down our lives for them So that we are not bound to destroy the love of our selves but only when it is a hinderance to our fulfilling of what God commands us 29. We therefore who have given up our Names unto Christ must expect to enjoy the fruits of his Obedience by treading in the same steps which he hath left unto us As shall be showed hereafter more plentifully 30. And yet it is not necessary that we should exactly and curiously apply our selves to the Rule of his Obedience For whereas he voluntarily undertook the form and fashion of a Servant and being Lord of Heaven and Earth despised and neglected the riches and glory of this world We notwithstanding are not tyed to such hard conditions but may flow and abound with wealth and honour neither need we to deny to our souls any pleasure under the Sun but liberally enjoy it as the gift of God as long as thereby we withdraw not our Obedience and Allegiance from God 31. Peccatum non est appetitus malarum rerum sed desertio meliorum saith St. Augustine quoted by Lombard 2 Sent. 42. dist i. e. Sin does not consist in desiring ' or lusting after things which in their own natures are evil and inconvenient but in preferring a low inconstant changeable good before another more worthy and of greater excellency and perfection Whilest therefore God has that estimation and value in our thoughts that he deserves whilest there is nothing in our selves or any other creature which we preferr before him whilst we conspire not with our lusts to depose him from bearing a Soveraign sway in our heats and Consciences whilst we have no other God before Him not committing Idolatry to Wealth Honour Learning and the like It shall be lawful in the second place to love our selves So that we fulfil this Commandement when we do not Deifie our selves whilst we Sacrifice not to our own wisdom nor burn incense to the pride of our hearts c. 32. Conceive then the meaning of this Law to be such as if it had been more fully inlarg'd on this wise Let every one that but hears any mention of Christ this day take into deep consideration and spend his most serious morning thoughts in pondering and weighing whether those benefits which Christ hath promised to communicate to every one that shall be joyned and marryed to him by a lively faith be worthy his acceptation Let him oppose to them all the pleasures and profits which he can promise or but fancy to himself under the Sun 33. If after a due comparing of these things together he have so much wisdom as to acknowledge that an eternal weight of joy and glory an everlasting serenity and calmness be to be preferr'd before a transitory unquiet restless unsatisfying pleasure And seeing both these are offered and set before him or rather seeing such is the extream mercy of our God that whereas the goods of this life are not allow'd nor so much as offer'd equally and universally to all For not many have ground to hope for much wealth Not many wise not many learned saith St. Paul Yet to every man whom God hath called to the acknowledgment of the Gospel these inestimable benefits are offered and presented bona fide without any impossible condition so that let the Disputers of this Age say what they will it shall be found that those who have failed and come short of these glories offered may thank themselves for it and impute it to an actual voluntary misprision and undervaluing of these riches of Gods mercies which they might have procured and not to any fatal over-ruling power that did inforce and necessitate and drive them to their destruction 34. These things considered if you are indeed convinc'd that light is to be preferr'd before darkness It is impossible but that you should likewise acknowledg that it were meer madness for a man to imagin to himself any the most vanishing faint expectation of those glorious Promises whilst he is busie and careful by all means to avoid those indeed thorny and unpleasant paths that lead unto them whilst he promiseth to himself rest and impunity though he walk in the Imagination of his own heart Surely the Lord will be avenged on such a person and will make his fierce wrath to smoak against him 35. Therefore resolve upon something If the Lord be God follow him serve him conform your selves to the form of new obedience which he hath prescribed But if Baal be God if Mammon be God if your selves be Gods follow the devices of your own hearts But by no means expect any reward at all from God for dishonouring him or preferring a base unworthy lust before his commands Lo 't is the Lord of Glory who is Salvation and the way too it is he that hath professed that there is no possible way of attaining unto him but by treading in the same steps which he hath left us A way which he found full of thorns full of difficulties but hath left it to us even strowed with Roses in comparison 36. The greatest and most terrible Enemies which we can fashion to our selves are those three which St. Paul hath mustered together and ordered them just Roman-wise the strongest in the Rear 1. Death and 2. the sting of that Sin and 3. the poyson of that sting The Law But over all these we are more then Conquerours for it follows Thanks be unto God which bath mark hath already given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ At the first indeed till the paths was worn and made smooth there were some difficulties for what could the Primitive Christians expect having all the world their Enemies but reproaches exiles deportations even horrible torments and death 37. But we blessed be our gracious God are so farr from being annoyed with such difficulties and pressures in the way that all those are to be feared and expected by them that dare deny the Profession of our glorious Religion What therefore if the Lord had commanded some great thing of us even as much as he did of his Beloved Servants the Apostles and Primitive Christians would we not have done it How much more when he says only Be not ashamed of me now when you dare not be ashamed of me now that it almost death to be ashamed of me Deny not me before this generation who would hate and persecute you to the death if you should deny me Crucifie unto you the unclean affections the incendiary lusts of your hearts which the Heathens have perform'd for the poor empty reward of fame Preferr not riches nor honours before me which is no more then many Philosophers have done for those vulgar changeable Gods which themselves have contemned 38. Having therefore beloved Christians such Promises to encourage us such as the poor Heathens never dream't of and yet for all that travelled more earnestly after an airy phantastical happiness of their own then we to our extream shame
to be a messenger or intelligencer to discover unto us what Christ alone hath purchased for us 47. But I forbear to enlarge my self further in this point and indeed I have already done too much wrong to the honour and dignity of this Feast not only in mixing the business of Good-Friday with it as I did in my former part but also as I now have done in taking in the matter and imployment of Whitsuntide too Suffice it therefore that the sending of the Holy Ghost was an especial exercise of that power which was given Christ at his Resurrection by the influence and virtue whereof we do restrain and appropriate the merit of his Death to our own good and benefit 48. Now I would not be mistaken as if I said that the Resurrection of Christ precisely taken for that individual action whereby he was restored to life and glory was then effectual and powerful to produce those admirable effects For that being a Transient action past and finished many hundred years since can very improperly be termed capable of having such effects ascribed to it as have since and shall to the end of the world be wrought in Gods Elect. Therefore S. Paul shall be mine Interpreter in Rom. 5.10 saying If when we were enemies Rom. 5.10 we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life that is By that glorious Life which began at his Resurrection 49. For as in the matter of Satisfaction we ascribe our reconciliation to his Death especially yet not excluding his former Obedience and Humiliation but naming that as being the complement and perfection terminating whatsoever went before So likewise in Christs exaltation though there were divers degrees and ascents and stages of it yet we especially take notice of his Resurrection because in that Christ took his rise as it were and was then a Bridegroom coming out of his chamber Psal 19. rejoycing as a Gyant to run his race His goings out indeed were from the Grave but his Circuit is to the ends of Heaven and nothing is hid from his heat and virtue He illuminates every man that cometh into the world He was made saith S. Paul a quickning Spirit cherishing actuating and informing us with life and motion By the influence and power of his life he undergoes as it were a second Incarnation living and dwelling in our hearts by his Grace and reigning powerfully in our souls by Faith 50. And hereby he even shares his Kingdom his Power and his Victory with us For saith S. John This is the victory whereby ye overcome the world even your Faith Christ is not content only to destroy in us the works of darkness to dispel the clouds of ignorance and errour or to rectifie the crookedness and perverseness of our wills neither yet to implant in us a heavie unactive sleepy harmlesness a dull lethargick innocence but withal indues us Justitiâ germinante with a fruitful budding righteousness and works in us in the expression of S. Paul both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a patient unwearied hope 1 Thess 1.3 not hasty nor discontented with expecting and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a painful laborious love and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a working sprightful victorious Faith whereby we violently lay hold on the promises And in this sense the same Apostle saith that as Christ died for our sins Rom. 4.24 so he rose again for our Justification that is one chief end of Christs Resurrection in respect of us was to work in us a lively faith whereby we might be justified and acquitted from our sins 51. And yet the Power of Christs Life leaves us not here neither Nay all this is performed only to make us capable of greater blessings yet Tertul. de Res carnis For by our sanctification and new-birth we are saith Tertullian Restitutioni inaugurati destin'd and consecrated to a glorious Resurrection Hereupon S. John calls holiness the first Resurrection whereby sin is destroy'd And it is a pawn of the second whereby Death also shall be swallowed up in victory By the first the sting of the Serpent is taken away which is sin as S. Paul saith The sting of death is sin And when the sting is gone the Serpent cannot long out live it for by the second Resurrection that also is destroyed 52. But you will say How is Death destroyed Do not all men dye Do not all men see corruption You may as well ask How is sin destroyed For have not all men sinned and come short of the glory of God Nay Do not all men sin how righteous soever And if they were rewarded according to their own demerits would they not all come short of the glory of God Most certainly true Therefore to say the truth As yet neither Sin nor Death are destroy'd but only the Dominion of Sin and the Victory of the Grave And thereupon the Apostle contemplating the conquering power of Christ at his Resurrection saith not Oh Death or Oh Grave where are you for a little travel would serve the turn to assoyl that question 1. Cor. 15.55 But Oh Death where is thy sting How comes it to pass that thy poyson is not so keen and mortal as it hath been that it is so easily though not expell'd yet tempered and corrected by the healing Bezoartical virtue of Grace And thou Oh Grave where is thy victory Though thou hast given thine adversary the foyl though thou hast gotten him under thee yet thou shalt never be able to detain him long For behold a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry He will ransack the most private reserved corners of thy Treasury and though thou mayest consume and devour our bodies yet he will force thee to vomit and disgorge them again he will not leave one portion one morsel of them in thy stomach and entrails 53. I know the ingenuous and learned Pareus because he would not suffer any portion of the merit of Christ's Death to be extended and meant to the ungodly or that He by the fruit of his Passion should obtain any power over them will therefore consequently exclude them from the efficacy and power of his Resurrection and Life He will not allow them to be raised by the power of Christ but only by the Justice of God to their own condemnation So that by his reckoning the great business and work of the last day shall not wholly lye upon Christ's hands to perform but shall be parted and shared between the Power of Christ and the Justice of God 54. I am confidently perswaded S. Paul in this point was not of his mind when he saith As in Adam all have dyed so by Christ shall all All without exception be made alive again And As by man came death so by Man also cometh the Resurrection of the Dead Indeed I wonder Pareus would not likewise find some shift to exclude
and come short of the glory of God Thus much for the Law of Works 29. The state of mankind without Christ being so deplored so out of al hope as I told you Almighty God out of his infinite mercy and goodness by his unspeakable wisdom found out an attonement accepting of the voluntary exinanition and humiliation of his dearly beloved Son who submitted himself to be made flesh to all our natural infirmities sin only excepted and at last to dye that ignominious accursed death of the Cross for the Redemption of mankind Who in his death made a Covenant with his Father that those and only those who would be willing to submit themselves to the obedience of a new Law which he would prescribe unto mankind should for the merits of his obedience and death be justified in the sight of God have their sins forgiven them and be made heirs of everlasting glory Now that Christ's death was in order of Nature before the giving of the Gospel is I think evident by those words of St. Paul Heb. 9.16 17. where comparing the old Covenant of the Jews with that of Christ he saith Where a Testament is Heb. 9.16.16 there must of necessity be the death of the Testatour for a Testament is of force after men are dead otherwisâ— it is of no strength at all while the Testatour liveth whereupon neither the first Covenant was dedicated without bloud It was necessary therefore saith he ver 23. that the patterns of things in heaven should be purified with these i. e. with the bloud of Beasts but the heavenly things themselves with better things than those namely with the bloud of Christ 30. Which Covenant of Christ call'd in Scripture the New-Covenant the Covenant of Grace the grace of God the Law of Faith according to the nature of all Covenants being made between two parties at the least requires conditions on both sides to be perform'd and being a Covenant of Promise the conditions on man's part must necessarily go before otherwise they are no conditions at all Now man's duty is comprehended by St. Paul in this word Faith and God's promise in the word Justification And thus farr we have proceeded upon sure grounds for we have plain express words of Scripture for that which hath been said But the main difficulty remains behind and that is the true sense and meaning of these two words Faith and Justification and what respect and dependance they have one of the other Which difficulty by Gods assistance and with your Christian charitable patience I will now endeavour to dissolve 31. For the first therefore which is Faith we may consider it in several respects to wit first as referring us to and denoting the principal object of Evangelical Faith which is Christ Now if Faith be meant in this sense as by many good Writers of our Reformed Churches it is understood then the meaning of that so often repeated saying of St. Paul We are justified by Faith without the works of the Law must be We are justifi'd only for the obedience of Christ and not for our righteousness of the Law which is certainly a most Catholick Orthodox sense and not to be deny'd by any Christian though I doubt it does not express all that St. Paul intended in that Proposition Secondly Faith signifies the Act or exercise or duty of Faith as it comprehends all Evangelical Obedience call'd by St. Paul The Obedience of Faith Rom. 16.26 Rom. 16.26 4.13 9.13 10.6 The Righteousness of Faith Rom. 4 13. 9.13 10.6 And it is an inherent grace or vertue wrought in us by the powerful operation of God's Spirit Or thirdly Rom. 10.9 it may be taken for the Doctrin of Faith call'd also by him the Word of Faith Act. 20.32 Gal. 3.2 Rom. 3.27 Rom. 10.8 and the Word of Gods Grace Act. 20.32 and the hearing of Faith Gal. 3.2 In which sense as if he meant the Word St. Paul may seem to resolve us Rom. 3.27 where he saith that boasting is excluded by the Law of Faith which words are extant in the very heat of the controversie of Justification Now these senses of Faith if they be apply'd to that conclusion of St. Paul We are justified by Faith come all to one pass for in effect it is all one to say We are justifi'd by our Obedience or Righteousness of Faith and to say We are justifi'd by the Gospel which prescribes that Obedience As on the contrary to say We are justifi'd by the Law or by works prescribed by the Law is all one There is a fourth acception of Faith taken for the single Habit or Grace of Faith and apply'd to this proposition only of all Christians that I have heard of by the Belgick Remonstrants which being a new invented fancy and therefore unwarrantable yet I shall hereafter have occasion it may be to say something of it 31. St. Paul's Proposition I am perswaded excludes none of these senses it is capeble of them all But before I shew you how they may consist together I will in the first place declare of what nature that righteousness is which God by vertue of his New Covenant requires at our hands before he will make good his promise unto us First then God requires at our hands a sincere Obedience unto the substance of all Moral duties of the Old Covenant and that by the Gospel And this obedience is so necessary that it is impossible any man should be saved without it The pressing of this Doctrine takes up by much the greatest part of the Evangelical Writings Now that these Duties are not enforc'd upon us as conditions of the Old Covenant of Works is evident because by Christ we are freed from the Obligation of the Old Covenant God forbids that we should have a thought of expecting the hope of righteousness upon those terms For that Covenant will not admit of any imperfection in our works and then in what a miserable case are we There is no hope for us unless some course be taken that not only our imperfections but our sins and those of a high nature be pass'd by and overlook'd by Almighty God as if He had lost his eyes to see them or his memory to remember them 32. The substance then of the Moral Law is enjoyn'd us by the New-Covenant but with what difference I shall shew you presently And hereupon it is that our Saviour saith to the Pharisees who were willing to make any mis-construction of his Doctrine Think you that I am come to destroy the Law I by all means say we God forbid else for unless the old Law be destroy'd we are undone as long as that is alive we are dead If the Law of Works have its natural force still woe be to us Therefore that must not be Christ's meaning His intent is as if he should say Think you that I am come to destroy the righteousness of the Law to dis-oblige men from
formerly you rejected from the Canon I instance in the Book of Macchabees and the Epistle to the Hebrews The first of these you held not to be Canonical in S. Gregorie's time or else he was no member of your Church for it is apparent (a) See Grâ—g Maâ—â— 19 〈◊〉 13. He held otherwise The second you rejected from the Canon in S. Hierom's time as it is evident out of (b) 〈…〉 there 〈…〉 And again 〈◊〉 c. 8. in 〈…〉 many places of his Works 91. If you say which is all you can say that Hierom spake this of the particular Roman Church not of the Roman Catholique Church I answer there was none such in his time None that was called so Secondly What he spake of the Roman Church must be true of all other Churches if your Doctrine of the necessity of the Conformity of all other Churches to that Church were then Catholique Doctrine Now then chuse whether you will Either that the particular Roman Church was not then believed to be the Mistress of all other Churches notwithstanding Ad hanc Ecclesiam necesse est omnem convenire Ecclesiam hoc est omnes qui sunt undique fiâ—leles which Cardinal Perron and his Translatress so often translates false Or if you say she was you will run into a greater inconvenience and be forced to say that all the Churches of that time rejected from the Canon the Epistle to the Hebrews together with the Roman Church And consequently that the Catholique Church may err in rejecting from the Canon Scriptures truly Canonical 92. Secondly How can we receive the Scripture upon the Authority of the Roman Church which hath delivered at several times Scriptures in many places different and repugnant for Authentical and Canonical Which is most evident out of the place of Malachy which is so quoted for the Sacrifice of the Mass that either all the ancient Fathers had false Bibles or yours is false Most evident likewise from the comparing of the story of Jacob in Genesis with that which is cited out of it in the Epistle to the Hebrews according to the vulgar Edition But above all to any one who shall compare the Bibles of Sixtus and Clement so evident that the wit of man cannot disguise it 93. And thus you see what reason we have to believe your Antecedent That your Church it is which must declare what Books be true Scripture Now for the consequence that certainly is as liable to exception as the Antecedent For if it were true that God had promised to assist you for the delivering of true Scripture would this oblige Him or would it follow from hence that He had obliged himself to teach you not only sufficiently but effectually and irresistibly the true sense of Scripture God is not defective in things necessary neither will he leave himself without witness nor the World without means of knowing his will and doing it And therefore it was necessary that by his Providence he should preserve the Scripture from any undiscernable corruption in those things which he would have known otherwise it is apparent it had not been his will that these things should be known the only means of continuing the knowledge of them being perished But now neither is God lavish in superfluities and therefore having given us means sufficient for our direction and power sufficient to make use of these means he will not constrain or necessitate us to make use of these means For that were to cross the end of our Creation which was to be glorified by our free obedience whereas Necessity and Freedom cannot stand together That were to reverse the Law which he hath prescribed to himself in his dealing with Man and that is to set life and death before him and to leave him in the hands of his own Counsel God gave the Wisemen a Star to lead them to Christ but he did not necessitate them to follow the guidance of this Star that was left to their liberty God gave the Children of Israel a Fire to lead them by night and a Pillar of Cloud by day but he constrained no man to follow them that was left to their liberty So he gives the Church the Scripture which in those things which are to be believed or done are plain and easie to be followed like the Wisemen's Star Now that which he desires of us on our part is the Obedience of Faith and love of the Truth and desire to find the true sense of it and industry in searching it and humility in following and Constancy in professing it all which if he should work in us by an absolute irresistible necessity he could no more require of us as our duty than he can of the Sun to shine of the Sea to ebb and flow and of all other Creatures to do those things which by meer necessity they must do and cannot chuse Besides What an impudence is it to pretend that your Church is infallibly directed concerning the true meaning of the Scripture whereas there are thousands of places of Scripture which you do not pretend certainly to understand and about the Interpretation whereof your own Doctors differ among themselves If your Church be infallibly directed concerning the true meaning of Scripture why do not your Doctors follow her infallible direction And if they do How comes such difference among them in their Interpretations 94. Again Why does your Church thus put her Candle under a Bushel and keep her Talent of interpreting Scripture infallibly thus long wrapt up in napkins Why sets she not forth Infallible Commentaries or Expositions upon all the Bible Is it because this would not be profitable for Christians that Scripture should be interpreted It is blasphemous to say so The Scripture it self tells us All Scripture is profitable And the Scripture is not so much the Words as the Sense And if it be not profitable Why does she imploy particular Doctors to interpret Scriptures fallibly unless we must think that fallible interpretations of Scripture are profitable and infallible interpretations would not be so 95. If you say The Holy Ghost which assists the Church in interpreting will move the Church to interpret when he shall think fit and that the Church will do it when the Holy Ghost shall move her to do it I demand Whether the Holy Ghost's moving of the Church to such works as these be resistible by the Church or irresistible If resistible then the Holy Ghost may move and the Church may not be moved As certainly the Holy Ghost doth always move to an action when he shews us plainly that it would be for the good of men and honour of God As he that hath any sense will acknowledge that an infallible exposition of Scripture could not but be and there is no conceivable reason Why such a work should be put off a day but only because you are conscious to your selves you cannot do it and therefore make excuses But if the moving of
a mans Religion that he was born and brought up in it For then a Turk should have as much reason to be a Turk as a Christian to be a Christian That every man hath a judgment of Discretion which if they will make use of they shall easily find that the true Church hath alwayes such and such marks and that their Church hath them and no other but theirs But then if any of theirs be perswaded to a sincere and sufficient tryal of their Church even by their own notes of it and to try whether they be indeed so conformable to Antiquity as they pretend then their note is changed You must not use your own reason nor your judgement but referr all to the Church and believe her to be conformable to Antiquity though they have no reason for it nay though they have evident reason to the contrary For my part I am certain that God hath given us our Reason to discern between Truth and Falshood and he that makes not this use of it but believes things he knows not why I say it is by chance that he believes the truth and not by choice and that I cannot but fear that God will not accept of this Sacrifice of fools 114. But you that would not have men follow their Reason what would you have them to follow their Passion Or pluck out their eyes and go blindfold No you say you would have them follow Authority On God's name let them we also would have them follow Authority for it is upon the Authority of Universal Tradition that we would have them believe Scripture But then as for the Authority which you would have them follow you will let them see reason why they should follow it And is not this to go a little about to leave Reason for a short turn and then to come to it again and to do that which you condemn in others It being indeed a plain impossibility for any man to submit his reason but to Reason for he that doth it to Authority must of necessity think himself to have greater reason to believe that Authority Therefore the confession cited by Breerely you need not think to have been extorted from Luther and the rest It came very freely from them and what they say you practise as much as they 115. And whereas you say that a Protestant admits of Fathers Councels Church as farr as they agree with Scripture which upon the matter is himself I say you admit neither of them nor the Scripture it self but only so far as it agrees with your Church and your Church you admit because you think you have reason to do so so that by you as well as by Protestants all is finally resolved into your own reason 116 Nor do Heretiques only but Romish Catholiques also set up as many Judges as there are men and women in the Christian world For do not your men and women judge your Religion to be true before they believe it as well as the men and women of other Religions Oh but you say They receive it not because they think it agreeable to Scripture but because the Church tels them so But then I hope they believe the Church because their own reason tels them they are to do so So that the difference between a Papist and a Protestant is this not that the one judges and the other does not judge but that the one judges his guide to be infallible the other his way to be manifest This same pernitious Doctrin is taught by Brentius Zanchius Cartwright and others It is so in very deed But it is taught also by some others whom you little think of It is taught by S. Paul where he sayes Try all things hold fast that which is good It is taught by S. John in these words Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God or no. It is taught by S. Peter in these Be ye ready to render a reason of the hope that is in you Lastly this very pernitious Doctrin is taught by our Saviour in these words If the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch And Why of your selves judge you not what is right All which speeches if they do not advise men to make use of their Reason for the choice of their Religion I must confess my self to understand nothing Lastly not to be infinite it is taught by M. Knot himself not in one page only or chapter of his Book but all his Book over the very writing and publishing whereof supposeth this for certain that the Readers are to be Judges whether his Reasons which he brings be strong and convincing of which sort we have hitherto met with none or else captious or impertinences as indifferent men shall as I suppose have cause to judge them 117. But you demand What good Statesmen would they be who should idaeate or fancy such a Common-wealth as these men have framed to themselves a Church Tâ—uly if this be all the fault they have that they say Every man is to use his own judgement in the choice of his Religion and not to believe this or that sense of Scripture upon the bare Authority of any learned man or men when he conceives he hath reasons to the contrary which are of more weight then their Authority I know no reason but notwithstanding all this they might be as good Statesmen as any of the Society But what hath this to do with Common-wealths where men are bound only to external obedience unto the Laws and Judgement of Courts but not to an internal approbation of them no nor to conceal their Judgement of them if they disapprove them As if I conceived I had reason to mislike the law of punishing simple theft with death as Sr. Thomas Moore did I might profess lawfully my judgment and represent my Reasons to the King or Common-wealth in a Parliament as Sr. Thomas Moore did without committing any fault or fearing any punishment 118. To the place of S. Austin wherewith this Paragraph is concluded I shall need give no other Reply but only to desire you to speak like an honest man and to say Whether it be all one for a man to allow and disallow in every Scripture what he pleases which is either to dash out of Scripture such Texts or such Chapters because they cross his opinion or to say which is worse Though they be Scripture they are not true Whether I say for a man thus to allow and disallow in Scripture what he pleases be all one and no greater fault than to allow that sense of Scripture which he conceives to be true and genuine and deduced out of the words and to disallow the contrary For Gods sake Sir tell me plainly In those Texts of Scripture which you alledge for the Infallibility of your Church do you not allow what sense you think true and disallow the contrary And do not you this by the direction of your private
and art afraid of the faces of men thou abhorrest the light And yet darest out-face him whose Eyes are ten thousand times brighter then the Sun Thou wouldest not have the confidence to commit filthiness if thy friend were in company And yet what injury is done to him by it what Commandement of his doest thou transgress in it Or if thou didst What power or authority has he over thee to punish thee Thou wouldest be ashamed to commit such a sin if thy Servant were by one whom thou art so farr from being afraid of that himself his words almost his very thoughts are in thy power Nay if a child were in company thou wouldst not have the face to do it 16. Thou canst not deny but respect to a friend to a servant even to a child will with-hold thee from such practises and yet withall confessest that Almighty God whom thou professest to serve to fear and to love that he all the while looks upon thee and observes thee his Eyes are never removed from thee and which is worse though thou mayest endeavour to forget and blot such actions out of thy remembrance yet it is impossible he should ever forget them He keeps a Register of all thy sins which no time shall ever be able to deface And what will it then profit thee to live a close conceal'd sinner from the world or to gain amongst men the reputation of a devout religious Christian when in the mean time thine own Heart and Conscience shall condemn thee Nay when Almighty God who is greater then thy Heart and knoweth all things when he shall be able to object unto thee all thy close ungodly projects all thy bosome private lusts yea when that conceit wherein thou didst so much please thy self of being able to delude and blind the observation of the World shall nothing avail thee but whatsoever mischiefs thou hast contrived in thy Closet whatsoever abominations thou hast practised in thy Bed all these with each aggravating Circumstance shall be discovered in the presence of all men and Angels and Devils when Satan whom before thou madest an Instrument and Bawd unto thy lusts to whose counsels and suggestions thou before would'st only hearken shall be the most forward and eager to appeach thee 17. When thou art brought to such an exigent as this which without a timely unfeigned repentance as sure as there is a God in Heaven thou shalt at last be brought to what will then they orthodox opinions do thee good what will it then profit thee to say Thou never didst maintain any impious dishonourable Tenents concerning God or any of his glorious Attributes Yea how happy hadst thou been if worse than the most ignorant heathenish Atheist no thought or consideration of God had entred into thy heart For this professing thy self a Christian rightly instructed in the knowledge of God will prove heavier to thee than a thousand milstones hanged about thy neck to sink thee into the bottome of that comfortless Lake of fire and brimstone For for example What a strange plea would it be for a Murderer to say I confess I have committed such or such a murder but all the excuse which I can alledge for my self is that I was well studied in the Laws which forbad murder and I knew that my Judge who tyed me to the observance of this Law upon pain of death was present and observ'd me when I commited the Fact Surely it would be more tolerable for him to say I never heard of any such Law or Judge or if I have been told of such things I gave but little heed to the report I did not at all believe it For though this plea will be very insufficient to acquit the malefactor yet it will be much more advantageous than the former for what were that but to flour the Judge to his face and to pretend a respectful worthy opinion of him for this end that his contempt and negligence in performing his Commandements may be more extream and inexcusable and by consequence without all hope or expectation of pardon I need make no application of the example the Similitude doth sufficiently apply it self 18. Therefore it I were to advise any man who is resolved by his practice to contradict that opinion which he saith he hath of God or that is not resolved to live with that reverence and awfulness due to the Majesty of Almighty God in whose presence he alwaies is I would counsel him not to believe himself when he professes the Omnipresence or Omniscience of God For without all contradiction though by living in a Nation where every one with whom he converses professeth so much he may have learned to say There is a God and that this God is every where present and takes particular notice of whatsoever is done in heaven and earth yet if this Notion were firmly rooted in his soul as a matter of Religion as a business upon which depends the everlasting welfare of his soul and body it is altogether impossible for him to continue in an habitual practice of such things as are evidently repugnant and destructive to such a conceit For tell me Would any man in his right senses when he shall see another drink down a poyson which he knows will suddenly prove mortal unto him I say will any man be so mad as to believe such a one though he should with all the most earnest protestations that can be imagined profess that he is not weary of his life but intends to prolong it as long as God and Nature will give him leave 19. The Case is altogether in each point and circumstance the same For he which saith He believeth or assenteth to any doctrine as a fundamental point of his Religion intends thus much by it that he has bound himself in certain bonds unto Almighty God for so the very name of Religion doth import to expect no benefit at all from him but upon condition of believing such divine Truths as it shall please him to reveal unto him namely as means and helps of a devout religious life and worship of him For God reveals nothing of himself to any man for this end to satisfie his curiosity or to afford him matter of discourse or news but to instruct him how he may behave himself here in this life that he may attain those promises which shall be fulfilled to those who sincerely and devoutly serve and obey him 20. Therefore he that shall say I believe such a Truth revealed by God and yet lives as if he had never heard of such a thing yea as if he had been perswaded of the contrary is as much to be believed as if he should say I will drink a deadly poyson to quench my thirst or will stab my self to the heart for physick to let out superfluous bloud So that that man who is not resolved to break off his wicked courses by repentance and conversion unto God that lives as if the
it self but in comparison with those twinkling cloudy stars of Jewish Ordinances and that once glorious but now eclipsed light the Law of Works since then this is the day which the Lord hath made for us we will rejoyce and be glad in it and we will be ready to hearken especially to any thing that shall be spoken concerning our Epiphany concerning that blessed light for many ages removed out of our sight and as on this day beginning to appear in our Horizon 3. The words of my Text I find so full and swelling with expression so fruitful and abounding in rich sense that I am almost sorry I have said so much of them to fit them to this day But in recompence I will spare the labour of shewing their dependance and connexion with the preceding part of the Epistle and consider them as a loose severed Thesis In which is contain'd not only the sum and extract of this Epistle but likewise of Christian Religion in general in opposition both to the Mosaical Law given to the Jews and the Law of Works call'd also the Moral Natural Law which from the beginning of the world hath been assented to and written in the hearts of all mankind The sense of which words if they were inlarg'd may be this We Christians by the tenour and prescript of our Religion expect the hope of Righteousness i. the reward which we hope for by righteousness not as those vain Teachers newly sprung up among you Galatians would have us by obedience unto the carnal Ceremonial Law of Moses but through the Spirit i. by a spiritual worship neither by performing the old Covenant of works which we are not able to fulfil but by faith by such an obedience as is prescribed unto us in the Gospel We through the Spirit wait c. 4. In these words then which comprehend the compleat essence of the Covenant of Grace we may consider First the conditions on mans part required in these words through the Spirit and by Faith Secondly upon the performance of our duty there follows Gods promise or the condition which God will make good unto us and that is the hope of Righteousness or Justification In the former part namely the obedience which is required from us Christians we may consider it first in opposition to the Mosaical Law by these words through the Spirit which import that it is not such an outward carnal obedience as Moses his Law required but an internal Spiritual worship of the heart and soul Secondly the opposition of this new Covenant to the old Covenant of Works in these words by Faith which signifie that we do not hope for salvation by the works of the Law but by the Righteousness of Faith or the Gospel In the second General we may likewise observe first the nature of Justification which comprehends the promises which God has been pleased to propose to us as the reward of our obedience Secondly the interest which we Christians in this life after we have perform'd our duties may have in these promises which is Hope express'd in these words We wait for the hope c. Of these 5. First then of the Covenant of Grace as it is distinguish'd from the Mosaical Law by these words through the Spirit Where we will consider the nature of the Jewish Law and wherein it is distinguish'd from the Christian When Almighty God with a high hand and a stretched out arm had rescued the people of Israel from the Aegyptian slavery and brought them in safety into the Wilderness intending then to settle and reduce them into good order and government himself and by common voluntary consent they all agree to submit themselves to whatsoever laws he shall prescribe unto them as we find Exod. 19. from 3d to the 9th verse Exod. 19.3 c. Judg. 8. So that afterwards Judg. 8. when the people after an unexpected glorious victory obtain'd by Gideon would have made him a King and have setled the government in his house No V. 23. saith Gideon v. 23. I will not rule over you neither shall my Son rule over you The Lord shall rule over you And likewise afterward when Samuel complained to God of the perverseness of the people who were weary of his government and would have a King as the Nations round about them had Thou art deceived saith God It is my government that they are weary of They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me and now are risen up in rebellion against me to depose me from that Dominion which with their free consents I assumed For which intolerable base ingratitude of that Nation in his wrath he gives them a King he appoints his Successour which revenged those injuries and indignities offered to Almighty God to the uttermost upon them 6. Now during the time of Gods reign over them never any King was so careful to provide wholesome laws both for Church and Common-wealth as He was Insomuch as he bids them look about and consider the nations round about them If ever any people was furnished with Laws and Ordinances of such equity and righteousness as theirs were which Laws because they were ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator namely Moses are commonly called by the name of the Mosaical Law and are penned down at large by him in his last four Books 7. The Precepts and prohibitions of this Law are of several natures For some duties therein enjoyn'd are such as in their own natures have an intrinsecal essential goodness and righteousness in them and the contrary to them are in themselves evil and would have been so though they had never been expresly prohibited Such are especially the 10. Words or Precepts written by Gods own finger in the two Tables of stone Other Precepts concern matters of their own nature indifferent and are only to be termed good because they were commanded by a positive divine Law such are the Ceremonial Washings Purifications Sacrifices c. A third sort are of a mixt nature the objects of which are for the most part things in their own nature good or evil but yet the circumstances annex'd unto them are meerly arbitrary and alterable as namely those things which are commanded or forbidden by that which is commonly called the Judicial Law for example The Law of fourfold Restitution of things stollen Theft of its own nature is evil and deserves punishment But that the punishment thereof should be such a kind of Restitution is not in it self necessary but may be chang'd either into a corporal punishment or it may be into a civil death according as those who have the government of Kingdoms and States shall think fit and convenient for the dispositions of the times wherein they live as we see by experience in the practise of our own Kingdoms For the due execution of which Laws and punishment of transgressours God appointed Judges and Rulers and where they failed through want of care or partiality himself
many times would immediately and personally inflict the punishment 8. Now the general Sanction of this whole Law is expressed Deut. 27. v. 26 in these words Deut. 27.26 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all the words of this Law to do them which curse as we find it afterwards at large interpreted imported a sudden violent untimely death together with all kind of misfortune that could make this life miserable so that he was liable to this curse that swerved in any one point or circumstance from what was contained in that Law Notwithstanding in some cases God was pleased to remit the rigour of this curse and to except of certain gifts and offerings and the expiatory sacrifices of beasts as it were in exchange for the lives of the delinquents I should but fruitlesly trifle away the time in insisting any longer upon the nature and quality of the Mosaical Law I will now as I am required by my Text shew you the extream difference and incomparable excellency of the Covenant of Grace or the Gospel beyond this in several respects 9. As first The Moral Duties of the two Tables as they are part of the Mosaical Jewish Law required only an external obedience and conformity to the Affirmative precepts thereof and an abstaining from an outward practise of the Negative They did not reach unto the conscience no more then the National Laws of other Kingdoms do so that for example where the Law of Moses forbids Adultery upon pain of death he that should in his heart lust with any woman could not be accounted a transgressour of Moses his Law neither was he liable to the punishment therein specified whereas the Gospel requires not only an outward and as I may say corporal obedience to Gods commandements but also an inward sanctification of the soul and conscience upon the same penalty of everlasting damnation with the former And what is now said of the moral precepts as they art part of Moses his Law by the same proportion likewise is to be understood of the Judicial 10. Notwithstanding what hath now been said yet we must know that these very Jews to whom this Law was given being the children of Abraham were heirs likewise of the promises which were made unto him and his seed And the way or means whereby they were to attain unto these promises were the very same by which himself obtained them namely Faith So that this Mosaical Law whatsoever glorious opinion the Jews had of it was not that Covenant whereby they were to seek for Justification in the sight of God Till Christ's coming there was no Law given which could have given life that is which could promise everlasting life unto man not the Law of works by reason of mans imperfection and weakness not the Law of Moses by reason of its own weakness as S. Paul clearly demonstrates especially in the Epistle to the Hebrews 11. For what end then was the Law of Moses given S. Paul shall answer the question Gal. 3.19 Gal. 3.19 It was added saith he because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promises were made It was added as if he should say After the promises made unto Abraham and his seed this Law was moreover annexed not as any new condition whereby they were to attain unto the promises but that in the mean time till the promises were fulfilled they should be restrained as it were and kept under a strict outward discipline from running into any excess of disobedience for those whom perhaps the goodness and mercy of God in affording them those promises would not by the hope of them be able to bridle they notwithstanding when they saw punishment even unto death without mercy inflicted upon the transgressours they would be more careful of their waies It followes Till the seed should come to whom the promises were made or as himself in Heb. 9. alters the phrase Heb. 9.10 till the time of reformation that is When Christ who was that blessed Seed promised to Abraham should come he would so clearly and convincingly shew unto the world the way of Salvation that they should no longer need to be kept under their old Schoolmaster the Law and therefore at his coming the date of the whole Mosaical Law should expire And that may be one reason why S. Paul is in this chapter so violent against those that would urge the observation of the Mosaical Law forasmuch as by inforcing it now when the seed was already come to whom the promises were made they did seem to evacuate the Coming and Gospel of Christ 12. Now that the Mosaical Law was not given to the Jews for this end that by the fulfilling thereof they should promise to themselves the reward of righteousness everlasting life is evidently demonstrated both by our Saviour in the 5. of Matthew and by S. Paul through all his Epistles but especially in that to the Hebrews The force and vertue of whose arguments may in general be reduc'd to that issue which before I mentioned viz. That the Law by the performance whereof we may expect life requires not only an external conformity to the outward works but an inward spiritual sanctification also of the soul and heart 13. But what saith the Law of Meses It was said saith our Saviour by them of old Mat. 5.21 i. in the Law of Moses Thou shalt not kill not Thou shalt not be angry thou shalt not bear malice in thy heart so that if thou abstainest from Murder thou fulfillest Moses his Law And if thou doest kill thou shalt be in danger of Judgement i. the only punishment which the Law of Moses inflicted upon the transgressours thereof was the danger to be condemn'd to death by the Judgement or Bench of Judges appointed for the execution of this Law But I say unto you I who clearly shew unto you that way wherein you must walk before you can promise to your selves any hope of eternal life I say unto you not only whosoever shall kill his neighbour but whosoever out of malice or rancour V. 22. shall say unto his brother Thou fool shall be in danger of Hell fire V. 27. So likewise not only he which commits Adultery in the outward act is culpable by my Gospel before God but also he which looks upon a woman to lust after her in his heart V. 33. And so instead of Forswearing and breaking of Oaths and Vows which Moses his Law forbad Christ condemns fruitless and unnecessary V. 38. though true Oaths Instead of the Law of Retaliation of injuries Christ commands rather to suffer a second injury than to revenge the first 14. But in the last place the last Example which our Saviour gives may seem to destroy this collection which hath been drawn out of this Chapter for saith he Vers 43. You have heard V. 43. that it hath been said of old Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate