of Heaven and free of that City which is above even the heavenly Ierusalem Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of God St. Paul tells us Heb. 12. That here dwell an innumerable company of glorious Angels the general Assembly of the First-born That is the Holy Apostles the First-born of the Gospel the Spirits of Prophets Martyrs Confessors and all those just men that are already made perfect Nay farther yet here God the Judge of all vouchsales his glorious Presence and Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant appears in all his Glory To be Citizens therefore of this Heavenly Ierusalem is to enjoy the most ravishing Society of Saints and Angels to be admitted to the Beatifick Vision of God himself and to live for ever in Paradise with the Holy Jesus It is to lye with Lazarus in Abrahams bosom feeding continually on the feast of the Lamb and drinking of those Rivers of pleasures which ran at Gods right hand for evermore This one would think should be argument enough to make us hold fast the profession of our Faith stedfast unto the end But if all this will not prevail with us I know nothing that can unless it be what I proposed to be considered in the 2d place Namely the Lamentable condition of those who dare disown and deny the Truths of the Gospel And I cannot give you a truer prospect of their sad condition than in the words of our Saviour Mat. 10. 33. Whosoever shall deny me or be ashamed of my words before men him will I deny before my Father and his holy Angels How many Woes are crowded into this one sentence I will deny him It is to say no more a compendious expression of Hell an Eternity of torments comprized in a word Oh the ineffable horror that will seize the poor Sinner when he stands arraign'd before the Tribunal of Heaven When at the great Assize at the last day he shall see his very Advocate become his Accufer and hear his Sentence pronounced by his merciful Saviour the very hearing of it will be a kind of Hell and the Promulgation of the Punishment anticipate the Execution And now if I could give you a lively representation of the guilt and horror on the one hand and paint out eternal Wrath and Vengeance on the other I might then hope to shew you the condition of such a Sinner as shall be thus disowned and denied by his Saviour But alas this is not all we shall find more ingredients of horror in this Condemnation if we consider that Christ threatens to deny such a Sinner before his Father and the Holy Angels If there could be any room for comfort after the Sentence of Damnation it would be this of being executed in secret But it seems the Sinners folly must be laid open before God and his Holy Angels and all his baseness ript up before the whole World Christ will now in the presence of God the Father of Men and of Angels compare himself who was denied and the Cause for which he was denied together he will now parallel his infinite Merits with a Lust and lay Eternity in the ballance with a Trifle he will now propose that worthy price for which he was denied he will hold it up to open view he will call upon Men and Angels saying Behold that piece of dirt that windy applause that corruptible dower that poor transitory satisfaction for which I was dishonoured and my Truths disowned for which Life Eternity and God himself was scorned yea trampled on by this vile wretched Sinner Judge all the World whether what he despised in the other Life he deserves to enjoy in this How will the vile wretched Sinner then crawl forth and appear in all his filth He will then call in vain upon the
Brethren mark them which cause Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine which you have received and avoid them Thus we have found Schisms and Divisions in all those Churches which are recorded in the New Testament and if we descend to succeeding Ages we shall find Schisms and Divisions too many Whosoever have learning and leisure enough to consult Epiphanius and S. Austin will find them reckoning up no fewer than an 100 Heresies even in those best and purest Ages of Christianity All this I hope will suffice to prevent any sinister opinion of the Church of England which at this time is torn in pieces by Schisms and Divisions This indeed ought to be matter of Lamentation to us and ingage our most ardent prayers for the peace of Ierusalem But sure it cannot be managed as an Argument against our Church but the blow will reach other Churches too even all those Churches which are now in Christendom and as you have heard those best of Churches which were in the first and purest Ages of Christianity Let not therefore your present Divisions lessen your esteem of the Church of England The best of Churches are subject to these misfortunes and will be so to the end of the World For as our Saviour speaks Luke 17. 1. It is impossible but that Offences will come And St. Paul says the same in the Text where he tells us that there must be Heresies which brings me to the second General proposed Secondly Namely to enquire what those Causes are which make Schisms and Divisions in some sort necessary and here I cannot but assign 1st The first and principal place to the infernal Fiends Satan is the Enemy in our Saviours Parable who is said to sow these Tares in the Field of the Church Hence St. Paul calls Heresies the Doctrins of Devils Ignatius styles them the Plants and Snares of Satan and to name no more Epiphanius calls the Arch-heretick Arius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Image and Statue of the Devil However the Devil labours to keep his own Kingdom in peace and tranquility yet he seeks nothing more than to cause Divisions in the Kingdom of Christ. The Egyptians who worshipped of old Dogs and Cats and shed penitent Tears before the Shrine of a Deified Onion The Pagans who worship the Sun Moon and all the Host of Heaven and the Mahometans who worship a cursed Impostor these never had such divisions among them as have been and still are in the Church of Christ. Unity is the strength and stability of all Communities So that Satan would fight against his own Interest should he disturb the quiet of those Societies which are devoted to his Service But the Church of Christ the purer it is either in Doctrin or in Worship the more does it threaten ruin and destruction to Satans Kingdom no wonder then if this subtil Serpent does use all his stratagems and devices to stir up differences and contentions in these Christian Societies Well then might St. Cyprian conclude that the Schisms and Heresies which happened in his time were industriously raised by the Devil that he might revenge himself on the Christian Religion which had struck his Oracles dumb and almost banisht his Worship out of the World Thus Satan you see is the Principal Cause of those Divisions which disturb the Peace of God's Church and this by the way affords us another Apology for the Church of England We must confess our Divisions are great and sad but this only argues Satans greater Rage and Malice against her And I pray what wonder is it that the Father of Lies should be a malitious Enemy against that Church which is the Ground and Pillar of Truth But 2ly Tho' Satan be the Principal Cause of Schisms and Divisions yet he employs the Lusts and Passions of Men as Instruments to raise them Hence is that of St. Iames Chap. 4. 1. Whence are Wars and Fightings among you Are they not hence even from your Lusts Man before his Conversion is no better than a Centaur half Bruit and half Man And till Grace has ascended the Throne he exceeds for Rage and Fury the wildest Inhabitants of the Forest. Lactantius compares his Exorbitant Passions to mad furious Horses which hurry him violently on such things as are mischievous and pernicious to Society Now Satan works upon these Passions of Men and raises them as Wind does the Seas into tumult and commotion no wonder then if St. Paul Chap. 5. 20. reckons among the Lusts of the Flesh Hatred Variance Emulation Strife Seditions Heresies and Envyings But tho' there be not any Lust which does not contribute more or less to those contentions which happen in the Church yet Pride Covetousness Curiosity and self-love are observed to be the chief Beautifeau's and Incendiaries of them 1. Pride is one great Cause of those Divisions and Contentions which happen in the Church It is a true saying of Solomon Prov. 13. 10. Only by Pride cometh Contention Melanchton in his Comment upon the place mentions a famous Proverb to this purpose Duo Montes non miscentur two swelling Mountains will not mix well together When Men begin to swell with Pride and Ambition they soon grow too big for the little Fold of Christ. Thus Diotrephes loving the preheminence disturbed the Peace of the Asiatick Churches Thus Arius priding himself in his skill in Logick sought to raise his reputation by opposing his Diocesan Ambition is a very turbulent and seditious Passion and if Men once give the Reins to it it will make them fire the Temple of God as Herostratus did Diana's only to get a name and to be talkt of in the World 2. Covetousness is another great and special Cause of those Divisions which happen in the Church Since St. Paul tells us that the love of mony is the root of all evil we may well conclude it one cause of the evil of Schism and indeed St. Peter tells us so expresly 2 Pet. 2. 3. where the Character he gives of Hereticks is this Through Covetousness they make merchandise of people with feigned words Mammon is own'd for a God by the greatest part of Mankind and with most men in the world Gain passes for Godliness We need not wonder then if the desire of Wealth prove often both the Mother and the Nurse of Heresies As soon as Demetrius had told the Silver-Smiths of Ephesus that their Craft was in danger to be set at naught they presently fill the City with noise and uproar and cry out stoutly Great is Diana of the Ephesians St. Iude describing the manners of the Gnostick Hereticks tells us they ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward St. Cyprian writes of the Heretick Novatus that he was Avaritiae inexplebili rapacitate furibundus most insatiably covetous and rapacious even to a degree of madness But to name no more the Magdeburgenses long ago observed that Covetousness helpt to Spawn most of the Heresies in the World 3.