experience of did acknowledge as much as hath been formerly delivered out of Gods word to wit That men are usually misdrawn to do those things in particular which in general they desired not to do and to leave those things undone which in the calm of composed affections they desired to do either by the hope of some bodily pleasures or by fear of some bodily pain And unto this two-fold inconvenience he prescribed this brief Receipt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That men in youth especially should accustome themselves to abstinence and sufferance to abstinence from evil and to sufferance of evil that is unto abstinence from unlawful pleasures which we call Malum culpae or Evil of Sin and to endure with patience malum poenae the evil of pain or of some loss rather then hazard The quiet of Conscience by doing that which is evil or unlawful or by not doing that which is good specially when we are thereto required But this brief receipt or diet of the Soul without some other addition will rather serve to condemn us Christians then enable us to live a true and Christian life The Receipt though is good in the General but defective in these Particulars First Unless he knew more of Gods Will or of the mysteries of Christian Religion then we know any means by which he could possibly know either being an Heathen he was ignorant of many evils from which he was bound to abstain and altogether as ignorant what those good things were for whose love he was to suffer malum poenae the evil of pain loss or grievance rather then disclaim them Secondly Albeit he had known what was to be done what to be left undone yet being ignorant of this main Article of Christianity to wit of A Life everlasting which is the reward of well-doing the Crown of Holiness and of an everlasting Death which is the wages of sin and issue of unlawful pleasures His Receipt of Sustine Abstine was altogether as fruitless and vain as if a Physician should prescribe a Dosis or Recipe to his Patient of such Simples or compounded Medicines as cannot be had in this part of the world but must be sought for at the East or West-Indies or at the Antipodes whence there is no hope they can be brought before the Patient be laid in his Grave The Medicine which he prescribes is no where to be found but in the Word of God The Simples whereof it is compounded can grow from no other root or branch then from The Articles of everlasting Life and everlasting death The Belief of the One is the root of Abstinence from sinful or unlawful Pleasures The Belief of the other is the root of Patience or sufferance of malum Poenae or of sufferance for well-doing Howbeit to speak exactly both parts of his Receipt may be had from the Belief either of Everlasting Life or Everlasting Death but most compleatly from the belief of both The manner how thence they may be gathered is expressed by our Apostle St. Paul Rom. 8. 16. c. The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God And if children then heirs heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ if we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together for I reckon that the suffrings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us c. 2. If all the sufferings of this life be not worthy of the glory which shall be revealed in us as the Rule of Faith teacheth us then conscience and reason it self bindes us to suffer all the Persecutions or Grievances which can be laid upon us rather then hazard our hopes or forfeit our Interests in the Glory that shall be revealed in all such as with patience suffer persecution or other temporal loss or detriment for the truths sake And this hope of Glory is as the Root whence Christian patience or sufferance must grow So is the fear of everlasting Death the root of our abstinence from evil or of repentance for former want of this abstinence This is the same Apostles Doctrine 2 Cor. 5. 10. For we must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men To what doth he perswade men To do those things which are good and which being done shall be rewarded not in Judgement but in mercy and loving kindness Those things by which we shall be reconciled unto God But were not these Corinthians reconciled to God before our Apostle thus perswaded them Yes so saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 18. God hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ And when our Apostle and those to whom he wrote were reconciled unto God through Jesus Christ we that are now living were by the same means reconciled unto God For God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself Now if the world that is not this or that man not this or that generation of men but all generations the world of mankind were reconciled unto God when our Apostle wrote this Epistle yea when Christ offered himself upon the Crosse what need is there of any further reconciliation For that which God doth he doth most perfectly most compleatly 3. It is true Our reconciliation was most perfectly most compleatly wrought on Gods part by Christs death upon the Crosse he payed the full price of our Redemption of our reconciliation nothing may or can be added thereto Yet A Reconciliation there is to be wrought on our parts though wrought it cannot be but by the spirit of God and wrought it is not ordinarily but by the ministry of men as Gods Deputies or Embassadors So the Apostle adds ver 19. God hath committed to us to wit his Ministers the word of reconciliation Now then we are Embassadors for Christ as though Christ did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God So then God hath reconciled us all unto himself from the hour of Christs death and yet every one of us for his own particular must be reconciled to God by the Ministry of his Embassadors And the efficacy of their Ministry is demonstrated by working true repentance in us The means again by which they work this true repentance must be by representing the Terrour of the Lord or as our Apostle saith Act. 17. 30. by putting them in mind of the last and dreadful day The times of this ignorance to wit of the old world before Christs death God winked at but now commandeth all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Thus
the first day preserved but here was a new creation out of that which Philosophers properly term The mater that is the common mother of generation or corruption And thus God at the last day shall command not the earth only but the Sea also with the other Elements to give up their dead Rev. 20. 13. Lastly they extended this similitude too far which hence imagined that as the corn often dies and is often quickned and dies again So by the doctrine of Christians there should be a death after the Resurrection and a Resurrection after death or such a continual vicissitude between life and death as is between light and darkness This objection is punctually resolved by Tertullian in the 48. Chapt. of his Apologie The sum of his answer is That so it might be if the Omnipotent Creator had so appointed for he is able to work this continual interchange or vicissitude of life and death as well in mens bodies as in the bodies of corn sown or reaped or as he doth the perpetual vicissitude of light and darkness in the two Hemispheres of the world but he hath revealed his Will to the contrary And the reason is not the same but rather contrary in Gods crop or harvest as it is in the crops or harvests of mortal men As men in this life are mortal so is their food or nutriment and for this reason their nutriment must be supplied by continual sowing and reaping But God is immortal and so shall the crop of his harvest be Our Resurrection from the dead is his general crop or harvest and this needs to be no more then One because our bodies being once raised up to life again shall never die but enjoy immortalitie in his presence Heaven is his Granary and what is gathered into it cannot perish or consume 10. The general use of this Doctrine is punctually made to our hands by our Apostle in the last verse of this Chapt. Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. And more particulary 1 Thessal 4. 13. c. I would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them which are a sleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope c. The Apostle there doth not forbid all mourning for the dead but the manner of mourning only that they mourn not as they which have no hope no expectation of any Resurrection after death Nature will teach us as it did these Thessalonians to mourn for the death of our friends and kindred And our belief of this Article will give us the true mean and prescribe the due manner or measure of mourning Our sorrow though natural and just yet if it be truly Christian and seasoned with Grace will still be mingled with comfort and supported by hope To be either impatient towards God or immoderatly dejected for the death of our dearest friends whose bodies God hath in mercy committed to the custody of the earth of the sea or other Elements is but A Symptome of heathenish ignorance or infidelity of this Article A Barbarism in Christianitie If we of this Land should live amongst Barbarians whom we had taught to make bread of Corn and accustomed to the tast of this bread as unknown to their forefathers as Manna at first appearance was to the Israelites but not acquainted them with the mystery of sowing and reaping they would be as ready in their hunger or scarcitie of bread to stone us as the Israelites were to stone Moses in their thirst if they should see us offer to bury that corn in the earth with which their bowels might be comforted yet if they were but so far capable of reason as to be perswaded or we so capable of trust or credit with them as to perswade them that there were no possibilitie left either to have bread without supply of corn or for corn to increase and multiply unless it did first die and putrifie in the ground hope of a more plentiful crop or harvest would naturally incline them to brook the present scarcity w th patience and to be thankfull towards such as would so carefully provide for them Now besides that the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God the committing of their bodies to the grave is but as a solemn preparation of seed for a future crop or harvest If in these premisses we do rely and trust in God our sorrow and heaviness for the dead though it may endure for a while will be swallowed up in comfort our mournfull tears and weeping will be still accompanied with praises and thanksgiving unto him that hath so well provided for them that live in his fear and die in his favour 11. But as this Doctrine administreth plentie of comfort in respect of friends deceased so it should move us to make choice of such only for our dearest friends as we see inclined to live in the fear of the Lord. Or if we have prevented our selves and this advice in making such choice yet let us never be prevented by others for making the main and principal end of our friendship or delight in any mans company to be this A serious study and endevour to prepare others and to be prepared by them to live and die in the Lord. As there is no greater comfort in this life then a faithfull and hearty friend So can no greater grief befall a man at the hour of death then to have had a friend trusty and hearty in other offices and services but negligent and backward in cherishing the seeds of faith of love or fear of the Lord or other provision of our way-fare towards the life to come No practise of the most malicious or most inveterate or most provoked foe can breed half so much danger to any man as the affectionate intentions of a carnal friend always officious to entertain him with pleasant impertinences which will draw his mind from the fear and love of God and either divert or effeminat his cogitations from resolute pitching upon the means and hopes of a joyfull Resurrection to everlasting life Even to minds and affections already sweetned with sure hope of that life to come what grief must it needs breed in this life if he be a loving husband to think he shall be by death eternally divorced from the companie of his dearest consort Or if he be an affectionate friend to consider that the league of mutual amitie in this life never interrupted but secured from danger of impairment whilst their pilgramage lasts here on earth should be everlastingly dissolved after the one hath taken up his lodging in the dust that all former dearest kindness should not only be forgotten but be further estranged from performance of any common courtesie then any Christian in this life can be in regard of any Jew or Turk or any Jew or
Cause And we may safely Infer First That unless the Son of God had been incarnate Gods Goodness to us had not been so admirably manifested Secondly Unless the Son of God had become man man could not have been delivered from the fetters and chains of sin much less restored to his first dignitie And yet more in that the Son of God became man this is an Argument evident to us from the Effect that man by sin had become the Son of Satan Sin then was the cause of Christs Incarnation and Christs Incarnation is the cause or means of our deliverance or Redemption from sin Again Unless man by Sin had become the servant of sin and bond-man of Satan the Son of God had not taken upon him the Form of a Servant But in as much as the Son of God was found in the true Form of a Servant this is an Argument from the Effect evident to convince our consciences that we Sons of men were by nature the servants or bond-men of Satan Lastly Unless the wages of sin and of our service done to Satan by working the works of sin had been death the true and natural Son of God had not been put to death Our sins then and the wages due to our sins that was death were the Causes of his death And in that he truly dyed for us This is an Argument evident from the Effect Therefore we were dead in our sins Be it so Yet seeing the Son of God died for our sins before he was raised from the dead how saith our Apostle in the 17. verse If Christ be not raised ye are yet in your sins Could these Corinthians or any others be still in their sins after their sins were taken away Or will any man deny that their sins were taken away by Christ's death at the very instant of his souls departure from the bodie or when he said Consummatum est it is finished What was finished The work which he undertook and that was the Taking away of our sins or the work of our Redemption Now if this work were finished when our Saviour Christ said It is finished these Corinthians sins were taken away before Christs Resurrection And if sin by Christs death had been actually and utterly taken away our Apostles Inference in this place had been unsound none had remained in their sins albeit Christ had not risen again Sin then even the sins of the world were taken away by Christs death but not actually and utterly taken away If sin had been so taken away by Christs death there had been no such necessity of Christs Resurrection from the dead as our Apostle here presseth upon the Corinthians not as matter of Opinion but as a Fundamental Principle of Faith It remains then to be declared In what sense or how far sin was taken away by Christs death In what sense it hath been or how far it shall be taken away by his Resurrection 7. First then Christs death was a Ransome all-sufficient for the sins of the world the full price of redemption for all mankind throughout the world from the beginning to the end of it But did not many who died before Christ die in their sins They did yet He was promised to our first Parents To the end that even these might not die in their sins How these come to forfeit their Interest in the Promise made to Adam and to all that came after him That we leave to the Wisdom of God Of this we are sure That the Wisdom and Son of God did die for all men then living and for all that were to live after unto the worlds end And in as much as he dyed for all he is said to take away the sins of all that is he payed the full Ransome for the sins of all and purchased A General Pardon at his Fathers hands and he himself by dying became an universal inexhaustible soveraign Medicine for all sins that were then extant in the world or should be extant in man untill the worlds end So then by his death he took away the sins of the world in a Twofold Sense First In that he payed the full Ransome for the sins of all men Whatsoever sins were past could be no prejudice to any so they would imbrace Gods Pardon sealed by Christs death and proclaimed by his Apostles and Disciples after his death In this sense we may say The Kings General Pardon takes away all offences and misdemeanors against his Crown and Dignitie albeit many afterwards suffer for such Misdemeanors only because they do not sue out their Pardons or crave allowance of them Christ is said again to take away the sins of the world by his death in as much as by his death he became the universal and soveraign medicine for all mens sins But many dyed in Israel not because there was no Balm in Gilead as many do amongst us not so much for want of good Physick or soveraign Medicines as for want of will to seek for them in due time or for wilfulness in not using Medicines profered unto them So then it will not follow That no man dies in his sin since Christs Death Albeit we grant that the sins of all were taken away by his death For They were not so taken away as that men might not resume or take them again And the greatest condemnation which shall befal the world will be That when God had taken away their sins they would not part with their sins That when God would have healed them they would not be healed But had these Corinthians been any further from having their sins taken away by Christs death if Christ had truly died for them and yet but only died for them and not risen again Yes Though Christ had dyed for All yet all had died in their sins if He had only died and had not been raised again This Inference is expresly avouched by our Apostle in the 17 and 18 verses If Christ be not raised then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished and yet he supposeth that they believed in Christs Death But though the Inference be most true because avouched by our Apostle yet is it not Universally but Indefinitely true How far and in respect of what sins or in what degree of perishing it is true That is the Question 8. Christ was delivered saith the Apostle his meaning is He was delivered unto death for our sins and he was raised again for our Justification Rom. 4. 25. Are we then Otherwise Justified by His Resurrection then we are by His Death So our Apostles words import And if otherwise Justified by His Resurrection then by His Death Then are our sins Otherwise taken away by vertue of His Resurrection then by vertue of His Death they were taken away What shall we say then That Christs Death did not Merit all the benefits which God had to bestow upon us God forbid all this notwithstanding We do not receive
of this disease then such as cherish and pamper the sense of taste and touching What is the reason Daintiness of diet improves the capacitie of the sense of feeling and makes it more tender and so more apt to receive the impression of noisom humours and the same daintiness or excesse of delicate fare is more apt and forcible to breed plentie of forcible and peircing humours then courser fare or moderate dyet is For the same reason he whose sense of smelling or tast is by natural disposition of Bodie or by accustomance more subtle or accurate will be more offended with loathsome smells and nastie food then he which hath the same senses by a natural disposition more dull or more dis-used from delicate odours or daintie meats And a musical ear accustomed to melodious consorts will be more displeased with jarring or discording sounds then he which hath the same sense of hearing unpolished by Art or accustomed to ruder noises The more accurate a mans sight is by natural disposition or the more insight a man hath in the Art of limning or painting or the more accustomed he is to view fresh colours and proportions the more impatient he is to behold unsightly Objects or deformed prospects And according to the increase of unsightliness or ugliness in the object his offence or grief doth still grow and increase The Rule then is general That the discontent the grief or pain of every one of the five outward senses still accrues from the capacitie or aptitude of the sense to receive ingrateful impressions And from the potencie or efficacie of the Agent to make such impressions The same Rule holds as true in our internal faculties or senses A man by natural disposition of immoderate appetite for meat and drink is far more tormented with the same want of them then a moderate or less greedie appetite is And this sense which is none of the five hath this peculiar propertie that it is tormented with its own Capacitie without any agent or object to inflict pain upon it The meer want of food is more grievous to it then any positive pain that can befal it by any external Agents To a man again of a curious Phansie or accurate Judgment an ignorant or slovenly discourse is more unpleasant then to an illiterate man or to one of duller capacitie for wit To an ambitious or popular man the least touch of dis-esteem or jealousie of dis-respect is more bitter then an open affront or disgrace unto an honest upright heart which looks no way but one to that which leads to truth and honestie And he that labors to improve this appetite of honor or popular esteem doth but sollicit the multiplication of his own woes For seeing Honor est in Honorante honor is seated in them that do the honor not in them that are honored seeing popular applause depends upon the breath of the multitude the man that sets his mind upon it doth but as one that exposeth his naked body to the lash or scourge or at the best to others courtesie A man that much mindeth his gain and hath his senses exercised in cunning bargainings takes the loss of opportunitie or fair advantage to increase his wealth more deeply to heart then another man whose mind is weaned from the world doth his very want or penury So that though the want or loss of the one be much greater then the others yet the Capacitie of his appetite or desire of gain is much less and therefore no way so apt to receive the impression of discontentment or grief from the same occurrences or occasions which torment the other 6. Now to put all these together Let us suppose one and the same man to be immoderately desirous of worldly honors and riches And by this means of an extraordinary Capacitie for receiving all those parts of grief or sorrow which can accrue from loss of goods from contempt disgrace and scorn and yet withall as capable of and as much inclined to all the pleasures of bodily senses whereby his Capacitie of pain or torture may be improved to the uttermost Let us also suppose or imagine the same man to be daily exposed to all the temptations to all the vexations that his bodily senses or internal faculties are capable of from the occurrences or impressions of objects most ingrateful as to be daily cheated daily disgraced to have his eyes filled with ghastly sights his ears with hideous noises his smell cloyed with loathsome savours and his tast vexed with bitter and unpleasant meats or rather poison which cannot be digested and his sense of touch daily infested with deadly pain his appetite of meat and drink daily tormented with hunger and thirst And from a man in this woful estate and piteous plight we may take the surface or first dimension of the second death but not the Thicknesse or Soliditie of it That we must gather thus first by Negatives How capable soever a mans bodily senses may be of pain or pleasure or his internal faculties of joy or sorrow yet it is Generally true in this life Vehemens sensibile corrumpit sensum The vehemencie or excessive strength of the Agent or sensible Object doth corrupt or dead the sense Huge noises though in their nature not hideous or for qualitie not displeasing will breed a deafness in the ear And though light be the most grateful object that the eye can behold yet the too much gazing upon it or the admission of too much of it into the eye will strike it with blindness Long accustomance unto daintie meats doth dull the taste and take away the appetite Likewise too much cold or too much heat doth either dissolve or benumme the sense of feeling and a man may loose not the smelling onely but even the common sense or Animal Facultie by strong perfumes much more by loathsome and abominable smels There is not one of the five outward senses but if its proper object be too violent or too vehement may let in death to all the rest A man may be killed without a wound either at the eye or at the ear at the nose or at the mouth so he may be by the sense of hunger or thirst without any weapon or poison only by meer want of food The Gangrene or other like disease which works only upon the sense of touch or feeling brings many to an end without any forraign enemie Some have died a miserable death by close imprisonment in a nastie prison without violence to any other sense save only to the sense of smelling Many have died of surfets though of delicate and in their kind wholsome meats Regulus that famous Romane Senator did die as miserable a death as his enemies could devise against him without any other instrument of crueltie besides the force or strength of the most grateful object which the eye can behold that is of the sun unto whose splendent beams his eyes were exposed without the mask or
you see how the terrour of the last day or fear of everlasting death must work in us an Abstinence from evil or repentance for evil past as the Hope of Everlasting Life doth work patience and constancie in persecution Yet both parts of that brief Receipt Sustine et Abstine may be effected by our serious meditation upon either branch of our belief concerning life and death everlasting For if all the sufferings of this life be not worthy of or equivalent unto the glory which shall be revealed in us we must needs be worthy of and obnoxious to everlasting death if we do not with patience suffer persecution in this life rather then hazard our hopes of Life Eternal Again if the sufferance of everlasting death be much worse then the suffering of all persecutions possible in this life our not repentance at the Terrour of it doth make us uncapable of everlasting life Our hopes of avoiding it by repentance if they be sound and firm will animate and in a manner impell us to follow the wayes of life to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance 4. Seeing then we are thus invironed on the right hand and on the left having the hopes of Eternal Life set before us to encourage us to constancy and resolution and are so strongly beset with inevitable fear of everlasting death if like faint hearted souldiers we should retreat or revoke our vow in Baptisme may not the Lord in Justice take up that complaint against us which sometimes he did against Jerusalem and Judah What could I have done more for my vineyard that I have not done unto it Other means to make men either good men or good Citizens the old world knew none nor could the wit of the wisest Law-givers devise any besides poena et praemium Reward and punishment Now what Kingdom or Common-wealth had either so bountiful Rewards or so dreadful punishments proposed unto them as we Christians have What then is the reason why we of all others are more defective in good duties most fruitful in evil lesse observant or more desperate transgressors of our Princes Lawes then the subjects or Citizens of any other well governed Kingdoms ever were how often do we pawn our hopes of everlasting life upon less occasions then Esau did his birth-right and set Christ our acknowledged Lord and Redeemer to sale at a lower price then Judas did The original of this our desperate neglect or contempt must either be misbelief or unbelief of the Reward promised to well doing or of the Punishment threatned to evil doers And it would be a point very hard to determine Whether of such as make any conscience of their wayes especially since the reformation of Religion more have miscarried through misbelief or through unbelief of this Great Article of our Creed Everlasting life and everlasting death Our Misbelief for the most part concerns the Article of everlasting life Of everlasting death we are rather unbelievers then misbelievers Misbelief alwayes includes a strong belief but the stronger our belief the more dangerous it is if it be wrested or misplaced and the worst way we can misplace our belief of heavenly joyes is when we make our selves certain of our salvation before our time or ranke our selves amongst the elect or heirs not disinheritable of the heavenly kingdom before we have made our Election sure 5. As the absolute infallibilitie of the present Romish Church doth make up the measure of heathenish Idolatry or iniquity So the immature belief of our own salvation or Election doth make up the measure of Jewish or Pharisaical Hypocrisie The manner how it doth so is this If no covetous if no sacrilegious person if no slanderer of his brethren or reviler of his betters can enter into the Kingdom of heaven as it is certain they cannot untill they repent then no man which is certain of his salvation can perswade himself or be perswaded that he is a covetous or sacrilegious person that he is a slanderer of his brethren or a reviler of his betters and hence the Conclusion arising from the Premisses is inevitable that albeit such men as presume of their Election or salvation before their time before they be throughly sanctified do all that covetous or sacrilegious men do be continual slanderers or malicious revilers of their brethren yet it is impossible that they should suspect much less condemn themselves of these crimes until they correct their former errours and rectifie their misbelief or presumption of their immutable estate in grace Yea their errour not being corrected makes them confident in these wicked practises and causes them to mistake hatred to mens persons or envy to others good parts for zeal to Religion and stubbornness in Schisme and faction for Christian charitie or good affection unto truth And if any man of better insight in the Stratagems of Satan shall go about to detect their error or convince them by strength of Reason grounded upon Scripture that their mis-perswasions do branch into Blasphemie and can bring forth no better fruit then Pharisaical hypocrisie yet they usually requite his pains as that young Spanish spark did the Physician which had well nigh cured him of a desperate Phrensie no sooner had he brought him to know what he was indeed no more then a Page though to a great Duke or Grandee of Spain but the Youth instead of a Fee or thankful acknowledgement began to revile and curse the Physician for bringing him out of a pleasant dream of golden mountains much richer then the King of Spain had any it seemed as a kind of hell unto him to see himself to be but a Page who in his raving fits had taken upon him to create Dukes and Earls and to exercise the Acts of Royal Authoritie Very much like him in Horace Epistol Libr. 2. Ep. 2. Fuit haud ignobilis Argis Qui se credebat miros audire Tragoedos In vacuo laetus sessor plausorque Theatro Hic ubi cognatorum opibus curisque refectus Expulit helleboro morbum bilemque meraco Et redit ad sese pol me occidistis amici Non servastis ait cui sic extorta voluptas Et demptus per vim mentis gratissimus Error But with the Originals of Mis-belief besides what is said in our Fifth Book of Comments upon the Creed in this particular we shall have fitter occasion to meet hereafter And the greater part of men amongst us I am perswaded offend more in Unbelief then in Mis-belief 6. And by Unbelief lest we should be mistaken we understand somewhat less then the lowest degree of Infidelity Now of Infidels there be two degrees or ranks Infideles Contradictionis and Infideles purae Negationis He is an Infidel in the former sense that contradicts or opposeth the truth of Scriptures especially concerning Everlasting Life and Everlasting Death and such Infidels I presume there are none amongst us He is an Infidel in the Later Sense that doth not believe the
Heaven and if those of Sardis were to walk with him in white robes Because they were Worthie The Controversie may seem Concluded That Good Works are meritorious of heavenly Ioyes or of Eternal Life 5. To the latter Objections or frame of Arguments drawn from these and the like places For I was an hungry and you gave me meat c. Calvin makes Answer That these and the like particles Quia Etenim For or Because do not alwayes import or denote The true Cause of things but sometimes only the Order or connexion betwixt them But However this may be True it is not so Punctuall but that Bellarmine and others take their advantage from it as having the Authoritie of the Grammer Rule against it For the particles used in all the places alleged by them are Conjunctions not Copulative or Connexive but Causal And it may seem harsh to say That some conjunction causal doth not import a causalitie It is true Yet sometimes they import no cause at all of the thing it self but onely of our knowledge of it Oft-times again they import no Efficacious causalitie of the thing it self but only Causam sine qua non that is some necessary means or condition without which the Prime and Principal cause doth not produce its Effect To give you examples or Instances of both these observations If there should come into This or the like Corporation A stranger who knowes not any Magistrate by sight he would say surely this is the chief Magistrate Because all others give place unto him because the Ensignes of Authoritie are carried before him Here the word Because must necessarily denote A true cause but not the cause why he is the chief Magistrate for that is only his true and just Election What cause doth it then denote The cause of his knowledge of him to be the chief Magistrate Thus when we come to the knowledge of the cause by the Effect The effect is the cause of our knowledge of the cause As others giving place unto him or the carrying of the Ensignes of Authority before him is not the cause why this or that man is the chief Magistrate for the time being but rather his being the chief Magistrate is the cause why all others give him place and why the Ensignes of Authoritie are born before him Yet these and the like Effects are the true cause or reason of a strangers knowledge of him to be the chief Magistrate And by this Rule we are to interpret that saying of our Saviour many sins are forgiven her for she loved much In which speech it may not be denied but that the Particle For imports A true cause yet no cause of the thing it self to wit of her love For this were utterly to reverse or thwart our Saviours meaning which was no other then this That the forgivenesse of her sins was the cause of her love so was not her Love the cause of the forgiveness of her sins which by our adversaries confession being of Free Grace and of the First Grace which was bestowed upon her could not be merited or deserved Howbeit the manner of expressing of her loue by washing his feet with her tears and wiping them with her hairs was The true cause of every understanding or Observant mans knowledge that many sins were forgiven her and unlesse she had an apprehension of her manifold sins thus freely forgiven her she could not have loved him so much or made such expression of her Love 6. Sometimes again this Particle For or the like causal speech imports only a subordinate or instrumental cause or A necessary means or condition required without which the Positive the Principal and only efficacious cause especially if it work freely doth not produce its intended Effect To put the case home in this present business Suppose a great and potent Prince out of his own meer motion and free grace should proclaim a pardon to an Army of Traytors and Rebels which had in Justice deserved death if a man should ask What is the cause or reason why the Law doth not proceed against them no other cause could be assigned besides the gracious favour of the Prince But if one should further ask Why the pardon being freely promised to all the principal malefactors it may be are pardoned or restored to their blood or advanced to dignities whereas others which were included in the same pardon are exiled or put to death The speech would be proper and in its kinde Truly causal if we should say the one part submitted themselves and craved allowance of their pardon whereas the other stood out and rejected it For it is to be presumed that no Prince being able to quell his rebellious adversaries will suffer any to enjoy the benefit of a General Pardon how freely soever it be granted unlesse they submit themselves unto it and crave the benefit of it with such humility as becomes malefactors or men obnoxious Much lesse will he restore any to blood or advance them to dignities whom he knowes or suspects still to continue ill affected or disloyal in heart So then the not-submission or continuance in rebellion is The true and Positive Cause why the one sort enjoy no benefit of the General Pardon but are more severely dealt withall for rejecting the princes Grace then they should have been dealt withall if no Pardon had been granted The humble submission of the other and their penitence for their former misdeeds is Causa sine qua non that is a necessarie means or Condition without which the Prince how gracious soever would not suffer them to enjoy the benefit of their Pardon would not restore them to their blood would not advance them to greater dignities This is the very Case of Adam and all his sons All of us were Traytors and Rebels against the Great God and King of Heaven who is better able to quell the whole host of mankinde than any Prince his meanest Rebellious subjects yet it pleased him to pardon us more freely then any earthly Magistrate can do a malefactor If then the reason be demanded Why any of mankinde are saved Why they are restored unto their blood and advanced to greater dignitie then Adam in Paradise enjoyed no other true cause can be assigned of these Effects besides The meer grace and mercy of the Almighty Judge But if it be further demanded Why some of mankinde enjoy the benefit of this Pardon and inherit Eternal Life Why others are sentenced to everlasting death When as the free Pardon with its benefits were seriously and sincerely tendred to all The Answer is Orthodoxal and True Because some in true humilitie accepted of the Pardon and craved allowance of it whereas others rejected it and sleighted such Proclamations or significations of it as the God of mercy and compassion had given out not to this or that man only but To all the World So that the Omission of those good works which our Saviour mentions in the
Secondly There lies open a spacious field for such as affect to expatiate in Common Places or dilate upon that Old Maxim Laici semper sunt infensi Clericis to tax the inveterate enmity of secular men against the Clergie Whose violent out burstings into Prodigious Outrages did never more clearly appear then in the wicked suggestions of the Princes of Iudah unto infortunate King Joash against this Godly High-Priest Zechariah for his zeal unto the House and service of the God of their Fore-fathers But however the like prodigious cruelty had not been exemplified before this time yet in many later ages the Prelacie or Clergie have not come an inch short of these Lay-Princes in working and animating Kings and supream Magistrates to exercise like tyranny and oppressing cruelty not upon Laicks only but upon their Godly and religious Priests or inferior Clergie The Histories almost of all Ages and Nations since the death of Maurice the Emperor unto this last Generation will be ready to testifie whensoever they shall be heard or read more then I have said against the Romish Hierarchy whose continual practises have been to make Christian Kings the Executioners of their furious spleen against their own Clergie or neighbor Princes or to stirre up the rebellion of Lay-subjects against all such of their Leige-Lords or Soveraigns as would not submit themselves their Crowns and Dignities or which is more their Consciences unto Peters pretended Primacie The sum of all I have to say concerning this Point is This As there seldom have been any very Good Kings or extraordinary happy in their Government whether in the line of David or in Christian Monarchies without advice and assistance of a Learned and Religious Clergie so but a few have proved extremely bad without the suggestions of covetous corrupt or ambitious Priests So that the safest way for chief Governors is to keep as vigilant and strong Guards upon their own brests and consciences as they do about their bodies or palaces Now the special and safe guard which they can entertain for their souls and consciences is to lay to heart the Examples of Gods dealing with former Princes with the Kings of Judah especially according to the esteem or reverence or the dis-esteem which they did bear unto his Laws and Services 5. Another special meanes to secure even Greatest Monarches from falling into Gods wrath or revenging hand is not to hearken unto not to meditate too much upon or at least not to misconstrue a Doctrine very frequent in all Ages to wit That Kings and supreme Magistrates are not subject to the authority of any other men nor to the coercive authoritie of humane Laws The Doctrine I dare not I cannot in conscience deny to be most true and Orthodoxal And for the truth of it I can add one Argument more then usual That Gods judgments in all Ages or Nations have not been more frequently executed by Counter-passion or Retaliation upon any sort or state of men then upon Kings or Princes or greatest Potentates which pollute their Crowns and Dignities with innocent blood as King Joash did or with other like out-crying sins As if the most Just and Righteous Lord by innumerable Examples tending to this purpose would give the world to understand That none are fit to exercise Iurisdiction upon Kings or Princes besides himself and withall to instruct even Greatest Monarchs that their Exemption from all Controulment of humane Laws cannot exempt or priviledge them from the immediate judgement of his own hands or from the contrivance of his just punishments by the hands of others as by his instruments though his Enemies Agents I forbear to produce more instances of Divine Retaliation upon most Soveraign Princes besides this one in my Text which a bundantly justifieth both parts of my last Assertion or Observation Ioash as you heard before and may read when you please did more then permit did authorize or command the Princes of Iudah to murther their High-Priest Zachariah in the Court of the Lords House A prodigious liberty or licence for a King to Grant and more furiously executed by the Princes of Iudah his Patentees or Commissioners for this purpose And yet the most righteous Judge of all the world did neither animate nor authorize the Prophets Priests or Levites or other cheif men in this Kingdom to be the avengers of Blood or to execute judgement upon the King or Princes of Iudah This service in Divine Wisdom and Justice was delegated to the Syrians their neighbor Nation And the Hoast not by their own skill or contrivance but by the disposition of Divine Providence did Geometrically and exactly proportion the execution of vengeance to the quality and manner of the fact The Princes of Iudah who had murthered Zechariah in the Courts of the Temple of the Lords House were all destroyed by the Syrian Hoast in their own Land and the spoil of their Palaces sent unto the King of Damascus And King Ioash by whose authority Zechariah was stoned to death in his Pue or Pulpit after the Syrians had grievously afflicted him was slain in his own Palace upon the bed of his desired or appointed rest by the hands of two of his own servants yet neither of them by birth his native Subject the one the son of an Ammonitess the other of a Moabitess both the illegitimate off-spring of two of the worst sort of aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel In all this appears the special finger of God But though all this were done by Gods appointment yet may we no way justifie the conspiracy of Ioash his own servants against him though both aliens unless we knew what speciall warrant they had for the execution of Gods judgments which are alwayes most just However we have neither warrant nor reason to exclaim against them or their sins so farre or so much as by the warrant of Gods Word we might against the Princes of Iudah for the instigating of their lawful King or Liege-Lord to practice such prodigious cruelty as hath been exprest upon Zechariah the Lords High-Priest or against the disposition of the stiffe-necked Jewish Nation in general most perspicuous for the Crisis at that time 6. But to exclaim against the Princes or People of that Age we need not for their posterity hath amplified the cursed Circumstances of this most horrible Fact and charged these their fore-fathers with such a measure of iniquity as No Orator this day living without their directions or instructions could have done Septies in die cadit justus The just man fals seven times a day was an ancient and an authentick Saying if meant at all by the Author of it of sins and delinquences rather then of crosses and greivances which fall upon them or into which they fall was never meant of Grosser sins or transgressions But of that dayes work wherein Zechariah was slain these later Jews say Septem transgressiones fecit Israel in illo die I shall not over-English their
never wearie with their iniquities save only whilst he took the form of a servant upon him and bare their sins in his flesh or humane nature 11. To recollect more briefly the manner how these later Jewes did the same things for which they judged their Fathers albeit their practises and dispositions were for the most part clean contrary as also by what means they were drawn to make up the measure of their forefathers sins by shedding innocent blood it is thus The ancient Jewes did shed the blood of the Prophets specially because they severely taxed their Idolatry and breach of Sabbath But the true reason why they shed their blood for taxing them in these particulars was because these and the like practises wherein they complied with neighbor Nations were the most predominant and plausible humours of those times and did command all their other desires or affections These later Jewes did kill the King of Prophets for opposing the practises of intended Reformation but the Reason why they crucified him for opposing them especially in the Rigid Reformation of these two sins was because secret pride and desire of applause amongst the people which professed true Religion was most predominant in these times of Reformation and did oversway all other desires in the Pharisees Both of them commit the self same sins even whilst they follow contrary Practises because both of them had made themselves servants to their unruly desires and would not obey the Truth but were inraged against it whensoever it fell crosse upon the desire which for the time being was most soveraign and had the prerogative in their affections 12. Thus you see how these later Jews condemned themselves by judging their Fore-fathers even for the most abominable Facts or Errors committed by them Let us beware lest we condemn not our selves by judging these later Jews especially at this time of solemn remembrance of his death wherein we are bound to examine and judge our selves every man his own self not any other man of what Religion or Sect soever What then May we not say or think that these later Jews did most grievously sin more grievously then their Fore-fathers had done in that they put the Lord of life to death God forbid that we should not thus farre censure them But thus farre to censure them and no farther is not to judge them it is such a Preparative or Precedent Rule for right examining or judging our selves as Ahab's sentence against the Prophet whom he mistook for a Souldier or David's against the supposed Rich man which had taken his Neighbors Sheep was to judge and condemn themselves But say not in your hearts as these later Jews did If we had lived in the dayes of Herod and Pilate we would not have been partakers with them or with the Pharisees Scribes or Priests in murthering that Just and Holy One. I know there is not any amongst you but will say in his heart I thank God I am for the present better affected towards Christ then these later Jews were which put him to death and whilst ye thus say Charity commands me to think that you speak no otherwise then you think then you are verily perswaded in heart Yet let me intreat you not to make This or the like perswasion any part of that Rule by which you are to examine and judge your selves What other Rule then is there left Surely for examining our selves whether we be greater Friends or greater Enemies unto Christ then these later Iews were There can be no other certain Rule besides our Conformity or Non-conformity to the will of Christ Every personal wrong is so much the greater or less as it more or less contradicts the Good Pleasure of him that is wronged if so his Will be regulated by Reason or be a Constant Rule of Goodnesse as we all believe our Saviours Will was That Saying of the Poet may be true in some Cases of Divinity Invitum qui servat idem facit occidenti He that perswades a man ready to dy upon good to live upon evil Terms doth wrong him no less then he that should kill him when he was desirous to live Our Saviour taxes St. Peter more sharply for dissawding him from laying down his life for us then he did the Scribes Priests and Pharisees for putting him to a lingring cruel and disgraceful death then he did Judas for betraying him For upon this occcasion he said to Peter Get thee behind me Sathan for thou rellishest not the things that be of God but the things that be of men Peters sin had been as great as Iudas his sin if it had been as habituated and unrelenting or if he should have gathered forces for his Rescue For however death such a disgraceful cruel and lingring death as our Saviour suffered was bitter unto him and went much against his humane will or however it more displeased Him that the Iews his own people should be willing to put him to death then the sufferings of death did yet he was comparatively far more willing to suffer the extremity of death and whatsoever they could inflict upon him besides then to leave the works of the Divel undissolved either in them or in us either in all of us or in any one of us For this purpose saith S. Iohn The Son of God was manifested that he might dissolve the works of the Divel 1 Joh. 3. 8. What were these works of the Divel which he was willing to dissolve though it were by dissolution of his soul from his body These were sins of all sorts original and actual or more punctually thus The main work of Satan which the Son of God came to dissolve and did by his death actually dissolve for all and every one of us was that bond of servitude which Satan by right of Conquest had gotten over our first Parents and us All of us by right of this Conquest were born slaves of Satan until the Son of God by right of Conquest over Satan obtained in our flesh did make us again the servants of God De jure He took away the right of Satan and established his own over us We are his servants by peculiar purchase Now if any man whom the Son of God hath redeemed from this slavery unto Satan and thus far he hath redeemed all shall return to Satans service and abandon the true service of Christ he wrongs him more then the Jewes did which put him to death because he was more willing to die for every one of us then to suffer the works of Satan to be undissolved or to be accomplished in any of us 13. All of us even from our cradles have learned to take up the Name of a Jew as a Proverb and can take the boldness upon us as occasion serves to censure the Scribes and Pharisees which put our Lord and Saviour to death as paternes of envy malice hypocrisie and crueltie But were not these very Jewes as forward and free
to censure their forefathers to whom they owed more respect then we do to them for Idolatry prophanenesse and guilt of innocent blood and thus they censured them without dissimulation or affected zeal And yet in thus judging their Fathers they did condemn themselves for they did the same things or worse But you will say It is not possible that we should do the same things which these later Jewes did or worse things then they did For Christ cannot be buffeted cannot be spit upon cannot be crucified again Yet may we do those things and would to God oft-times we did them not which are more displeasing to him now enthroned in Heaven as King then all that the Jewes did unto him whilst he was in form of a servant here on earth It was not the evil which the Jewes did to him as to their professed enemie but the evil which was in themselves as their pride envie hypocrisie uncharitable censuring of others which made him that made them to be their enemie and him that had been their Protector to fight against them These are diseases not Proper to the Jewish Nation but Epidemical and common to all Nations and places The matter of them as our Apostle in this Chapter disputes is alike common to all But the Jewish Nation came to their Crisis at Christs first appearance in humilitie Our Critical Day is not to be expected until his second appearing in Majesty and glory Then nothing which lies hid in the heart but shall be laid open then and not before will all enmitie betwixt the serpent and the womans seed appear And in that day it shall be more tolerable for them which crucified him then for us unlesse we take warning by Gods known Judgements upon them and their seed to avoid those practises and accustomances which wrought and swayed them by means secret and unsensible to exercise enmitie and hostilitie against their Lord their Maker and Redeemer 14. And here my purpose was to have used the former Parallel betwixt the Ancient Jewes which killed the Prophets and the later which condemning them for so doing did not withstanding kill our Saviour as a Map whereby to shew you in what particulars many in this Land who not content with that discreet and judicious Reformation which is contained in the publick Acts and Liturgie of our Church by their solicitous care and anxious zeal to be extreamly contrary unto the Romish Church almost in all things do by judging her and her children condemn themselves doing the very same things or worse things then she doth and help to make up that measure of iniquitie upon this Land which the Romish Religion whilst it was here authorized had left unaccomplished But for this point and others which serve for use and application of the general Doctrine hitherto delivered this present time will not suffice The Application shall be brief Take heed you measure not your love to truth by your opposition unto error If hatred of error and superstition spring from sincere love of truth and true Religion the root is good and the branch is good But if your love to truth and true Religion spring from hatred to others error and superstition the root is naught and the branch is naught There can no other fruit be expected but hypocrisie hardness of heart and uncharitable censuring others CHAP. XXXVIII The Second Sermon upon this Text. ROMANS 2. 1. Therefore Thou art inexcusable O man c. 1. THe Points worthy our Consideration are Three First How our Fore-elders in the beginning of Reformation and many amongst us since the Reformation established did or do condemn themselves whilest they judge the Romish Church in particulars worthy of Condemnation by all Secondly How the Romish Church in General and many professing Reformed Religion condemn themselves even whilst they judge the Iews in Points most gross and damnable Thirdly How not the Romish Church only or the Jewish Synagogue but many amongst Professors of true Religion men in Opinion Orthodoxal evidently condemn themselves whilest they judge or censure the very Idolatry of the Heathen The Points for which one Church or Nation one sort of People or generation of men may judge another either concern matters of Manners and practise or matters of Opinion and doctrine or matters mixt that is Errors in Opinion which induce misdemeanors in practise If Errors there be any which do not draw after them dangerous or ungodly Practises these rather deserve pity or toleration then Rigid Censure But Doctrinal Errors which induce lewd practises are more dangerous more to be detested then the most gross or lewdest practises into which some men fall being not mislead or drawn into them by Plausible Errors or false doctrine Practises how gross soever if they want the supportance or Countenance of Doctrinal Rules pollute the souls consciences of the parties peccant they are not so powerful to seduce others But Misdemeanors or perverse Affections being coutenanced by Pretence or Colour of sacred Authoritie are most infectious Briefly there is no false Doctrine but it is an Inconvenience whereas grosser misdemeanors without error in doctrine are but Mischiefs And it is a Maxim received by the most sage and prudent that Better is a Mischief then an Inconvenience or at least an Inconvenience is worse then a Mischief But worst of all is an Inconvenience which draws Mischief after it and such is every Error in Doctrine which inclines or disposes men to evil practises or which doth leaven or malignifie the affections of the heart naturally bad or but indifferent That which our Fore-elders did most condemn in the Romish Church or at least that which they went about to reform was the Excessive Wealth which the Church or Clergie had gotten into their possession with the Transcendent Authoritie of the Papacie by which they sought to detain what they had gotten or to gather more Whatever the manner of getting their wealth or Revenues was the manner of using or imploying them was exceeding bad and did deserve yea require a Reformation Our Fore-elders did well in judging the Clergie for abusing Revenues sacred to the maintenance of idleneness superstition and idolatry But would to God they had not condemned themselves by judging them or that they had not done the same things wherein they judged them Happy had it been for them and for their posterity if those large Revenues which they took from such as abused them had been imployed to pious uses As either to the maintenance of true Religion or to the support of the needie or to prevent oppressing by extraordinary Taxes or the like This had been an undoubted effect of pure Religion and undefiled before God But it was not the different Estate or condition of the parties on whom Church Revenues were bestowed that could give warrant unto their Alienation or which might bring a blessing upon their intended Reformation but the Uses unto which they were consecrated or the manner how